Let me tell you about the day that changed my life.
It was a dreary, rainy Tuesday in February. Our story takes place in London, where February only really comes in dreary and rainy.
I was in no mood to do any work, and neither were the other people in the office. We’d already passed around the emergency box of chocolates, and each person in turn had gotten up and asked “Who’s for a cuppa?”. English office procedures exhausted, in other words.
Nothing helped, because where I really wanted to be was at Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
I minimised the document I was yawning through working on (Transcript of the Meeting of the Board of Directors), slyly opened my web browser and searched: “books about NOLA or the Bayou”. If you can’t join them, read about them, as I always say.
Goodreads patiently spat out results:
Midnight Bayou by Nora Roberts. “Read it, next.”
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett. “Read it, wouldn’t scratch the itch right now.”
Bayou Moon by Ilona Andrews. “Never heard of this author. Hmm, second in series 🤔. Oh well, it has a wolf in it.”
That was apparently a compelling enough argument for me, because I bought the book on Kindle right then and there.
I started reading on the Tube journey from Hyde Park Corner to London Zone 6 where we lived. My boyfriend recognised the signs and put a pasty in my hand around Hammersmith (yes, he was a keeper; has since become Mr Mod R). It was the only dinner I would have that day. I didn’t surface for air until I finished what would always remain my favourite book by my favourite authors. The rest of the month was a blur that I am sure is familiar to most of the BDH, reading my way through all of the Ilona Andrews books I could get my hands on.
Little did I know that fateful February day that I would get my dream job working for the same amazing authors almost a decade later, and it would be my saving grace in hopefully the worst year any of us will have to live through.
Moral of the story: it’s worth loving something with all you’ve got and always get the book with the wolf in it.
How did you discover IA books?
My wonderful friend Anne recommended Magic Bites to me, may she fly in dragon-filled skies. I still miss her so much…
Since that day many years ago, I’ve read everything from IA I’ve been able to get my hands on. They’re still my primary go-to re-read for great conversation between characters and a fantastic level of character development, even for supporting characters.
My sister had the first 3 Kate Daniels books. She’s very territorial about her books… as her big sister, it’s my responsibility to cure her of that. So I read them, even though I scoffed at anything urban fantasy or romance, just to annoy her. The joke was on me, though, because I was hooked. 😛 I now own every IA book I’m aware of, some in multiple formats. (We have 3 sets of Inkeeper, too – my set, my boyfriend’s set, and the “posterity” set that will never be damaged with eyeprints.)
The nice ladies at Vaginal Fantasy Romance Bookclub on youtube discussed an IlonaAndrews book which led me to the website and then to The Innkeeper Chronicles which were still being posted by chapter at the time. Been an Innkeeper fan ever since.
I was hooked at “Here kitty,kitty, kitty.
I know I’m late to this but what a great thread. Thank you, Mod R. I hope House Andrews puts a pin in this one and brings it up whenever they need a lift. I haven’t been able to read through yet but I love the mentions of dad’s sharing these books and especially the lady who found Magic Bites in the embassy library in Uzbekistan!!
I found IA almost by accident. I wasn’t yet a UF reader but was in a hospital waiting room where there was a copy of Must Love Hell Hounds, an anthology which included Andrea’s short story Magic Mourns. I don’t remember any of the other stories even though they were all good authors but the KD series was the one I had to dive right into. I think there were 4 books out at the time with Magic Slays being the 1st book I ever pre-ordered.
IA continues to be my go-to author when life gets hard and is also the one I recommend to friends when their life gets hard. Works every time.
So I got into Ilona Andrews because one of the other authors I love is Patricia Briggs. IBooks kept bringing up IA as recommended reading.
One day I just went, okay I’ll buy one and see how it goes. The first was the Kate Daniels series, I don’t think I slept for a week…. I read while I was working on the Ibooks on my phone(bad, I was very bad). I read when I was at home, and I read them when I should’ve been sleeping. I would finish one and go.. okay I’m done, an hour later I was buying the next one(which was both at work and the middle of the night typically). It took me about a week to finish the entire completed series that way. Then I slowly expanded my IA reading, my favorite series is probably the Baylor sisters or the innkeeper series.
THANK U, MOD R…..THAT WAS REALLY NICE TO HEAR!
There used to be a website that sent out daily emails listing 5-ish books a day that were free on Amazon. I downloaded a lot of free books cause of this daily newsletter. A lot were duds. One of them was Magic Bites. As you do with a whole heap of free books, it sat on my kindle for months before I got to it. I read it along with 3 other free books while I was on holiday ????. The minute I got home, I bought the rest of the series and the rest is history.
Hidden Legacy is my all time favourite series and I recommend it to everyone who makes eye contact with me ????
I won Magic Burns in one of the weekly giveaways on the Fantasy Literature book review website. Their reviews said that it was better than the first one, so I started there and never looked back (although I did eventually go back and read Magic Bites.)
Mod R, I love your story about finding the authors. Bayou Moon is also one of my favorites!
I discovered IA while attending one of many, many conferences that were required attendance by my job.
During a free evening, I was enjoying a browse through the local bookstore and picked up the newly released Magic Burns. I was intrigued. So I bought Magic Bites and Magic Burns and started my love of ALL things written by IA!
I was recommended (multiple times) the first KD book when it first came out. And I just could not get past the first chapter where she is going into the KMA office and trying to find out what was happening. It just was … not gripping.
But a few years later I picked up On The Edge and LOVED it. Absolutely loved it. I did not end up going back to the KD world for several years, and I think I read one of the later books all the way though and then everything else in the series before I could force myself to read the first one all the way though. It’s still not one I reread often unlike most of the rest of their books.
But I adore pretty much every other book they have written so yeh…
Kelley Armstrong to Patricia Briggs to Ilona Andrews. Started with Kate Daniels and the rest is history!
I had a book hangover after finishing Sarah J Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series and was looking for something else to get me through. Somewhere I came across an article that said people who liked Sarah J Maas would also like Ilona Andrews. Kate Daniels sounded pretty cool–and I was not disappointed. I’m so glad I stumbled across whatever it was that told me to give Ilona Andrews a try.
I love it! & that’s the one HA book I haven’t reread! Will have to remendé that stat!
A similar story for me. I was re-reading Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice on the Tube from Zone 1 to Zone 5 then out to the commuter land. Woman sat opposite me struck up a convo about the book and recommended this new author that she’d discovered. I found the first Kate Daniels book and fell in love with the characters.
I no longer commute that sort of distance to work (kitchen to spare room is not enough time to read AND tread carefully around cats) so I don’t read like I used to. It’s a shame really but y’know, life gets in the way.
I purchased an anthology with a Nalini Singh (a fave author)story (don’t remember which one), it included an IL story and the rest is history. I’ve read all the series and am a rabid (in a positive way) can! Never stop writing IL!!
Oops *fan
Maybe 3? Years ago? Borrowed from a friend who had borrowed from a friend. I don’t even remember which series. Aghhh. Hooked immediately. Went to kindle. Got everything there was. I will now slowly work my way through paperbacks. Easier to cart around. And new. Because authors need royalties! It will be slow. I confess the Edge no els are my least favorite. But I read them All. I think I’m due for another cycle of reread
I’m an author as well. A few years ago when I had just started, I had multiple manuscripts due for different publishers. I’d just met one of my favorite authors, Eloisa James, at a dinner and we were riding back to the hotel together. She asked me what my favorite book I’d read that year was. To my embarrassment, I had to say I hadn’t been reading because I’d been too busy writing.
The look she gave me was one of sadness and I’ll never forget what she said. “I know when authors tell me they’re too busy to read that they’ll soon lose their creativity for writing.”
Knife through heart.
I asked her what her favorite book that year was and she said Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews.
As soon as we returned to the hotel, I downloaded the book. The rest is history. They are my favorite author and I quite literally have read every book at least six times, maybe more. Enough to quote them, anyway.
During the pandemic when everything was so unsure, a lot of people binged old television favorites, even though they’d seen them, because they wanted the comfort of old favorites. That’s how I feel about Ilona Andrews’ books.
I learned about the Ilona Andrews books through the Book club at the college where I worked as the academic librarian. The college algebra teacher, who was the club sponsor, suggested them. She started me on the Kate Daniels novels… and now I’ve read every book available!
The Edge and Hidden Legacy books kept me sane when caring for my mother through a serious illness.
I like going through books recommended by my library’s Overdrive app based on the book page I’m on, which is a fun and somewhat random way to discover books for me. I don’t remember which book I was on, but Burn for Me popped up as one of the suggested books, and I was hooked from the beginning. I was so into it, I didn’t realize the book had come out a few years prior and no sequels existed (yet!!) (I usually check that and check out other books in a series at the same time). After I rated it on Goodreads, one of my best friends noticed and told me to read the Kate Daniels series, too. I was a bit intimated to start a series that was already 7 or 8 books deep, but once I started, I loved those books, too. It’s funny how for me, too, the first book I read by IA is my favorite.
Clean Sweep.
I was splitting from my partner of 15 years, and needed something to fill the void of losing someone who had been my best friend since high school. I love to read, and have gone through so many authors, that I felt like something new, something outside my typical mystery/thriller. So I browsed through the fantasy section, looking for a book summary that caught would catch my eye. I’m not a very picky reader. As long as the story can carry my imagination, and makes me so immersed I lose track of time, it is a winner for me.
Clean Sweep was that and more. It was an escape that riveted me, and carried me through to not only further books by IA, but recommended ones as well.
I have a binder with notebook paper where I write down the books I have read, sometimes with little notes, format (kindle, cd, MP3), etc. Rereads are written on the left side of the page. I always wished I could have started it when I first read around 5 instead of around the year 2000, but it has really helped me keep track of what I have read, though lately it has been more haphazard where I think some books were not even written down…
Anyway, the question about Ilona Andrews made me curious so I went through quite a few pages till I finally saw that I read On the Edge and right after it, Bayou Moon near the end of 2010. 163 books later, the third Edge book, then 9 books later, the Kate Daniel’s series… was able to read the first 5 books before having to wait for more to be released!
I remember being intrigued and interested in the premise of the Edge series, but the details are not clear being so many years, books, busy job, etc. I do know that my love of their books has grown even stronger over time and includes all the different series. I found the blog when wanting to know their release schedule of upcoming books… was prowling and hungry for more and discovered their Innkeeper installments and the BDH.
Browsing through Barnes & Noble and came across Magic Bites. Finished it in a few hours and have been hooked ever since! I am now a total fan! Was even happier when I discovered the Inn Keeper serials!! Have read everything I can written by them and Their books are my go to rereads❤️
I am a teacher so summers off can be kind of long when you are used to working 10-12 hour days wrangling eight year olds, their parents/guardians, appeasing the administration, developing and implementing new curriculum, providing support to new teachers, blah blah blah…the list goes on. (All for $36,000 a year AND I’m a 28 year veteran with two Bachelors and a Masters. Wonder why we can’t get good teachers? Head smack here.) Anyway, I was looking through Amazon for a series to get through my summer. I kept seeing this name Ilona Andrews over and over so finally I bit. I bit hard and haven’t stopped biting. Best buy ever!!
Somewhere, you asked about sci-fi and space books. Have you read CJ Cherryh’s Chanur series? Cherryh is still alive, btw. The book is about 30 years old, so it is easy to miss. The audiobook is well-done, if you want to rest your eyes.
Regarding audiobook readers, by the time the same reader has read one or two books in a series, the audience has self-selected for those people who like the reader, so I vote for keeping a reader all the way through, especially if she has read two books because listeners who didn’t like the reader are definitely gone by that time. If you swap readers mid-series, the remaining listeners are further reduced by the percentage of people who don’t like the new reader, but it’s unlikely that new people will jump in mid-series.
Completely by accident. I saw the cover of the first Kate book and bought it and loved it. Read and re-read. Then went through as many of the books in the series as were published. Checked on and bought other books and read them over and over as well. I loved the fact that Kate Daniels was in Georgia (my home state) and reading all those place names and knowing exactly where they are. I have two adult kids in Atlanta and they get tired of me telling them what’s going to happen to this street or this neighborhood or that building. Ha!
December 16, 2012.
The Edge.
I was desperately seeking escape, my dad had died in September from a sudden stroke and my disabled mom had just given up. I quit everything to take care of her and try to fix the huge hole in all our hearts left by dad’s passing. I finished Edge and worked my way through everything else that was available. They have gotten me through so much.
I have read everything they published, and reread, and reread. When I am in the mood for something new I check out one of the books they recommended. When I need a quick pick me up I hit the blog. I plan for when the next one comes out and start my reread of the series to end as the new one is released.
They have enriched my life.
I didn’t want to continue to re-read the Mercy Thompson series again, and Magic Bites came up on GoodReads as a suggestion. The rest is history. Oddly, the Kate Daniels series is probably my least favorite of the HA books. Still higher on the list than other paranormal series by non-HA writers. It is possible I mislike series that continue with the same characters as leads for more than 4 books, but all the blame for that falls on publishers and contracts, because HA has tried multiple times to write other characters as leads in the Kate Daniels world. (And finally found commercial success it looks like!)
Way back in the day, IA shared a blog with Nalini Singh, Meljean Brooks and one other author. I’m not sure who brought me to the blog, if it was Singh or Brooks but I ended up reading books from each authors and loving IA.
I was at Walden Books (favorite book store that has since closed) and saw a book with a girl and a lion on it. I like cats. Had three of them. I like Fantasy ala Andre Norton etc. Bought the book, started reading and IA had me at Here Kitty Kitty! That was it. And I haven’t looked back since!
Glad to hear you read the way I do. I find myself reading about IA characters. Hmm.
A friend a church recommended IA. I never suspected she was like me, but during a discussion of my favorite genres, she suggested the Innkeeper Chronicles. I am forever in her debt.
My mom actually passed me the first Edge novel, and then I read everything.
When I first got my Nook, the Questing Beast was offered for free. I read it and was hooked. I gotta my hands on anything IA I could find. If I could read them exclusively, I would.
I was just coming off of being completely burned out on reading from having to do soo much of it from school and was looking for a fantasy series with a strong female lead. I found a list on good reads and read through the descriptions on several of them trying to put together a short list of things to try just to get back into reading for fun. On that list I found a recommendation for the Kate Daniel’s series and read a bunch of the comments on it and decided to give it a shot. It helped me get back into reading for fun and resulted in Ilona Andrews being one of my favorite authors.
Yes! You can always trust an Ilona Andrews book to be *fun*. Something I’ve been so grateful for over the years
In Melbourne airport facing a 24 plus hour flight to Anaheim for the worlds dullest accounting software conference- saw that there were two with the same cover art (yay a series!) had them both read cover to cover twice over by the time I landed & first stop was a taxi ride to find a bookstore to try to get the rest ( no electronic books for me at that point) books are so cheap over there (they are very heavily taxed here) I bought a second suitcase to carry back all my purchases, posted back all the boring paperwork and turfed a heap of clothes so I could drag all my books back!
A very good friend insisted that I read the Kate books to the point of shipping my the first three so I had no excuse. Forever grateful for that loving bullying
My best friend and I go through stages of buying books for each others birthdays (We were living at opposite ends of the country at the time) and we always try to find new authors neither of us have heard of.
For me she picks books with kick ass sassy female leads and hopefully some yummy guy. ????????????
For her if it’s supernatural romantic with a half naked guy on the front she’s hooked. ????
Anyway one day we’ll after my birthday (it’s a pattern) a book hits my letter box, women with sword, lion on front and I’ve been hooked ever since ???? xx
I bought an anthology for a story from a different author, and it included “A Questionable Client”. I was immediately hooked and had to know more, so I found Magic Bites, read until I caught up with releases, then started their other series because I couldn’t get enough!
A fellow zone sixer.
My IA journey began having decamped to a sleepy village in the north of England due to my husband’s work. Bored out of my tiny mind, lonely and struggling with the thick brogue of my neighbours and having recently torn all my tendons and ligaments in my ankle, I needed an escape.
I struggled to get into Magic Bites, re-reading that first chapter three or four times before finally settling in; confused that the vamps weren’t ridiculously good looking and wanting to get into the MCs pants. It was a refreshing change from the YA i’d been flicking through and the rest is history, I binged the entire IA back catalogue and have been an avid fan of HA ever since.
When I first met the IA books it was at a time when I’d finally and for the last time had it up to my eyebrows with dumb or angsty self-punishing progagonists who never stood up for themselves. I needed more.
The cover of KD 3 or 4 caught my attention and I tried a sample. Ooo. Finding it promising but mid-series I tried KD1 but wasn’t as hooked, so I just read book 3 first! Wonderful. Then to the original Innkeeper serial, which was just what I’d been craving, I spilled over onto the blog (which is very de-stressing slice-of-life) and the rest is history. Innkeeper and KD were devoured out of order, then in order and from thence to The Edge and finally past the cover of Hidden Legacy, which is actually arguably my favorite, and into everything else IA I could find :). And that’s how I became a happy and ravenous member of the book devouring horde.
Same happened to me. I read one of their books and then I was on a mission and had to read all the rest
I was browsing my local bookstore and saw Magic Bites. Was intrigued by the cover and read the back. Mmm…no go… then I was browsing my local bookstore and saw Magic Bites. Found the blurb more interesting, but…mmm…no go.
Then on a very frustrating day, I went browsing in my local bookstore and saw that it had a sequel. Lightbulb! So I flipped through the first few pages, and five minutes later was the proud owner of book 1 and book 2! Never looked back! ^_^