Review: Magic Binds by Ilona Andrews

Source: review copy provided by the publisher.

Warning: all the spoilers for previous books AND this one, so avoid if you haven’t read the book or don’t want to know. I have not marked the spoilers, so proceed with caution. 

First, yes, I’m still alive! This blogging mojo is not coming back no matter what I do, but I’m not quitting even if that means one review every three *cough*or six*cough* months.

Second, I’m feeling lazy, so I’m not going to describe the plot. Plus this what, book 9? So I’m sure at this point anyone interested in the book knows what’s up.

Let’s get to it! I didn’t love this book, I’m not sure I even liked it, but bad Ilona Andrews is still pretty good, so I’m not saying this thing was good, but it wasn’t terrible either.

Heroine Week, Day 4 – Kickass Heroines for Kickass Readers: Jen’s Favorite Urban Fantasy Heroines

You probably know Jen from places such as Red Hot Books and the slightly NSFW Tumblr, Red Hot Men. I know her from my earlier days as a reviewer, because she was one of the first bloggers I met, and we have been friends ever since. If Jen were to become a heroine, she would get a book like Dirty (take a look at her Tumblr if you don’t believe me).

*****

Kickass Heroines for Kickass Readers: Best Urban Fantasy Heroines by Jen from Red Hot Book

I know contemporary romance is the Big Thing right now, but if you are looking for a little girl power, there is no better genre than urban fantasy to find it.  These women have it all: kick ass powers, sexy heroes, and often a razor sharp wit to round things off. True, they have their fair share of problems as well, but you can’t have a story without conflict! Here is a look at some of my all-time favorite UF heroines.

2011, A Year in Books: The Best

This year I read a lot of books, I don’t have an exact number but I think it was over 200 books. Not all of them were published in 2011 and not all of them were good, some of them were huge disappointments (I’m looking at you Susan Elizabeth Phillips), but I think that overall it was a good year for romance novels.

I admit that most of the Contemporary Romances of the year were either mediocre or good, but just a few were truly outstanding, and only two books made my list:

Review: Angels of Darkness (Anthology) by Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, Meljean Brook and Sharon Shinn

I wonder if angels have replaced vampires as the supernatural creatures of the moment. Lately there’s been an explosion of books about angels or with angel-like beings, and they seem to have taken the romance world by storm -or maybe these creatures have always been a popular subject and I’m just catching on-.  Whatever it is, it’s clear that they are here to stay and I’m glad because they make fascinating book characters, as this anthology clearly proves.

I’m not a huge fan of anthologies and it’s unusual for me to find one where I actually am familiar with all the authors involved (I haven’t read anything by Shinn but she has been on my TBR list for ages), which is the reason why I wanted to read this book.

Series Review: Silent Blade and Silver Shark (Kinsmen Series) by Ilona Andrews

I first heard of this series a couple of weeks ago when book 2, Silver Shark, was released. Since I’m a huge fan of the On the Edge series I decided to read these novellas because they looked promising and most importantly, short.

These are sci-fi stories set in a distant future were different planets have been colonized and where the most influential people have several enhancements that can be either mechanical or psychic, which gives them the upper hand when it comes to the world the live in thus making them the political and economic force. They are called Kinsmen and they are quite the tight group. Family is everything to them and they marry other Kinsmen in order to make them stronger in a political world where genes and family ties are everything.