Toni Andrews

Mercy Hollings — (2007- ) Cry Mercy will be published in June  2009. Publisher: I've never been certain I'm human. Oh, the X-rays and blood tests are normal, and most people have no reason to suspect I'm more than I appear to be. But if I tell you to do something? You do it—no ifs, ands or buts. I call my power the 'press.' My name is Mercy Hollings, and if you think that having the power to control people makes my life easy, you're dead wrong. Because when I get angry, everyone around me is at risk—Sukey, my friend who has frightening taste in men; my clients, who, ironically, come to me for help; my neighbors, who regard me as a loner; and Sam, a man who wants to know my darkest secret. I have hurt people in the past, and I don't want that to happen again. But now a powerful stranger is threatening the new life that I've made for myself. And I'm afraid my anger is taking over.

Beg for Mercy: Fooled again.

I think that it would be nice if a book was identified up front as a Romance with paranormal story lines instead of painting a picture that's not very accurate. Toni Andrews' Beg for Mercy is a romance novel, basically, and it has a little paranormal stuff thrown in to make it different than the thousands of other romance novels out there.

Mercy Hollings is an embittered, unknowingly beautiful, powerful paranormal who is so cliché that you have probably read about her 10 times already if you have been a big fan of the paranormal/urban fantasy genre. Toni Andrews is not a bad writer, but the story is really boring if you are looking for more of the fantasy/paranormal and less of the romance.

I am not going to breakdown the story any further because if you are a fan of romance and like the paranormal slant you will want to read it and without me spoiling it. If you are not into romance novels, then skip this book and read Patricia Briggs or Kim Harrison who write fantasy/paranormal novels with romance as only a sidenote.  —J.H.