Disappointing reads from good authors

I have just finished reading two very different books from two authors I usually really like: the new Patricia Brigg's "River Marked" (I have been waiting for this to be published since last year - her Mercy Thompson series is a really fantastic vampire/werewolf series that hasn't sold out), and an old Katie Fforde "A perfect proposal" (usually quite good chicklit).  Both books left me somewhat disappointed.  The Patricia Brigg's is the sixth in the series and the previous books have been really good.   The main character Mercy Thompson is a mechanic who is part native American and is a 'walker' - someone who shapeshifts into a coyote.  Native American folklore is full of stories of Coyote the Trickster (similar to other figures in mythology), and Mercy ends up being the catalyst to a number of different events - there are the Fae (from European fairy folklore), the figures from Native American folklore, vampires (not cast as the amazing lovers/seducers in this series), the werewolves and the largely unsuspecting normal population.  Unfortunately 'River Marked' seems to have lost its way and kind of feels a bit like a filler between bigger books - it introduces other 'walkers' into the storyline but it leaves behind - or only just mentions - characters from the previous novels.  I think this novel is the poorer for centering the action on Mercy and her new husband Adam (there is also something to be said for the loss of the UST (unresolved sexual tension), which gave such depth to many of the previous books).

The Katie Fforde book read like it was a painting by numbers - or merely a plot outline.  It really needed someone to come behind and fill in some of the dimensions and flesh out the characters.  I soldiered on and managed to finish it (because it was all I had to read at the time), but it was an effort - which is precisely what chick lit should not be!  Reading this sort of fiction is supposed to be fun and enjoyable not a labour.  I really felt like pencilling in some character development in between some of the stilted dialogue but didn't think the East Gippsland Shire Library would really appreciate it...