Welcome to this week’s reading post! I think I am currently doing something that I have never done before during my reading journey: reading such a long series at one go. OK, I was temporarily diverted by some books that I couldn’t bring myself to finish, but I went straight back to Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series. I am enjoying them so much that I am sure I will feel quite bereft when I reach the end! Mind you, there are also numerous novellas set in the same world.

Anyway, these are the booms that I have finished since my last Reading Roundup post…

The two books are numbers 6 and 7 in the series, Magic Rises and Magic Breaks. Here is the blurb for the first one…

It’s a volatile world: waves of magic and technology fight and feed off each other, monsters prowl the streets, werebears, cats, hyenas stalk their prey, and Masters of the Dead ‘pilot’ blood-starved vampires with their minds.

In Atlanta, lives Kate Daniels, former mercenary, Knight of the Order of Merciful Protection, world class swordswoman and smart-mouth, and – recently – mate to Curran, the Beast Lord of Atlanta’s Pack. His problems are now hers, and this one is particularly heartrending – many of the Pack’s shapeshifting children can’t control their beast nature and are doomed to perish. 

A medicine can help – but it’s controlled by the European shapeshifters, who’ve proposed a devil’s bargain to Kate and Curran: In return for the medicine, they must arbitrate a thorny dispute…which promises to send them straight into a deadly trap…

And this is the blurb for Magic Breaks…

Atlanta’s paranormal communities are on the brink of destruction…but one thing is certain: where there’s a fire…Kate Daniels will be lighting her own match…

Now that she’s official mate of the Beast Lord, Curran, former mercenary, Knight of the Order of Merciful Protection, world class swordswoman and professional smart-mouth Kate Daniels has way too much on her plate. Besides her own investigative business, she now shoulders the responsibilities of Atlanta’s large and unruly Pack…whose prominence has generated it’s own special problem by catching the attention of Roland, an ancient and godlike wielder of magic, whose powers are as devastating as his cruelty.

A deadly, epic confrontation is inevitable; the mysterious death of one of the Masters of the Dead during a Conclave of all the supernatural forces of Atlanta adds further tension to an already explosive situation. Now Kate must expose the killer AND prepare for the mayhem about to ensue; knowing that Roland’s attention will be especially focused on her—and those closest to her!

Once again, this series hit just the right spot for me with interesting characters and ingenious plots. The magical monsters get more and more outrageous and the books are absorbing escapism. Just what I need at this time in my life!

I intend to read until the end of the series and then choose something different, leaving the novellas to another time. I have so many wonderful books in my TBR digital pile that I am sure I will be able to choose another great read. Well, I hope so.

Happy Reading!

Love and best wishes,

Anne

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