CLEAN SWEEP

Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: kindle ebook

About Clean Sweep:

Dina Demille runs a Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town and tries her best to pretend to be normal. Her broom is a deadly weapon, her house is a sentient magic inn for otherwordly visitors to Earth, and her 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 can be a little difficult. Now something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth begins hunting dogs in her neighborhood. Feeling responsible for the welfare of her neighbors, Dina decides to get involved. Before long, she has to juggle dealing with an alpha-strain werewolf and a cosmic vampire, while trying to keep her inn and its guests safe. But the enemy she’s facing is unlike anything she’d ever encountered before. It’s smart, vicious, and lethal, and putting herself between this creature and her neighbors might just cost her everything.

Source: Info in the About Clean Sweep was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19090384-clean-sweep on 05/12/2012.

Review:

I've already read this book while it was being posted as a freebie serial on the author's website, so this is a re-read review.

Sometime ago, Ilona Andrews posted this image of Dina holding Beast in her arms. This picture of Beast with her sassy ponytail made me smile when I was re-reading the scene where the big bad werewolf asked Dina whether he ought to be scared of a ponytailed little dog... A sentence loaded with subtext... I know I'm sappy, but, it is little details like this that makes a book delicious! Another evidence of the wonderfulness of the story telling quality of this author! Another thing which makes reading this author's work easy to connect with is the realism in the story lines. The teenage character is painted perfectly with a petulant drama queen effect and sassy attitude. Or... maybe, It's just me being a die-hard fan. I cannot tell anymore. But, one thing remains certain, this book has Ilona Andrews' trademark compelling author's voice. 'Nuff said.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Ending = 4
World building = 5
Cover art = 4.5
Pace = 4.5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries

Books In The Innkeeper Chronicles:

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Meet The Author

About Ilona Andrews:

Ilona Andrews is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)

Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Oregon with their two children, three dogs and a cat. They have co-authored two series, the bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels and romantic urban fantasy of The Edge.

www.ilona-andrews.com | twitter | facebook | amazon | goodreads

Thank you to Ilona Andrews for the review copy received.

FTC Disclosure:
This book was received for free from the author. No money received for this review.

HIDDEN LEGACY

Burn For Me by Ilona Andrews
Book 1 of the Hidden Legacy series
Read by Renee Raudman
Genre: urban fantasy
Format: paperback, ebook, & audiobook

About Burn For Me:

Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn’t sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire.

Then she’s kidnapped by Connor “Mad” Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan’s after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she’s getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

Source: Info in the About Burn For Me was taken from GoodReads at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20957444-burn-for-me on 24/12/2014.

My Thoughts:

Another fantastic tale from my favourite author, Ilona Andrews. But the thing is... maybe I've been reading too many Ilona Andrews books that this book is now starting to take on a "same old, same old" feel... and that scares me. Because I don't want the wonderful reading experience to end. Mad Rogan is so like Curran that they could be twins. Nevada Baylor's character is so similar to Kate Daniels that they could be twins. Hopefully Ilona Andrews will do something with subsequent books to overcome the "same old, same old" feeling... because I really like this book, and the series that this is looking to be becoming! But even if this series get stuck with the "same old, same old" feeling, I still would probably buy and read it all. The book is just that good. I think another thing that makes it so good, other than the superb and compelling story telling quality, is the solid plot. The book is not just some fluffy wild goose chase. The weaving of the plot is masterful. There is the development of the dilemma, build-up, and resolution. That is important to me as a reader. Books without a discernible plot drives me up the wall. That author tends to be avoided like the plague thereafter. The fact that the romantic sub-plot is exciting, contributed even more to the addictive-ness of this book. The what-is-looking-to-be a great over-arc-ing plot of the series, re-assures that readers follow it, creating a fan-base, of which I shameless admit to be one of. I can't wait for the next book to be released! Ilona hurry up with the writing already! Pleeeeasse!

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 4.5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Writing Style = 5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 4
Plot = 5
Narration = 4.5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries

Hidden Legacy Books:

Updates:
11/06/2015 - Updated the cover of Book 2: White Hot.
21/03/2024 - Updated the books in the series.

KATE DANIELS series

All Time Favourite(s):

Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
Book 1 of the Kate Daniels series
Genre: urban fantasy
First published in 2007.

About Magic Bites:

When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.

Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate's guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta's magic circles.

The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate's guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she's way out of her league—but she wouldn't have it any other way…

Source: Info in the About Magic Bites was taken from GoodReads at http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38619.Magic_Bites on 30/08/2012.

My Thoughts:

This is the first book of the Kate Daniels story which I recently realized that I haven't reviewed yet! So this is a retrospective review hence I've read this book ages ago and it just keeps getting better! Click here is my review of the most recent release(s) of this series. This review applies to all the books in the series. ;)

Masterpiece. The story telling quality is very compelling and I would give it a 5 out of 5. The author weaves a magical world of Atlanta and make it seem all too possible. I would give the world building a 5 out of 5. The story leaves you with characters which walks around a readers' head long after you've read the book that you can't wait for the next installment to get published! I would give the character development another 5 out of 5. And then after the high of reading the last book depression follows for having to wait for so long for the next book again.

Empirical Evaluation:
Story telling quality = 5
Character development = 5
Story itself = 4.5
Ending = 4.5
World building = 5
Cover art = 4
Pace = 5
Plot = 5

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5 cherries


Books In The Kate Daniels Series: