Ilona Andrews

Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) By: Ilona Andrews

Sweep in Peace

Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

Dina DeMille doesn’t run your typical Bed and Breakfast. Her inn defies laws of physics, her fluffy dog is secretly a monster, and the only paying guest is a former Galactic tyrant with a price on her head. But the inn needs guests to thrive, and guests have been scarce, so when an Arbitrator shows up at Dina’s door and asks her to host a peace summit between three warring species, she jumps on the chance.

Unfortunately, for Dina, keeping the peace between Space Vampires, the Hope-Crushing Horde, and the devious Merchants of Baha-char is much easier said than done. On top of keeping her guests from murdering each other, she must find a chef, remodel the inn…and risk everything, even her life, to save the man she might fall in love with. But then it’s all in the day’s work for an Innkeeper…

Review:

I honestly think what really pushed me to read this series was knowing that some of the characters I liked in the Edge Series made an appearance. George, Jack, and Lark are all grown up and they still very much have their issues.

Still this is Dina’s story and even though I liked the Edge character’s appearance, I preferred her part in everything. She’s like a patch of light in the middle of a lot of darkness, but when she realizes she’s being played she doesn’t pitch a fit or mope she took care of business.

Fair warning, I cried a lot while reading this. A lot. Freaked my family out.

Really hope there’s another book and I probably won’t be able to stop myself from reading it on Andrew’s website.

5/5

Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) By: Ilona Andrews

Clean Sweep

Clean Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #1) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is…different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, “normal” is a bit of a stretch for Dina. And now, something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night….Feeling responsible for her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with the annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans—an alpha-strain werewolf—and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.

Review:

I waited a while before reading this Ilona Andrews book. I knew, at the time, that she was posting it in chapters on her website, but I chose to wait until it was done. Then I kind of forgot about it until the second book was published as well. Wow, was not expecting this.

Clean Sweep is a supernatural/Sci-Fi mix and I love it! I can understand why this wasn’t published traditionally because it’s probably a hard sell, but I’m so glad they found a way to get it out there.

Dina is a great heroine, she’s smart and capable but not overpowered. Her Inn is just as interesting. She is also, not like I feared, anything like Kate Daniels. She is very much a new character.

Loved the world that was created and teased, since it was a shorter book there wasn’t as much as I would like, but there was still a fair amount of info. Really looking forward to the next book and I’m already sad there’s only one more.

5/5

 

My 2015 Favorites

Movies:

2015 was not a good year for movies, for me at least. Of course, I’ve yet to see Star Wars so that could certainly change. I gave only two movies 5 stars, Tomorrowland and Mockingjay. I had several 4 stars that I remember very fondly though. Anyway, the following is a list of the movies I enjoyed the most, star ranking be damned.

    1. Tomorrowland– I was not expecting to love this movie as much as I did and I’m so thankful that I rented it. Literally the day after I watched it I went out, bought it, and watched it again. I have it downloaded on all of my devices and will just randomly watch parts of it. I love it and I could easily see this movie becoming one of my all-time favorites
    2. Jurassic World– This movie is another one that I bought, but I haven’t actually watched it yet. Thinking back to the theater I really loved it and I’m excited for more in the franchise like this. Also, Chris Pratt is awesome.
    3. Kingsman: The Secret Service– I think this movie was so great because I wasn’t expecting it. I went in with very little expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
    4. Parallels– I hesitate listing this because, while I liked it, it doesn’t feel complete. I really hope there’s more to come because the world created was very interesting.This was the year of books. I read over 100 books and so many of them were good. I did of course read a couple I absolutely loathed (I’m looking at you Fable: Edge of the World and Murder is Binding) but the majority of what I read I really enjoyed.

Books:

 

    1. Lois Lane: Fallout by Gwenda Bond– I gave this as a Christmas present, that should really tell you how much I enjoyed it. I can easily see this being the first book in a series I absolutely adore.
    2. Justice Calling by Annie Bellet– This is the first book in the Twenty-Sided Sorceress series and one of my favorite discoveries of the year. Great series and I’m looking forward to reading the most recent installment.
    3. Anything by Jenn McKinlay- I read several McKinlay books this year and I loved almost all of them and the one I didn’t love I still liked. If you’re looking for a cozy mystery I highly recommend anything she’s done. She writes great characters and her stories are light and fairly believable.
    4. Clariel by Garth Nix- Even after all this time Nix stayed true to the world and showed us a great character.
    5. Magic Breaks & Magic Shifts by Ilona Andrews- It’s Ilona Andrews, of course these books were amazing.
    6. Dead Heat by Patricia Briggs- Just like Ilona Andrews, Briggs never fails to give me a book I love.
    7. Cinder by Marissa Meyer- Really liked the unique take on fairy tales this series has brought. I haven’t yet read the final installment, but I’m looking forward to it.

TV:

 

I don’t write as many TV blog posts as I should, probably because I watch too much damn TV, but here’s a list of my favorites for the year.

    1. Sense 8 on Netflix– This show suffered some pacing issues, but it didn’t affect how much I loved it. Season 2 can’t come out fast enough.
    2. Marvel’s Agent Carter on ABC– Loved this show. Really loved this show. I want to be Agent Carter when/if I grow up. She’s such a great character and I’m really looking forward to season 2 which starts in January.
    3. Jane the Virgin on CW– When I’m watching this show I’m in freakin love. When I’m not watching this show I can’t really understand why I liked it so much because it sounds so crazy. Every episode delivers and it has continued into the second season, there has been no dip in quality. Highly recommend, more people should be watching this.
    4. Daredevil on Netflix– Episode two has one of the best fight scenes of the year from movies or TV, it was that good.
    5. Jessica Jones on Netflix– I didn’t think it was possible, but this was darker than Daredevil. Not really a huge fan of dark, but they did this very well. I thought Jessica Jones was a realistic portrayal of an abuse victim that happens to have some superpowers. She was rarely likable, but I never hated her, you could always understand why she acted the way she did. Actors were spot on as well, it was freaky seeing Tennant be so evil.
    6. Dark Matter on SyFy– I found this show on Netflix and was pleasantly surprised. It takes a couple episodes to gather steam but when it does it becomes an interesting Sci-Fi tv show. Nice female lead and an interesting story.

 

This has been my 2015 year in review. What did you enjoy most this year?

Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels #8) By: Ilona Andrews

MagicShifts_CV

Magic Shifts (Kate Daniels #8) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

After breaking from life with the Pack, mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate—former Beast Lord Curran Lennart—are adjusting to a very different pace. While they’re thrilled to escape all the infighting, Curran misses the constant challenges of leading the shapeshifters.

So when the Pack offers him its stake in the Mercenary Guild, Curran seizes the opportunity—too bad the Guild wants nothing to do with him and Kate. Luckily, as a veteran merc, Kate can take over any of the Guild’s unfinished jobs in order to bring in money and build their reputation. But what Kate and Curran don’t realize is that the odd jobs they’ve been working are all connected.

An ancient enemy has arisen, and Kate and Curran are the only ones who can stop it—before it takes their city apart piece by piece…

Review:

*Sigh* There are few things better than a new Ilona Andrew’s book. Normally I put off reading as long as I can, but when this was delivered to my kindle at midnight the only thing keeping me from reading it was the fact my kindle was downstairs and I was warm and cozy in bed. My laziness wins out over a new book apparently.

Anyway, I devoured this book in one day and now the wait begins for the next. I was curious to see how Kate would figure out how to fight her super powerful father and thought they had forgotten about it until the absolute end of the book and I realized the entire book was really a way to fight her father. It was interesting and unexpected since I didn’t try and think up my own solution. Nothing I could come up with would be better than what Andrews creates. NOTHING.

The book starts out immediately with Kate killing some ghouls and because of that it took me a few pages to get into it. I wanted to know how they were coping living in the suburbs, I wanted all the relationship stuff. I was impatient but they didn’t make me wait too long. I am a little concerned about how things there are developing. I hope in a later book a human that isn’t a difficult/annoying person is introduced. They’ve moved from one pack but they’re being joined by everyone it feels like. On one hand I love the characters and I’m glad they’re there, but how is that going to work with the real pack?

So many questions left in the series and there are so many amazing characters that I feel that Ilona Andrews should be in line to have their consciousness uploaded to a computer so that we will always have a new book

5/5

 

Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels #7) By: Ilona Andrews

Magic Breaks

Magic Breaks (Kate Daniels #7) By: Ilona Andrews

 Plot:

As the mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary Kate Daniels has more responsibilities than it seems possible to juggle. Not only is she still struggling to keep her investigative business afloat, she must now deal with the affairs of the pack, including preparing her people for attack from Roland, a cruel ancient being with god-like powers. Since Kate’s connection to Roland has come out into the open, no one is safe—especially those closest to Kate. As Roland’s long shadow looms ever nearer, Kate is called to attend the Conclave, a gathering of the leaders from the various supernatural factions in Atlanta. When one of the Masters of the Dead is found murdered there, apparently at the hands of a shapeshifter, Kate is given only twenty-four hours to hunt down the killer. And this time, if she fails, she’ll find herself embroiled in a war which could destroy everything she holds dear…

Review:

If I could I would have Ilona Andrews or Patricia Briggs baby. I love them so much! My husband would probably have issues with that, but how else can I express just how much I love them? I’ve read some pretty awful books, but knowing that Andrews and Briggs are out there writing makes it bearable.

I wouldn’t call Magic Breaks the climactic conclusion, but we did finally see Roland, which was pretty climactic. We finally got to see this huge evil that Kate has been preparing her whole life to kill. There was a pretty awesome fight with just her. Not as much Curran time, but he was there when he needed to be.

The ending was a complete surprise and I’m so glad that the next book comes out this year. I also enjoyed the short story at the end, it was a nice way to bring me back down to earth. It was short and cute and expanded a character that didn’t get much time in the book.

I’m excited to see what happens next, I’m happy with the way the book went, and I’m overjoyed that Andrews writes faster than some other authors I love.

5/5