Nichole - Dirty H if you're nasty

I enjoyed this book a lot. The thing I like best about Patricia Briggs' writing is how real and down-to-earth her characters feel. These are people you could meet and know in real life (lycanthropy notwithstanding.) There is a very comfortable feel to her books that I like, almost like reading her books is like curling up in a warm blanket or going home. This "going home" feeling is a tad more literal for me with this book, since it takes place relatively close to where I grew up. I get disproportionately excited about things like that.:) I guess I'm a little homesick.

My main issue with this book is that I'm having a hard time deciding if it's paranormal romance or urban fantasy. The difference is usually very clear to me - I used to have trouble discerning, but the more I have read of both genres, the easier it became. These days it's very easy for me, but this one was perplexing.

On the one hand, it technically meets all the requirements for a paranormal romance. There is a hero and a heroine, and there is a happily every after ending. It's also written in third person, which almost all PNR is. (In fact, I've never read one that wasn't.) Urban fantasy is almost all written in the first person; I've only come across one or two exceptions.

On the other hand, it felt more like urban fantasy storywise, and both the publisher and my library categorized it that way. And there's little to no sex, which doesn't necessarily preclude from being PNR but... well, you know.

In the end, I think I'm falling on the side of urban fantasy, basically because from what I can tell the second book is about the same characters and does not move on to a new hero/heroine. But this book is a hybrid if ever I saw one.