Category: Urban Fantasy

Adult · Magic · Paranormal · Romance · Urban Fantasy · Vampires · Werewolf

Sealed with A Curse by Cecy Robson

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14910823
  • Published by: Signet Eclispe
  • Release Date: December 31st, 2012
  • My Rating: 3.5/ 5 Stars

‘”Mind your own business, you goddamn raisin with legs!” Taran screamed from inside the house.’ -Cecy Robson

I’ve read PLENTY of Urban Fantasy, or more liked tried. A lot of them lack that special something that keeps you going. They start boring and keep going with the boring and you just got to trudge through it hoping it gets better, when it never does. I was glad to see that for the most part, that wasn’t the case with this. Did it have it’s boring moments, oh hell yeah, but was it entertaining, yes, yes it was. For only one reason though, the sisters.

The story starts off with the four sisters on trial for killing a vampire. Within these few first pages you get to see the different personality the sister’s have, and their personalities are the best part of the book. You have our main character, Celia. Celia is the leader type. She does her best to protect her sisters and to keep them in line. She is head strong, except when it comes to a certain character, which is my least favorite part of her, but we will touch on that later. Oh, and she turns into a tiger and any animal that touches her. Next, is my favorite sister, Taran. She is a foul mouth hell raiser, literally, she shoots fire. Then there is Shayna, whose whole personality is basically her saying dude. She’s the most chill one and turns random objects into weapons. Lastly is Emme. Emme is the sweet innocent one. She doesn’t really like violence and looks at the good in people. She can pick things up with her head and heal people. I don’t really know how those things go together, but they do. Now that we know the sister’s lets move on.

During the trial we learn two things. The sweet innocent vampires, who aren’t dangerous apparently, are starting to have trouble with a disease, and that the vampire who put the sisters on trial, Misha, wants to bang Celia. Dude literally puts her on trial, trying to have her and her sisters killed, but is just walking around like, ‘aye, I know I tried to kill you, but i still want to bang ya.’ Because that would work…. The only other important parts of this book is the shifters, and this is were my problem comes into play. Celia is supposed to be this leader type, take no shit, type of girl, but when Aric, a shifter she doesn’t really know, comes around, she turns into a teenage girl. She literally walks around half the time talking about how she doesn’t know why she is acting like that. Me either. I really don’t. She is fine around other men, fine as in she scares the living shit out of them, but she doesn’t turn into this person who is not her character. It’s annoying. Also the fact that she lets Aric push her around. He is the typical werewolf who wants to just boss her around and treat her like an ancient glass vase. She and her sisters prove over and over again that they are capable of protecting themselves and he still tells her she needs to stay home… I get it, you like her and want her safe, but she’s her own person and should have a choice. It’s annoying that she lets him do it. She literally just smiles and is like, ‘ok whatever you say’. Other than his over protectiveness, I didn’t mind Aric. He is no Curran or Adam from Kate Daniels or The Mercy Thompson series, but he’s ok. I’m hoping he gets more likable and isn’t just a bland werewolf stereotype though.

If you’re like me, you don’t like Insta-love. This book has four insta-love romances. Not one, but four. Each of the sisters meets a wolf in Aric’s pack and instantly they are all couples who would pretty much do anything for each other. It was literally like reading Romeo and Juliet. They instant they all see each other, they like each other, and would die for each other.

My last problem with this book was the action was boring. There was literally a part in the book were the action all stopped for a lot of chapters and the book just became a stereotypical romance novel. All talk of what was going on the vampires was done and I honestly thought for a while the last half of the book was just going to switch into a straight up romance. It didn’t help that when the action was present it wasn’t the most entertaining. It wasn’t the worst, but I kept getting bored during it.

I named a lot about the book I didn’t like, but there was parts I did like. I loved the four sisters. They made the novel. They were all funny and got along well. I loved all their different personalities and reading their life. Also the dialogue of this book is good. I genuinely laughed while reading it. If it weren’t for the fact that the werewolves acted like literally animals at time, this would of been a really good Urban Fantasy novel. (Aric literally brings Celia a box of live rabbits and plans on skinning them for her at her house to eat them… as if that was normal. He plans on murdering these living rabbits in front of her as if that’s sweet…it’s not. I get that he’s a wolf, but that was still weird. It was very obvious that it was for plot convenience because it literally made no sense.)

Over all, did I like this book. Yes, for the most part. It had it’s problems of course, but it was an enjoyable read. Do I play on checking out the rest? Yes, though after I reread The Wicked King and read Queen of Nothing. So it will be awhile, and I might not even read after reading those two books. It just depends. Lastly, would I recommend this book. That also depends. If you like books that are the up to standard of Mercy Thompson or Kate Daniels and you don’t want to read any urban fantasy books lower then that, then no. This is not the next book to join that rank. If you like those books though and don’t mind reading a book that isn’t as good as those, but is still enjoyable as a easy simple read, then yeah, this is a good book to read. I can be very picky with books at times and I finished this book and was going to read the next one till I realized that Queen of Nothing was about to come out and I needed to reread the last book before I got my hands on Queen of Nothing. So if you want an Urban Fantasy book with an ok story, then this is good. I’ll make sure to update you if it gets better.

P.S. I forgot about this until I looked at my notes, and I would like to note that this book came out in 2012 where this happened a lot so I can’t exactly fault it, but there is a scene where they down talk a prostitute. Emme, innocently says this women can’t be a sex worker because she lives in a nice area, and Taran calls refers to the women as a skank. I don’t like shitting on sex workers, or calling them disgusting or names that refer to that, but like I said, this book came out in 2012, where that did happen a lot. It’s something I just thought I would mention. It didn’t stop me from reading the book, but it was something I didn’t really care for. I also don’t know if Taran meant it as an insult. You could take it as the same way some girls’ who address each other as bitch in a more friendly matter. It really depends on how you want to take it.

Adult · Fantasy · Magic · Romance · Urban Fantasy

White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2)

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Ilona Andrews

  • Publisher: Avon
  • Year Released: 2017
  • Date Read: December 22, 2018
  • Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romance, Fantasy, Magic, Adult
  • Rating: B+/ 4.8

“When you saw him, you knew no matter what happened, he would handle it. Little did they know that he solved most of his problems by throwing money at them or trying to kill them. Sometimes at the same time.”

-Ilona Andrews

Nevada hasn’t heard from Rogan since their fight with the fire prime, Adam Pierce. She has gone on living her normal life with her small jobs, until a man she met during her hunt for Adam comes to her asking for her help on a job. His wife was murdered along with a few other people and he knows it wasn’t an accident. One of the houses did it and they’re trying to hide it. This new job causes problems for Nevada, but Nevada is also about to have to face her own problems that she isn’t going to be able to hide anymore.

I enjoyed this one just as much as I did the first one. This book had the same action and the same humor to it. The reason I like Patricia Briggs work( the author of the Mercy Thompson series) and Ilona Andrews is that they can write urban fantasies that are also detective like novels without each book being an exact copy. I love Patricia Briggs books but I think that Ilona Andrews is actually better at making her book different within the same series while still having each book leave you with the same feel. Ilona Andrews is an author whose writing isn’t very complex, but she has a clear writing style, that even people who liked complex writing, would like. That’s not to say her writing is simple. I think her writing is actually very clever.

Pros

  • Like I said, her writing. I mentioned this with the first book, and I don’t know if she intentionally does it, but the way she writes Rogan’s fighting scenes is in a clever way. Rogan is a Prime, the highest rank of magic users, and he is probably the most feared of the primes. He was in the war for years and still thinks of everything with war logic. Death of bad people mean nothing to him. Murder mean nothing to him. When Rogan fights it’s not written in a drawn out incredibly detailed way, it’s straight to the point, like how he is. For example, this scene where someone betrayed him and he was angry, “He hit the door with the palm of his hand. His magic smashed into the wood. Every window in the house exploded outward.” There is no other description of what he did. There isn’t a description of how the magic felt around them, the way the glass would of shattered around them, the caving of the door. The book is told through Nevada’s point of view but when she describes Rogan’s magic it’s always simple like this, as if this incredible thing he did was no big deal, because it’s Rogan and to him it is no big deal. I love that it’s written this way. It makes Rogan seem more badass.
  • The development. Nevada and Rogan have changed from the first book and it’s not just their relationship. Nevada’s personality is changing. Her need to protect those around her is getting to her and making her into a harder person. She’s starting to use her power against people more when she used to not want to. She’s starting to be able to kill people without thinking about it. She is taking complete charge. Nevada is becoming a more dominant person who won’t let anyone take anything away from her. In the first book Nevada was scared of dying from Adam and actually started to cry when she thought she was about to die. In this one Nevada almost dies a few times and instead of thinking about the fear she does what she needs to do at that moment. Then there’s Rogan. He is losing his alien nature and becoming more human like. He’s doing things for Nevada that no one has ever seen him do. He’s doing what he can to make sure she’s safe and well protected, even if he can’t be there to do it. He even goes as far as threatening to kill someone he somewhat cares about. He starts to become genuinely happy.
  • What I liked about the Kate Daniels Series was how long it took Kate and Curran to become a couple. In the first book of that series they only kissed once and it was barely even a kiss. It is a slow burn kinda romance in a way, it just is full of tension to not make it feel like it’s so slow. This book series is slow but in a different way. In the start of Kate and Curran, neither of them thought anything really of each other. It was something that would never happen, so no one tried. Kate was someone who refused to listen and Curran was someone who needed control. In the Hidden Legacy series Nevada and Rogan have an instant attraction where they both want each other, but that’s just it, it’s only want. Neither of them care for each other past that, which is why Nevada refuses. You can tell they like each other but it’s nothing more than that. In this second book you can tell that those feelings are different. It has all changed and it’s no longer just want. They actually care for each other now. Their attraction wasn’t slow but their love wasn’t instant either. They had to build to get there.
  • This book was more action packed. The first book seemed more like an introduction into the series, while this one just went in. Nevada and Rogan were constantly getting wrapped into trouble like being in a car chase with people trying to shoot them, a party full of the town’s most dangerous people, creatures that aren’t easy to kill, and things that involve literally tanks. Also in this book we get to see more of Nevada’s family’s secrets. It’s been hinted by the mom that things in that family aren’t what they seem, and we get to see what she means. We get to see the secret she has been hiding from them all that can get them all killed or captured, and we get to see the families magic, especially Nevada’s younger sister’s magic. We also learn just how strong they all are. We also get more of Nevada’s boss in this book which I really enjoyed because we got to see a lot more of his personality and his interactions with Rogan.

Cons

  • This might just be a more personal con but I hate when books mention social media by name. I’m ok with the main ones like Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, but not smaller ones like vine. When Nevada mentioned Vine I actually cringed, mainly because it dates the books. I don’t know if it’s just me but I hate when modern books date themselves with little trends like that. I get historical books and such, but in a modern book it dates it back to only a few years ago and it always feels weird to me. Like in the Morganville Vampires Series, one of the characters, Shane I believe, talks about how another character, Eve, nails are painted one color but the ring finger is painted a different color. That is a sentence or so that is so minuscule but has stuck with me, and I read this series years ago. I know this probably isn’t bad for a lot of people, but it’s something that personally bothers me. Other then that, once again I was very wrapped up in this book and didn’t have any cons. I loved this book and ate it up to fast to really pay to much attention to anything that could be considered bad. Usually I say something about the men’s attitude, like how it’s barbaric at times or commanding, but Rogan really isn’t it. He is a strong dominant person, but he isn’t controlling at all. He actually wants Nevada to go with him to do dangerous jobs(not like he WANTS her to, more like he doesn’t try to stop her.) so I can’t complain about him even if I wanted to.

Sadly I only have one more book of Nevada and Rogan. This book sets it up in its last chapter and from there you can tell it’s going to be good. Got to love those cliffhangers that get you wanting to read the next book at that very moment. This series is a must for Urban Fantasy lovers. It’s one of the best I’ve read, probably my second favorite. It might be beating Kate Daniels. I’ll figure that out with how the last book ends and once I eventually read the last two Kate Daniels books. Nevada and Rogan are two character I don’t see a lot of in other series. At first glance they might seem like a generic male and female lead but when you read more into the books you can see that they are not what you expected.  

*I did read the last book of this series, but sadly I was to busy to write a review for it, and too much time has passed to write a proper review of it, so I will just write my overall opinion here. I love this series and this was a great ending to a great series. I loved the third book as much as the other two. I’m waiting for the spin off, that comes out this year, of Nevada’s sister. I can’t wait for it!

Adult · Fantasy · Magic · Paranormal · Romance · Urban Fantasy

Burn for Me (#1 Hidden Legacy)

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Burn for Me
Ilona Andrews

  • Publisher: Avon Books
  • Year Published: 2014
  • Date I read It: December 16, 2018
  • Genre: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Adult, Romance
  • Grade: A-/ 4.5/5 Stars

“You can’t just kill people because they annoy you.”

“You keep saying ‘can’t,'”

-Ilona Andrews

Nevada Baylor is a private investigator in a world where magic not only exist, almost everyone has it.  Nevada’s family usually only takes on small cases like catching a cheating spouse. They aren’t able to take on bigger, more dangerous cases, but when Nevada is told to catch one of the most dangerous people in their city or lose everything her family has worked for she has no choice but to risk her life to catch this man who doesn’t care about anyone else’s life. She has to not kill him, but bring him back, which is harder then killing him. How do you bring back someone who has no regard for human life. Her search for him sends her right into the eye of another dangerous man, one known for his murderous past. He is a dangerous man, but with his help she might be able to catch the other dangerous man.

Later this year I read, Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series and fell in love. Finding a good urban fantasy book is not an easy task. You have to wade through the mound of garbage to find that diamond hidden within. Most of urban fantasies are cliche garbage. Ilona Andrews writes diamonds. I only have one urban fantasy series that I love more then Kate Daniels. That would be Mercy Thompson, which is my all time favorite urban fantasy that I have read multiple times and I don’t think anything can beat. When I saw that Ilona Andrews had a another book series out that isn’t related to Kate’s world, at least I don’t think it is, I immediately wanted it. I really enjoy the worlds Ilona makes. Kate’s world was our world but without having electronics you could depend on. At any given moment you could have a power surge that would make cars and such useless. People usually traveled by foot or horses. In Nevada’s world, while magic has become apart of everyday life, it doesn’t effect the world like that, but it’s people. Everyone has magic pretty much and use it to do things they couldn’t normally do, sometimes making life worse. Magic is very depended on and sought after. Many people who have powerful magic are put into the army and used. Many of the characters is this world has military background. There’s also places in the book where magic has helped to destroy a town and now that town is basically a wasteland.

The magic concept in this book is not complicated. There isn’t a system that has to be used, or sacarfies that need to be made on a full moon. Magic is just a part of people. Even though the magic is basic in its structure, reading how characters used their magic was interesting to read. In this world there are ranks of how strong your magic is, the top rank being a Prime. Primes are capable of mass destruction. For example, regular magic users can do thinks like communicate with animals, summon poison flies. A prime can destroy a building without touching it, and that’s just them using magic at a basic level. If they were to go full power they could destroy a town. The two men who are introduced in Nevada’s life in this book are two primes. The villain who Nevada is trying to convince to go home and turn himself in is Adam. Adam is a prime who is pyrokinetic, meaning he can make fire. He burned down a bank with people in it and didn’t care. The other man is Conner Rogan, otherwise known as Mad Rogan, the Butcher of Merida, and Huracan(hurricane). Mad Rogan is known for murdering many people. He can slice out a chunk out of a building as if it was nothing, and to him it is. He is telekinetic, he can move things without touching them using his head. Adam and Mad Rogan are two people who are feared for their magic use and Nevada has caught both of their attention.

I know some people think that comparing books or characters are a bad thing, but I like to look at an authors previous work and seeing the differences in her worlds and characters. I liked to see if the characters are the same, or if the author knows how to write more than one kind of character. In Ilona Andrews’ case, she is able to write characters that are similar but so completely different.

Kate Daniels was a badass. She was a trained fighter that people knew. She radiated a badass aura at all times. There is no doubt that you don’t want to fuck with Kate. She doesn’t stand down, even if she knows she will die. She is stubborn and doesn’t care that your an alpha. She’ll look you in the eye and smile as you growl at her. Nevada is a badass, just in a different way. Nevada is not a fighter. Kate’s strength was her literal strength and magic abilities. Nevada is very smart and thinks out all the possibilities before engaging. Kate is the type who if a problem is prevented she would want to deal with it then and get it out of the way, while Nevada would rather take the day and think about which way to go about it. Nevada isn’t just a smart character though, she can be a fighter, just not in a physical way. There is times where Nevada gets angry and you see a glimpse of that Kate Daniels attitude that tells you to run. Nevada’s magic also isn’t useful in a fight, so she uses things like guns, tasers, and something that’s like a taser, and if she wants to shot you there’s a good chance she isn’t missing. My favorite moments of the book with Nevada was when she took charge. It was like Nevada became a new person. That second Nevada was angry and started commanding people you could feel this power from her. There’s also other differences between the two characters. Kate Daniels was a loner. She was raised being told that she was a danger to others and that no one could be with her, so she was always alone. Even by the end of the book, Kate has only a hand full of people she actually cares about. Nevada is a family person. She runs a business with her family that consist of her mother, grandmother, sisters, and cousins. She would do anything for them, including die. When one of them was messed with Nevada went into a rage mood. Nevada is a very family oriented person, while Kate is a loner. There is some things both of them have completely in common though. Both are very brave and selfless. Both have no problem dealing with alphas, murderers, people who radiate fear, and telling them no. They stand up for themselves and it doesn’t matter if you can rip them in half with your bare hands, or without even touching you.

Curran vs Mad Rogan. Curran is the definition of Alpha. His word is final, you don’t disobey him. He tries to control everything. Kate refers to him a lot as a control freak, and he is because he is an alpha who demands to be listened to, expect with Kate who he eventually sees as an equal. Curran is literally a beast at times. When you hear the stories of Mad Rogan, you would think he would be just like Curran, but he is almost nothing like Curran, which really surprised me. Mad Rogan’s personality was something I didn’t expect. Nevada refers to Mad Rogan as an alien in one part and I fully agree. It was like he was an alien trying to understand basic human emotion. He is a murder who was also a soldier for years that was used to pretty much destroy towns. He doesn’t feel the same ways or emotions  that normal people do, but he wants to understand it. There is a part where he kills someone with a building, freaking out Nevada. He seriously asks Nevada if she would rather he do it in another way. He doesn’t want to freak her out so if there is a way he can kill people that is better for her then he will do it. There is also times where she tells him to stop killing someone who he thinks deserves it because their an asshole and he asks Nevada why she doesn’t want him to kill that person and why isn’t she angry. There are time where he asks these questions and they are sarcastic, but a lot of the times he is asking because he actually wants to understand. Also, Mad Rogan likes to joke and tease people. He is actually more playful in the book then he is ever angry. He is only truly angry a few times but for a lot of the book he is making jokes about him killing people, and teasing people. Based on the stories you heard from him you would of thought he was another Curran but he isn’t. If it wasn’t for the killing he would pass for normal.

Pro

  • I love a book where the characters make me laugh. I take notes all through books and a lot of my notes in this one were just moments I found funny. Like Nevada buying a man a shirt because he is never wearing one, her being completely blunt to people like telling her boss he is a bad person, and things like her and her family hanging up multiple times on a man known for murdering people. There’s also a lot of moments Rogan made me laugh when he would kill someone as if it was nothing, and then make a joke about it a few paragraphs later. The book wasn’t cheesy funny, but genuine funny. It didn’t come off as trying to be funny, it just was. A lot of the characters had these little funny moments.  Nevada’s family is a family you want to be a part of because every moments you are with them is enjoyable.
  • The fighting. I’m someone who doesn’t necessarily care about combat in books since for combat I prefer visuals. I don’t usually care about reading it in depths. If there’s anything I like to read about combat it’s more like taction. There was no taction in this book, yet I loved the combat. I loved reading about Rogan picking up car parts and slicing people in half with it. I liked how simple it was written when Rogan just threw a guy in a lake and dropped building on him. It was literally written in a few sentences as if it wasn’t important because to Rogan, it wasn’t. I liked the null space where if a Prime used so much of their magic they literally became untouchable because it basically put them in a dimension where you could see them but that was it. The combat in this book was so good that I actually enjoyed reading it and didn’t feel like I just wanted to skim through it.
  • Even though Adam was the villian, he was charming. A lot of times villains are portrayed as awful from the start with no good qualities as if there only personality trait was them being evil, which isn’t always bad thing because sometimes evil is just evil depending on the context of the character. For Adam, since he was well known, popular, rich, if he was just an evil asshole he wouldn’t be a good character. The fact that he is rich and popular would mean that he is charming. He was probably taught to be charming because it’s good for business and its how you get people to do things for you. Adam is also a manipulator, so it makes perfect sense for him to being charming. He didn’t care for people, but he could act like he did. He could make you feel like you were worth something to him because he wanted you to do something. He is a good villain because he a charming villain which makes him tricky. I also don’t really see books where the main character and the villian sit down and have chats while the main character knows that person is the villain. They did and each time it was a game of them trying to convince each other to do something.
  • Like I said before Nevada is smart. She doesn’t rush into things and make stupid decisions like a lot of main characters. She needs to go into a bar to question people but she knows that it’s dark, and it will have a bunch of drunk men in there who will probably already be a little angry and won’t like a random girl in there poking around, so she goes home instead and decides to go in the morning because it’s safer. She thinks out everything before she does it. A lot of times characters rush into everything because it makes good content for the book. Nevada shows you don’t need to have a character do that. There are ways to make your character not make stupid decisions and still have the story progress and still be likeable. Even when Nevada has to put herself in a dangerous situation she makes sure to take precautions before going. She makes sure to think about what will happen if she does something and if it’s not a result she will like she will find another way to do it. She is a witty character who is actually clever.

Cons

  • I was honestly to interested in reading that I didn’t find anything wrong. Even as i true to think about it, there was nothing I didn’t like about the book. I think i might actually prefer it to Kate Daniels, which I didn’t think I would. Even the writing was good,It was written in a smart way. Maybe i’ll see something wrong in the second one but i’m not going to try to find fault in something when I didn’t find fault in it while reading it. It’s not fair to the author so this book doesn’t have any cons to me.

If it’s not clear enough, I love this book. If you like Urban Fantasy and haven’t read this book yet then do it. I like that this isn’t a world of supernatural creatures but just people who can use different forms of magic because of experimentation. It was fun to read about people shooting fire, talking to animals, being able to tell if something was a lie, the magic circles. Ilona’s characters are realistic and entertaining to read. Nevada was a constant enjoyment and Rogan trying to understand human emotions was a different approach for a powerful man. It doesn’t seem like it is, but the way Ilona writes it is different then the ways it’s been done before. I honestly thought Rogan was going to be a character who was emotionless except for anger, but he wasn’t. This book blew away everything I had expected it to be and I love it.


“And let’s be honest, you weren’t exactly harmed. I even took you home.”

“You dumped me on my doorstep. According to my mother, I looked half dead.”

“Your mother exaggerates. A third dead at most.”
― Ilona Andrews

Paranormal · Urban Fantasy · Vampires · Werewolf

Kate Daniels

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Kate Daniels

Ilona Andrews

Magic_bite_orig

Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group

Released Year: 2007

When I Read It: August 2018

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Werewolves, Vampires

Grade: B/ 4 Stars

“Kate’s Speciality: Killing things, with much bloodshed. Talking trash, infuriating authority. Driving Beast Lord crazy.”

― Ilona Andrews

The Kate Daniels Series is about…. Kate Daniels. Kate Daniels is a problem solver in a world that is an alternative version of Atlanta. In this Atlanta magic has disrupted the balance of things and has the effect of making electronic devices only work half of the time. Cars and phones are not reliable. Kate Daniels wanted to live her life alone at her house with no complications. She didn’t want people to care for or a relationship of any kind with anyone, but after the only man who is in any way important to her dies Kate finds herself more wrapped up in the world of the supernatural then she planned in being. Bound on finding the killer of her Guardian, Kate must meet with the People(vampires but cooler) and the Shifters, which causes her to get sucked up into their lives. Of course that wouldn’t be all. Kate is hiding something. Something that people would kill her for if they knew. Kate has been taught her whole life to keep it a secret, but can she while being wrapped into the dangerous life of magic in the alternate Atlanta.

 

For all the urban fantasy and werewolf lovers, here you go. I gift this series to you. Want a bloodier Mercy Thompson story that is still heart warming and maybe a bit more steamy, this is it. Kate’s character is that of the bad ass aunt you wished you had. She will do something just because you told her she couldn’t. No means nothing to her. It’s the gasoline she needed to make her fire go out of control. Kate is strong and doesn’t sit on the back lines letting people do all the work for her. Kate has her own fair share in killing people and getting hurt. Although Kate is the type to want to shut out people, when she cares for people she cares for them deep. She isn’t a shifter but to her pack is pack. If you’re in her pack she will protect you and care for you. Also the insults she throws make you actually laugh while reading. Seriously I want Kate to be my aunt. I want her to be real so she can adopt me into her family.

The series is set up in a fantasy, crime, detective type of book. Each book faces a new problem that arises and within the same book it is solved. There is still a over all major plot happening throughout the whole book. A lot of the little crimes that Kate has to solve all go back to the main plot unfolding and Kate getting wrapped up into it deeper and deeper with each book. Each book has it’s own enemy while the books main enemy gets closer and closer. It also takes a more unique twist on the creatures. The People are like necromancers that control vampires through a connection in their mind(it’s very interesting). The shifters are a huge pack of subpacks of different Shifters ran by the Beast Lord(Who is a giant white striped tiger). The strong shifters can also half shift. (I’ll leave what they look like up to your imagination.) Also a man who can shift into anything he desires, including extremely bodacious women.  

Pros:

  • The world is very different and therefore very fun to read. Ilona Andrews takes a very different take on the typical supernatural creatures we all know and make them into something new. It’s refreshing to not read the same vampire and werewolf stories over and over again.
  • Curran. Curran and Kate’s relationship throughout the series goes for a ride and once it sails it is what relationships should be. They become a solid unit. They trust each other completely(except for one of the books but there was a reason for that), and when they do fight it might start with some yelling but it always end with them having a conversation on how to fix it. It’s not a relationship full of drama. It’s pure love and respect for each other.
  • Kate with Julie and Derek. Kate never saw herself having a love life, much less kids, but she treats Julie and Derek like they are her own and her relationship with the two of them are possibly cuter than her with Curran. Like Curran, Derek would give his life for  Kate.He is with her every step of the way throughout the books. I didn’t count it but I would definitely say over all, for most of the books, Derek is with Kate more then Curran is. Derek is one of the only characters Kate let’s make fun of her and also respects despite him barely being an adult. Then there’s Julie who is the reason I want Kate to be my aunt. Watching how she handles Julie and all of her little problems is definitely different than a normal mother type would do but Kate is also not normal. There has been multiple times of Kate going out of her way to make sure no harm comes to Julie and each time you can see just how much Kate truly loves her. She works hard to even train Julie to be a tough women so that if Kate isn’t able to help her in time she knows that Julie can help herself.

 

Cons:

  • Although I love Curran and I love his relationship with Kate, in the beginning it did start a little weird. Curran is an alpha male and he acts like it, even towards Kate in the beginning. He acts like he is trying to push his dominance on Kate at times but Kate doesn’t take it and each time he does it she knocks him down a peg, which is what I love about them. And eventually the dominance does start to get cuter and more like them playing rather than him actually acting like her alpha. Them claiming each other was my favorite part of their moments before they got together, and is when the the dominance starts to stop and they start to become equals.
  • It does take a little while for it to fully say what Kate is and what her relation is to what’s going on with everything, but it doesn’t leave you in the dark not knowing anything. Hints and little tidbits are dropped along the way until the point where she out right says it. I know a lot of people just want to know things as fast as possible, so for the people who don’t like waiting to find out the characters secrets this does take a little bit of time. Good news though. The books aren’t terribly long, usually less than 300 pages, and you can fly through them fast and learn her secret quick.
  • Some people might find it repetitive since it does follow the style of each book having a murder or something happens and Kate has to stop it. It’s inner parts are different and always have different things happening but it does always start with something bad happening and Kate fixing it at the end. Cliff hangers aren’t really happening with this series, either. The problem is usually solved and might just have some slight foreshadowing as to how the main plot might progress in the next book.

 

I think this book is up there on the Urban fantasy. I’ve definitely found my fair share of horrible urban fantasy books, but this series is one of the best of its kind. Right under Mercy Thompson which is my favorite werewolf/ Urban Fantasy series. I have yet to finish the series completely,(The last book just came out a few days ago) but from the 8/10 books I have read I have gotten to know the series pretty well and fell in love with Ilona Andrews’ character, Kate Daniels. 

“I think you’re confused as to the nature of our relationship. You and I, we don’t get along. You’re a psychopathic control freak. You order me around and I want to kill you. I’m a pigheaded insubordinate ass. I drive you mad and you want to strangle me.”

― Ilona Andrews

*It does have sex scenes but there not too detailed. A paragraph or two. They aren’t having sex every other chapter, more like once or twice within the book once they become a couple. Not for kids, and depending on how old you are maybe not for teens but for the older teens whose parents don’t care what they read(Like mine) it’s ok. Definitely don’t read though if you can’t read anything that features sex. It’s nowhere near a big part of the book, like I said it’s a paragraph or two like two or three times an book, but it does have sex scenes with very mild descriptions of what is going on. If you like your books clean of that this series is not for you. *

“Did those nice church ladies come by again?”

He nodded. “I asked them if a man died and then the woman remarried, and then the three of them met in heaven, would it be a sin for them to have a threesome, since they were all married in God’s eye. And they decided they were late to be somewhere else.”

― Ilona Andrews