Happy belated release!
First, huge thanks to S.C. for stepping in as the last minute copyeditor, since our scheduled CE had an emergency.
Second, thank you to Mod R, who had read and edited the manuscript several times and handled things when a technical glitch on Amazon ate the cover. Much appreciation to Natanya W. of Nancy Yost Literary, who liaised with Amazon and got it eventually fixed. If the cover is not showing up on your Kindle, please delete the file and redownload.
Beast Business Questions
There are some mild spoilers below. Read at your own risk.
Matilda’s First Bond?
“You must be Matilda.” I smiled at the little girl.
She nodded.
“Is that your dog?”
She nodded again.
“What’s his name?”
“Bunny,” she said in a small voice.
Bunny looked at me with the kind of suspicion usually reserved for rattlesnakes. Cornelius was an animal mage, a rare brand of magic, which meant Bunny wasn’t a dog. He was the equivalent of a loaded assault rifle pointed in my direction.
“He can smile,” Matilda offered. “Smile, Bunny.”
Bunny showed me a forest of gleaming white fangs. I fought an urge to step back.
Andrews, Ilona. White Hot: A Hidden Legacy Novel (p. 10). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Animal mages do take on the traits of their first bond, but they also tend to bond to the animals who are most compatible with them. Like Bunny, Matilda is disciplined, serious, efficient, and believes that things must be just so.
Konstantin reappeared. Rooster fell silent and panted at him.
“Rooster barks at 112 decibels,” Matilda informed him. “She can continue to bark for hours without straining herself. If you change shape, she will bark. If you attempt to escape, she will bark. If you try to separate from her in any way . . .”
“She will bark?” Konstantin asked.
“Yes. If she barks for longer than one minute, the electronic sensor in her collar will send an alert. Cutting the collar or removing it will also trigger an alert.” Matilda stared at him. “If anything happens to Rooster or her collar, I will know. I will come. I will bring friends. I hope we understand each other.”
“Crystal clear,” he told her.
Andrews, Ilona. Ruby Fever: A Hidden Legacy Novel: Romance and Supernatural Suspense in Texas (p. 206). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
(A Hidden Legacy Novel: Romance and Supernatural Suspense in Texas? That’s new. I didn’t know Avon added that.)
Where was Kitty during Ruby Fever?
With her mother. Kitty is still a baby.
If Diana was almost overcome with the animals in the menagerie, how did Matilda survive?
Matilda is special.
How deadly is Augustine really?
Extremely. Augustine is an assassin by training. If he wants you dead, it doesn’t matter how protected you are, he will kill you.
How bad was adolescence for Augustine? There are hints that he and his family were traumatized and not just by the family murders. How did he get that scar on his cheek?
Augustine’s father was a difficult person. While he wasn’t physically or emotionally abusive, he wasn’t what you would call a warm parent. Of all the Houses we have shown so far, Montgomery is the most likely to be targeted because you don’t hire them unless there is a crisis. They know a lot of potentially damaging information and a lot of shady people view them as enemies.
Augustine’s father was very focused on security and survival, and when Augustine was growing up, he was idealistic, in a somewhat similar way that Connor was. His father wanted him to assume the responsibility for the House and the firm and tried to train and mold him in his own image.
Both Connor and Augustine were well educated and encouraged to think for themselves at an early age, and both of them rejected what they saw as the rigid thinking of their fathers and the inherent imbalance of power within the society. Unfortunately, for the two of them, that “rigid” thinking was the result of bitter experience, and both Connor and Augustine ended up with emotional and physical scars.
The society portrayed in Hidden Legacy is not aspirational. None of us would want to live in a system like that. It’s a cautionary tale about what happens when some have a great deal of power and others have none. Everyone is damaged by this, even the most powerful.
Does Cornelius know about panthercakes?
Yes.
Will Arabella and Tia become friends?
Yes.
Why does Arabella say she needs a friend because she doesn’t have one, isn’t she friends with Augustine’s sister and her own sisters?
I have more than one friend, and I talk to them about different things. I’m sure you do as well. Verena is a school friend, and Runa is basically family. But neither of them fully understands how Arabella feels about her magic. Tia can relate to it on an completely different level.
Do Augustine and Diana end up together?
I looked to the left where Cornelius sat at the table with his daughter, sister, brother, and surprisingly Augustine Montgomery. I was hoping Cornelius would bring a date as well, but he hadn’t. I wanted him to meet someone, but there was nobody like Nari. An animal menagerie, including Sgt. Teddy, Zeus, a small pack of attack dogs, a few birds, and three cats napped behind them.
Andrews, Ilona. Ruby Fever: A Hidden Legacy Novel: Romance and Supernatural Suspense in Texas (p. 369). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.
Will there be a sequel? Arabella trilogy? More…
We are so glad that you like it enough to want a sequel.
The novella was written, because we left hints about Augustine and Diana and never followed through. And we received persistent questions about how Arabella came to be mentored by Augustine. It felt like the world had a missing piece and it was bothersome. That piece is now in place.
While it would be fun to do Augustine and Diana sequel, we are done for now. It is demonstrated that they get together in the main series, but how exactly that happens for now will have to remain a mystery. If we return to it, it will likely be a duology only.
As far as Arabella trilogy: Hidden Legacy is complete for now. That trilogy would have to take place several years in the HL future, when Arabella is not only an adult but is established. It would be a major project. We would probably want to seek partnership with a traditional publishing house because the first 2 trilogies were traditionally published. We are not in the position to start a new project of this scope.
HL, KD, and Edge have complete main arcs. People bring up Hugh and Blood Heir, but those are side stories.
The Innkeeper and This Kingdom have unfinished main arcs. Those are our priority. We are going to be concentrating on that, because we need to complete those storylines. We have got to see if Maggie survives. And if Dina and Maud find their parents – the Innkeeper part of the BDH should get to see it happen.
Why is there a difference between the content in snippets and published books? The preview of Augustine had different stuff in it…
You know what, good point. We should stop snippeting things until the final file is ready. It’s a bad habit. Until we go to publication, the story elements are fluid, and some people really have a hard time with it.
Why are posts and free snippets archived?
People have asked if this is a resource issue. It’s not.
We get a lot of traffic spikes. The culprit is the free serials. When a serial is running, people are reading each chapter multiple times, and they comment and then come back to check responses to their comments, which causes an increase. New releases and giveaways also result in sharp increases in traffic. The graph of the site’s sessions looks like a hysterical hedgehog.
Over the years, we moved from generic hosting to a virtual server, to dedicated hosting, then to a better dedicated host, and we hung on there as long as we could until we were basically kind of fired as a client, because we outgrew it, so now we are here. Each move had to be made. We are with WP-Engine right now.
(Yes, I know about the Mullenweg/WP-Engine drama, we were not affected. We’re using the WP-Engine because it can handle the traffic, the up time is great, and the customer support allows me to immediately jump on the issues.)
The matter is complicated because we cannot cache the blog. If you are unfamiliar with caching, the short simple explanation is that your browser takes a screenshot of the page and then serves that stored page to you when you access the site. So instead of loading fresh images, etc., it loads a slightly older version, which significantly speeds up the loading.
We’re caching everything else, but when the blog is cached, people don’t see their comments pop up right away. They attempt to repost the comments numerous times and then email us in a panic and sometimes in outrage. So, we’ve elected to keep the blog un-cached.
(The reluctance to cache has recently bit us in butt, because we had crawlers causing 504 timeouts. Sogou web spider was the bane of my existence for a bit, but the latest block finally took. There was a suggestion to go to P6, but it’s a patch, and eventually, probably sooner rather than later, we may end up either caching the blog or disabling the comments. That will go over like a lead balloon with BDH. I don’t know what the hell to do about that. Maybe we will go to a dedicated site for serials only, but again, the problem would just reoccur. I guess, no serials? I don’t know. Eh. Sorry about tech issue vomit.)
We could move away from WordPress as the hosting platform, which would buy us a bit more speed and breathing room, but majority of people are comfortable with it. If we move to a new model, people will have to learn how to use it and I will have to learn a new UI, and I don’t have the time for that.
Back to archiving: it happens because posts get outdated. Publishing landscape changes and what was true a couple of years ago isn’t true now. Plans change as well. And personal life moves on. Nobody wants to read my two-year-old surgery trauma posts, heh.
When short stories or deleted scenes get archived, it is usually for one of two reasons.
One, they were multicategorized. Each post has a category and sometimes there is more than one. We archive by age of post and category, so if a post is tagged Pets and Free Fiction, and we archived Pets for that year, it hides the post. We’ve been trying to move all of the free fiction to its own pages, but time is in short supply, and I get to it when I get to it.
Two, some free stuff gets taken down for editing. We are trying to put together an anthology of freebies that can be downloaded from the store and hopefully would provide a good introduction to each series. Unfortunately, that is on top of everything else. And right now, we are 105K into Maggie 2, it is not done, and there are thousands of pages to sign still. ::shudder::
Mod R informed me that Questing Beast was caught up in the archiving. I fished it out. Here it is. I will add it to free fiction section at some point. But, I mean, just because something was posted as a freebie doesn’t mean it will always stay that way. There is some weird entitlement happening here. Last I checked, it is our IP and we can do whatever we want with it.
Upcoming blog stuff: you will see a lot less of me in the next couple of months. I need to write and this post took 2 hours. Books must be a priority, because you are not here to read my ramblings. You are here for the books.
I wish you a calm and happy week.
Actually… I kind of AM here for everything and anything you write?! 😁
But seriously: Thank you for all you do – and especially the time you take to humour the BDH!🪶
This part. I enjoy seeing how the snippets change from draft to final but I’m nerdy like that 🙂 thanks for a wonderful addition to HL.
+1
Exactly, it’s a neat peek into the process for me 🙂
Also they hype me up to unbelievable levels ahaha
Same here!
First of the business! 😁
Lovely Kitty icon, Mod R!
I agree – here for everything written by HA. Beast Business was fantastic. I love returning to one of your worlds.
You said it so well! I totally agree.
To the people who analyze the difference between a snippet posted 2 months ago, and the published product… wow? LOL. I am just happy to have something to read. Maybe my memory is too short.
Thank you for investing hours to update us and provide technical backstory that most authors would just wave away as not something we should be worried about. We are too chalant about everything.
Rest your hands, rest your brain, and get to work! Thank you for sharing your worlds with us!
Ditto!!
+1! 🤗
+1
I appreciate whatever you share – it’s your blog after all.
+100
💯
“TW: Snippets are *preliminary drafts* from works in progress. They will almost certainly differ from the published work, and may be cut altogether. This is entirely at the judgement of the authors. *Read at your own risk*. This blog is a no-whining zone.”
You can post it, but not everyone will read it.
Hehehe, the voice of experience there 😀 I love it.
Too right.
Amen. Astonishing that someone would be so rude as to question authors.
Gratitude, people.
We well-mannered people say Thank You.
We appreciate your generosity.
It is your blog, your IP, and your creativity.
Please ignore any who seek to stifle it.
Listen, instead, to those of us who gently support and cheer you.
—————-
Btw, I was hesitant to read Maggie, because I am crusty, reluctant, stuck in my shell, and slow to embrace anything new.
In most aspects of life, including my reading for fun. 😉
Well, I am home sick, and I read the preview of Maggie. Wow! Stupendous!
I would pay a lot to read the rest now.
For hours, I forgot about being sick. The soreness eased.
I still snuffled, but didn’t feel so miserable.
You have a gift. We cherish you.
Thank you for bringing light to our lives.
+1
Ditto here too.
+1
I loved Beast business.
yes I appreciate your organizing all your work so it is easy to find, and the blog! but obviously your IP and I know all reasonable members of House Andrews will remember that! (though BDH may not).
Both love and dismay! Beast Business got me really into Cornelius and Arabella and see them in a whole new light and I was initially soothed that there’d be an upcoming Arabella trilogy… it is a tease!
Hey, where were the diana and Augustine hints? I think I missed them.
They’re quoted above 🙂 Diana and Augustine sitting together at Runa’s wedding. Also Diana calling on Augustine to come pick up Matilda in Sapphire Flames.
If it seems subtle, that’s because the BDH are salt-crusted seadogs of the shipping lanes, and we don’t need much to sail! The existence of PantherCakes has been debated for years now.
Next Land, ho! moment will be Innkeeper. Are we right about ship Karakun? Karat of House Krahr + Dagorkun, Under-Khan of the Hope Crushing Horde. They agreed on something at one point, so like…LUUUURVE! May the wise yentas be with us!
😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤔
Subtle? Subtle?! We’re talking about the BDH, right? Subtle is not in our lexicon or vocabulary.
About Karakun…we’ll see Mod R. We’ll see. Who knows, Karat may find someone else the Horde can ship with wind sails. 😉😂😂😂
I love when Karat says she’s too logical to fall in love (paraphrase). There’s nothing wrong with being single. But if she does fall in love, I hope it’s hilarious. Still, being single is good!
Same I missed them too! But I love the ship.z
Hello!
I absolutely love all your series and often find myself re-reading them. I’m curious if there’s any update on “The Inheritance” — will there be more books coming out soon?
Looking forward to hearing from you!
I actually have a question, which of the 3 types of magic does an animal mage have? I can’t figure out if it’s elemental, mental or arcane.
It’s got to be mental, I think?
E.g., in the short “Marty” (included in Beast Business!), we see Matilda’s point of view where she is trying to convince the ferret to come out of the pipe by sending him thoughts of tasty treats. That seems to me like a form of telepathy, but less word-based because animals (I presume) don’t think in words.
I think the bond that animal mages form with their animals is distinct from the ability to mentally communicate with them, because both Matilda and Cornelius can send thoughts to Marty, but only one of them would be bonded to him.
I’ve just realised that I’m assuming that an animal only ever bonds to one mage. (At a time? Ever? If a mage dies, could an animal bonded to that mage choose to bond with a different mage? I’m getting sidetracked.) In any case, perhaps that is an unwarranted assumption!
Regardless, I think it’s established that animal mages can sense, and to some extent, communicate with animals to whom they aren’t bonded, as long as they are sensitive to that type of animal. That’s how they form the initial connection which can become a bond, if both the mage and animal choose it.
Remember how excited Cornelius was that Matilda could sense a spider? That was so sweet. One of my favourite scenes. Sorry, sidetracked again!
One thing I find very interesting is the implication that plant mages like the Sherwoods might be mental mages too – in Wildfire, Edward Sherwood makes a comment about “we biomages” in regards to Cornelius’s chickenhawk, Talon’s, behaviour. The scene where Edward’s bonsai reacts to his rage tends to support this theory.
I have formed an impression from the examples of elemental mages that we’ve seen (Adam & Tatiana Pierce, Stephen Jiang, David Howling, Felix Morton, Alexander Sturm, the Adé-Afẹ́fẹ́ family…) that their connection with their element(s) is more like a person interacting with an impersonal force than with a being.
They may care deeply about nature, as demonstrated by Stephen Jiang’s refusal to commit an act that would result in massive loss of (plant, fish, and evil construct) life. But I’ve never had the sense that their element reacts to THEM in the manner of a living creature, like Edward’s bonsai tree does.
I HAVE SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS. Anyone else? 😀 😀 😀
I really like your analysis here – I would have to agree with all of it because that’s how it makes sense to me too!
Also, there’s some science hinting at a level of sentience in plants – tree crowns growing in the same direction still leave space between them, never end up tangling, tree roots experiencing drought miles away send signal to other tree roots miles down. So it would make sense that some neurological signals are sent/received by plant life to connect with biomages. (There is a whole religion in India that will not eat root vegetables because that means the death of the plant, or fruits like eggplant because plucking it off the vine kills the vine. Only foods that are either harvested at true end of life – grains, or fruits that are meant to fall off)
And it would be as opposed to elements being manipulated by elemental mages because there isn’t any sentience in elements.
Arcane mages should really be making friends with Animal mage houses just to see if it could be better understood what arcane life suffers through when summoned irrationally into HL earth. Like, imagine your a tigrionex sitting on your couch, catching up on your fave shows, only to be sucked through a portal the next minute and used as bullet meat. They are my least favorite category of magic users in the HL universe and a difficult read when their scenes come around. I actually enjoy gore as long it is the good/bad killing the bad, innocents come into the picture and I want to check out. But I want to think of Arcane mages as like a subset of elemental then, because they aren’t connecting with any life, they’re just creating portals – alchemical/metaphsyical thingies.
I see your point of thinking and agree on animal mages being mental. I had always considered plant mages as elemental as Earth is an element, but will have to consider this thinking!
Perhaps it’s both? Like, maybe plant magic is elemental, but for those with a secondary mental magic they can bond with the plants too? I’m probably wrong. 🤷♀️ Just a rambling thought. 😄
Thank you again for Beast Business! I read it while stuck at home sick, and it was the best medicine. ❤️
Hugs & Thank you all!!
Understood. And if we get Arabella scenes at random that would be a fabulous bonus, while knowing it’s not going anywhere in novel form. She’s just so cool.
Thank you for making our days better with your books!!
Loved Beast Business. It did fill in the Augustine/Diana hints, and deliciously so. Also, I now want more Matilda so badly. You made her canonically the 4th Baylor/Harrison sister.
I am also patient and want more Innkeeper and Kingdom. So please, mostly, keep writing. I will read it with maximum chalant. Thank you
Thank you for everything you all do, including all the people who help you do it!
We love your books, your generosity, and how you use your talents to spread joy when the world is scary. We feel it, and we thank you.
*elbows the haters in the ribs*
Thank you. Thank you for writing and giving us all a place to be that isn’t here and now. I’m happy to read snippets and advance bits ‘cause they’re fun, but I also have worked with authors and know what happens between the initial writing and the final published book. If the BDH is getting snippy about those difference, just make us wait for the published book. Y’all aren’t machines, you are people with lives and I’m sincerely happy you do what what do. Thank you.
I am happy for all you do, and not expecting anything (and buy at least all digitally available in my country, and guess I am not the only one who would do do also without the blog, so please do not worry)
Stress can make sick, please look after yourself
Dear Lord I had no idea about the cacheing and reloading and server-ing and so on. What a massive load of work. Thank you for the books! Thank you for Matilda. I loved reading these specific snippets. “Bunny can smile.” always makes me laugh.
I am truly sorry for BDH entitlement, truly, but you have to know that it is partially the fault of House Andrews. Everything you write is just so GOOD that we get desperate if we want to reread something from the website and it is gone.
We ARE whiny and grasping and I know that all of us lobbied for more Augustine and Diana even as we praised Beast Business. I felt guilty because I can hear Ilona in my head saying, “Can we not just have one DAY to be happy our book is out?— which is absolutely fair commentary. Even so I mentioned the ton of House Andrews projects I am needing IMMEDIATELY in my thank you message for Beast Business.
One good thing to take from this: the BDH is up for whatever you want to write. We love the current worlds and want to visit all our friends there, but we are in if you have a new world in mind, too.
This Kingdom (the idea of a character yanked into a portal) would not usually be my cup of tea and yet I LOVED the extended preview and I’m now dying to read more Maggie. Likewise, The Inheritance isn’t my usual sort of thing, but I loved it and have read it more than once already. If you ever write the dragon-rider book you snippeted for us, that will be my new thing I am dying to read.
Basically, just take my money!
The BDH is the best community ever, but the dushegubiness comes with the devouring nature!
It is *literally* our middle name 🤣
So, you are saying that BDH in reality stands for Book Dushegub Horde and it was just renamed to be polite to the forum guests?
I now have this mental image of a mobile tree in the middle of a library, sucking all the intellectual content out of the books, leaving a trail of empty tattered book covers filled with paper dust behind it….
We are polite and evolved in our dushegubiness. While we consume all the books voraciously, we do not destroy the books themselves! That’s anathema! We only destroy those who oppose our books! 😉😄
lol That is quite the mental image!
Thank you for taking time to soothe the BDH. We have so many problems with wa**ing and pati**ce (I don’t remember where to put the *!) We do read everything you give us. And we want the interweb to archive it for us! Because we are lazy! We are also tired of learning new systems (insert diatribe of why paper books will never be out of fashion here) But, we love the new Beast Business. We love serials and snippets. We’re just like the Wild Things – we’ll eat you up we love you so!
Remember we will gladly take what you give us. If you don’t give us what we want, we’ll enjoy what we didn’t know we wanted.
I think Sharla said it best. Like most of the BDH, I want everything you write, including things you may never write…..and I am happy for all the glorious bounty you share whenever and however you share it!
Totally understand the whole “let the world go by while I do what I have to do” stuff. There are other priorities than babysitting the Horde. When Mod R has the chance, she can wrangle the Horde just fine.
Thank you for all the good books, snippets, and answering questions when you really don’t feel like answering them.
Personally, I love the snippets and the differences which later become apparent. They illustrate how the story matures thru development and edits and re edits.
Sort of like evaluating whether like the child better than the teenager – they are part and parcel of the same person, just with differences caused by time and experience
+1000!
I loved that I thought I knew what was going on based on previous snippets but that things had changed. It was a great surprise. I also think I was someone who asked about the changes but more as being interested in the process and how the differences impact the overall story. Especially because I saw discussions about it. I’d never expect a draft and the final copy to be the same. That would be weird.
Keep up the boundaries. The BDH (and yes, I am a member for sure) is insatiable, past the point of rational sometimes.
It’s just the way we roll….
Thank you both plus Mod R for all you do for the BDH!
IF Maggie survives? IF Dina and Maude find their parents? You tease!! (But… but they do, right?? 😧🫣😉)
please keep posting snippets and serials. I don’t care if they are totally different than what ends up in the published books. in fact, I enjoy that. I come to this blog because I love the way you write. I love having little hits of your author goodness in between your releases. I don’t expect consistency here on this blog, as you say time moves on, things change. One of the trends that irks me the most is anyone digging up an old post of any sort from a gazilllion years ago and saying see? this person is a (fill in the blank). People change, evolve. have new ideas. Readers/writers change, evolve. I cannot enjoy Lord of The Rings anymore, though there was a time in my teens I literally did nothing for a week but read those books. Why would we want you to stay the same here on this blog? Appreciate you answering all yhe questions and referring back to what you have written to sort out consistency in the published stories but here? I enjoy your unfettered imagination.
I was a Whovian long before becoming a member of the BDH.
To a Whovian Canon is holy. 😉
So I’m divided on this one.
But I can live with snippets not being canon.
The Inn Talks are different. Those feel like canon.
Augustine asking George how married life suits him, four years after Beast Business, has me worried for PantherCakes.
The BDH salutes the Whovian emissary and will try to put this in appropriate fandom terms:
Different worlds to host them all, different timelines to find them, one Inn to bring them all, and on a Friday bind them … just so we can have a bit of fun before the weekend 😉
🤯You just blew my mind, Mod R
I relate with Nl not being able to read Lord of the Rings over again, but never will I stop rereading any of the Andrew’s books!!
BDH forever!🤣
BDH! BDH! 😁
When I watch any of the Lord of the Rings movies, I always say “it’s (the Ring) just a plain gold wedding ring. What harm can a plain gold wedding ring do?”
So, in the context of the Inn…I ask “it’s just a quaint Inn in rural Texas. What shenanigans can a quaint rural Texas Inn get into?” 😉😁🤣🤣🤣
There’s about 5 books on that subject 😀
+100 to this:
“I come to this blog because I love the way you write. I love having little hits of your author goodness in between your releases. I don’t expect consistency here on this blog”
As an illustration of that, I was loving today’s bits and enjoying the admin background, but THEN – a link to Questing Beast, and early HA short, and reading that again, I forgot everything else!
What is this strange voodoo the two of you can do?!?
I love and value everything you put on your blog – snippets, ramblings, whatever. It’s all so entertaining! You are the only author whose blog I follow and I’m a bigger fan than I would be otherwise because your generosity drew me in deeper and keeps me coming back. Thank you for sharing so much with us!
Thanks for sharing. I had no idea that you have to work so hard (and learn so much) just to keep the blog/website on line!
You answered my questions, and now I’m fangirling so much. I am honored that you put so much effort into the answers. Thank you!
First let me just say how appreciative I am of the blog and the generous offerings currently here! Coming here weekly is very much so a treat for me.
The entitlement you mentioned is something I have also seen. I respect the way it has been addressed. We should all remember how lucky we are! Seldom do authors dedicate so much time to their fan base outside of book releases. I think this may be a side effect of para-social relationships.
Planning to purchase the newest book today, and I’m sending warm thoughts your way! So excited already for Maggie 2.0 🙂
Thank you for what you share and how you share it!
I vote choose peace always – if we don’t have comments on the blog but it makes your life better? That’s a win!
Apologies for members of the BDH who don’t seem to understand how the writing process works. * bangs head on desk *
Loved Augustine and Arabella and appreciated that you gathered up all the tidbits for us in one place. I also laughed at the “we don’t have a multi-verse . . .” I’m honestly surprised it didn’t add “despite the BDH’s best efforts . . .”
I’ll happily take whatever words, snippets, short stories that are actually short stories, short stories that turn into novellas, or whatevers you provide.
thabks for beast business. I really enjoy whatever you publish and nice think the snippets that are sometimes different are kind of fun, tho as you day also a bit of a surprise when they dont get followed thru.
I do have a question about one Arabella snippet that I caught that fed into the scene where Linus removes his objections to something with the recordkeeper,and it implied something between Michael and Arabella (Ruby Fever). What happened to the snippet of Arabella and Michael? I saw it once then it disappeared…. intriguing. 🙂
There was no Arabella and Michael of the Records Keeper scene.
There is an Arabella and Prince Mihail scene in RF 🙂
“Last I checked, it is our IP and we can do whatever we want with it.”
LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!
Seconded. Sorry that reminders from you are necessary, but weird entitlement is having a moment. Again. Still. It’s The Neverending Moment.
Paper copy of the book? Please and thanks
Print copies are already available – POD paperbacks for example from Barnes &Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beast-business-ilona-andrews/1149328521?ean=9781641973724 and Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Beast-Business-Hidden-Legacy-Andrews/dp/1641973722/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0 etc.
You can find more retailer links on the Featured Release page 🙂 https://ilona-andrews.com/featured-release/
You can also order from your local indie bookstores by providing them with the Ingram print ISBN code, which for Beast Business is ISBN 9781641973724.
You guys (includes mod R) are absolutely awesome. I adore your style & tbh- would probably read your grocery list just as avidly. Ignore the greedy ones & keep on how you are.
I loved Beast Business so much and am ready for more Diana and Augustine! What a great story.
With absolutely no judgement because I appreciate how fast the story made it’s way to us, I did notice a few typos in the version of Beast Business I purchased through Book Funnel – are there any updates planed through that medium and if so, are there instructions how to do so?
Hi Madison, I have sent you a private email, I hope you don’t mind 🙂
An excellent post! Thank you for the answers, the snippets, the serials, the ramblings… and I hope you know, we would read your shopping list.
I loved Beast Business! Between the Maggie Preview and Augustine/Diana yumminess (AND Arabella being the best Arabella of all time), I felt very spoiled last week. Good luck with Maggie 2 writing – you are doing great and we are cheering for you!
Beast Business was delightful, thank you for indulging us! I love all your work so much, I regularly send people to your site to see what I am fangirling about.
I hope that Maggie 2 unfolds smoothly for you, that you can find a balance between getting it done and happy, healthy hands and mind, and that the weather stops being crazy pants! If the noise from social media is getting on your nerves, please mute us for a while, although I admit to selfishly hoping that you won’t stop altogether. The authorlife posts are interesting and satisfying in a different way than the snippets and serials. That said I agree with everyone else that these are *your* decisions to make, or not make, as you choose.
Sending sunshine and flowers and cherries and bird calls from summer in Tasmania
Separately from my dissertation on biomages vs elemental mages above, I wanted to express how much I loved Beast Business – and its extras! – and how grateful I am for all the writing we receive from House Andrews, in every form.
I love the blog posts and snippets and serials and extras, but more than anything, I want Ilona and Gordon to be well and happy. (Also Mod R! Thank you for all your work and dedication <3 ). If you ever needed to step away from any part of your work, whether that meant no more blog posts or no more books, I would want you to do what is best for you, regardless of my personal feelings.
If you ever stop doing any of the things you've done in the past, I may miss them, but that's a me problem. I will always be thankful for everything you've given us already. Your writing brings me so much joy and comfort.
At the same time, if you ever feel inspired to write more in the Hidden Legacy world, I will be ecstatic, but I am also super excited to find out what happens in the Innkeeper series, and not-yet-invested-but-definitely-intrigued with Maggie the Undying (I fully expect to love it, I'm just waiting on reading the sample chapters for now because the wait would be too long!) and I will be absolutely delighted to read the second Hugh novel or a Blood Heir sequel or another Wilmington Years novella or Inheritance sequel or literally anything that you choose to write and make available.
I hope it doesn't sound like I'm devaluing the works by saying it doesn't matter which comes next, because that isn't at all how I feel. I will just always be excited regardless of which characters and series are involved because I love all of them. They're all just so engaging!
As others have also said, you owe us nothing. Thank you so much for providing us with so much anyway.
I am so grateful for all of the amazing stories you write for us to escape into. You and Gordon are my favorite authors and I am in awe of your world building. Each world is always so vivid, yet different from one another, and I feel entirely immersed while I’m reading. I even got my husband hooked on your books 😁 All that is to say thank you for all the stories you have gifted us throughout the years, and I think you’re both amazing
+1000
You are very patient and kind. And we really do appreciate you. But we, the BDH, are maybe a little TOO invested.
For me, snippets are interesting, and a hook to the full story, but once the story itself comes out, the snippets are over. The story is the reality.
I do love the deleted scenes though. They may not fit into the flow of the main story, but they add depth to the characters. And I like reading about life at Casa Andrews.
PS: If Arabella ends up as only occasional short stories, it is still really interesting watching her mature.
Well, we actually like your ramblings AND your books… 😉
But of course, time can only be invested once.
So… thank you.
And for the record, we still would like to read more of Arabella, Tia and Matilda and Kitty and Augustine and Diana. You entirely brought that on yourselves because your characters make it so impossible to let go. So we will wait for those stars to align again.
HA – THANK YOU for all that you write. You do you and we will continue to be the BDH for anything you give us and be grateful and excited.
Chalant Horde Member disagrees with HL being a complete story arc.
Without Arabella, only 2/3 of the story is done. Need Russian Bear Prince, the story of bill collecting, fashion for the beast as hobby, math torture, babysitting of baby Primes…
The arc of the main story is complete, the bad guys have been caught and punished, the good guys are safe and triumphant and even got to go on holiday 🙂
It’s a HEA with closure for the plots of grandparents, serums, conspiracies, House establishment and heritage, and most of all romance.
What we have are little openings for the new stories, which if we’re lucky will come when their time comes 🙂
Thank you for your p*tience.
Agreed
I took from this: Arabella-yes…in the distant future. So it could be like ten more years but I’ll still be here for it.
Something Ilona said echoes a thought I had about Arabella last week: that she needs to grow up. Not in a maturity sense, more… okay, so she was like sixteen when House Baylor was born, pretty much at the same time that her oldest sister left the family (it’s not like Nevada was exiled, but these Houses are serious political and economic business, Grandma Victoria was plotting (the whole thing about Rogan the rapist?) to make the separation worse, and they go from living in the warehouse to having to move to a compound and employ a permanent security team. Add to that Grandpa is Caesar and Grandma Victoria plots as easily- and readily- as she breathes and we have a LOT of massive changes very quickly.
At the same time, she loses Nevada to a House Rogan and Cat to the role of Prime Baylor and Alessandro and her mother to Penjiro. None of these things are bad, but it could leave an adolescent….untethered, somewhat lacking in the emotional support system she’s always depended on.
So Arabella adapts and becomes what her House and family need. But what about what Arabella needs? When is it going to be her turn?
I just thought: maybe Arabella’s going to be much older before she gets to figure out what she wants, like late 30s or even forties, because she spent the past twenty years in service of her House and business and family, and maybe that needs time to percolate for House Andrews, who are currently prioritizing other projects because that is their right.
My hope springs eternal!
Thank you for Beast Business … bang, there went my productivity for Friday. And I am happy about that. Loved the peek into Augustine, and into Diana as well, … and the Arabella POV peek was fun, as always.
Hope you (both/all) have a nice productive month and maybe a bit of vacation time to rest?
Ilona, just in case no one has said it lately, you and Gordon rock. =) Taking time to write Beast Business while working on Maggie amd probably Innkeeper… well, there are no words that are enough to express our gratitude and joy for this wonderful story. Thank you.
^^^
I absolutely loved The Questing Beast. And the egg laying at the end, perfect!
FYI, the cover isn’t appearing on Barnes and Noble for the paperback: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/beast-business-ilona-andrews/1149328521?ean=9781641973724
Hey Melissa,
Thank you very much for signaling and we’ve raised the issue with the agency, it will be restored soon 🙂
I want to reassure everyone that the book definitely has a cover, in print and epub. When you order it, it will be there! Such are Illusion mages, very temperamental with being seen. We might have to make it less delicious when the audiobook is released 😉
Update: It is up! The B&N system is continuously syncing and updating, we just have to give it a couple of days to get its bearings!
I figured House Andrews just broke the internet because too many people were buying the book! Glad it will be fixed soon.
I was just listening to the Innkeeper series again. I love it and miss it. When you schedule another one to be published I will be here for it.
Meanwhile, thank you for the new novella and free view of This Kingdom.
Hugh sequel not mentioned? Any updates on that?
HL, KD, and Edge have complete main arcs. People bring up Hugh and Blood Heir, but those are side stories.
The Innkeeper and This Kingdom have unfinished main arcs. Those are our priority. We are going to be concentrating on that, because we need to complete those storylines. We have got to see if Maggie survives. And if Dina and Maud find their parents – the Innkeeper part of the BDH should get to see it happen.
Emphasis mine 🙂 . The main unfinished series are taking priority at the moment.
Even for Hugh and Blood Heir, I would argue that the plots have left off in a good place, where we know that the romances are safe because we see Hugh and Elara in Magic Triumphs and they’re obviously Kissy Faceing – by Blood Heir they Kissy Faced so hard they have kids! Derek is smiling a satisfied smile at Julie/Aurelia and he’s locked in that future, so Metal Rose is not likely in danger. No one is dangling off a cliff either.
Have happily devoured Beast Business (twice already) since it arrived yesterday. Will look forward to (hopefully) finding out how the Diana & Augustine relationship progresses – yes, I know, not the same magic mojo skill set but if Nevada & Connor could do it, why not Diana & Augustine? And whether Matilda continues to call Kitty Kitty or whether she & Kitty agree on a new name for her….. Now awaiting the arrival of This Kingdom when the book is released in March:)
GOt the short story book. Read it in one day. LOVED it! Thank you!
I loved Beast Business and am excited about Maggie but I really, really hope you do come back and finish Hugh 2. I can’t be the only one!
I just want to say…. I love you guys. Anything you post, Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I save all your emails. When I want to reread your stuff, I just search my emails. Voila. As readers we are not entitled to your stuff, we appreciate every single freebie…. Y’all are so gracious with your freebies…. Thank you again!
“Augustine closed his eyes. He needed to take this time to heal while he could. He needed to be in top shape when he went looking for Diana Harrison, and he wasn’t sure how long he could stay away.”
House IA… I know you want to manage Maggie 2. I know you want to finish Innkeeper.
But you do not get to drop an end like that and not follow up.
I’m team Metal Rose. But this is more urgent and once you get Maggie 2 and Maud and Arland married this needs to happen.
Also… Beast Business is really awesome, in case that wasn’t clear.
I enjoyed Beast Business and will read it again because….well…you wrote it, it was very good and ….well… you wrote it. I’ve reread (and listened to) just about everything you’ve ever written and if I haven’t read it, it’s because I didn’t know it was out there.
Thank you for being the fantastic people you are! (This includes Mod R)
Ooh, I hadn’t seen the Questing Beast before! Loved it! Thanks for the repost(?) new link(?).
I’m with the people who kind of enjoy seeing the changes between snippet and final version. It’s interesting!
I want an Arabella trilogy, or single, or duology–but then I want *all* the trilogies, and sequels, and new stories so….
Thank you for Beast Business!
I appreciate that Innkeeper and Maggie take priority and also look forward to whenever we get more Hugh, Aurelia, and Ada.
Jessie’s book, which is awesome, is helping to fill in the time until Maggie 1. 😊
Oops! Typo on Jessie’s name – sorry!
Fixed 🙂
thanks for beast business! I really enjoy whatever you publish and that the snippets are sometimes different are kind of fun, tho as you say, also a bit of a surprise when they don’t follow thru.
I do have a question about a snippet of a meet between Arabella and Michael. It fed into the scene where Linus removes his objections to something with the recordkeeper, and it implied something between Michael and Arabella (Ruby Fever). What happened to that snippet? I saw it once then it disappeared…. intriguing. 🙂
To my knowledge, and I was already working as moderator at the time and seeing all the snippets, there has not been an Arabella vs Record Keeper Michael, beyond what is still in Ruby Fever.
He stares at her, she is unperturbed:
“The elevator door whispered open, and Michael stepped out. His gaze slid over Linus and me and stopped on Arabella. She stared back at him, unperturbed.
A moment passed. Michael stood aside and indicated the elevator with his hand. Linus and I boarded, he followed, and we rode the elevator up to the fifth floor.”
Andrews, Ilona. Ruby Fever, Hidden Legacy 6. Avon HarperCollins 2022. Page 340, Kindle edition
There is a scene with Arabella and Prince Mihail, the Bear, which is much richer – and is still the epilogue of RF.
Of course Maggie will survive. She is Undying. The question is HOW she will survive; as she mentioned herself, there are things worse than dying.
THANK YOU HOUSE ANDREWS!! The book was amazing and so are the both of you (And Mod R too!). Every little bit that you do for the BDH is very much appreciated.
Putting it out there that hopefully Beast Business will become a duology some day.❤️
thank you for the blog and the free snippets and the books.
I just love the idea of us creating or looking like a hysterical hedgehog 🤣🦔
Thank you for this little HL gem. As fans it’s easy to forget just how many projects you’re juggling and demand too much. Good luck with both Maggie and Innkeeper, and stay safe.
Good morning to HA and the ravenous Horde from South Africa
First: Dear Ilona, Gorden and ModR. I know that you are doing the best you can by your loyal BDH, and yes! the books are important, but I personally also do love your ramblings. Not enough to go reread them, necessarily, but the insights we get into your challenges also give us (hopefully) the clarity to appreciate what we get and all the work you put in. I can see that being an author is about more than churning out new books – there is also the social aspect and more to it. Keep on keeping on; you are doing an excellent job!
Second: I will say again that I did absolutely love-love-love Beast Business, and suspect that that Arabella POV will especially become a favourite reread!
Third: I had such a hard time getting my hands on the Extended Preview of This Kingdom – Amazon would not “sell” it to me in my country, nor would GoogleBooks. But I eventually registered with Bookshop.org and was able to “purchase” it there and subsequently devoured it. Now will proceed to count sleeps until 2 April, which is when my Amazon pre-order says I can expect the full book! So, if you are struggling to get your hands on the Extended Preview note that there are resources other than Amazon for it.
Much love to you all! (So happy – Maggie ROCKED my world!)
South Africa is among the countries served by the UK edition, along with Australia, India and unsurprisingly, the UK.
The free preview is a promo by the US edition and publisher, that’s why it is not available for us.
There will soon be a way for us to access the same content too 🙂
No. 1: Thank you so much for everything you do for your Fans!
No. 2: I’m not a very active member of the BDH so I catch onto trends belatedly. I just read the ship name “panthercakes” for the first time and it is absolute GOLD!!! I laughed myself silly for a solid 3 Minutes. I love it! Whoever came up with it, I applaud you!
No. 3: I was wondering about ship names and the like and realized I don’t know something about the BDH – was the fandom named after the Hope Crushing Horde or was the name of the Ottokar inspired by the fandom?
If it is the former – did the fandom have a different name before Innkeeper 2?
We named ourselves after the Hope Crushing Horde, sometime over a decade ago in the comments of the Sweep in Peace serial 🤗
Have to say that I love the ramblings and spicy/salty/sassy comments thrown in between. We, the BDH, are here for anything and everything that you write and decide to share with us…even the free that may be changed at a future date. it’s the best part of having to re-read
As a long standing member of the BDH, I am going nowhere! I preorder with delight and try to wait patiently for the new adventure to be available. I loved Beast Business, children and animals get me every time. I prefer animal companions more so than human ones most times. (I am married, 2 adult offspring and a grandbaby so I do socialize.) Please write at your pace, we will wait and devour as offered. Then raise our collective chorus of delight!,then bow our heads in gratitude.
Thank you for creating and continuing so many fascinating worlds and characters. I love returning to them whenever you have the time and inspiration to return to any of them. I’m looking forward to Maggie and another new world. Please keep doing what you’re inspired to do whenever and however you choose. It’s all appreciated.
Hope the book goes well. I enjoyed Beast Business, and I’m really looking forward to Maggie. That’s going to be fascinating. Haven’t read portal fiction, so this will be a new thing for me.
“we may end up either caching the blog or disabling the comments. That will go over like a lead balloon with BDH”
As someone who’s worked in IT for over 30 years I have a suggestion. You could have an online (community) forum where BDH (yes, I’m one of the many) could meet and have discussions, ask questions of each other and yourselves.
I’ve spent much time on many forums over the decades. They have a straightforward setup and are geared towards doing allowing people to meet and discuss. I’m willing to bet, if you have a hobby, you’ve been on a forum relating to that hobby looking for help and/or information so have a pretty good idea what I’m referring to.
Just a thought………
Who remembers that this used to be a thing? 😊 I still have screenshots from the old IA forum days. I feel like an Ancient Elder all of a sudden ::caresses long, long white beard::
There was an Ilona Andrews forum hosted on the website. Then social media platforms evolved, and readers naturally gravitated toward their already existing accounts and activity spread and multiplied.
These days, the Horde gathers in a lot of different spaces: the Ilona Andrews Facebook group, where we try desperately to stay on topic, Discord servers, Threads topics etc.
The blog serves double duty in all of this: it’s a central hub for official news, announcements, and promo, and a moderated point of contact where readers can ask questions and get reliable information in safety.
But from everything House Andrews said across the years, they very much encourage fan spaces remaining fan spaces— readers talking to each other freely without everything funneling through a single official platform, that’s what makes a community thrive!
My heart is breaking that there might not be an Arabella trilogy. HL won’t feel complete for me without her finding a partner.
Will we ever see more of the Iron Covenant series? I would like to see what happens with Hugh and Elara.
YES
Omg now I feel like a real dummy, I read Beast Business and was fully convinced it was after Ruby Fever…but it takes place before?
Awww, not dummy! Between the prologue and chapter 1 🙂, so technically during!
I thought the same exact thing! I was sort of crushed but that’s just how wonderful the writing is!
Wait, does this mean the second Hugh book is on the back burner again????
It means the focus is on the main series that need a denouement 🙂
But what about Ada? I need more ADA!
Thanks for letting us know about Matilda’s first bond. I have been wondering for days 🙂
I just want to thank you both. I have finished reading everything! Words cannot express my happiness and joy. I reread most of your books ! At times I find my self thinking of your many characters and find myself laughing and wanting to revisit their different story lines. To say you both have a lot going on is an understatement, however, whenever you two do your thing, I can’t speak for your other readers, but for myself it is right on time. Happy New Year’s, Happy Valentines Day!
One of the many things I appreciate about the writing of Ilona Andrews is that they do NOT repeat themselves, they do NOT give us a book or series for every significant character we encounter in one of their worlds. There are far too many writers who create a successful world, then write the world to death, the quality of the stories drops and, for me at least, it can sour my feelings about the earlier books that I once adored. Knowing when an arc is finished is a real skill, and I am so glad that Ilona Andrews keep their writing fresh by making different worlds and doing different things in them. I’m not going to name names, but there are at least a dozen writers I either don’t read at all any more or have to space out because they repeat certain phrases in every book and I’ll throw the book across the room if I read them too often. These aren’t bad writers, but they’ve stopped challenging themselves, and it shows in the final product.
All of which is to say Thank You Ilona and Gordon for keeping your writing so fresh!
Also I enjoy snippets as much as the next member of the BDH, but I see them as unlooked for presents from incredibly generous authors, so again Thank You for previous snippets, and don’t worry about giving me future snippits, especially if putting them up makes the visit numbers go crazy.
Also, also I loved Beast Business, reading about the way illusion magic and animal magic worked was great, it was good to see Arabella get a friend of her own too.
+1
+1
I’ve now read BB twice, and the Arabella POV thrice. I didn’t know it was planned, let alone to be included, but it was so totally worth the extra wait time to release. Tia and Ray are great characters, and I’m so glad Arabella has a best bud now. I had already figured out Matilda is special, and why Kitty was not at the wedding from context. It was really fun to have those blanks filled in, though, and added a lot of depth to the story. Thanks to HA and ModR so much for all you do.
Caching\not is a definite issue. I’d “personally” consider a dedicated site for Blogs or a mini-forum so it isn’t too out of hand for moderation.
It is an interesting problem to have. Lots of fans, but cost for upkeep/moderation may be cost prohibitive. There is definitely a breaking point of when it makes sense financially or not.
All that said, I love to see the process (changes from snippet to posting) – but I also know you can barely please some of the people some of the time so…. I understand if you change that 🙂
Heh, I replied to the same suggestion earlier in the comments.
House Andrews already tried the dedicated forum before – but people overwhelmingly preferred interacting on the main site and other social media platforms, and the forum was shut down.
Thank you!
Reality – what a concept … errr, ahhhh, I mean, thanks for the look at the background. (Even if a lot of it is over my head. Chortle.)
I am amazed at how responsive you are to the BDH. Thank you.
I am really looking forward to This Kingdom and it’s sequel(s).
You are amazing people
girlfriend, I love hearing from you. you are fascinating when you “ramble”. take whatever time you need and write in whatever world you want, I will be grateful for the experience.
The Maggie preview was awesome and I eagerly await the full book.
LOVED Beast Business.
Loved Arabella/Tia/Matilda story.
Would happily see a sequel novella WHEN CONVENIENT, but no rush. If it includes another Arabella POV with Tia/Matilda, even better. I would be interested to see more of Matilda/Kitty (and would love to see what Matilda names Kitty) and whatever complications ensue from the “early” bond. Whatever you write, I am going to be buying. Maggie, Innkeeper (Hint, hint… Wedding! LOL), Hugh/Elara, Julie/Derek… anything at all.
I hope you won’t discontinue the snippets. I enjoy them so much and I’m fascinated by how they change. Totally unclear as to why anyone would question/complain about that but I suspect that’s just a vocal minority. Please continue to do snippets. /puppyeyes
Having seen video of European cheese makers tending to cheeses in caves, I see House Andrews as metaphorically tending to their stories, turning them over, rotating each story on the shelf, and ensuring that each story has reached its best level of ripeness so it can be released into the wider world…and I cannot see the walls of the cave of stories they care for……
That is such a great image 😀
Thank you Gordon and Ilona! I’m savoring my print copy of Beast Business, enjoying the rare opportunity to bundle up in cozy clothes and blankets. (West Central Florida) I’m sipping my current favorite tea, a Blackberry Jasmine by TeBella
I appreciate your generosity in sharing snippets of works in progress and I understand that they aren’t necessarily the final versions.
HL was my first adventure with HA, and I look forward to more installments whenever feasible. In the meantime I’ll enjoy your many other worlds and stories.
Thank you!
Is anyone else having problems with their download? I have it on my Nook and it downloaded fine, but when I went to read it is had problems with blank pages, skipping pages, freezing. I had to go out of the book and back in to get to the pages that were missing, etc. Had to turn it off and on a couple of times. Just wanted to see if it was the download or it was my Nook. Haven’t had problems with any other books on it, but it is pretty old.
Loved the story and Arabella’s. Thank you for that.
Hi Tara, this usually happens when there is a download issue or a device itself is having trouble. Please try deleting from device and redownloading.
Dear HA, I loved Beast Business; how fun to see Augustine in a more personal way. Also Diana as animal mage and her special strengths. Lots of great chemistry there and an engaging story. Arabella fits in so perfectly and her story is very entertaining, too.
I’m hoping you won’t give up on the blog & your writing about life and life as writers. These bits and pieces are cozy and interesting. And I greatly enjoy the serials – it’s such a pleasure to have a chapter to look forward to and then peruse BDH comments afterwards. I don’t mind at all any changes in the final work. That just seems natural and sometimes offers some insight. But of course you must do what’s best for you and your work. I can’t quite imagine how you manage everything now as it is. ♡
just grateful for all the books and info
Ultimately, please just do whatever you need to do to protect your productive time, and your personal time, and to keep them balanced. You can’t please everybody, so focus on doing what gives you joy, the writing that gives you joy, the vacations and time with friends and family that give you joy. Finding that life energy balance, and setting good boundaries around it, will keep you free to float on the river of your creativity and find delight in where it takes you. Finishing off projects lets your creative flow branch into new areas that you are hungry to explored. Good boundaries, good balance, happy peaceful creative lives.
Thank you for all the recent writing, and for taking the time to write this out! And feel free to sic the BDH on anyone who steps out of line! We appreciate the snippets, the call backs and anything you write! Good luck with the pages, the next book and getting some rest!
Wait, there are parts of the BDH that only read some of the things? I’m not an Inkeeper BDH or a KD BDH … I’m just BDH. lol
I did manage to make Beast Business last two days … very proud of myself. LOL.
A calm and happy week to you as well!
I would love to see a duology – Augustine and Diana’s perspectives were both so fun to read.
That being said, I do appreciate and respect your prioritizing the main story lines.
I would love to be able to apply a ‘got multiple novel series written and revised’ level of focus to aspects of my own life… I’m not quite there yet!! 🙈
As always, if you two write it, I will buy it! Please write what makes your Heart (and pocket book) sing!
Since reading it I also want a story about Diana and Cornelius’ other brother. (Plus innkeeper, Hugh and Elara, the Wilmington years, Julie, the Inheritance…)
And looking forward to Maggie of course.
Thank you soooo much for Beast Business! The raccoon! 😆 Anyone else envision Augustine to be older than Rogan (even though yes I know they went to school together)? Just something about his mannerisms and speech made him seem older. But now knowing his backstory – this makes sense. Also, I was soooo happy to be back in HL world, I just bought Arcane Society’s HL box set! It’s my comfort re-read.
Snippets are wonderful and it’s cool to see how things evolve. At least it would be if I was the kind of person who notices things like that, but I am not. That being said, Ami the only person heartbroken by the confirmation that the HL series is complete with no plans to return? I may have actually cried a little. Kudos to house Andrew’s that the created a world so rich and engaging that the idea of not having any more makes me sad enough to cry. No other author(s) have had that effect on me.
First thank you for Beast Business. I enjoyed it very much.
Second, as I was listening to the Graphic Audio of Wildfire, it occurred to me that the most fantasical, improbable, amazing parts of your worlds is that you show genuinely principled, generous, and considerate people who have millions and even billions of dollars of money, unlimited physical power, and acclaim. I am starting to feel that’s just a fairytale the rest of us tell ourselves. As much as I love magic and the little girl in me wishes it was real, the grown me… she wishes with all her heart that this was true most of all.
Third, thank you for creating all these “happy places” I can go to as the world feels increasingly dark around me.
Fourth, Innkeeper is my favorite of all the series (by a small margin) and I can’t wait for This Kingdom. Another world to go to just what I needed.
My head is spinning quite a bit from all your information regarding blogs, stories, and IPs. I am an old ICU/ER nurse and can most likely save your life, but that stuff you deal with only gives me a headache. All this to say, don’t take on too much stuff yourselves. You are no longer just starting out. The House and the Horde have become an Empire and some things may need to be let go or limited. Thank you for going the extra lengths to keep a personal relationship with your readers and all of your wonderful stories. Take care of yourselves.
Mod R! Will Beast Business be available in the libraries?
It’s hard to guarantee 100% without knowing where you’re from 🙂, but it should be available in the US through Overdrive and Hoopla.
A good indicator would be if your library offers other self-published Ilona Andrews titles, like Inheritance or Innkeeper Chronicles 🙂
Overdrive. Thank you😀
Thanks so much for including the short stories at the end of Beast Business. They filled in some background details nicely. I know some if appeared in your blog, but it is so nice to have it included with the book where I can easily find it again.
Just finished Beast Business. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So happy you liked it!
Back again.
I find it upsetting that you guys give so much and get so much entitlement in return. Writing is itterative. Of course the snippets will differ from final!
Regarding the rest:
I loved seeing Arabella finding friends and understanding her motivations better. But yes, the series has a HEA. And again, it’s okay to be single. Not everything has to be shipped.
Hearing Hugh yell at his boys to put the cows down was the best conclussion to his storyline I could have asked for.
Kate and Curran are steadily building a future for themselves and for the pack and the best of Roland’s people. They got this.
I would love a Blood Hier sequel because Derek is one of my all time favorites and I want to know what’s happened to him. But I am content to wait.
One of the best parts about being a writer is exploring your creativity. Good artists grow and their work should reflect that growth. And while some authors are content writing the same book over and over again, I love that Ilona and Gordon are not. That they branch out. And I wouldn’t want to stifle that.
The entitlement is a part of all fandoms. That is just the way it is, because once emotional attachment to the story occurs, people become possessive of it in the best and in the worst way.
We are fortunate that BDH is nice and Mod R is very detail oriented, which helps us both keep track of things and respond to fan concerns.
Mod R is amazing. I’m not a person who fan-girls in general. Even as a teenager. So the entitlement is weird to me. Thank you for everything.
Perhaps Arabella trilogy after Inkeeper and Kingdom? Pretty please perhaps?
But no pressure or demanding! Just a request. Love everything IA does and I’m sure Kingdom will blow my mind 🙂
This complicated, intriguing couple seriously need their own book series. I am beyond pleased for your good fortune with Maggie’s tale, but one could regret the loss of serial stories that turn into magnificent books with beloved characters. And yes, Hugh and Elara are definitely in there somewhere. 🙂
Where does this novella fit in the time-line of Catalina’s trilogy? Augustine and Diana are seated together at the wedding in the third book and Arabella seems older as well. Does this story take place between the second and third Catalina book?
Between the prologue and first chapter of Ruby Fever 🙂
I just came here to say thank you for BB! I finished it just in awe that you made these two side characters (who I previously had no interest in) become another favorite. I love that they are both so badass but also on the DL so you’d never know. Aug. chasing after D in the forrest huffing and puffing— omg- HILARIOUS. Something about seeing Augustine’s expectations shattered is peak comedy. I also loved that Cornelius bonded with a raccoon and that Matilda and the baby are bonded!! *sigh I love them all!
AND I loooved that Arabella’s story has a friendship arc with the Maduros. Like – someday that family might be at Arabella’s wedding with Baylor/Rogan is hilarious!!!
Y’all brought a lot of happiness in these dark times so thank you. Sometimes in the midst of a hard day I think, “what would KD (or other character) do?” So I can channel some badass-with-honor-energy to face the hard things.
ALSO just in general thank you for making a world where the good guys protect children and animals.
I’m so excited for Maggie. I know it’s gonna be sooo good!!!
Also I LOVED the inheritance. 10/10 such a fun story. •lots of chef’s kiss emojis to you!!
I do enjoy a good ramble once in awhile, though
and this is why we can’t have nice things. I love the snippets. sorry people are being people.
things should start blooming around you in the next month or so. maybe that’ll make things marginally better.
‘For Now’ they say, ‘for now’…I’ll chalantly wait until the time is now…until then, Im putting an Augustine duology onto my wish list along with the already wished for Leon novel/la and Bern novel/la….maybe another Nevada book, while she learns to parent a telekinetic toddler….
In my wildest dreams, another Nevada trilogy, covering Catalina’s wedding to Alessandro and life as a wife and mother of insanely powerful children – like, 5, to really break the status quo of ‘heir and a spare’, let people think house Rogan is birthing a mini army – muahahaha!! I want to see Arrosa dote on her grandchildren and Victoria soften some, get to be part of the family she so desperately wanted from her son.
I know that every short story on site is a temporary work until published, but I must say I shed a tear that the Lollipops 1 & 2 weren’t included in Arabella’s section along with the others, and the one with the bajillion candles…I remember them fondly and was so sad when they went away, I had hoped to be able to re-read them once again, but I supposed I must hope for them to be re-added to the site or perhaps held back for Arabella’s books, whenever they may grace our bookshelves.
Thankyou House Andrews for giving us all the gift that is this world – it means so much.
I really loved this novella. As someone who is half poodle, I have always been intrigued by the animal mages. And like Arabella who once admitted she let Augustine in because he was so very beautiful, I have loved his Pancakes. BTW, please ignore snippet criticism, I love me them snippets. I miss the Friday excitement for a new Innkeeper or another chapter of wonderful side books including my beloved The Inheritance. You are the most generous authors I follow and I thank you.
I love the writing and even snippets… that way I can pretend that Im a beta reader and have more access than I actually do. I recently discovered graphic audio because the hubs had 11 credits on audible and I thought, “Why not?” Ive always had a hard time paying attention and I can actually easily pay attention to those and I almost cried. But now I got dragged back into the Kate Daniel’s series for the 12th reread and I just met Julie again. So I came digging and see where it’s considered just a side story. I completely understand you have to concentrate as a writer and I try to be a polite member of the BDH. So if you ever think of working more on her book, and a nice pretty slightly weighted blanket would help you, please let me know. I have beautiful phasing yarn that is almost a rose gold that Ive been hoarding for myself, but I would make you a blanket with it if you that would help.
super excited to be diving back into everything.
I have zero problems with any of this. If your published work is different than snippets, no problem. I’ll enjoy it again as a “new” story, LOL!
I very much enjoy your ramblings, but yes, your books are more important to me. Honestly though, I come to the blog because I enjoy your ramblings, snippets, and freebies.
I don’t care if my comments don’t show up right away. Do I ever check if they show up at all? Nope.
I never have any questions. What you choose to give us readers is what it is. I don’t need to know why you wrote something or didn’t write something. I might be sad if I don’t see a character in a future story, but I’m a big girl. I can live with it. These are YOUR stories!
I am just bloody grateful beyond mere words that you two have written, are writing, and will keep writing until you decide to stop! Thank you, from the bottom of my heart!
Thani you so so much for writing Beast Business!
I accidentally stumpled upon it when checking the release schedule. And I have Never been so happy seeing a new release. And the novella was WONDERFUL.
HL will Forever be my favorite HA Series.
If you ever get around writing more, especially on Panthercakes, I‘d learn to do sommersaults just out of sheer joy.
Happy writing to the best authors out there! ♥️
So glad you liked it <3
We are here to read anything you write, ramblings and books and a recipe and …really all of it is joy inducing.
I just started reading Beast Business and noticed that Leon was not listed as part of the Baylor family in the intro.
Leon is not mentioned in the story 🙂