Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews

Kate is no longer working for the Order; she's set out on her own. She's not had any clients so far but then there's an unmanned vampire, the PAD is in her yard, and all hell is breaking loose. Her best friend Andrea has just showed up after eight weeks of no word and Kate finally gets her first client. And then she gets two new employees (Derrick and a 15-year-old Bouda). And she is going to get ready to go to battle (again). Just in time for her adopted daughter Julie to show up.

Lots of action in this book but I wish we had seen more character development. Still a good book in the series.

Three stars

Follows Magic Bleeds

Followed by Magic Rises

This book came out April 25th, 2011

Hard copy borrowed from library

Opinions are my own

Blitzen's Fated Mate by R.E. Butler

I had heard about this book on the Smart Bitches Trashy books website. They gave it an F+ for just pure nutsiness and I loved the review. 
Honestly, I don't think Elyse's review can be beat so the TL;DR is that the shifter in the "Blitzen position" falls out of the sky and meets his fated mate who he more or less immediately starts boning.

Two and a half stars

Followed by Dasher's Fated Mate

This book came out February 29th, 2016

Kindle book

Opinions are my own

Hopcross Jilly by Patricia Briggs

This book focuses a little bit more on Jesse Hauptman though parts still are told from Mercedes "Mercy" Thompson's point of view. It is a nice addition to the Mercy Thompson series but I wouldn't suggest reading it unless you've read other books in the series.
Mercy and a pack of wolves discover a skeleton one night while they are out hunting. It turns out that there are actually four skeletons, pointing in the four cardinal directions. And as the police come in and start looking, those aren't the only four.
At the same time, Jesse is being ostracized at school because of her relationship with the wolf pack. But there is one new girl, Jillian, who seems interested in being her friend.  But she's just a little odd herself and Jesse isn't sure she's a friend worth having.

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 10th, 2015

Hard copy of mine

Opinions are my own

Feel the Burn by G.A. Aiken

Gaius Lucius Domitus lost an eye to his uncle when he was a child. Then his cousin (the uncle's daughter) kidnapped his sister and tortured her for years. So it's understandable that he's spending a lot of time hunting down the entire family and trying to kill them. But he is somewhat distracted by the cult of the eyeless human god. They are growing in numbers and very opposed to anything that is "unclean." In fact, the cult has been going through other temples and "purifying" the inhabitants. Mainly it is a lot of unnecessary killing. 

And that's what Kachka of the Steppes has been asked to do by the human queen Anwyll, get rid of the cultists. She is not generally impressed by men but this particular male dragon is... not horrible. And he's good in bed. As a descendant of women who keep men only for sex, breeding, and trash removal (more or less), this is pretty important. Plus, he's good in battle which is going to be important as the two band together to beat the eyeless god to what he is looking for.

Dragon Kin #8

Three stars

This book came out November 24th, 2015

Follows Light My Fire

Followed by Bring the Heat

Ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible plus audiobook January 2024

Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

 Hugh d'Ambry was the Big Bad in the Kate Daniels series. At least until around book 8 when he was unceremoniously kicked to the curb by the man he idolized, Roland, an old god. When the book begins, he has descended into alcoholism while his Iron Dogs (the men who followed him) are being decimated by another of Roland's men, Landon Nez. They need a place to call their own, where they can dig in and stay.
So they go looking for some people that need protecting and find a group known as The Departed. They live in a magic wood and have several groups trying to steal their land. That includes Nez. In order to cement the union, Hugh and the leader of The Departed, Elara, marry. Neither is very excited about it. They
I liked that we don't know everything about the background of Elara and her group. Obviously they had to do something desperate in order to survive, but what? and why? How is this series going to cross over with Kate Daniels again (and it will, as they will have to team up in order to defeat Roland -- it does in Magic Triumphs but there is definitely more than what we see in this one book that happens before then)? 

Four stars

Follows Magic Binds

Followed by Magic Triumphs

This book came out June 18, 2018

Ebook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread March 2024

Blood Heir by Ilona Andrews

If you've read the Kate Daniels series (I don't think you have to have to enjoy this book but I'd highly recommend them anyway), you'll remember her adopted daughter, Julie. Well, Julie is back in Atlanta but she doesn't want anyone to know because there is a prophecy that, if she sees Kate, Kate will die. And Julie figures she's okay because she's got a new face and a new smell... no one should know who she is. Except that a lot of people seem to figure it out but that is not out of character for this world. 
Julie, now known as Aurelia, is up against a Big Bad who gets his power from his followers doing human sacrifice. She is powerful from her own magic but also from an infusion of blood that Kate gave her (and Kate is the daughter of a god.) Also, Aurelia has been studying with Kate's aunt (another god more or less) for a long time and is now her aunt's logical heir (assuming that her aunt will die.) 
So, not only does Katie have a big ol' target on her back, as her protector, Aurelia does as well. But she is back on her own turf so she's got some home field advantage.
This was a rather short book but there was a lot of packed into it and I am excited to read the rest of the series. I am currently rereading the Kate Daniels series which is really letting me see how many ties are woven in and storylines that are being continued in these books.

Four stars

This book came out January 12th, 2021

Ebook borrowed from Libby

Opinions are my own

Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

It's been 8 weeks since Curran told Kate that he wanted to have a naked dinner with her. So, the fact that he didn't show up is causing her some consternation. When he won't even come to the phone, she's pissed.
Three weeks later, she's called to the Steel Horse, a bar on the border of the necromancer/shifter areas. A shapeshifter has been infected with disease. And more impossible things are happening. Including Kate picking up a dog and meeting family she didn't really know she had.
A good book that really moved a lot of storylines ahead quite a bit. I'm looking forward to listening to the next one.

Four stars

Follows Magic Strikes

Followed by Magic Bleeds

This book came out May 25th, 2010

Borrowed as an audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Magic Strikes by Ilona Andrews

Kate is working as a contractor for the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid. But she's distracted by the barely-legal Midnight Games that leave her beast friend Derek on the edge of death. She becomes the enemy of a team determined to win the games, the Reapers who are also determined to wipe out all half-breeds.
This is the book where we learn more about Kate's father as well.
I think this would be better read than listened too but that was my easiest option and the narrator is good so why mess with it?

Three stars

Follows Magic Burns

Followed by Magic Bleeds

This book came out March 31st, 2009

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews

 This book was a little easier to follow as an audiobook than the first one. Kate is trying to retrieve some maps for the Pack when her colleague is killed. That leads her into an investigation of trying to find the mother of a 13-year-old girl who has a rare power and the coven of witches that disappeared with her mother. She'll have to face the Oracles, deal with The Shepherd, and defeat Morrigan herself in order to survive. Also involved, Ghastek, the man who controls vampires, Derek, Kate's blood-bound werewolf friend, and Curran, the leader of the Pack. All while the magic seems to be heading for a flare...
Favorite line? "Asshole innocent bystanders" Ha!

Three and a half stars

Follows Magic Bites

Followed by Magic Strikes

This book came out April 1st, 2008

Borrowed as a hard copy from the library

Opinions are my own

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

The Smart Bitches podcast recommended this book as being better than the Dresden Files.
Kate Daniels doesn't belong to the Order but when her guardian is killed, she's pulled into the investigation. She's not official but at least she's involved. She'll encounter vampires, shifters, and an "Unpire" (maybe, not sure on spelling since I was listening) before the book is over.
This was a little hard to keep up with on audio but I enjoyed it as much the second time I listened.

Kate Daniels #1

Three stars
This book came out March 29th, 2009
Followed by Magic Burns
Borrowed as an audiobook from Libby
Opinions are my own

Reread March 2024

Bite Me by Shelly Laurenston

I can't believe I haven't found Shelly Laurenston before this.  I've been enjoying her books -- fast, fun, and fluffy. And the character building is fantastic. Livy, our heroine, is a honey badger shifter. And like her animal counterpart, she has a fairly bad attitude about life in general. It doesn't help that her family likes to steal things -- that part doesn't bother her, but the fact that they refuse to acknowledge her prowess as a photographer does. 
Vic is a half-bear-half-tiger shifter. Apparently he's generally strong and patient but easily startled. He and Livy have been friends for awhile (yes! one of my favorite tropes!) but he is only just now starting to realize that he might feel more for her than just little sister vibes. And Livy feels the same. But she's also distracted by the fact that she's just found her father -- her supposedly dead and buried father, in another woman's apartment. So there's that.
I hadn't read any of the other books in this series the first time I read this book but I was able to catch on fast to the world building. There were a LOT of extra characters that I assumed were from previous books and they were but there are pretty much always this many characters in the books of this series. 

Four stars
This book came out March 25th, 2014
This book follows Wolf with Benefits 
Followed by Hot and Badgered (new series but closely connected with this one)
Ebook I borrowed from Overdrive
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

Wolf with Benefits by Shelly Laurenston

Antonella "Toni" Jean-Louis Parker has pretty much given up her life so that she can care for her parents and her ten siblings. See, they're all geniuses while she's the "normal" one who can cope with the day-to-day but her friends and some of her family (mostly her father) have decided that she needs to get her own life so they've conspired to get her a job.
Ricky Lee Reed works for his brother's security agency. He meets Toni one day and is interested, until she turns him down. But their paths keep crossing and he is consistent in his interest.
I liked this one. Toni didn't get on my nerves as much as come of the other heroines in this series and was actually pretty good at her job once she figured out that she could do it.

Four stars
This book came out March 25th, 2014

Follows Bear Meets Girl
Followed by Bite Me
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

Bear Meets Girl by Shelly Laurenston

Lou Crushek is a bear shifter who doesn't like change. At all. So when he's transferred with no notice from his police unit to the one containing all shifters, he's not happy. Who cares if his former foster mother, the head of the Bears Protection Agency, has basically doxxed him? He's also not excited to have picked up a female who seems to relish teasing him about their "dating" life.
Marcella Malone knows that Lou isn't her boyfriend. But he's so fun to tease. And it turns out that her work with the feline protection agency overlaps an investigation that he is very much an important part of. 
The more I read this book the more I enjoy it. Cella has a sly humor that makes her a great character for the series.

Four stars

This book came out March 27th, 2012

Follows Big Bad Beast
Followed by Wolf with Benefits
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

Big Bad Beast by Shelly Laurenston

Dee Ann Smith, the feared wolf-shifter who's not afraid to kill, gets her HEA with Ulrich "Ric" Van Holtz in this book. He's loved her since they were children and, despite the admonitions of all of those around them, the two have finally started moving toward love. 
Of course, we get to see many of the shifters from previous books and there is more going on with the overarching story of people using hybrids as fight dogs. A wonderful book in the series since we get to see so much of their relationship growing.

Four stars

This book came out May 25th, 2010

Follows Beast Behaving Badly
Followed by Bear Meets Girl
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

Beast Behaving Badly by Shelly Laurenston

I like the Pride books. I like Laurenston. I did NOT like Blayne. I think Laurenston really brought through the fact that Blayne, as a wild dog, was frenetic, unfiltered, and erratic and it made for some hard reading and an unlikable character. I never really got why she and Bo were supposed to be together. No one's going to like every book in a series and this one is going to be one that I dislike.
It is better when you skim the Blayne parts. Bumped it up to three stars on the re-reads (I do re-read it often though because I can't stand to skip books in series...) because Bo is really growing on me. He doesn't try to change Blayne and her annoyingness, he loves her as she is and plans to work around her.

Three stars

This book came out May 1st, 2011
Follows The Mane Squeeze
Followed by Big Bad Beast
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

The Mane Squeeze by Shelly Laurenston

We meet Gwen O'Neill and Lochlan "Lock" McRyrie in this book. She is a tigon shifter, a hybrid, never really accepted and sometimes outright despised by other shifters. Lock, a grizzly shifter doesn't care, he just thinks she's hot. The two will have to battle her brothers, deal with a long-time feud with a lion pride, and even take part in a roller derby battle, quite nearly to the death.
Blayne is not nearly as annoying in this book but she and Jessie together can be... over enthusiastic. And the annoyingness of that comes through in every interaction.

Three stars
This book came out November 1st, 2009

Follows The Mane Attraction
Followed by Big Bad Beast
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

The Mane Attraction by Shelly Laurenston

We know from the previous book that Mitch Shaw was an undercover policeman who witnessed an act that would put a bad guy away for a long, long time. So, said bad guy definitely wants to kill him. 

Sissy Mae Smith has been friends with Mitch for awhile. So she's sort of shocked when she wakes up in the lion-shifter's bed the morning after her brother's wedding. She's even more shocked when Mitch gets shot. 

Realizing that the only safe place for Mitch is going to be her hometown, Sissy Mae sweeps him away. There they have to contend not only with the killer but with a brother that hates her and a town full of wolf shifters who definitely hate felines. 

There was a little too much going on in this book but it was still a fun read.

Three stars
Follows The Beast in Him
Followed by The Mane Squeeze
This book came out November 1st, 2008
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024

A Tale of Two Dragons by G. A. Aiken

 When your father is a plotter and the rest of the family doesn't really want you, sometimes the best you can do is stay hidden. That is what Braith of the Darkness is trying to do. But now she's suddenly been asked to help escort a lady to her home and her crush is going along on the trip. The crush that seems to be very admiring of the lady who is the antithesis of Braith.
Addolgar the Cheerful is a Cadwaladr, a family of fighters. He's willing to help a lady. However, if that lady tries to poison him... well, all bets are off. It's a good thing that Braith not only saves him initially but then helps get him away from the people that were going to make sure he was really most sincerely dead.
This is a short story but we still get a sense of who both Braith and Addolgar are. We also get to see why they are attracted to each other and what it is that each admires about the other. All with a sense of fun that permeates the entire Dragon Kin series.

Four stars
Dragon Kin #0.2

This novella came out November 5th, 2013

Follows Can't Get Enough
Followed by Dragon on Top
Borrowed from OverDrive
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audio Plus January 2024

Natural Evil and Devil's Gate by Thea Harrison

Former military sniper Claudia Hunter is at loose ends. She is just over forty and only needed four more years until retirement but she wanted to get out. So now she's just traveling the United States, living as simply as possible. During a trip through a Nevada desert, she feels compelled to stop and walk out a little distance. That's where she discovers a dog that has obviously been beaten and then dragged behind a car. It is only just barely alive. She manages to get the oversize animal into her car using her telekinesis and then hits the highway at a rush. When a sheriff pulls her over, she is startled to realize that he is acting very strangely once he sees the dog. But he does help her get the dog to a vet. There, he continues to act strangely before eventually leaving. That is when the vet and Claudia share their suspicions that the dog is actually a Wyr shifter.

And he is. But for reasons of his own (and as he heals), Luis Alvarez doesn't want to let on what he is. Too bad Claudia immediately starts needling him and calling him "Precious." When he finally does speak, it's to reveal that Claudia is right, there is something bigger going on and he was targeted because of what he figured out.

The tarot deck mentioned in the first Elder Races novella plays a small role in this story as well.

This was a nice novella and I hope that we get to see more of Claudia and Luis. How will their relationship work when Luis is Wyr and it's implied that Claudia, a human, is his mate?

Four stars

Follows Oracle's Moon

Followed by Devil's Gate

This novella came out March 20th, 2012

Borrowed from CloudLibrary

 Seremela Telemar is as susceptible to helping family as the next person. Now her niece, Vetta, who swiped the magical tarot deck from Claudia in the last Elder Races novel, has run away from home and  toward Devil's Gate, a present day gold rush - though, in this case it's a silver that holds magic easily. 
When Duncan Turner, lawyer vampyre, hears that Seremela is going to the most lawless place in the United States, where nothing is being policed, he tells her he can't let her go alone. With a voice like Alan Rickman's, so smooth that other lawyers and judges will come just to hear him speak on the rare occasions he still tries a case, he convinces her to let him come along.
Short but sweet, this book is better read in the context of the full Elder Races series, at least the other novellas.

Three stars
Follows Natural Evil
Followed by Hunter's Season
This novella came out June 5th, 2012
Borrowed by ebook from Overdrive
Opinions are my own

The Beast in Him by Shelly Laurenston

When she was sixteen, Jessie Ann Ward was desperately in love with Bobby Ray Smith. Even though his sisters made her life hell, even though she was an orphan, even though she was a wild dog in a town full of wolves, Bobby Ray (now known as Smitty) was one of the few people who were kind to her.
But he left. And she went out and built her own pack, becoming the Alpha of a wild dog team that also does computer hacking to test security. When they meet again as adults, Jessica wants to put him in his place so she pretends not to know him. And that pisses Smitty off. Because he "knows" that she's faking so he's not going to take no for an answer (not romantic).
I had a lot of issues with the not taking no and Jessie being a little hyper but I did love her family and how they were so accepting of everyone. Except the Smiths; but there was history.

Three stars
This book came out April 1st, 2008

Follows The Mane Event
Followed by The Mane Attraction
Hard copy I own
Opinions are my own

Reread as borrowed audiobook from Audible January 2024