Wow. Okay, the title sounds kinda euphemistic, but ya know what, I’m keeping it because nobody does werewolves quite like Patricia Briggs. But I’m biased.
This kind of doubles as a little throwback to one of the only series I’m still up-to-date with, and that’s saying a lot, considering I’m really bad at series, and the Mercy Thompson series is at 10 books, with an 11th coming out in March of next year. Its spinoff series, Alpha and Omega, is at 6 books and counting (4 of which I’ve definitely read…I can’t remember if I picked up Dead Heat yet…maybe I have).
And honestly, it all started out because I got lucky with an ARC of Briggs’ short stories anthology and quite honestly fell in love with most of the stories there, even without having read anything but Moon Called at the time. And, well, I don’t think I actually reviewed Moon Called, which is a shame, because I could probably say so much about the first five books, since I’ve been re-reading them one after the other every few months to a year since 2014. I don’t know, the series itself really is my go-to comfort place for when I just want to cozy up with my favorite Tri-Cities werewolves and a kick-ass tattooed, coyote-shifting protagonist.
But enough about that. Let’s talk about chocolate.
Under the mellowing influence of good food and good music, Adam relaxed, and I discovered that underneath that overbearing, hot-tempered Alpha disguise he usually wore was a charming, overbearing, hot-tempered man. He seemed to enjoy finding out that I was as stubborn and disrespectful of authority as he’d always suspected.
He ordered dessert without consulting me. I’d have been angrier, but it was something I could never have ordered for myself: chocolate, caramel, nuts, ice cream, real whipped cream, and cake so rich it might as well have been a brownie.
“So,” he said, as I finished the last bit, “I’m forgiven?”
“You are arrogant and overstep your bounds,” I told him, pointing my cleaned fork at him.
“I try,” he said with false modesty.
Moon Called by Patricia Briggs
That right there, as well as the squee-ish passage that happens after, is the minute I started shipping A+M from the getgo. I would have loved to say it’s smooth-sailing from there, but nope. The ship needed more than chocolate to sustain it.
(This is actually not one of my favorite of the MT covers, but ya know what, I can’t complain, because the covers have been getting better and better since after Bone Crossed).
But chocolate really helps, considering how many times Mercy and/or Adam eat it every so often in the books.
So about this concoction…
Honestly, this was semi-homemade. As in, I actually got myself a brownie mix (GASP I DIDN’T MAKE IT FROM SCRATCH? THE SHAME…not), baked the brownie batch, toasted some almonds, and purchased a sundae-type ice cream, because yuuum. I also couldn’t be bothered with making my usual salted caramel sauce (which, in hindsight, would up the game of this brownie-ice cream dessert SO MUCH MORE), but the maple syrup I got from one of my school parents was dying to be used, so I ended up with that. Also, it made me feel better for eating such a decadent dessert!
Anyway, if you’re looking for something you could definitely put together with minimal effort, it’d be this one.
And if you’re looking for an urban fantasy to get lost in, I’d definitely point you toward the Mercy Thompson series.
Story and Somnomancy 