Sanctuary by Ilona Andrews

It's Christmastime but that doesn't mean much to Roman. Usually he gets some time off from being the Black Volhv for Chernobog, God of Destruction, Darkness, and Death. But this morning he's woken up to no eggnog and no cookies. Also, there are a wounded boy with a German Shepard puppy (sort of) who are seeking sanctuary in his house. Because he's not already full up with evil animals. But he can't abide the fact that there are a number of men trying to hunt this boy down for no discernable reason. Plus, the hunters are just pissing him off. 

This series is adjacent to Kate Daniels and doesn't have as strong a start as the Iron Covenant but I think it's going to grow into some great books.

Three stars

This book came out July 30, 2024

Roman’s Chronicles, #1

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Clean Sweep (the graphic novel) by Ilona Andrews

This book is great with setting up the world building. We've got Dina Demille who is an innkeeper. Her parents disappeared and she's wondering where they are. Her sister married and moved away. Her brother is a wanderer. Maybe not a hard world to build until you realize that Dina is actually linked to her inn and that they people that stay at her inn are beings from other planets using Earth as a place to stop on their travels. 

From the opening chapter, we actually get a glimpse of this one Dina approaches one of her neighbors. Something has been killing dogs in the neighborhood and she wants Sean Evans to take care of it. At first, he denies responsibility (and the fact that he's a werewolf) but she finds him staking his territory on her apple trees later that night. It's a hilarious encounter that only gets better

The graphic novel adaptation is pretty good but I still like the Graphic Audio better. 

Four stars

The adaptation came out March 5, 2024

Kindle ebook

Opinions are my own

Magic Triumphs by Ilona Andrews

What do you do when an ancient evil returns to your world, threatening to kill everyone you hold dear? An evil who causes thousands of people leave their homes to be boiled. Well, Kate decides she needs to make a deal with the devil, aka her father.

I hope that this is the ending to the Kate Daniels series while starting one with Julie and Erra and launching Hugh's. This is just a perfect bookend to the series bringing everyone together in a satisfactory way. 

Kate Daniels #10

This book came out August 28, 2018

Follows Iron and Magic

Followed by Magic Tides

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Magic Tides by Ilona Andrews

I think everyone knew that Kate and Curran would never be able to keep a low profile. They managed for seven years after they left Atlanta but it's all about to blow up for them. And it starts when Conlan brings his friend home. The friend's family member has been stolen by a local group that collects children but was the teen targeted? Kate is ready to go mete out some justice. Curran agrees that she should do it but asks that she keeps a low profile. It should be something that Kate can do but there's only so low a profile you can keep an underwater cult, a maybe god, and a Kraken that are all involved. 

It's good to see these two again and watching them build their lives is like revisiting old friends.

Four stars

This book came out January 17, 2023

Follows Magic Triumphs
Followed by Magic Claims

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Sweep of the Heart by Ilona Andrews

You can try to read this book without having read the books before it but it will be much more helpful (and enjoyable) if you have read the other books first. There are a lot of people and a lot of species that are easier to follow if you know some of them already. I had a hard time following when I read this book as a serial on teh authors' webpage. It was easier to read it all at once and an amazing story as an audiobook. The narrator was perfect for this book. 

Sean and Dina just cannot get down time. The stories of Sean's prowess have spread throughout the werewolf community and now many of his kind are showing up to try and win his favor. One of them drops the news that Wilmos, an old werewolf, has disappeared. They are able to find out where he is but they are unable to get there without help. Which means that they will need to do a favor in return.

And what a favor. The only beings with a portal near Wilmos are the Dominion and what they require in return is a safe place to complete the selection for a mate for their king. Yes, this is a galactic Bachelor, a contest that touches everyone at the Gertrude Hunt, including Caldenia.

Four stars

This book came out December 13, 2022

Audiobook comes out January 13, 2023

Follows Sweep of the Blade

Reread as audiobook from Hoopla August 2024

Ruby Fever by Ilona Andrews

This is basically a non-stop action book from the first page to the end though it does mellow out a bit in the Epilogue. A lot of loose threads are wrapped up in this book which was nice especially as Andrews have said on their blog that they are not sure whether there will be more books in this series. I'm not sure I loved all of the threads but it was mainly a grand trip. Definitely need to have read the previous books in the series to enjoy this one fully; lots of history and a whole lot of people. 

It's time for a final confrontation with Arkan and Catalina is not ready... but it needs to be done. And an illusion mage named Konstantin (who is both related to Alessandro and part of the Russian Imperium) brings everything to a head but Catalina is also dealing with a lost spider that is worth a quarter million dollars, the loss of her mentor Linus (he's not dead but someone sure tried to make him that way), becoming the Acting Warden of Texas, buying new property, her fiance's family coming to visit, and just trying to stay alive as an early-twenties head of her House. 

Four and a half stars

This book comes out August 23, 2022

Follows Emerald Blaze

ARC kindly provided by Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as Libby Audiobook September 2023

Wildfire by Ilona Andrews

Just because Nevada Baylor is a Prime doesn't mean that she's comfortable with her level of magic. Nor with the fact that her family is going to have to come out of hiding in order to avoid being put under her grandmother's family tree. And if life weren't complicated enough, she involved, like, involved-involved with Connor "Mad" Rogan. And his ex-fiancee's husband has gone missing so she's come to Connor for help.

This was maybe not as good as the previous two but only a little less weak. I didn't love all of the fiancee and Connor interactions (especially since he was so willfully dense about them) but overall a lovely addition to the series.

Three and a half stars

This book came out July 15, 2017

Follows White Hot

Followed by Diamond Fire

Borrowed as audiobook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Reread July 2022, September 2023

Fated Blades by Ilona Andrews

This book is technically a standalone and you really don't need to have read the other two books in the series to have read it since it doesn't really reference either at all. It sort of plops you down in the world of the Kinsmen but there are some rather large gaps in the story anyway (it's typical in the series) so you don't necessarily notice the things that are unexplained.

The book starts with two people whose families are mortal enemies and have been for generations. Matias Baena is shocked to hear Romana Adler is in his boardroom. Their companies have been developing technology sort of parallel to each other and now their respective spouses have run away with the information and it seems that they are going to be selling it to space pirates. 

Yes, it's overdramatic and yes, I mentioned the gaps but it was still really fun and I plan on rereading the last 25% before I send it back to KU.

Three stars

This book came out November 23, 2021

Follows Silver Shark

Borrowed as ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Silver Shark by Ilona Andrews

Part of an elite group that works (and sometimes kills) by hopping onto a biological computer network and then romping around Hackers style, Claire Shannon knows that she is a powerful psycher. It surprises her that her side loses the war but doesn't surprise her that the man next in line above her kills her team and tries to kill her as well. Now she is part of the refugee group sent to a new planet that is vividly colorful and filled with kind people, she is understandably shaken to be sent to the company owned by Venturo Escana, the one place where her skill might be uncovered.

For his part, Venturo is delighted to have someone climb the ranks so quickly that she becomes an indispensable right-hand. Too bad she works for him. And that he is so intrigued by the woman that he's met online.

Like the first book in this series, there are great leaps in time and gaps in the story but it is still worth reading. We see a woman who knows her own worth but is just trying to survive but who grows to care about other people as well. 

Three stars

This book came out September 14, 2011

Follows Silent Blade

Followed by Fated Blades

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Silent Blade by Ilona Andrews

This is a very short story with a lot of gaping holes and yet the Andrews pair makes it work. I can see why other people say this is one of their weaker series but it's like the authors sort of decided to just leave out wide swathes of the story in these books. But it is Andrews and thus still worth reading.

Meli Glades is an assassin. On a planet, in a world, where there are people with enhanced powers, she is one of the very few that has innate powers. Except that Meli is doing one last job and then retiring. And that job is finished in the first chapter of the book. But her family has pulled her back in for another kill, one that would be more personal since it is the man she was once engaged to but who rejected her before they even truly met. 

Celino Carvana meets a mysterious woman who makes him fall in love over the course of a few days. But then she disappears and he discovers that she was closer than he ever knew...

Three stars

This novella came out June 2, 2009

Followed by Silver Shark

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews

Derek Gaunt is trying to figure out his life. He was The Face for the Pack but then his good looks and resonant voice were ruined by silver. He is a werewolf and silver is the one thing that can kill his kind. He's already had a hard life (his father went crazy and basically killed the family so Derek had to kill him) and this doesn't help.

Julie Lennart-Olsen hasn't exactly had an easy life either. Her crush on Derek wasn't changed because his face was ruined. But she's got more important things going on like learning from her adopted grandfather (who is more or less a god) and protecting her adopted mother. And yes, that might mean that she crosses paths with Derek when a madman starts searching for a fallen star, even killing people to get to it.

This was an interesting interstitial but I didn't think it was that great an addition to the Kate Daniels or Aurelia Ryder series.

Three stars

This novella came out December 8th, 2015

Ebook from Kindle Unlimited

Opinions are my own

Magic Rises by Ilona Andrews

Kate and Curran are worried about their Pack's children. Too many of them are going Loup. There is a cure in Europe but the Europeans aren't sharing. Well, unless the American Beasts come and protect a woman who is being used as a pawn by several European shifter factions. She's pregnant by two men (it happens) and which ever twin is born first will inherit a good chunk of land.

This is going to be a slog anyway but then it turns out that Kate's father's right hand, Hugh D'Ambry, is hosting the entire mess.

I liked this one, but it did make me sad in places,which is fine but I'm not a good place in my life to deal with the deaths of even fictional characters. (Even on re-read, this one hurts.)

Three and a half stars

Follows Magic Slays

Followed by Magic Breaks

This book came out July 30th, 2013

Borrowed as ebook from Libby

Opinions are my own

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

Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews

I hadn't read other books in the series and I did feel like I missed parts of the romance between Maud Demille and Armand, the Marshal of House Krahr, but the story swept me up quickly anyway. (When I read the other books later, this book was even better). The world building is amazing and the look into made up politics is... beyond. I lapped it up.
Maud had been married to a vampire whose bid to take over his family's house was rejected and so were he, Maud, and their daughter. Maud wasn't as concerned for herself but she was shocked that her daughter had been kicked out as well. Of course, Helen is half-vampire, half-human but that shouldn't have mattered to a species that usually reveres its children. She is exiled to a planet where the living is hard and water is scarce. Her husband has been killed and Maud is working on avenging him in a slow and methodical manner. 
The book begins with Maud's sister, Dina, coming to rescue them, but then there are swaths of story missing because they are in other books. What we get to see here is Maud and Armand figure out their relationship when Maud travels to his family's stronghold and begins to see whether and how she can fit in with his life.

Four stars
Follows One Fell Sweep
Followed by Sweep of the Heart
This book came out December 2018
Ebook of my own on Kindle
Opinions are my own

Reread January 2022, July 2022 as Graphic Audiobook from Libby, September 2022 as Audible book, December 2022, August 2024

Sweep with Me by Ilona Andrews

The biggest Innkeeper holiday is coming up and it's a doozy. A celebration of the day that the innkeepers signed a treaty to start hosting alien beings on earth. It's a day that any creature may claim a room at any inn. 
One of her guests is from a race that rarely comes to Earth; an inkeeper might never see it in their time serving an inn. This particular Drifan is a liege, the leader of her group. And she has a meeting set up with a very rich, very shady developer.
Dina is also dealing with a natural hunter, a Medamouth, which would be fine if she didn't have a brace of Koo-Kos (very chicken and prey-like) also visiting. 
I wish this book had been longer but it was a nice little bite that expanded the world even if some of the storylines weren't necessarily needed. 

Four stars

Follows Sweep of the Blade

This book came out December 20th, 2016

Ebook of my own on Kindle

Opinions are my own

Reread in January 2022 as ebook, July 2022, December 2022 as ebook from Libby; August 2024 as Graphic Audio from Audible Premium Plus

One Fell Sweep by Ilona Andrews

Sean has returned and he and Dina are just getting settled into being Inkeepers when she gets an SOS from her sister. The one who married a space vampire but couldn't come back when their parents disappeared. But she's family. So Dina rounds up her her werewolf and asks for a favor from a friend and heads toward the furthest reaches of space to rescue her sister from a planet inhabited by exiles. She barely gets her sister and niece off planet and back to Earth when a being, one of the last of it's kind arrives at the inn. So, now, while getting her sister back to normal and teaching her niece about the Inn, she's also warding off a ruthless species that is intent on killing her guest.
A nice conclusion to the first part of the series while already setting up Dina's sister's stories. Definitely read this series in order but definitely read this series.

Four stars

Follows Sweep in Peace

Followed by Sweep with Me

This book came out November 13, 2015

Ebook of my own on Kindle

Opinions are my own

Reread January 2022, July 2022, December 2022 as Graphic Audio from Libby

Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

I think that it is definitely worth investing in at least the first three books of the Innkeeper Chronicles. The fourth book is also amazing but the first three tell Dina and Sean's story. In this book, Dina has been asked to host a summit. Not just any summit, but one between warring factions of alien beings. There are familiar friends (and enemies). And we get to meet a group called the Hope-Crushing Horde. 

Of course, why would any of this be easy? Especially since Dina still isn't sure what has happened to Sean after he left at the end of the last book to explore the Universe. She's just trying to cope as best she can while keeping warring groups under control. But the Arbitrator, the one who set up the summit, may not have told her everything she will need to know in order to survive.

Four stars

Follows Clean Sweep

Followed by One Fell Sweep

This book came out November 13, 2015

Ebook of my own on Kindle

Opinions are my own

Reread January 2022, July 2022, December 2022 as Graphic Audio from Libby, August 2024 as Graphic Audio from Audible Plus

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews

I read the fourth book in this series first and did feel like I missed some things. Plus, I love Ilona Andrews so I figured, why not read the whole series? And I'm so glad I did. I highly suggest getting at least the first three books at one time because the books, okay on their own, really shine as a trilogy.
This book is great with setting up the world building. We've got Dina Demille who is an innkeeper. Her parents disappeared and she's wondering where they are. Her sister married and moved away. Her brother is a wanderer. Maybe not a hard world to build until you realize that Dina is actually linked to her inn and that they people that stay at her inn are beings from other planets using Earth as a place to stop on their travels. 
From the opening chapter, we actually get a glimpse of this one Dina approaches one of her neighbors. Something has been killing dogs in the neighborhood and she wants Sean Evans to take care of it. At first, he denies responsibility (and the fact that he's a werewolf) but she finds him staking his territory on her apple trees later that night. It's a hilarious encounter that only gets better.

Three stars

Followed by Sweep in Peace

eBook of mine on Kindle

This book came out December 2nd, 2013

Opinions are my own

Reread July 4, 2023, August 2024 as GraphicBook audiobook -- Very Fun

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