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 library offered Hoopla as a reading option. They had audio books and I thought I’d give them a try. They had the Edge books and I listened to them and then every book they had, then sought out the ones they didn’t.
Anita, I’m earning my MLIS right now. I took collection development last semester. I think your comment should be part of collection development classes. There is a lot of encouragement in the library world to listen to your patrons and buy books suggested by patrons. Which is great.
Here you gave us an example of where a library may have taken a chance on a new service with new authors and connected you to something new. This and helping people learn are what libraries are supposed to do. It’s great to see the system worked as intended.
as an AVID reader…(1 to 3 books a day) the librarian in charge of acquisitions would let me pick what to order for about 10 years, in the categories of Mystery Sci/Fi, Fantasy, and although my library is BIG on deacquisitioning most of my picks are still there. She wasn’t supposed to do that but she did it one month because I had requested about 5 books that were not in our system and she hadn’t finished her order. As soon as they were entered into the system they had reserves stacked up for months…..and so it began.
The Maryland library I belong to has an electronic database that lets me recommend books all the time. Quite a few have been added to their collection- I know, because the online system tells me. I have recommended all the House Andrews books *because* (even though I have read all of them and own most of them). It has added not only those but several others I have requested [satisfied].
My sister recommended “Magic Bites” to me while I was on a UF tear. Five series later, I have no regrets.
Similar journey – looking for UF after reading the early anita books by Laurell Hamilton. I read “Magic Bites” and eagerly read everything written since then.
me too, I found Anita by LKH in the book store and bought the first 2. The very next Thursday night, went back and bought the next 8 (all they had in store) and the shop assistant kept looking and my husband waiting for him to say something about it. He just smiled and said its fine.
From there found Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs and eventually IA Magic Bites (it was a new release so I was very sad that i couldn’t rush out and buy all the books already written) and so become my full membership in the BDH.
I had a somewhat similar start, but had to wait for my rather large ‘mixed bag’ of UF books to arrive from US (4-8 weeks delivery to Australia back then – one of the main reasons I bought a kindle!) Magic Bites was the first and I haven’t stopped since!
Magic Bites was my first too. Such a wonderful find.
Honestly I can’t remember for sure, which exact book I read first. Because I then went into a fog when I read and read all of IA books, and it all become THE FIRST in my IA experience.
But at the time On the Edge was free, and so it’s probably that. I loved the in-between worlds. And I mean, Georgie and Jack will keep anyone hooked.
I am the same unsure which book came first but have read all the edge, inkeeper and Kate Daniels books
My roommate had or bought book one in KD world. I read it… liked it, and then sorta forgot about it as we were in Uni and exams and what not took precidence. Scroll forward a couple years found book one again… and now they were up to book 3 or 4.. . bought and read them all, have since just pre-ordered anything and everything they have put out! And stalk the blog…
Thank you for sharing!!! Love this!
It has been so long, but I think I picked up “ Magic Bites” from a display at our local Borders (miss them sooo much!) that had a special promotional price….and that was it!!!
Same for me. I was browsing through Borders, found Magic Bites and have been buying IA ever since. Shared with my besties for a Christmas gift (3 favorite books, had to be in print, audio, and Kindle formats). Happy to be a member of the BDH.
I randomly picked the first Kate Daniels up, Urban fantasy has always been my not so guilty pleasure.
Magical Apocalypse? Sign me up.
Luckily, there where already more KD books when I joined… needless to say I have never looked back 😀
IA holds a special place in my heart. I can reread the books as often as I want without them losing their magic ☺
+1! They all hold up really well to rereads for me.
I read innkeeper first, I was just going through books in Libby and I loved the description and loved the book, but everything else they wrote seemed heavier so I didn’t try them. When I recommended innkeeper to my friend she came back and told me I had to read Kate Daniels. After I read the first book I was hooked on everything they wrote. Now looking back I can’t believe I almost missed them.
I probably would have read the rest anyway but it would have taken me much longer to read them.
My Father in law occasionally reads books from different genres and ran across The Edge Series – specifically the book On The Edge. He tended to loan me his books after he was done with them since we both read a lot. I read that series and added them to my goodreads.com as read. At a later date when I was looking for a new series to read, goodreads.com recommended the Kate Daniels series. I have since read everything they have published. I am now into audible books and love to listen to them while working.
Every time there is a new book in the Innkeeper, Kate Daniels or Hidden Legacy Series I re-listen to all of the previous books for that series before the new one comes out. There are very few authors I will do this with but these three series are must for me with this!
I always have to start the series over again before I read the next new book in the series. I just have to re read all the luscious goodness again before I go on for that next new goodness
Yeah, that’s my excuse too, lol. Also in winter when it’s too cold to do much outside, the South feels nice and warm.
So happy to know I’m not the only one who will revisit an entire series before a new book comes out!
Shortly after I got my first Kindle I was looking up books to download and read. Gun Metal Magic was either free or on sale. I got it read it, loved it and proceeded to buy and read the rest of the Kate Daniels series. Glad I found this author duo. I love everything they have written. Thank you for sharing your story.
Fortunately, I work with another avid reader who one magical day, many years ago, suggested I read a book called “Magic Bites” by Ilona Andrews. “It has magic and shapeshifters, you’ll love it,” she insisted. At that time, I wasn’t rolling in the finances, so I hit up my local library- which was not rolling in Ilona Andrews books at the time. The first two books were checked out for three weeks, and I am by nature an impatient woman so I checked out they did have, “Magic Strikes.”
To condense an exceptionally long story, I have every Ilona Andrews book that I can get my shaky, coffee clutching hands on. I’ve read the paperbacks so many times I’ve had to tape the bindings. I’m guilty of buying the Kindle version of books because I can’t wait for the physical copy coming in the mail. I pounce on the wonderful snippets and teasers offered on the blog. I bought the “Small Magics” special edition and have it safely tucked away until I move to a bigger house and have a proper place to display it .
I think, though, the most important aspect of my obvious addiction is it helped push me past wanting to write urban fantasy to actually writing. Initially, I sank into Kate’s stories as a reprieve from depression and anxiety. I love all their series, but something about Kate Daniels gives me a sense of peace and safety. One day, something clicked and I started writing notes and snippets in notebooks and on notepads. Then I started participating in NaNoWriMo. Then I started learning more about writing and honing my skills, due in no small part to advice and suggests I’ve read on this blog and other writer’s blogs. Last year’s NaNoWriMo story is still suffering through editing, but I actually gave it to a few trusted folks to read-people who aren’t related or close friends, so they don’t have to be nice and pat me on the head saying it was good.
All this started because someone told me to check out a book. Who says writing isn’t magic?
I have to say that when you buy paperback books and the bindings come off, they’re very simple and easy to repair without tape. Heat up your iron, put the book in order and neatly sandwiched between the front and back cover. Run the cover over the iron where the glue that used to hold it still exists on the edges of the pages and the cover. This remelts the glue and makes it work again. To make it lay flat, either put something on top of it or sandwich the book into your crowded library and the pages will eventually flatten out, making the book look and feel like a new book. I’ve read the bindings off so many paperback books that it’s not funny, and this always works.
+ 1000 for
I love all their series, but something about Kate Daniels gives me a sense of peace and safety.
I started with Questionable Content in the anthology it was released in. Continued from there. So much fun through every journey.
Ditto!
It was a Tuesday. March 27, 2007 acutally. I had two young boys, they were 1 & 2, I was a stay at home mom. We were living on a single income at the time with once vehicle. It was amazing and sometimes incredibly hard, as we live in a rural area, so it could be isolating. That day my better half got home took a look at me, and “Mags,Honey, you need a break. Why don’t you take the car and some money and go to Barnes and Noble for a while. ” At that time we didn’t have alot of extra. So it was a massive treat. I think I grabbed 30 bucks from our fuck it bucket money. And off i went, at the time Starbucks was still newish to our area and B&N still had all the plush furniture. I wandered that store for a long while and grabbed a coffee . While I wandered I found Magic Bites. I read the first couple of chapters with a coffee I didn’t make, with the hushed noises of B&N as the soundtrack. It felt like soul food that day. I left this realm and walked into a very broken Atlanta and just fell in love. I went and hunted their blacklist through my library and in time acquired everything I could. I had found the authors that made prefect escape. I haven’t stopped buying all of their releases on release day. It doesn’t matter what they write. I want it.
That is how I became part of the horde. I am so thankful for their interactions and snippets. All that they do for the love of their fans. Thanks House Andrews.
-maggie
At one point I had joined a small book club and Clean Sweep was submitted by a member as a voting option one month. Ultimately it wasn’t the option chosen by the group, but the description had caught my eye and I read it on my own…I was hooked from there! After that I sought out and read every book from IA! 🙂
I was conducting a training on a business trip. Ducked into a bookstore and picked up the first KD. Two days later grabbed the next two to get me through the flight home. I think this was when the series had maybe 5 books? Devoured everything available then and since.
Harry Dresden lead me to IA. I loved the magic, the heart, and the snark of the Jim Butcher books. So, like all addicts, I entered “If you like Harry Dresden, you’ll like . . . .”
and the Great Internet Being sent me to the KD world.
I found IA almost the same way, I had read all of the Dresden Files books out, and Kindle led me to IA as a recommend next. I’m glad I have something in common with someone else ????
I had just finished ‘Ships of the Air’ by Martha Wells and having devoured all that she had published up to that point (Death of the Necromancer is still my fave) I saw Ilona Andrews Magic Bites in the section of “books others bought” and my love of House Andrews was born. I still will pre-order anything these two authors put out, sight unseen. In my opinion they are two of the best character and world builder authors ever.
Magic Bites was my first book I read it the year it came out and I have devoured their books ever since.
I remember right before Magic Breaks came out I woke up from a terrible dream that Curran died and I emailed Ilona and Gordon in a panic because I thought they would kill off one of my favorite characters. Ilona was so sweet to deal with me the crazy fan and it just further cemented them as my favorite authors. I recommend them to everybody.
Brandi, how fun! Tfs. I started with Magic Bites. I was prowling around B&N, cover browsing and – even though that Kate was meh – bought the book because it was set in Atlanta. I laughed and read, and put IA on my bookwatch list. They have never fallen off!
So glad you enjoyed the post ????, I’m not Brandi though hehe.
My library had Bayou Moon as a pick me selection so I did. Than I went back and got everything else I could get my hands on.
Aww, sweet story <3
To be honest I've got first KD book as a reviewer freebe in one of portals I cooperate with. It was like "oh meh, another urban fantasy with The Strongest Female Character, great".
Then I started reading and bought every other book in English on Kindle x)
I was reading either Charlaine Harris or Jeaniene Frost I am not sure which one way back in 2013. I happened upon several anthologies with Ilona Andrews work in them and was hooked when I read A Questionable Client. I ignored everyone until I was finished with all the books out at that time. I have since gotten many of my friends hooked as well. Everyone has a different favorite series but we all agree the books are worth reading.
My daughter recommended IA and after one book I was totally hooked. I’m a bit of a snob and the writing has to be very good, the plotting and science believable and paced well and the characters likable. A+ on all three. Also, much bonding happened between my daughter and I – just a bonus. We love to discuss these books.
It was an “If you liked Jim Butcher try..” post – I think on goodreads. I proceeded to devour the series and pre-order everything involving Kate Daniels. Possibly subconsciously due to this, my daughter may or may not be named Kate.
I was on Goodreads, actually, and one of my favorite reviewers had posted about “Clean Sweep”. Including something along the lines of “Ilona Andrews, please teach me how to write Alpha males that aren’t d*****bags.” It was a rave review from a formidable reviewer, so I bought “Clean Sweep” that day. And as soon as I finished it, I went rabid for more. Bought Kate next (because they wrote Kate first) and became truly obsessed.
I had a friend with a similar love of urban fantasy who recommended the Kate Daniels books to me. I started with the first one in March of 2012. Between March and July of 2012, according to my purchase history, I purchased the available House Andrews’ books. At that point I suppose my BDH card arrived and I joined those who wait for the next book to be published for an immediate purchase or hold from the local library.
One of my greatest joys in reading is finding a new-to-me author with an existing catalog on which to feast.
Small Magics. I read short story collections to find authors and then track down the books of ones I like. I also look up other authors recommended by the ones I particularly like, and have found some excellent ones that way, but that isn’t how I found IA.
My brother, my only sibling (we were best buds, too) had just been diagnosed with an extremely rare, almost-always-fatal cancer — we’d just gotten the diagnoses in November of 2011. (It would take years before I could use the C word. I kept calling it by its long scientific name, as if that was somehow a magical incantation to keep it from actually meaning “cancer”… if I didn’t say it, it wasn’t true, right?)
I desperately needed something to escape to; I don’t remember how I found On the Edge–some bunny trail of hopping from “read that, and that, and that” to “oh, this looks interesting.”
I glommed onto that world and then hopped to KD and then found the Kinsmen and I think I may have re-read those books multiple times over that next year, when Mike had chemo and then a bone marrow transplant, and then was about to go home, cancer free, miraculously beating the odds, only to have him fall and the doctors discovered that his brain stem was being ravaged by a fungal infection. He barely lasted two weeks after that discovery.
Those books were my lifeline, where things got really difficult for the characters and some people died, but the characters made it out, survived, and somehow, maybe even thrived. I needed that like I needed oxygen.
So thank you, Ilona and Gordon. You’ll never know how much being able to escape to a world so beautifully rendered it blocked out the horrible going on in my own world, and gave me the reprieve I needed to survive.
I’m so sorry for your loss and what you went through….
Thank you.
So sorry for your loss Toni. I am forever amazed by and humbled by the power of art (whether that be in the form of the written word, music, or physical art), to somehow connect to us at such a personal, emotional level. In times of greatest stress a song, a book, a painting can become that escape or that connection to someone else that we so desperately require.
When someone tells me they don’t read I always feel a little sorry for them. I am glad you had this to help support you.
Thank you, Nean. And I completely agree–I think the world would go mad very quickly without art and particularly literature.
“I think the world would go mad very quickly without art and particularly literature.”
That may explain a lot, actually.
Books have such power to transport us elsewhere, long enough for us to recover a bit from real life. And now, back into the fray.
So sorry for your loss. I know exactly how you feel. These books, the blog and the BDH got me through the illness and death of my husband. Hugs to you.
Oh, Erika, I’m so very sorry for your loss. That had to be extremely difficult. I’m glad you found such a good escape; here’s to finding joy even when the world is falling apart.
My small town canadian librarian that knew me well, gave me a list of authors she knew I would like after reading Kelley Armstrong over a decade ago. Twilight was on that list also…
Harry Potter is about confronting fears, finding inner strength and doing what right in the face of adversity. Twilight is about how important it is to find a boyfriend
— Stephen King
To me, you were in the Harry Potter category
I feel Steven is over simplifying. Twilght did have glimmers of being more than a boyfrind book but the characters fail to fully develop the ending felt akward as though the author wanted this to end as soon as possible.
The greatest thing about both series is they encouraged young readers to read and discuss things. To enter a world that is different from the normal. And that is a good thing for all authors. Book devourers need to be fed, and we will hunt elsewhere while waiting for the next book in a series.
I think Stephanie found more freedom and range in The Host and The Chemist. I’ve read The Host multiple times and cry buckets everytime she decides to be removed. Sadly the movie is too short to really capture that book.
They needed an HBO or Netflix series. And the Chemist is even better. I keep hoping for a sequel.
I keep hoping for a sequel to The Host. Did you read the bonus chapter found in the newer copies of The Host? May need it stated on cover, but it is at the end of the book. It actually fills a gap and is really good! Wish it would be included in the audio version. I thought The Chemist was also really good.
I’ve just read a book, I can’t remember the title, and I was frustrated because the story was good, the main heroine was great, but there was absolutely no chemistry between the characters, it was like the author knew he had to introduce a love interest, but it was so lame I was like « just kill him already so we can go back to the action »… So I went in search on Google of « an urban fantasy book with no love interest ». Google being Google, I fell on a blog where the girl talked about Urban fantasy couples, and on the Kate Daniels séries, she said that we’ve had to wait till the fourth book of the series to see relationships further developments.
So yeah, almost everyone waited impatiently for Kate and Curran to be a couple, and it was precisely the absence of romance in the first books that made me read it!!
Let’s just say that right after Kate and Curran meet, I was already into it ????… nothing lame between these two !!!
I can’t count how many books I’ve read in my life, but not many held the place the KD series held in my heart.
I was searching in Audible for something to listen, and stumbled upon Clean Sweep. I was immediately hooked and could not wait to read the rest of the series. Once done, I was thirsting for more, and decided to give the Kate Daniels series a try. Oh, boy. And then I followed it up with the Hidden Legacy series, and then The Edge, which has become one of my favorites. I am a border town girl. I grew up in the Mexico/US border. Unless you are from there, you cannot understand squat about it, no matter if you are Mexican or US. The border is its own thing. Both sides are like just one place marked by a bridge. The Edge novels struck a cord with me, and I can say that I am an Edger Rat Forever.
I was in a an author discussion board, and we were giving our recommendations of our favorite authors! Someone, whose opinion I respected gave us Ilona Andrews ! That started my journey with the best authors ever!
I found Magic Bites at a local Barnes and Noble in a display stand. There was a different woman on the cover and I thought it looked interesting. I don’t recall loving the book- I liked it well enough to read the whole book. When the second book came out a year later, I thought I would give it a try and I was hooked.
I arrived through the amazon kindle recommendations. Here was my path back in March 3rd 2009 through April 21 2009. A total of 27 books
Charlaine Harris – Sookie Stackhouse series
Kim Harrison – The Hollows series
Carrie Vaughn – Kitty Norville series
Patricia Briggs – Mercy Thompson series
Ilona Andrews – Kate Daniels series
Oooooo, I haven’t re-read Charlaine in while, thanks
Found Magic Bites on 8/30/2015. Read thru KD book 8 on 9/2/2015. Have read every IA book I found as soon as I could since. I buy every book as soon as pre-ordering in available even if over a year out. I might not live that long, but I have an incentive to try.
Based on your list, you may enjoy Nalini Singh, her Psy-Changling series and Jeanine Frost’s Cat and Bones series. I have read and enjoyed every series on your list!
I don’t remember the date but it was roughly 10 years ago, I had gone back to work part time after my daughter was born. I was browsing in my local Library one lunchtime and picked up ‘On the Edge’. I read it, liked it a lot and went back for Bayou Moon – I LOVED that and well, when I like an author I tend to go all out so I gorged myself on everything they had written. Now I wait with bated breath for the next release, any next release of any series, because, well -I am BDH to the bone
My dad read the first three KD books from the library and liked them enough to buy the next 2 books (the rest weren’t out yet) and told me I should read the books. When I said they weren’t available at my library, he bought them and sent them to me as an early birthday present. Great dad! He’s introduced me to multiple authors over the years starting with the Belgariad by David Eddings which also has a wolf.
David Eddings, hold a special spot on my shelves…had to replace Belgarion, and Sparhawk, series several times over the years, very few authors get the rebuy cause their book was overly read, Ilona Andrews, did join that bookcase of rebuys.
Magic Bites was my first. I picked it up while waiting for a new Dresden Files. I remember thinking it was pretty good, and then I read book 2 and was hooked.
On a more melancholy note, I bought my late mother Magic Bites on her Kindle when she was in the hospital for what turned out to be terminal cancer. I asked her about the book a month later. She laughed and somewhat guiltily said she had loved it so much she had bought and read 9 other books by HA in the past month. She wasn’t able to read much after that, but I’ll always love Ilona and Gordon for giving her some comfort in that month.
I was studying abroad in the UK for a year and discovered the joy of being able to buy mass market paperbacks at domestic prices, rather than buying them as imports, which adds about 50% to the price. On my student budget, I could now buy 50% more books! And so many, many books to choose from! Like this paperback from a debut author, something to do with magic, sure, sounds good, I’ll give it a go… And the rest, as they say, is history 🙂
That’s a lovely story, Bayou Moon is one of my favourites as well. William with his action figures really resonated with me and the whole bad hobo sequence was hilarious, of course. I was rereading it last year and it crossed my mind how family is such a big thing in Hidden Legacy and before we had Baylors there were Mars. I love their dynamic. 🙂
I came to Kate Daniels world pretty late (5 books in series were released already) and by that time, it was already the uf series you shouldn’t miss. I devoured the first book and it still kills me when someone says that book #1 was so-so, and it gets better with second one, because I fell in love with Kate’s voice right away. I love The Order Kate phase and I often reread those first 4 books. Something about Kate being alone and gaining friends really does it for me. It’s probably why Magic Strikes is not just my favourite in the series, but one of my favourite books in general- Kate’s relationship with Jim, Derek, Andrea, not to mention his Furrines was brought to a whole different level with this book. Plus, I loved how everything came together and I am pretty sure that my love for magic tournaments/competition in fantasy was born with this book.
Tucked back in the SciFi/Fantasy section on the top shelf, I found the very first KD book at my localish Borders and while the cover kept calling me back to read a little more each time I picked it up because it was nice to see a potential heroine who wasn’t the usual Barbie plus a lion (?), it took me about a month before I finally broke down and actually bought the book because basically I was tired of continually thinking about this book. I still remember having my mind blown by the vampires of this world as they weren’t like any other vampires and while at first I was shocked (!) and rattled at how they weren’t the usual “beautiful, immortal, all knowing, etc…” vampires, I got sucked in by the world building which besides presenting a new version of the U.S. and specifically Atlanta, the world building also had made me realize I wasn’t cut out to survive the end of the world. The rest is history as I immediately found the IA website and have been hooked ever since.
Way back in 2007 Facebook was nothing like it is today. I had very few “Friends” but those I did have were either family or people who posted about books. I wish that I could read Magic Bites again for the first time and that I could thank whoever it was that posted about it. It helped me find all kinds of authors and stories that I adore and might not have found.
I was in a book slump while I was getting my doctorate (over 10 years ago) and walked around B&N to see what would catch my attention. I was reading Nalini Singh’s books at the time (I’m still reading them), and thought maybe I could find something similar to her books. I picked up, I think either Magic Rises or Magic Breaks and skimmed through the book. It caught my attention alright! So much, I bought it for my Nook when I got home. Then I back read Kate’s books, and kept going ever since.
Then I found the site and the group that is now called the BDH. Back then we weren’t called the BDH. We were a nameless group until the vote. The rest, as they say is history. 😀
I can tell English punctuation is not my friend today. I’ve been in numbers a lot this morning. Trying to go from math and numbers to English takes some time. 🙂
I used to haunt Barnes and Noble every week and went through about $50 worth of books a month. I was desperate for something to read. Being a science fiction reader it was so hard waiting for writers to finish their one per year novels, I branched out into romance, the early Jayne Anne Krentz that were more adventure driven, then into paranormal. I discovered Christine Feehan’s Dark series and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark Hunters. I actually had picked up Magic Bites and read the back cover blurb several times and didn’t like it and put it back on the shelf. I finally bought the book and tried to read it once or twice by initial impressions of Urban Fantasy Strongest Female Character put me off. Into my slush pile it went. I picked it up again and this time got to “Here, Kitty, Kitty” and I was hooked.
The period of time from finding the Magic Bites on the BandN shelves to finally reading the entire book was probably about 3 years.
I have all the books and audiobooks now and have reread the series several times. How can you not luv Hugh, Andrea, Roman, and the rest of the crazy cast.
A while ago Felicia Day ran a video Google hangout chat bookclub thing that I’d watch on YouTube. It was called Vaginal Fantasy Book Club. There’s still info on it here:
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/62938-vaginal-fantasy-book-club
The books covered a bunch of different genres but had to have a strong female lead and usually a heavy amount of sexy/romance/etc.
I ran into the Kate Daniels series there. Looking at the YouTube playlist looks like Magic Bites was #33.
My (at the time boyfriend now husband) was graduating basic training in Texas. Since he himself is a big book nerd and was going through book withdrawals, we hit up not 1 but 3 Barnes and Nobles. I needed books for my long journey back home and grabbed the first 2 books in KD. Correctly guessing that one wasn’t going to be enough. I finished both before my first flight left Texas.
Kate Daniels series got me through my last year of college. Since then, your books, and blog, have continued to be comfort reads and distractions through hard times. I’ve always thought that The Book Devouring Horde is the perfect name because I have never devoured books like I do yours.
I’m a vendor in Walmart and used to stock the books. I remember the cover of Magic Bites looking interesting. Didn’t get it. ????♀️ Then On the Edge came out and I got it. Loved it! ???? And eventually got all the rest of IA’s books.
Twitter is how I met this duo and I could not be more grateful.
I actually met Gordon and Ilona in New Orleans at a small con in 2016 I think. I hadn’t read them, but still somehow had some anthologies for them to sign.
In 2019 I kept seeing people rave about Hidden Legacy, and I finally picked up the first book in the series and I devoured it and that was it for me.
While waiting for Emerald Blaze, I read The Edge Series, The Innkeeper Chronicles, and The Kinsmen.
I like to read in order as much as possible, so once my schedule clears a little, I plan on starting the Kate Daniels Series.
I was literally walking onto a plane, got an email ad from Audible, something like a 2-for-1 sale on first books in a series. I bought and loaded Magic Bites as I walked down the jetway, hoping the WiFi would hold long enough for me to download the entire book.
By the time I landed, I was a goner.
This was before the Kate books were finished. I remember this blog, trying to source titles: “Magic puts Kid 2 thru college.”
I’ve bought everything – twice. Audio and paper.
Thank you, Mod R, for the post.
One of my sisters gave me a Kate Daniels book for Christmas over a decade ago. Dad was going thru chemotherapy for hmm, PC— cancer and Mother was a demented uncontrolled diabetic vicious nasty angry entity.
I needed a reality break. I devoured the book and then went back and read series up to then. After that I read The Edge, Innkeeper, and then Hidden Legacy series.
Dad died in 2011. I shipped Mother to live with my third sister in 2016 as my health was really going downhill from the stress of working 50+ hours a week and doing eldercare on top of that. Well she refused to let me put Mother in a home and other siblings refused to take Mother so I moved Mother to her house. After 2 years she tried to return her to me but I said NO.
Ilona Andrews stories really saved the days as I could escape for a little while. Kinsmen series wasn’t on digital library- still isn’t so I will get to that post pandemic.
While I have enjoyed mod R posts, I know Texas is having a particularly rough time with Covid. I would like to know/ hear that House Andrews is doing well/ okay or whatever British version of that is. I don’t care if they are on break, holiday or vacation. Thank you.
House Andrews are well ????
I follow Jeenie Breeden, a fantastic artist and author of the comic The Devil’s Panties (it is NOT satanic porn) who was based in the Atlanta area. She mentioned the KD series in a comic and I followed down the rabbit hole.
I worked a second job in Barnes and Noble after teaching during the week. I discovered the KD series first and was instantly hooked!
I found IA through Barnes & Noble’s “Readers also bought…” recommendation after buying Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. At that time, only the first 3 books in Kate were out. I became a part of the proto-BDH by re-reading the prologue to Magic Bleeds way too many times until the book came out.
Bayou Moon – nice jumping in point!
Magic Bites for me; sadly not because of cover, blurb or name – Scout Camp was coming up that weekend, needed something which, at a pinch, would fit into my pocket! Magic Bites was the first book in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi section of Waterstones to be of the required size; I guess I didn’t look to far along the shelf as I was still in the A-section!
Unfortunately the size had the issue of not lasting beyond Saturday night…. and I had to wait a whole week before I could get Book 2!
I was hanging on out Hurog, the online forum for Patricia Briggs books. Several of my dotcomrades were already reading the Kate Daniels series and raved about the books, but I heard repeatedly that 1 and 2 were not necessarily easy to get into. Book 4 was out and I had heard that one had The Seggs, so I started with that one. (Because I like a little seggs in my books.) I read it, then read 3, then read 1 and 2. And of course I was hooked.
It’s all my mom’s fault! She passed along Fate’s Edge to me, which I took & skimmed & thought okay, putting it aside. For years after, my mom gushed about KD. And gushed & gushed, trying to convert me & my sister into fans, but my mom won’t lend the KD books out & the timing was never right to start on my own. Then I moved, right at Thanksgiving to somewhere cold where I had no connections, and my furniture was delayed & the heat went out & the KD world, the first 4 or 5 books on my NOOK, became the thing to completely absorb me & soothe my misery, huddled on an air mattress under multiple blankets with my dog. It was such an escape, but truly, the Innkeeper is my fav.
i was working in an a assitisted living center. I would talk to some of the ladies and gentlemen about the differnt books we were all reading ( i always read on my breaks) and we all started trading our paper back books, once we had read them. ONe of the Ladies had Book 3 of the KD series and she didnt care for it(wrong genre) and gave it to me to try.
i read it and was HOOKed for life. so much so i went back and bought all the rest of the books they have writen.
I discovered House Andrews after following the Alpha showdown on Vampirebookclub.net. Curran and Kate were both in the showdown and the comments in support of them were so intriguing that I immediately googled them and found Magic Bites!
Have not looked back since and have now gotten multiple family members into the series! Best decision of my life!!
When I was much too young to be reading the kinds of books I was reading, I found KD in the library I lived across the street from. They had only published up to Magic Rises at that point and I have devoured every book of theirs since then, a proud card carrying member of the House Andrews BDH 🙂
I’m currently on my kajillionth re-read of Hidden Legacy, and also just re-read Iron Covenant, because Hugh.
Clean Sweep was my first book. I think that it was free from Bookbub. I absolutely fell in love with the fantasy worlds within a fantasy world that is the Inn. I have a weakness for magical interior design and I would put myself to sleep imagining an alien and then furnishing a room in the Inn for the alien. I don’t remember why I needed a gentle book at that time, but I do remember thinking that book was soothing my psyche in a way that I did not know that I needed. I moved on to Kate Daniels which, while certainly not soothing, was exactly what I needed then. Hmm, clearly I had found favorite authors. At some point, I discovered the blog which, since I also live in Texas, is often exactly what I need. And the BDH is great fun! As someone once said, come for the blog, stay for the comments. Especially during the last two years, this has been a lifeline and a reminder that the world is full of good people. Thank you House Andrews for the magic of storytelling and the magic of community that you bring to our lives.
I started with Jeaniene Frost books and did a google search for if you like x book try y any found this website https://www.tor.com/2011/03/30/urban-fantasy-recommendations-2/
Strangely I had never read the books it was being compared to.
<3
I don’t remember why I picked up the first book. I must’ve heard of it somewhere and decided to take a look when I was at the bookstore. I do remember seeing the Patricia Briggs blurb on the cover and going “oh really!” It was the 1st Kate book.
My Dad started reading the Kate Daniels books when they first came out. I got hooked because of book thievery. Now I order them ahead of time so he can get them as presents. He’s not the easiest to shop for.
My boss asked me to deep clean her house so I obviously needed an audiobook to listen to for the day and stumbled upon Clean Sweep on audible . I was instantly intrigued by the storyline and entranced by Renee Raudmans voice. Have been absolutely obsessed ever since. ????
I was shopping in the old Borders bookstore, just wandering around looking, and the title of a faced-out book, Magic Bites, caught my eye. It sounded interesting, so I bought it. I adored it. I shared it with my family and friends and bought a copy to send to a friend who was working in Iraq at the time for the Embassy. She was hooked too. That was my first IL book. I didn’t know about Innkeeper until the friend that had been in Iraq send me a copy of Clean Sweep as a gift. I loved that series too.
I was working in Uzbekistan for a month and I found a copy of Magic Bites in the Embassy library. I read it, permanently borrowed it, immediately downloaded the rest of the series, and read the whole thing twice, followed by The Edge series and then Innkeeper. I’m honestly amazed I ever got any work done that month!
Ah! Talk about a throwback!
I was still doing my Erasmus in Portugal, and of course out of the 4 languages I spoke English was not one of them.
I had recently bought a kindle (that was 2009. It still has buttons) exactly with the intention of learning English the fun way (by only reading books and using the in-built dictionary when things stopped making sense).
I then ended up grabbing the first in the series of KD, and marathoning everything that was available so far. Of swine and roses is still one of my fave novellettes tbh.
And! I did learn English in the end (well it’s a work in progress) and these (awesome) series are to thanks. ☺️
So thank you! And thank you Mod for sharing your story!
Kindle Keyboard was the best ????
Totally agree!
Still have my kindle keyboard, and have bought 2 more from ebay. They’ll read books to you with the text to speech function, which neither the PC or phone or Fire version will do.
How did I discover IA? Like I’ve discovered all my other favourite authors. Through my mum. Together we’ve devoured every book of every series and often have long debates/discussions about what will happen next, or which book is our favourite. (KD all the way for me)
London February afternoons ????. Cannot begin to explain how grey EVERYTHING is.
I started with magic & the paranormal- “Burn form me”.
Everything else was read very quickly after that. ❤️
I was sick in bed and read alphas in an anthology I bought for Sharon Shinn’s story. By the end of that weekend I had bought and read everything IA had ever written.
I love that I see glimpses of that story in multiple IA series, all which I own ????
It was summer nearly fourteen years ago, i was juste single and taking a break at my grand ma’s house and went to the nearby town to hunt for something to pass the time.
There was a stand in the bookstore with a new author (well in France she was new), there was a badass girl with a sword and a lion : “Morsure magique”.
I looked at the summary and it reminded me of a tabletop rpg I liked (Shadowrun) and thought that this would do ….
Which led me to buy a kindle (I was pondering for a while and this was the factor) : cause I just had to read the next books which were available in english but alas not in french ! And voilà I’ve been hooked ever since 😀
I read Magic Bites. At the end I thought the writing was a little rough but the story was outstanding. Read everything since then. Writing kept getting better. It was nice to see the progression. Now I re-read them often and I always have one on audio for drive home. They are my official favorite authors, books, etc.
Ilona (the woman, not the writing partnership) and I were briefly in the same writers’ group. When Magic Bites came out, I bought it to support her then became part of the BDH.
I think Magic Bites is my first IA book. Actually, I didn’t finish reading it at first because the story doesn’t seem to be my cup of tea (likely because my English vocabulary is still limited as I only started braving my way to read English novels). But I keep being drawn to fantasy stories (especially UF genre) and ‘Magic Bites’ several times showed up again in my search of recommendation.
Until one fine day (I can’t remember the exact date or year because the past seems like a blur to me???? but at that time, the Kate Daniels series isn’t completed yet. IIRC it’s when Hugh was recently introduced I think, because I remember the wait for the next book to read more about how Hugh will affect Kate’s life), honestly at that point, I had mostly forgotten the plot of ‘Magic Bites’ before I DNF-ed it the first time. It’s a plus to me though, as I feel like reading the book again for the first time.
Surprisingly I really enjoyed it and reread some parts several times to sharpen my understanding of the story and catch more details I might miss as my English was not so fluent. I was in senior high school I believe..
And the rest is history…???? Overall, somehow I become addicted to what IA wrote until today. Also, there are more cases of me DNF-ing other books, but later, those books would turn would be among my favorites 🙂
I landed in the kinsmen universe first. I finished those but had a bunch of others on my TBR pile so a wandered away for a bit then I found the Edge and it was like meeting the one that got away all over again. Now I’ve read everything a couple of times which for me a is big deal since there are only so many books to read in a lifetime and I’d like to get all of them in.
I was waiting for the new book from LK Hamilton and fall in Love with UF becouse of her so goodreads new books with magic in UF settings and I found House Andrews and have been a lot fun since. Ps yes I devoured all the edge and kate books at the time lol. Pps my memory is kind of bad but I remember that at the time it was a little before andrea book come out that I found them. Ppps still sad we cant use authorlords anymore I liked that a lot.
My first was Magic Bites, handsold to me by a bookseller at Borders named Andrea. She loved books and frequently would start a conversation with “I noticed that you have been reading fill in the blank, have you ever read fill in the blank”? So many authors that are now autobuys came from her recommendations. She even put together a readers group in a period where she had a supportive manager that was okay with us filling a few tables in the coffee shop. I would drive the distance to that store versus a slightly closer Barnes and Noble because she made it a welcoming place.
Was looking for a light read and it is romance I go to. Check the paperbacks on the library stand. Don’t know the author but the book looks interesting.
Got the best surprise.
I have all the series now in paperback & kindle.
It was HL with Rogan shirtless ???? ????
I am pretty sure I first heard of Ilona Andrews on Nalini Singh’s blog.
Picked up Magic Bites which totally blew my mind. I own all the books now – auto buy!
🙂
My son was n the NICU, we were far from home and I was alone in hospital housing. The suggestion popped up in my kindle and I fell into Kate’s world and stopped drowning in anxiety for my newborn son. Over the next few weeks, I read my way through as many of their books as I could get my hands on. Kate kept me going until I could finally take my son home.
I want to say I started with Hidden Legacy? My first IA experience is kind of a blur of dopamine in my mind.
I was browsing through the bookstore many years ago and saw a book titled Magic Bites by a brand new author named Ilona Andrews . And thus entered the world of Kate Daniels and Curran Lennart. And the rest is history. 🙂
I Think my addiction behandling with innkeeper.
I have loved fantasy since i began reading. Unfortunately very little fantasy was written in or translated to my native language (danish) it being a language with only 5 million speaking it -and it was in the 80ies where fantasy/sci-fi wasn’t considered “real” litterature ????.
In my twenties i began Reading in english after having to read english in medical school, and i must say that Anne maccaffrey is nicer to read than neuro-anatomy.
Then about 7 years ago my husband gave me a kindle …. it was kind of an epiphany, the amounts of my favorite genre available for almost nothing (compared to danish prices for dead tree books) was amazing.
I found inkeeper browsing for something new to read and now i own everything House andrews has written ????. And it is one of my go to rereads.
Best wishes
Nanna
I gained a friend from Denmark online in 2003 who introduced me to one of her friends… was just chatting with the latter about an hour ago. It is on my bucket list to visit there and have my friend visit here. It seems like quite a few there know English very well! I have helped my friend get many books… though not as numerous, we still have some used bookstores in the U.S., but the price of mailing things there has gone way up so it is limited to twice a year now… not just books. We have both been enriched by the other which is just one of the things I appreciate about this blog… reading comments from people from many different places, walks of life, etc.
Magic Bites was my first IA book. I was lucky enough to find it right at publication because that time in my life meant that I could spend lots of time haunting bookstores and discovering all the good ones literally as they were published each week. So I guess I’ve been hooked for almost 14.5 years.
I still can’t decide which series is my favorite because I love them all so much.
I discovered them from my Mom! She had read the Edge novels and shared them with me. We then embarked on our epic quest to read all the IA books we could find. We love them of course!
We are also fortunate enough to meet Ilona and Gordon at the Foxtale Book Shoppe back in 2018 during the Magic Triumphs tour 😀
I had been reading some UF and “Magic Bites” caught my eye on an end cap display at Border’s. I live just outside of Atlanta and was tickled that the book was set there. This was in 2008 or 2009, I think. I looked IA up in Amazon and bought everything they’d written and have bought everything they’ve written since on it’s release day.
Tried and true Google! I was on summer break before my senior year of college and desperately needed a new series. Urban Fantasy has been, and probably will always be, my favorite genre. I went through ALL the lists, tried so many series, but I always ended up disliking the writing style, characters, or story itself…
The KD series was recommended in every single list I found. But for some reason, I kept putting off on trying it. Eventually I caved. The reviews were always glowing. So I bought the first book (Magic Bites) and sat on my couch. I didn’t get up for 3 hours and then I immediately bought the next book. Read that in just about the same amount of time (though I did take a snack break). My parents were concerned I was becoming part of the couch. After reading the second book, I bought ALL of the KD books. I devoured them in a week! IA became one of my favorite authors overnight.
I was so sad when I ran out of KD books to read right before the semester started. So I came here to the website and read the Innkeeper Chronicles.
Over the years, I’ve read everything written by IA. Series, snippets, novellas. While KD will always have a special place in my heart, I’m more grateful to have found such an amazing writing team! Their words have the ability to let me block out the world, if only for a few hours. I recommend their work to nearly everyone who asks me for something new to read. And no one I know has ever turned back LOL
I own electronic copies of almost all their books and I’m working on buying hard copies! I check every bookstore and buy whatever IA works they have (if I don’t already have the hard copy version). My collection has a while to go but it’s getting there!
Poking through a bookstore in downtown Spokane WA while attending a training, I found the Edge books…the covers and the synopses appealed to me so I bought all four. LOVED THEM!!! The world building is so awesome!!! On my way out of Spokane, I returned to the bookstore and bought the first Kate Daniels’ books. Have been a fan ever since. ????????????
First of all, I’m sooo jealous of your success in landing in your dream job. I’ve been working on it for a few years now, and it feels like trying to run through molasses – the solid block kind they feed cattle, not the syrupy delicious kind that you put in cookies.
Anyway, I can’t remember if I found IA through a story they wrote for some anthology or through randomly browsing the SF section of the library. But there’s nothing like randomly stumbling across gold.
???????? Best of luck to you, you can do it!
I had started reading Devon Monk (whom I still love and read) and I saw something posted about Ilona on Devon’s blog. It was a zillion years ago now and the first book in the Kate Daniels series had just dropped. I love Devon Monk, her books are amazing (I’m currently reading Nobody’s Ghoul). So I thought, yeah, let’s give that a try. And it was WOW! I still love other authors but after Ilona Andrews happened, all the other authors and books took a second chair.
I devoured the first book and was awaiting the second. I knew it was going to drop fairly soon. I was walking around a shopping center with a bookstore and, as always, I stopped in. They had the second book before it was supposed to be released. I was traveling with my husband and I did not speak to him for the rest of the day and evening. He’s a keeper so he let me be. I would read parts to him and explain the plot and surprises. He’s very patient. Then I started following the blog, reading everything I could get my hands on.
It was not enough that I loved them. I had to be sure everyone I knew was introduced to them. I finally got a kindle and, even though I had paper copies, I bought the Kindle copies. And then I bought them for my friends and family. And badgered them until they read them (they’re all readers like me, so many books, too little time). And they fell in love too. Now when we get a new book we all set up a text group and we text quotes while we read. We sign up for every engagement they have. I read the blog EVERY day. I copy and paste the posts for the fam so they can enjoy. I got my teenage child to start the Kate series. I read aloud to my husband at times.
I don’t ever read comments on other blogs. I ALWAYS read the comments on this blog and feel like I’ve found my people. It’s always lovely, funny, poignant, hilarious posts, both from House Andrews and the BDH.
It’s funny how my life was changed and how happy these books have made me. I don’t believe I would have survived the turmoil of past years (including COVID) without their books and this blog. It has become family, a warm cuddly blanket, a hot cocoa in front of the fire.
Yes!
My best friend gave me the first Kate Daniels book as I left for a conference-started reading it on the plane, and when I landed-send her a text thanking her for getting me addicted to yet another great author-I have read everything they have produced and am only waiting for more!!
I love your story Mod R. I have no recall as to how I found IA but I know it started with Kate 1 then moved to the Edge books which I preferred, then back to Kate and all the rest of their books.
I read the blog just as assiduously and love it just as much. How I wish I had been around to read their LJ blog, those seemed like the good old days.
During the depression of infertility treatments I started reading anything fantasy and the least like my reality I could get! I think IA was suggested by Amazon because I liked so and so.. I was fortunate/unfortunate enough to discover them with the 1st KD book, so I had to wait for all of them! It’s been a long wonderful ride!
I’m happy to say that after 8 years of treatment and craziness I now have a kid going to middle school next week! Crazy!
I’m so happy for you!
I can’t recall but I suspect that I came to the world of IA through the Vampire Book Club Alpha Showdown, I got so many book ideas from those contests. looking back to 2012 when I read my first IA books I was reading JR Ward, Jeaniene Frost, Nalini Singh, Richelle Mead, Patricia Briggs and Seanan McGuire at around the same time so I guess that was when I got into the urban fantasy/shifter/vampire phase.
Dear Author had a post about how excited they were about the upcoming book Gun Metal Magic by Ilona Andrews and I read the comments which were full of squeals of anticipation. Though not a PNR fan I was intrigued and went to my local library and checked out all the IA books they had and that was it, I became a self righteous card carrying book buying member of the BDH and my life is better for it.
Saw Magic Bites at Barnes and Noble in the new release section. Liked the title.
I remember hearing about the Kate Daniel series while I was on my paranormal romance binge and I haven’t looked back since. 🙂
Years ago, I was a co-admin for a group of women on a Facebook page. It was my turn to make the inspirational posts for the day. I usually spent time searching on Goodreads for quotes to put on pictures… the topic was shamanism. When I searched for magic and shamanism, I kept finding quotes from a character named Curran who had glued someone named Kate’s butt to the chair. Eventually couldn’t stand not knowing more about that brilliant funny banter and read Magic Strikes! That was the gateway into all things IA and is still my fav.
Lol i think c 2012 ish. I’ve been haunting the blog ever since!!!
I can’t remember. How sad is that? I’m not even sure if I read the Kate Daniel’s books first or The Edge first. I think it might have been The Edge because that’s still my favorite IA book.
I think I might have gotten my first book, “Magic Bites” because of a Goodreads recommendation from some other author I read. All I know is I got my first book on July 3, 2016 and the next book, “Magic Burns” on July 5th. After that I quickly purchased every book you’d written. Those are the best times; finding an author you love who already has already published a bunch of books! Thank you.
My husband is a huge Kate Daniels series fan. When looking for the next book for him, I tripped over the other series. I’m a massive Edge/Innkeeper fan.
I was on vacation and the condo I was staying in had books left for people that stayed there to read and there was a copy of Gunmetal Magic . I breezed through that while we were on our short vacation and as soon as I came back had to find the other books so I could to get some background on this awesome world. And then like you, I looked up every book they wrote and got hooked.
I had been volunteering in the local elementary school library for several years when a renovation was planned. The powers that be stored all the library books in a pod…no not the pods you’ve seen advertised…a cheap knock off pod. That winter, the elementary library lost all books M through R inclusive. The librarian was beside herself. The school would not apply for an insurance settlement to cover replacing the books as it would increase their premiums (why, you ask, were they paying for insurance if they did not plan on using it?)
Anyway, the librarian found out that the nearby big city’s large public library’s friend’s group had a huge number of books available at little cost during their book sales. Together, we brought three van-loads of books (both paperback and hard cover) back to the school over the next year to replace M-R.
For me, it was like discovering the holy grail. I could try out new authors for a dollar or fifty cents. What did I have to lose? Bags of books came home and bags of books, once read, went to my local public library. In those bags, I discovered Ilonia Andrews, first with the Edge series and then later with Kate. Now I am a devoted fan and buy everything, because, Ilonia Andrews should have joy. happiness and my few dollars from Amazon. BTW I still go to the big city’s book sales. You never know….
On one of the local free sites someone was giving away a box of ‘mixed horror and fantasy’ paperback books so I said ‘Yes please’. It turned out the box was actually full of crime and horror books, neither of which I read, however there was one solitary fantasy book in the box – Magic Bites. I gave the rest of the box to a local charity shop and kept that one book… Several years later I now own a lot more IA books.
I was introduced to IA books with Clean Sweep on my nook tablet and I’ve loved their books ever since. Thanks for all your guys hard work and amazing worlds.
I was a graduate student needing to read (for *pleasure*) but not having any extra time or money. I randomly found Magic bites in the audio section at my local library…found my favorite author and my favorite narrator all at once 🙂
I found Magic Burns in a discount bin at the used book store. Did not realize it was the second in the series until I got home. I am mentally unable to read a series out of order even if they are stand alone so I spent three days tracking down a book store that had a copy of Magic bites. I have been hooked every since!
Me too. Plus I always have to start the series over again before I read the next new book in the series
I stumbled across Of Swine and Roses and became hooked on anything House Andrews.
I found Magic Bites after reading all the Dresden Files books out at the time. Magic Bites was a recommend next on Kindle. So I decided to try it as I was on a UF kick as far as what I wanted to read. I loved it so much, I got the rest of the series and binge read them. Now I read everything IA comes out with, what can I say I’m addicted ???? seriously the best find ever!!!!
My many years ago my daughter asked for 2 of the early books for Christmas. When I looked them up the blurb for one had Kate at an apartment with a man who asked her to please get his mother down from the telephone pole before the neighbors realized she was a banshee. My daughter got the books and I bought the 1st for me. I’ve enjoyed every one.
I really don’t remember how old I was, but I was in college and decided to spend my Saturday evening at the local bookstore. I was bored and dying to read something, but wasn’t sure what to read. I remember looking over a rack of paperback books and seeing the cover for “Magic Bites”. My interest caught, I opened the book and read a couple of pages. The moment I saw Kate was drinking Boones Farm, I knew that this was book was something I wanted to read and I have been a card carrying member of the BDH ever since.
Was just getting into UF (Kim Harrison was my first entre) and found Kate. Magic Bites pulled me in and now I wait with baited breathe for the next book in any of Ilona Andrews’ universes.
Found Magic Bites in my library by accident…looked interesting. Hooked like a Dune Spice addict ever since.
My first introduction was through the Inn Keeper series and I’ve consumed every book I could get my hands on. And I’ve read them all multiple times and then I got them in Audiobook format and listened to them all multiple times
My roommate at the time had picked up “Magic Bites” from somewhere and was reading it. I was in a different room and heard her cackling. Went to see what evilness she was up to – and if I could offer my expertise – and was told, “IT’S YOU!” She then regaled me with all the ways Kate reminded her of me, and pretty much demanded I read the book NOW. I wasn’t even a chapter in when I had to grudgingly admit that maybe we had WAY too much in common. Our attitudes are entirely too alike. The only big difference is that Kate can actually back up her mouth.
Now, I have an Amazon alert for anytime a new Ilona Andrews book is available, and this is the ONLY site I actually signed up for the newsletter from (which was kinda pointless, because I stalk the site anyway, but I assume having more followers somehow helps House Andrews, so I stay subscribed).
Honestly, besides the family I left behind, the only thing that makes me sad about moving away from Texas, is that now there’s 0 chance of walking down the street and MAYBE seeing a member of House Andrews out and about.
Looking for new material during quarantine, “if you like Laurell K. Hamilton, you’ll enjoy [this author]”. Picked up Iron & Magic because it was the newest release and the start of a trilogy, not realizing it was part of KD world.
Proceeded to read every book IA has published. Twice.
A friend recommended Ilona Andrews to me, because I was out of new books to read.
I’ve read them all (I think) since. Love them.
I’m pretty sure I stumbled on a PDF of Clean Sweep in late 2014 and then stormed through 2015 finding and reading everything written by Ilona Andrews — ever since I buy and read anything IA publishes as soon as it is published — have reread every series more than once — they build a great world, create multifaceted characters and plot lines, and write such eminently readable stories — the stories are rooted in my brain and heart — sometimes they call to me and then I read them all again — blessed be Ilona Andrews.
I found the first Kate Daniels book in the book exchange in the condo building we were staying in in Maui.
When I was in college I began to move away from young adult books but new adult books weren’t really a thing yet, at least in name. I was looking for books with characters around the same age as me when I stumbled across the Kate Daniels series at my local library. As a loner, I related to Kate so much. Loved the slow burn between Kate and Curran. Over the years, it felt like I was reaching milestones at the same time as Kate. I’m glad I picked the series up at that particular time of my life.
I was doing a book haul when Glasgow still had a Borders Books and came across Magic Bites.
I didn’t think much at first but thought I would give it a go, so I started reading on the train home and don’t remember the trip back or the next couple of days.
A very happy few months hunting books followed.
Jennie Breeder, the comic artist, posted a “what I’m reading now” with the second book from Kate Daniels. I became a member of the BDH within a month of that and never looked back.
I was on a Nalini Singh reading binge, and had picked up the Angels of Darkness anthology to read Angel’s Wolf. Authors in anthologies tend to can lead to fascinating new binges, so I started skimming the other stories and hit Alpha: Origins.
And immediately devoured.
And then re-devoured.
And then wished I could brain wipe myself to have the joy of re-reading it fresh.
And then realized this *new* *shiny* *author* might have OTHER WORK.
That led to all the other short stories (Questing Beast, A Mere Formality) which then brought me to the Kinsmen series, then the Edge and then OH MY GOODNESS KATE DANIELS. *swoon* And I’ve been a goner for Ilona Andrews ever since.
I picked Magic Bites up while browing though paperbooks, back when I visited into a, now, nonexistent, brick and mortar store. I open to the first chapter and two lines on the first page made me buy it.
“I raised my eyebrow at the bottle and bet it that another urgent bulletin was on.
The bottle lost.”
The tongue in check humor is what made me love IA as writers. Over the years what was gold has stayed gold. My go to when all else around me is falling down.
Love this background story!
[somehow I thought mod R was kid 2, sorry!]
For me it was through a forum (back then forum were THE social media!) about Black Dagger Brotherhood. While gushing or whining about the last BDB book (can’t remember since it was a hard downhill for me after V’s) and waiting for the next, a fellow reader suggested Kate Daniels (and Psy-changelings): read all that was available after “Here kitty kitty”!
Happy House Andrews 10 years anniversary to me! ????????????
???? Haha, no, I’ve actually never even met them irl. But I’ll take the compliment!
I was in the middle of changing Genre’s and as some have done, looked at the back of the books to see who was similar. I was on a JD Robb kick at the time. I downloaded Overdrive and started checking out books that way soon saw that there were audio books as well. Not sure how I decided on Magic Bites, but it was the first of many for me for IA. I did have a tendency to quit the book after the first chapter or so if it was not to my liking. I had the same inkling Magic Bites, but promised to stick it out to at least the first few chapters. The story and narration by Renee Raudman won and and I got hooked and somewhat obsessed with IA ever since. My go to is listening to Renee read anything IA. I am sad she no longer narrates IA books, but I’ll survive somehow.
Book hero wars when Jeaniene Frost “Bones” was up against “Curran”. Also saw as a recommendation on Jeaniene’s blog. I’ve always liked vampire stories, but KD world really got me interested in UF series.
I picked up the first three KD books from my library and they got me through long hospital waiting room hours while my dad was going through surgery. Been hooked ever since and now listening to the audio books at night is the only thing that helps me turn off my anxiety and get some rest.
I think I discovered Ilona Andrews when clean sweep or sweep in peace was being written on their website. I might have also randomly picked up Kate Daniels number 1 in Barnes and noble. Those were my first and second encounters!
Not sure if it was On the Edge or Magic Bites. Doesn’t really matter, because I’ve been an addict ever since. Anxiously waiting for book 2 in Iron Covenant (love Hugh d’Ambray; such a conflicted character … or is he?)
Browsing at a bookstore and was asked by an employee what I was looking for. I said, “I don’t know, but I want a really strong female lead character.” He picked up Magic Bites and asked if I liked Urban Fantasy. I replied, “I don’t know, but I’ll give it a try.” So glad I did! ????
I bought “Burn for me” on sale (Kindle) in 2015.
Amazon provides me with a history of my purchases:
Burn for me was in March 2015.
Then it took me month to carry on, but then I got hooked, and haven’t surfaced since.
Clean Sweep 12.11.15
Sweep in Peace 13.11.15
Magic bites 19.12.15
11 more books till 23.1.16
6 more books till 19.4.16
.
.
.
I really fell for the Innceeper Chronicles, although I also loved every other book by Ilona Andrews I picked up.
Similar story for me: bad day, random review read, and wolves. Prior to that, I had never heard of Urban Fantasy, read much Science Fiction, etc. After devouring IA books, I expanded to Jeaniene Frost based on mentions in this blog???? and many others. The voracious reader of my childhood inner has awaken thanks to IA. This (and their books of course!) is why IA are by far my favorite authors and why they will always be royalty in my mind!
Was desperately scrolling for something to read and had just discovered UF. Saw the blurb with a character named Curran (my last name) and figured I’d give it a try. The rest is publishing date stalking history
On Jan of 2013 we had just move to a different town and I was incapacitated because of a accident so I couldn’t do much. So on a trip to the library, l was looking for an anthology by Charlaine Harris because I had just devoured her vampire series and wanted to read more of the short stories that I stumbled on Magic Tests. I was so intrigued with this world were magic and technology constantly battle for control that I crawl back to the library and look for more book in the Author’s series.
Then I felt down thr rabbit hole and haven’t found my way out yet. I’m okay among the BDH.
Since I can read, I almost exclusively read fantasy and SF. I might have been coming off my Patricia Briggs binge and vaguely remember looking for books with vampires (it was during the big Twilight vampire renaissance period). So I stumbled upon Nalini Singh, Meljean Brooks, Jeaniene Frost and IA. I do not know who was first, but I implemented my usual „buy anything“-policy for these authors. Others followed: Molly Harper, Chloe Neill, Angela Knight, …
Then came the big crisis where I stopped buying books… because I ran out of space and switched to ebook. So I had to rebuy all my books to have them all available in the same format (and always with me… my precioussss).
I *thought* an internet friend had recommended “Magic Bites”, ordered it and was hooked right then and there. The series was pretty new back then so I only had 2 or 3 books to read. I have been faithfully pre-ordering every new book since then.
When I went to thank my friend nobody in the group could remember recommending it..weird, isn’t it?
Andrews was close enough to Briggs in the bookshelves at Borders that I found their first book on the shelf. Must read authors ever since.
The very first IA read for me was the short story A Mere Formality. I don’t remember how I got the story but I loved it and was so sad that it was just a short story. Then a few years later, I got an ad that recommended Magic Bites because I love Patricia Briggs, Nalini Singh, and Anne Bishop. So I read Magic Bites which I didn’t love as much as A Mere Formality but still very much enjoyed. I continued the series and eventually subscribed to the newsletter. Then in a blog post, A Mere Formality was mentioned which is how I realized it was the same author team. This lead to me tracking down every IA book I could find and now I’ve read everything officially published as well as all the free fictions and bits posted on the website. House Andrews are my absolute favorite authors and have pointed me to other authors I love as well like Grace Draven and Jessie Mihalik.
My favorite IA books are Iron and Magic, Sweep of the Blade, and Steel’s Edge.
What a lovely story!
I can’t quite recall how I stumbled upon Magic Bites, but I strongly suspect I was going through a shifter phase and my Kindle diligently suggested “You might like these titles” and I, too, thought to myself, “ah, there’s a wolf in it.” ????
As best as I recall, it was many years ago, 15? 20? I got a used copy of one of the Edge books. This led to getting the series. This led to looking up the author (s) seeking more of their books. Along the way I read that Ilon briefly attended WCU, Which I attended as a “non traditional” student. While her experience of the mountains of NC was apparently not a positive one, it still seemed like a connection. I got the first Kate Daniels book, liked the premise and gave the second book in the series a try. HOOKED! Now must have everything they write or have ever written. I think I do ????.
When I was young(er) I had read all the (kid) books in our library and my favourites always included fantasy and science fiction. I read mangas, I played Pokemon, I drew comics, I could name all towers in lord of the rings – I was a proud and proper nerd.
Then I grew older and my fascination turned to urban fantasy and high fantasy, basically anything with a fancy cover our local bookshop would offer. One day I stumbled across this story – it was hidden magic, twisted madness and it had Sesshomaru in it. It was love at first sight and I throned over my bookshelf for years.
Then I discovered IA had published more and instantly devoured anything they wrote. I love their wit and world-building and stumbled across the first installments of Innkeeper, making me a devoted follower of their Blog and the BDH ever since.
Thank you House Andrews for the stories you let us read and Mod R for being the best fan turned moderater!
believe it or not I was at a harry potter movie with my nieces and some of their friends. Now mind you, I am an adult in my early 40’s at the time ( who do you think introduced this bunch to Harry – ya, me!) Anyway while we are waiting around we are chatting about books and one of the friend’s cousin from London asks me if I had ever read an author named Ilona Andrews? I hadn’t, but she filled me in on a new Kate Daniels series and it was love after that. From there I introduced a niece ( she was at the movies but not listening to my conversation) to Kate and since then I share books I like with her. Just so you don’t think I am a one hit wonder – another niece reads Patricia Briggs Mercy and a nephew reads Dresden. Thank you Ilona and Gordon!!!
Gunmetal Magic. I just loved the title. I saw it was part of a series. Started at the beginning, Magic Bites. I was quite unsure about how I felt about it – until Kate got drunk in the face of disaster. That’s when I knew I would read the whole series and then Julie won me even more in book 2. Or maybe I just liked how Kate acted with her. Who knows? Ever since, I’ve read everything except Alphas. It just wasn’t my cup of tea.
That book is the ONLY IA books that I tried to read and only got two chapters in and it went into my nook archives as unreadable. ALL of the rest of ALL the IA series have been read multiple times. ????❤
I did finish Alphas but yeah isn’t even in my Ilona Andrew’s collection on my Kindle I’m afraid it got relegated to uncollected
I picked up On the Edge when it was in the recommended fantasy section of my favorite bookstore (Uncle Hugo’s in Minneapolis, specializing in new and used fantasy and science fiction, one of last year’s casualties, unfortunately). So the next time I went back, I pick up the rest of the Edge books and didn’t look back.
I was 17 and visiting my family in the California. Now, I lived in France at the time and French bookstores don’t offer many English options (neither does Switzerland, but thankfully I now have a credit card and online purchases).
My grandmother also loves books, so she took me to the second-hand bookstore every other day of my 3 week stay. We went and would spend at least an hour each time. I would buy books, devour them and bring back those I didn’t enjoy only to buy more. Needless to say all my spending money was spent in that one store.
I was in a huge urban fantasy binge and saw these two books on the shelf, Magic Bites and Magic Burns. They had a lady, a sword and a lion on them so of course I bought them and devoured them whole. The next day, I found out two more books were out, so we went to the not-second-hand store about bought them.
Since then, House Andrews has been on my instant-buy list. I never looked back
I tried to start Magic Bites a few times after reading other urban fantasy series and seeing it always pop up as a recommendation… I think on the third try I finally got into it and then devoured everything else that was out at the time. So glad I did since IA are now my all time favorite authors and I’ve re-read the KD series every Christmas for the past few years!
Christmas is KD time for me too! ❤️
Mostly because once I start reading it I am out of this world and I need the time to bounce back ????
I got On the Edge from the library and loved it, but it was the excerpt from Magic Bleeds at the back that got me hooked, I think (first chapter where she gets stood up by Curran). I had to know what happened next so tracked down the first Kate and never looked back!
My best friend and I share audio books. One of the ones she shared with me was Magic Bites. I was hooked!
I was on an internet Patricia Briggs fan group, and discussion fell to “what to read while waiting for the next Mercy Thompson book,” as it so often does. Several people highly recommended IA, so I picked up the first Kate Daniels book. PB fans have been really great about recommending new reads!
I was reading Patricia Briggs and read through all available books from her. During the search for something else, anything else, there was a suggestion that if you like Briggs, read IA.
I think my first one was Magic Rises and from that moment on I was hooked. I devoured everything they wrote. I used to buy some and borrow some from the library. When Blood Heir came out, I decided I should own the entire series and bought all the prior books I was missing. I also decided it was time I owned all the HL books (I already owned all of the Innkeeper series). Now they are my absolute favorite and I have read the Innkeeper and KD series multiple times.
I have not found an author I like as much, although I keep searching.
I was at the library looking for new series ages ago… like 15 years ago. I used to frequent the local library YA section all the time and would pick up new books by the cover/ synopsis. Like ten diff books. I came across magic bites from the cover and the rest is history! Went straight back the same day to look for more books by the same author but at the time I believe there were only two books out. Followed the series and the author as the rest of the books came out.
There was a quote from Magic Bites in a Wattpad book I was reading so I looked into the series and have been hooked ever since.
I love this! I remember looking around for books similar to another author I had read. I was in Barnes and Noble and had come across Magic Burns. The cover wasn’t my favorite and I put it back on the shelf. I started looking up online books similar to other books that I’d read and I kept seeing this author, so I decided to give it a try. I picked up the first one, devoured it, then picked up Magic Burns which was the most recent release. Instant fan. I’ve since grabbed everything I possibly can, and have them in both ebooks and paperback if I can find it.
Generous authors, and amazing reads. As a fan, I really couldn’t ask for more. Their writing is the bar for which most books I read, are compared to.
I was searching for books in the Anita Blake style (a series, with a kick ass heroine) I bought the first Kate Daniels. When I finally got around to reading it, I bought the rest of the available series (up to Magic Breaks) After reading those, I started buying and reading each series until I had read them all, and then had to go into wait mode for each incomplete series. Needless to say I had a very nice time until I had gotten completely caught up. The ONLY book that I didn’t like was Alphas Origin. It went into my archive. All of the rest of them have been re read at least twice, some more than three times. I found the website around a year and a half ago, and have enjoyed it ever since. I’m a proud member of the BDH ????❤
A Male friend in my RPG Group was reading the Kate Daniels series. I think there were only 2 books at that point. The women in the group had been complaining how Hamilton was devolving in to Porn. This male friend preferred his fantasy and Sci-fi to either be Romance free or minimal. He loaned the first book and the entire group of 10 became instant Ilona fans. Loving her books so much that we stopped sharing and had to own our own copies. Sometimes multiple copies ;). Interesting point, when Ilona finally started to add some romance this friend was like the Kid in the Princess Bride, now romance was ok… he was as invested as the rest of us were 😉
I started reading Kate Daniels first. I think I saw a recommendation on facebook or something. Next thing I know I’m stalking the blog and the Innkeeper was up every Friday, which started me on the Innkeeper. From there Hidden Legacy, The Edge and finally the Kinsman. I still look at the blog daily. Re-read everything at least once a year and listen to the audiobooks while driving. IA is one of the few that I will pre-buy anyflippingthing they put out there. Honestly, they could charge me more, they’re worth it. I want to hug them and protect them and give them cookies & tea so they’ll write more.
I discovered your books by mistake, when I was looking for another author on Amazon. Your books sounded interesting, and I started with the KD series. And then, it was all over for me. I became a BDH overnight, and ordered all your books online as I went through all the series.
I barely slept. I only left my apartment when I had to work or to go buy groceries. I lived in various alternate realities for at least two months, and my life has not been the same since. Thanks for that. And, you are my very favorite authors since that time.
I found Ilona Andrews books by chance. I was flipping through the shelves of my favourite book store finding absolutely no inspiration at all. When suddenly I pick up a book called Magic Bites by an author I had never heard of before.
Low and behold it had everything I was looking for. A sarcastic strong and witty heroine, a interesting plot with lots of mystery and danger.
I bought it instantly, the second book as well, and rushed home with my prize.
Had I realized how truly fantastic the series was I would have bought the whole thing. Because by the next day I was frantically searching the websites of every store and library nearby for my next fix.
Since discovering Ilona Android I have become entrapped in their worlds. Although the Innkeeper Series is my favourite to this day. I endeavour to be their biggest fan and unending supporter. My friends all know their name and get constant recommendations of their books.
Ilona Andrews, the writing duo, thank you so much for making so many brilliant worlds for us to explore. And inspiring so many minds.
My friend, Charlene Amsden, was a Beta reader on one of the books, I believe Magic Bites. She said, you’ve got to read this. I think it’s right up your alley. She was not wrong. Have them all. Read them all. Love them all.
I’ve had so many great moments while reading Kate Daniels while in public. On a long flight listening to Magic Slays a flight attendant had watched me cry, laugh and shout out loud off and on for hours and was curious about what I was listening to and we talked about IA PB and NS books. A woman nearby said I love IA too and we talked about our love for all things Kate Daniels. We became friends and spent a week with them during that holiday in Perth and few years later her daughter came to live with us while going to college. A GR reader reached out to me after a review I wrote in 2010 and we became e-mail buddies then met in in Seattle in 2017. So when I say IA and KD changed my life for the better it’s so very true. Plus I’ve been culturally educated by two very smart people. It’s been great!
And a shout out to the very missed Borders Books, I spent many lunch hours browsing in the big Westwood store where the booksellers loved all things PNR. RIP.
I discovered Ilona Andrews through my habit of reading books of short stories/novellas to find possible new authors to read. I don’t even remember what story it was – though most likely one of the Kate Daniels things.
They feed my addiction to high adventure mixed with low comedy (I truly love the bad jokes). What else can I say?
I came home to Atlanta last night from London so hello Mod R. I had a wonderful time in your fair city. As for how I began reading IA books back in the early 2000’s, I haven’t a clue but it was definitely an “Edge” book. It was the quality of the writing and word/world building that ensnared my imagination and lasting fascination with all things Ilona Andrews.
I found Magic Bites at B&N shortly after it was released. And I’ve loved them ever since.
I randomly picked up the paperback of the first “Edge” book when it was new. I loved it and started looking for more.
The rest, as the cliché goes, was history. KD and “Edge” first, then the rest as they came out.
I bought paperbacks until my hubby bought me an iPad, then I bought ebooks *and* paperbacks – or hardbacks if they were available. (More durable – I read and re-read those early paperbacks until they fell apart.)
This some of the best money I have ever spent.
Thank you so much for your wonderful stories and characters.
I have always been a reader. English is my second language but I had to be fluent after we immigrated to Canada when I was 12. Reading everything I can get my hands on helped with school, university, MD degree. I first read IA over 15? years ago. One of the Kate Daniel books when there were only 2-3 books in the series. I started reading and did not surface until I finished the book. Then, of course, I tracked down everything IA had ever written. I have enjoyed every single books. Some of them multiple times. And I love this blog as well.
My daughter is also part of the BDH.
I was looking through the science fiction section at Barnes & Noble and the cover art of Magic Strikes caught my attention. This was probably around 2015 or so. Been hooked ever since!
I found my way to House Andrews via the MobileRead e-book forums, where someone recommended Clean Sweep. I tried that and loved it.
Then I tried Kate Daniels, and wasn’t as engaged, but I simultaneously kept reading Innkeeper. Sweep in Peace was out, and One Fell Sweep was coming soon, so this must have been the mid 2010s. And I found my way to the Edge books too, which I also really liked. Then I read some of the free fiction shorts (love A Mere Formality), and Kinsmen, and I got hooked on Kinsmen too. So I’m really excited for the coming Kinsmen long novella…
At this point, I thought I should try Kate again, and I read my way through the whole series this time, although Innkeeper and Kinsmen are still my favorite series, and are the ones I re-read when I need a pick-me-up. But in any case, I owe a big thanks to that initial MobileRead post/recommendation!
I saw the name on an Amazon forum. Got the sample for KD #1, and didn’t buy the book. I had discovered the breath-taking vampires of Ilona’s BFF. Couldn’t take the shock of creepy vampires. Later, Jeaniene had a blog post that mentioned the release of Gunmetal Magic. I read the sample, was hooked, and didn’t buy the book. Had to start at the beginning with Magic Bites. I love everything, and am now a proud member of the BDH. And creepy vampires don’t scare me away from a good book anymore. 🙂
What a lovely story ????????
I randomly bought a paperback copy of On The Edge, loved it, and never looked back. I have read everything written by Ilona Andrews and also got my sister hooked.
My roomate has recommended Magic Bites, and then I proceeded to devour everything and anything by them, including all the blog posts
My daughter introduced me to the first Kate Daniels in audio form and I have never looked back, audio or written page. Though I do prefer audio since I can listen to a book (many,many times ????) whatever I’m doing. She had no idea what a BDH monster she created that day!
OMG, I just realized I mentioned the wrong series by a different author ( another of my favorites). My apologies House Andrews. I actually meant the Kate Daniels series, as well as, every book ever written by IA. Mea culpa.
I don’t know how he discovered IA books, but my husband introduced me to the Kate Daniels series, shortly after MAGIC STRIKES was released. (One of my absolute favorite books,btw) From there I dove into THE EDGE and all other series. A proud card-carrying member of BDH.
I had read Charlaine Harris and Jeaniene Frost, and was looking for my next series. I had my kindle for about a year and realized I was one-click buying way too much and needed to explore free options like the library more. Magic Bites was available, so I checked it out, because what the heck, it was free. I liked it and decided to read the next. I liked Magic Burns too, and kept going. And then after reading Magic Strikes I was officially hooked and told my sister she needed to read them. 4-5 years later I was checking the entire series out from the library for the third time and decided I just needed to buy everything for myself because I was sick of waiting on the library every time I wanted to reread. I’ve probably re-read all of their work every year or two since I first found them.
A coworker recommended Kate Daniels to me, I didn’t like it at first, read the Edge books, the Gunmetal Magic, and at that point went back to Kate 1 and loved them all!!!
I discovered the innkeeper series after the last book of a series. The series was fantastic and my soul was crushed after the author announced in the afterword that he was done with the story. In tatters I scrolled through endless ads for romances and wizards, with space ships promising adventures and mysteries but there was just no intrigue that could get me out of my funk. After clean sweep, my tatters were restored and I soon delved into KD. I still need enough courage for the other series but so far it has been worth it.
Lovely, lucky story!! I don’t remember when I discovered the books. Probably perusing available audiobooks on my library’s website. I was
hooked ever since.
I had a book blog, and met a friend on there who lived in Australia. She’d been always mentioning the Kate Daniels series as her favorite series that could do absolutely no wrong. So before I went on my first week long vacation with my then boyfriend (and now husband) and his family for the week, I picked it up from the library and took it with me. It took me a minute to acclimate to the world and to “adult” books, but halfway into the book I was HOOKED. By day 3 I had completed the book and ordered the entire series (or whatever was available at the time, I think just until book 4 or 5) shipped to my house so I could start it as soon as I got home. From there I devoured her other series and now, they remain my all time favorite Authors.
How did I get acquainted with IA? Well, probably about a week after slipping on ice and breaking my ankle (open fracture, plate and many screws, yay!) I emerged from the fog of painkillers, and found I desperately needed something to read to pass the 10 weeks until I could put weight on my foot again.
I’d earlier fallen deep into fan-fiction from two TV shows, but had read everything worth reading, and didn’t have the brain capacity to watch anything to trigger a new one.
In a fit of inspiration, I contacted my favorite fan-fiction writer ever, and begged her for recommendations. She directed me to Kate Daniels (and two other series) and I’ve read all of IA since. Totally got me through a rough time, and I will always be grateful! <3
So I believe it was the Dark and Stormy knights anthology which I had bought for the Jim Butcher story (was well into reading the Dresden files at that point) and I was bored so decided to try one of the other authors in the book (I’m very particular about new authors – takes a lot for me to take a leap) since I already owned the book “nothing to lose, right” and there I came across A Questionable Client and my obsession began. Though I will admit I haven’t read every series The Edge just hasn’t grabbed my attention maybe because all the books are about different characters and I prefer story arcs but I’m ready to be convinced to try lol
Back in 2010, I was laid up with a badly broken leg and my sister-in-law gave me a big bag of paperbacks. Inside was Magic Strikes. Pretty much end of story, can’t remember anything else from that bag. After many years of happy reading and House Andrews fandom – my absolute favorite authors – I thrill with every new release, and nothing ever dissapoints! The stories just keep getting better and better! Magic Strikes will always hold a special place for me though, as the start of this wonderful journey.
I was browsing an Atlanta bookstore, looking for something to read on a long plane ride attached to a boring work meeting. I picked up Magic Bites and bought it based on it being set in Atlanta. Reading it made the plane trip fly by (see what I did there? ????). I’ve been hooked ever since “here, Kitty Kitty” . . .
It was a kindle recommendation, thankfully while I was on holiday, I read everything and have been re-reading and buying everything new ever since. Their work is one of my life’s greatest pleasures. ????
I think I wandered in via the Iron Druid. Same kind of deal…if you like this… My first kindle, and I was enjoying binging authors. Loved IA so much that I started following the blog. First and only blog I follow, but once you’ve been a card carrying member of the BDH, all others pale. I’ve read everything I could get my greedy little hands on.
Vampire Book Club’s Alpha Showdown.
Kate kept showing up in the list, and I tried to read it a couple times and couldn’t get into it.
But she kept showing up in the Alpha Showdown and I needed to know WHY.
Third time was the charm, got hooked.
Same!!! All my favorites came from the Alpha Showdown. Loved those brackets
Hi
Read edge story first …
Different and intriguing …
Then KD yay!
Found Inn Keeper stories under free fiction . ???? my Favorite ????
Read all of Inn Keeper that was available . Read first two of edge … Frantically searched for more . Read all of the stories online …
Ordered the first hidden legacy and planned to meet authors at DRAGON CON
They were awesome at the Con… very cool conversation about where their writing ideas came from and very interesting
Joined blog and BDH soon after
????
I wish I could remember the first time I picked up an Ilona Andrews book. I remember that I started reading Sherrilyn Kenyon/McQueen at 13 and somehow I must have slid into the world of Kate. In fact, I don’t know if it was IA or Patricia Briggs that I read first but they’re my favorite authors and I find it hard to settle for anyone else!
I kept getting recommendations on Kindle, would read the summary but I was oversaturated on vampires and wolves after Sherrilyn Kenyon and Davidson and other series. Got a subscription to Scribed and found the Innkeeper series. Hook, line and sunk. Devoured everything I could get my greedy little fingers on and haven’t looked back since. Long live the BDH!!!
I came across “Clean Sweep” first, but I’m struggling to remember how… Amazon recommendation? List of urban fantasy/sci-fi books? Honestly I have no clue. I can remember the details of all of the books, but Real Life Things don’t take up much brain space. 🙂 🙂 🙂
I LOVE this. Thanks for sharing!
What a great post! Definitely brought back memories.
How I came across Ilona Andrews’ books:
I was 14 years old, fresh face, new to high school. English is my second language and I never liked reading. I was a math/science person and went to a school 30 min away for their math program. I knew no one at school. I met a girl named Tiffany who was in my math class. We became friends, she was always reading in her free time and eventually convinced me to read one of her favorite books – Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews.
I’ll be honest, I almost stopped a quarter of the way in. It was so different, I had only read when required at school, nothing for my own enjoyment. I was having trouble understanding the world IA built. Tiffany made me push through and I became hooked. I LOVED it! Kate was amazing, funny, and total Bad-A. At the time, Magic Strikes had just been released. There was ONLY 3 books out. Not enough to quench my now insatiable desire to read. I read other books Tiffany recommended, but nothing hit as good as an Ilona Andrews book.
Since then, 12 years have passed. I’m now an engineer and don’t have as much time, my reading time is a handful of books a year. Yet, the ONLY author I stalk- Ilona Andrews. I’ve read EVERYTHING they’ve put out and I’m a die-hard fan. Forever a BDH member <3
I started with the Inn and Dina. So I guess in a way it was “the book with the wolf in it” too, lol!
I was so immediately hooked that I bought the next one and all of the KD books that were out at the time (6 or 7 I think, although I’m not sure anymore) and the Edge books and the Kinsmen books. And I read them ALL in about a week. (Not much sleep happened that week. Not much of anything else, either, most likely, although honestly I don’t remember lol!) And then I read them all AGAIN. And then made my hubby read the first Innkeeper and the first Kate – which of course created another monster and he now reads them as voraciously as I do.
The rest of the different series have been purchased as they come out or pre-ordered as soon as I know about them. Because they are ALL amazing.
Tank you for asking dear Mod R!
I had to look in my Amazon account – I’m lazy and it’s an easy way to buy english books here in Germany. I bought magic bites in 2008 because of an amazon recommendation “sie haben Patricia Briggs gelesen, vielleicht gefällt ihnen…” Ever since I preorder every book of HA and got hooked on the Blog along the way. Thank you Ilona and Gordon ????
I’m not sure I even remember anymore. I started with Kate Daniels I think, back when it was about a little more than halfway done. Read a couple and stopped, probably just because there wasn’t that many books out yet.
A while passed and I started reading Clean Sweep on audiobook and man I was HOOKED, and the rest is history 😉
I lent a book to a friend at work and they lent one of IA’s books to me. I was hooked from the start! And like you, had to read them all!!!
I was in prison and I maintained my sanity by reading. (When I was in a book it didn’t matter where I was physically – mentally/emotionally I was in another world.) I was in the prison library sorting through the new donations and I saw Magic Bites. I read it in a single sitting. (Spending part of the night sitting in the communal bathroom because that was the only light in the block {I know, TMI}.) That was the beginning of a love affair with everything House Andrews has written.
– Older sis: read Kate Daniels
– Me (a tween/adolescent back then): WHAT’S A KATE DANIELS?
SIS: Here you go, you can thank me later.
~later~
Mom: GO TO SLEEP IT’S 3 A.M. AND YOU HAVE SCHOOL/UNI TOMORROW!
ME: Not until I finish the chapter (I FINISHED the book).
~LATER…. during the week~
– Sis: Sooooo, how are the books?
– Me: LET US DISCUSS, I HAVE THEORIES! AND HUGH AS HOT AF. HE IS GONNA GET A REDEMPTION I CAN FEEL IT!
– Sis: He’s an ar$e and you like the hot bad ass guys.
Me: NOOO, he us redeemable, you will see.
~YEARS LATER HOUSE IA: BEHOLD THE HUGH BOOK !~
ME: I TOLD YOU SOOOOOOOO!!! HUGH IS BAE!!! ????????????????????????
SIS: (INSERT DIVINE FACE PALM!!)
I’m so envious of those who started Kate Daniels midway through the writing (or the Edge or any of the series). I started with the first book in KD in 2009 – I was an early Amazon adopter and had well formed recommendations from 10 years of book purchases by that time – my Kindle library is well over 1000 books), so it came up in my recommended books section of the old home page (which I miss from when it was books and not any and every category I’ve purchased).
I have waited anxiously for every book IA published — so had the pleasure (and the pain) to read each series as it started.
That is an amazing “meet-cute”! Thanks for sharing
Oh yes…. sigh ???? Lord Bill ????????
My first and favourite series by IA.
I do love them all (series) and religiously buy, paperback, kindle and Auido of all their books.
I need to be able to be whisked away whenever I feel the need ????
Mod R you do have the best job in the world ????
*happy dance wiggle butt* I do ????!
I read the KD series for the first time when I was living in India. I don’t quite remember how I came across them- probably stumbled over Jeaniene Frost’s books first and then from there. Anyhow, I finish reading the series. Then life stuff happens, I move to Atlanta and couldn’t find time to read books for a while. After 3 years in ATL, I moved to Chicago mid-winter. I was having a hard time adjusting- I missed Atlanta and was seeking for something familiar. I vaguely remembered reading a series about a badass female in Atlanta. I remembered reading the books bought me a lot of joy. I remembered finding the books really funny. So, I scrolled through my old Goodreads account to find the series. I found the books, bought them immediately and stole/ borrowed my fiance’s kindle to read them. They helped me through a tough time filled with lot of change. I recently moved again and am re-reading all the series as I transition through this new move. Lot’s of emotional ties to the books, the authors and the community 🙂
My sister bought Magic Bites, and told me I might like it after finishing it. I go with her recommendations after reading David Eddings(another rec) and loving those books. Have read almost every IA book since! ????
Oh, and my sister got me with the line “ Here, Kitty, Kitty?” Saying it exactly like Curran would, amusement and sarcasm intact????
I found Magic Bites on the bookstore shelf when I was looking for something to read. I think Magic Bites and Magic Burns were the only stories available when I started.
I think it was Sweep With Me. And the rest is history. Read that and became a member of the BDH. Read them all.
I was looking for an alternative to Laurell Hamilton -i used to love the live book reads around her earlier book birthdays. Around the time I found House IA I was casting around looking for an alternative “vampire novel” writer and stumbled onto KD series, the best decision of my life.
It was right around the time audiobooks were becoming more widely available also, albeit expensive. I read the first KD book and bought the audiobook and WOW- the audiobook made all the characters come alive. And I was hooked.
For the longest time I actually used to carry an IA book with me everywhere when I was out and about…. they were that good it was hard to put them down and leave them anywhere.
And I loved when the BDH campaigned House IA for Nevada to be better dressed on the covers because I used to love reading IA books when traveling on planes, trains & automobiles…. that was the best win-win-win I experienced as a fan.
I sometimes wish some of my other favorite authors were as accessible and as interactive as House IA….but I would not trade House IA or the BDH for the world and will enjoy the ride with the BDH for as long as I can because it is worth it.
Magic Bites, July 26, 2019. I have no idea how or why, but it stuck.
I was hooked on the Fever series and devouring everything Barron’s when I happened to run across a March Madness format called the Alpha Showdown. Started looking at all the other characters listed as an Alpha with Barron’s. And there sat Kate Daniels. Picked up the first book and then became a House Andrews BDH (or Big Damn Hero for those that are like minded and catch that reference (-;). Haven’t regretted it, haven’t looked back, I love every story and enjoy sharing House Andrews with family, friends and random strangers. Love these books!
Fever series is one of the reasons I found KD. Someone asked on a forum what good series is there that has the same couple all throughout the whole series, and someone listed these: Fever Series, Tairen Soul Series and Kate Daniels Series.
Through KD, was searching for something to take my mind off stuff, and she did! Handed her off to my hubby, who immediately got a Bro-crush on Curran. The rest is history.
I was introduced house Andrews by the blog of Jeaniene Frost. She mentioned her friend and fellow author in a blog. I got curious and hoped over here. Read some blog posts and free shorts. Thought hey let’s give this a try and went out and bought Magic Bites. I then ended up calling into work the next day because I made the mistake of starting the book during the hour I had to kill between when my husband left for work and when I did. I mean come on who could possibly expect me to get anything productive done when I need to know who killed Greg Feldman and if Kate will get her revenge. I have been a member of the BDH ever since.
I don’t remember how I found the first book, but it was a Kate book, and somewhere around book two or three I noticed that despite the Russian references, there were none of the usual tropes. My husband is Russian, and I’ve been living on and off in Russia for twenty years, and this is so rare that I actually looked up the author, found this excellent blog, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Sorry to the moderator as I know this is off topic, but I couldn’t seem to find a place to email the authors.
I just wanted to say thank you. I never write people I don’t know, I don’t even leave book reviews. Just not my thing. I’m writing to thank you for your books. They so so completely immersive that I’m able to shut off the ´real world’ for a time.
This is probably way too much info, but my mom has dementia and up until Monday had been living with my husband and I until we had to place her in an assisted living. It was a difficult decision and a truly awful day. But I got a blog post from you about a quiz on the Inn Keeper series. It made me decide to read the series again, so reloaded them on my kindle and I was instantly transported somewhere else. For a while. So thank you. For making the unbearable, bearable.
Your fan,
Hey Lori,
Love is never off topic here ❤️. I’m so glad you found some relief many hugs your way.
Mine was Silver Shark and I have no idea how I stumbled upon it! It lead me to the Silent Blade and the Edge and I was hooked from then and it’s got better and better.
Back in 2007, I was trying all kinds of UF and PNR authors, and IA Magic Bites was on Amazon, in a 4 for 3 sale… And all of these years later, they are authors I still read from that “try-out” purchase! But even more, when IA published Silent Blade as an e-book only, I finally bit the bullet on a Kindle… Just so I could read that story, and Silver Shark, too. 4000+ books later on Kindle, the miracle of a library in my purse, and it started because of IA short stories… I have their works in audio and paper too.
Last year, when IA did their Innkeeper Chronicles collection as Covid relief, I finally got my sister to read IA, and that was her gateway… I asked what she thought of it a few months later, and she confirmed, she had read “everything” they had written.
IA writes relationships and families, blood and found, like no other authors. They are definitely on my permanent keeper, re-read shelf.
How excited you must’ve been when you got that job!
I finish reading Mercy Thompson, which a coworker recomended to me, it was march 2016, I was working part time at a school and had most of my day off. Searching for something similar to Mercy’s books I discovered Kate Daniels, I devoured the 7 books I could find right away I was becoming a zombie, ???? I read KD while eating, while planning my clases dating recess, since them I reread KD so many times that I know many dialogues from different books by memory, un 2018 o 19 I realizad IA has other books beside KD and devoured them too, I read the inkeeper 3 books in a weekend and then Hidden Legacy.
I loved HL so much that after finishing Wildfire I started Burn for me again inmediatly.
I thought I wouldnt like THE EDGE, so I didnt read IT until this year when I couldnt stand to wait any longer for a New IA book and I’m happy I did IT because I completly loved it.
Now I know the most similar thing between Mercy Thompson and Kate Daniels books is that both have werewolves on them, but I’m very happy goodreaders suggested it to me.
Here are the similarities: characters that really live in the pages, and are almost never TSTL; strong sense of place; actual sense of humor, appropriate or inappropriate as necessary to the story; romance that is clear-eyed rather than rose-colored; genuine suspense, which is possible because of the reader’s investment in the characters; and underneath it all, a thorough research in or knowledge of the background.
All my favorite authors check these boxes, no matter what genre they write. If there’s an element missing, I rarely read a second book by that author. I do give some mystery and police procedural authors a pass on the humor, but I also read those authors much less frequently.
Almost forgot: thoughtful social commentary. I know some readers hate this, but I really appreciate it.
I found the KD series after a college friend introduced me to urban fantasy and started an obsession with vampires and werewolves. At various points in my life, I’ve read 1-2 books a day so I’ve gone through a lot of authors. KD ranked high enough in my serial reading spree that I looked for other series by the same author and found Rose and Declan and Silent Blade. I was hooked.
Ilona and Gordon are my favorite authors. I’ve greedily purchased every book as soon as it’s hit the market since and have never been disappointed. I’ve been a loyal reader for over a decade now. I love the blog and community, too. It amazes me that my favorite authors are also the ones that interact the most with their fans. Thank you Ilona, Gordon, and ModR. You guys are amazing!!!
My sister suggested Burn for Me and told me I would love it. I downloaded it to the kindle app on my phone. I made it through 2 pages when I saw the heroine’s first name was Nevada. I rolled my eyes so hard they nearly fell out. Two years later, I was on a hiking trip in the Alaskan Bush and forgot to bring a book. It was the only downloaded book on my phone and I had no internet. Fortunately, we did have a solar charger, so I could recharge my phone. I read it in two days and forced my companions to make a run to town, so I could download the other two books in the series. It is still my favorite!!
Oh goodness Mod R I did the exact same thing – inWV, not London. Had a huge Cajun/NOLA hankering and searched Bayou and saw the IA book pop up. Instantly smitten, it’s still my fave series hotly followed by Innkeeper.
Twinsies!
Kate and “Here kitty, kitty.” Amazing character, stories snd supporting cast. My first UF book and I haven’t stopped since. Devour everything IA puts out b
I don’t remember where I got it, but I bought Magic Bites somewhere, probably the local independent book store, as we still had 2 in my city at the time, plus walden books. (Now there are none) 🙁 It was so long ago I don’t remember much about the circumstances of finding MB, other than I was deep into urban fantasy and reading anything I could get my hands on. Quite a few authors from that time disappeared, never to be seen again (John Levitt comes to mind). I’m so glad IA wasn’t one of them.
I was browsing the Barnes & Noble section of sci-fi/fantasy (as one does/did) and had picked up several interesting looking books. Found Magic Bites, which had just recently been released. Devoured half of it while sitting on the floor at B&N. Got up, bought all the books, and headed straight home impatiently. Finished the rest of the book in one gulp the minute I got home. And stalked the bookshelves and new releases ever since. BDH forever!!!
Well, I found a Kate Daniels series after reading through Hollows series by Kim Harrison (which I found in a Czech edition in public library) and searching for another urban fantasy. I found two/three treasures: Patricia Briggs with Mercy Thompson series and Ilona Andrews duo with at first Kate Daniels, then Edge and finally Innkeeper series and later Hidden Legacy (its “romance” label put me off at first, since I am sci-fi/fantasy fan, but I overcame that and I like the books a lot, though the sex scenes, I sometimes skip over – depends on mood). I don’t really have the most favorite title (I enjoy them all), but perhaps, the Diamond fire and On the Edge speaks most to me as their main heroine’s characters grow a lot through the books.
This is back in the days before I read ebooks. I was in the Fantacy section looking at Patricia Briggs and searching for new books to read. A and B are on the same shelf so I stumbled across Andrews. I actually started with the Edge series. I thought the blurb on the back was fascinating. A world existing right beside the regular world? And she interacts with both?
I was at a point where I became frustrated with ‘TSTL’ and or ‘too perfect to be real/relateable’ heroine.
I asked goodreads for ‘kicka$$’ heroine and I tried their recommendations. Unfortunately, most heroines on the list started strong only to become mindless when in love.
Until an online buddy gushed about Kate and Curran. I ran to our local library (I want to make sure I like the book before spending my well earned cents) and realize that its a series. At that time the latest was book 5. I’m not good with unfinished series so I checked IA’s backlist and found the Edge Series. I loved and finished the whole series in a blink. Unfortunately any other authors I picked since came out short compared to IA’s writing.
Cringing I started Kate Daniels series, and the rest is history.
I bought their ebooks because I reread them enough times and I don’t want to be on our local library’s waiting list when I’m in the mood for rereads. Then audiobooks because I discover I can still work with my hands and listen to IA books. Best of both worlds.
Very fun! And congrats on finding a job you love.
I do love me a book with a werewolf (my southern is out and waving), or any shifter really. And I did the same thing a couple years back when I picked up my first Innkeeper. I promptly found the website with a serialized Innkeeper (YES!) and also bought and read my way through the rest of IA’s books. And then started looking for all of them on audio, since my daily commute has gone from 30 minutes to an hour (no, I did not change jobs).
I’ve found quite a few more authors I really like as a result of this, but I keep coming back to the BDH and IA!
I was 18 or 19 at the time, and could always be found in the new section of scifi/fantasy in the bookstore. (It may have even been Borders at the time.)
I got two books with lions on the cover, quipping that authors must be “ctrl+f”ing werewolves into werelions due to market saturation. Little did I know that the snarky merc who shared my name would be my companion for over the next decade, with the other lion series forgotten. (I think it had ghosts?)
At the time my paternal grandmother was vanishing before my eyes – she’d been suffering from Alzheimer’s for well over a decade, though it had gotten progressively worse throughout 2006 into 2007, to the point where the things we enjoyed together (watching Xena and reading Anita Blake and our tea time together) were becoming harder.
I’d lost my Granny (mom’s mom) years before, to a heart attack, but while we were close she lived in Ireland and I didn’t see her much. Grandma though I saw three times a week, more if I could, growing up. Grandma and I had our tea time, we had our “bloody females bashing people” time, she got me into Harlequin romances and wasn’t afraid to watch (and find ridiculous) movies like Blade.
Grandma was phenomenally fascinating despite being so quiet and reserved and decorous.
Well bc of the Alzheimer’s she didn’t really remember the stuff I read to her, so it didn’t much matter what I read out loud. Her response was always the same sort of distant smile and polite thank you, the occasional warm hug when it was a good day and she remembered me without too much prompting. I blew through a lot of paranormal romances, since she seemed to like those and Urban Fantasies the most (maybe they reminded her in some way of the vampire and werewolf and witch movies & shows we watched together).
It was so cold that April I remember when I was browsing Barnes and Nobles for something within my meager budget (I wasn’t working at the time steadily) and that we hadn’t read a thousand times before. I had turned to wrestle my hat into my pocket when I bumped the display of new releases and a book fell down.
It didn’t LOOK much different to other UFs I saw – woman on the cover, sword drawn, tense look on her face – but it was enough and within my price range so I figured why not.
So dutifully I went to my grandma’s, got our tea (or I had tea, grandma could only have water really) and our cookies together and settled in to read to her. It wasn’t a good day – she didn’t recognize me for the first hour and kept asking when her granddaughter would be there. She chipped what had been at one time her favorite cup (it was the only one left from her family’s estate back in Italy, that had survived the trip to America a century and more ago) and the lack of recognition as she looked at it and handed it to me had me fleeing to the bathroom to stop the tears (she didn’t react well to high emotional moments).
But it was important to me (though my therapist at the time said I was clinging to a past that was more harmful then helpful) and I wanted to read to her. It was our thing. It had been our thing for all 21 years of my life.
So I sat down and opened the book and…magic. Maybe not in the literal sense of the world, but as I began reading about Kate’s struggles and the mystery of her mentor’s death and everything going on in a ravaged Atlanta…it helped. I was halfway through before realizing the time.
My grandma had been quiet – as she always was if I was reading to her. I gave her a hug, promised to be back in a couple days (despite knowing she wouldn’t remember), said good bye to the nursing staff and took the book with me. I finished it – I wanted to make sure I would WANT to finish it with her, but I forgot it on my visit back. chose a Poirot novel we both enjoyed and went to see her a couple days later once more.
Same ritual, though a plastic cup now not her tea cup, and settled in to read when grandma asked what I was reading. Poirot I answered. She shook her head and said she wanted to hear about the lady with the sword who baited monsters. confused I asked her if she meant Magic Bites and she waved me away saying she was tired.
So I left, returned the next day with Magic Bites and her face lit up in a way I hadn’t seen in YEARS. I do mean years. I rushed through the tea service and sat down and grandma sat up and looked engaged. At the end of it she smiled at me – really smiled at me – and said “Not quite Xena is she?”
I was so shocked. So dumbfounded I burst into tears. For the next few minutes it was my grandmother again, hugging me and rubbing my back and calling me her little pooka child (bc I was more irish then italian). We talked about the book a bit and I said I’d find out when the next one was due out and I was so excited. I didn’t really want to understand that Alzheimer’s wasn’t something you just “got better from” so to me I thought she had turned the corner. She’d come live with me again and it would be the same. Somewhere between excitedly telling her that we should rewatch Xena and about the classes I was taking in colleges I started noticing she had drifted again. Gaze distant, smile absent.
She patted my hand and said that would be nice and gave me a hug before I left. The nurses very kindly told me that it sometimes happened and not to be too upset. I returned a few days and she was worse. For the next week she got worse and worse until finally she passed away quietly one afternoon while I was sitting in class hundreds of miles away.
I will always credit House Andrews with giving me back my grandma for that last hour before she completely disappeared. I will forever be thankful because somehow their words were words of Power that gave my grandma back some semblance of normalcy so that we could have one last moment together.
That is such a lovely story ❤️. I think I have something in my eyes.
+1
Um…bad allergy day here (sniff, sniff.) Yup… ????
+1
I have a LOT of something in my eyes.
Gosh, my eyeglasses are fogging up, must be humid here. ♥️
I was at the book store and seen it on the outer shelf. I walked by it a few dozen times because it said magic and I anti-hearted those kind of books. Anyways, I noticed that it was a series and I heart series books so i picked it up and opened it to read a passage. My kids found me sometime later still reading it. lol I now have everything ever written by IA and do a happy dance when I see a new blog!!
I somehow found Hidden Legacy (and also Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling) around the same time. Probably a Kindle recommendation because of reading Jayne Castle. Innkeeper,
Edge and Kinsmen after that. KD took me a bit, but I had to know how it continued and at some point I was hooked.
Innkeeper and Hidden Legacy are still my favorites.
I borrowed Magic Bites from a friend. It was supposed to be a read in order to fight boredom. Instead, I grew obsessed and read the next three books, and waited for the rest to be translated in French.
For a loooong time.
Long story short, the Ilona Andrews books were the first books I brought in English and I am pretty sure I am fluent today thanks to them! (But I can’t reread book 5 of KD because I am thoroughly traumatized by having to type each paragraph in a translator while holding the book with one elbow so I don’t lose the page.) (No regret!)
I purchased a paperback copy of Magic Bites from a local bookstore and have been hooked ever since. Today, 14 years later, the bookstore no longer exists, but I still have the paperback, plus the Kindle version and the 2008 Audible version.
Ilona and Gordon are still two of my favorite authors.
I was in lengthy recovery from a serious surgery, and in desperate need of reading material. I had already read the story in Must Love Hellhounds, but hadn’t gotten motivated enough to go looking for the books (this was before Nooks were commonplace; I wasn’t into ordering things online, and I definitely couldn’t get to a bookstore on my own). A distant cousin who knows my tastes sent me the first three books. I will be forever grateful.
I don’t normally read collections of short stories, because I usually find the length removes too much detail and just as I sink into the story it is over. However, I found one with several of my favored authors. I was already familiar with the characters in the known authors stories and decided maybe the established backgrounds would negate the rug pulling effect, so I gave it a try. Little did I know that on that fateful day I would be embarking on a grand journey. I had not heard of IA at the time but shortly after reading that wonder of a short story, that didn’t seem short at all, I was hooked. After that I found every other IA work I could lay my hands on, started haunting their blog, and happily became a proud member of the BDH.
What fun to read about your introduction to House Andrews. Mine was pretty ordinary. A friend was listening to one of the Hidden Legacy books and I asked if it was good. I started with the first one in that series and from there read anything else by them I could find. I was hooked. Like a drug addict. 😉 But healthier (I hope).
Marginally ????
Slightly cheaper, too, unless you’re someone who buys their books in paperback, ebook, AND audiobook. I don’t buy in audiobook, so I think it’s still slightly cheaper than a drug addiction.
As probably most of the BDH, I am a voracious reader. I was looking for book in 2007. Something different was called for. I knew I wanted action and shape shifters but I wasn’t sure what the genre was called at that point. I was looking in fantasy and science fiction and wherever else I thought I might find something different and unique. I saw the cover. I loved the look of Kate on the cover. She didn’t look like your average white-bread female lead that would need some man to always rescue her. I immediately bought the book and I haven’t looked back. I have read every single thing that IA have written. I love, love, love their aesthetic!
I walked by Magic Bites at Borders where I used to weekly for my books. I bought it because my middle name is Ilona and I didn’t see it very often in print. I gobbled up the book and I now own all the books in print and ebook. They are my comfort books and I have reread them many times. I recommend Ilona Andrews to any reader friend I know who hasn’t experienced their awesome writing!
I think I saw the first Kate book in an actual brick-and-mortar bookstore (back when they were more prevalent). Cover caught my eye, I think. Liked the synopsis and read it, then caught up on their other available books, which at that time I think was just the Edge books. I might have had to order them from Amazon because I couldn’t find them in bookstores.
Can’t remember what made me look up the blog, but they’re the only authors whose blog I look at religiously. (And by that, I mean pretty much every time I launch a browser, I go to the site to see if there’s a new post or to read the latest comments or responses to my comments.)
Pretty sure it was the Hubby who brought the first Kate book into the house for me. He looks out for me like that. 🙂 And of course, now I have ALL the books. Well, on Nook, because I can make the print bigger. Yay old eyes!
I think I was browsing though a Goodreads list of which UF/PNR books were coming out in the second half of 2013. Or a KD book was one of the suggested reads on the Goodreads page of a Jeaniene Frost book that I had read. I don’t remember exactly, but it was July and Magic Rises was the next book I wanted to read, so in the meantime I had to start from the first KD book to see if this was a good series. Obviously Magic Bites was spectacular and I devoured all the series in a few days. From then I read all the other books and novellas and everything of Ilona Andrews that I could find! And while waiting for another KD book (I think Magic Breaks) I discovered this fantastic blog ????
I happen to be at a Barnes & Noble the week Magic Bites was released. I was reading the synopsis of the paperbacks when this one caught my eye – it had all the elements I enjoy reading and it took place in Atlanta – hey, I live in Atlanta, this should be interesting. Single best purchase I made that day!
Random stroll through the fantasy section of Barnes and Noble. It was Magic Bites I think a year after it originally was published. I been a hardcore fan ever since. I’ve gotten so bad that I need copies in hardback (for the collection), ebook (for when I’m on the go and want to reread), and audiobook (when I want to listen).
My sister got an old ipod touch from what is now my sister-in-law and magic bites was on it, so she read it. She immediately told me i should read it, as she started reading all the IA books she could find. Everytime she finished one, she passed it to me. My mom started reading them, not long after i did. It was just another way to connect to my sister, who was my best friend. I miss her very much.
This is my sister with my mom about a year before she passed away.
I’m so happy you have beloved things to remember her by ❤️
It must be lovely to feel that connection through the books themselves. I’m so sorry for your loss, but I’m glad you have IA to remind you.
I bought Magic Bites on a whim. I couldn’t get past the first several chapters. I would put it down and the pick it up several months or years later. Finally, I picked it up, determined to actually get past the first several chapters and then I was hooked. By then, IA added many more books to the collection and I was hooked. Now I read whatever they wrote and I can get my hands on. I compare all authors to them, unfortunately. Makes for hard book finding. Patricia Briggs is another author with whom I can get lost.
I picked up Magic Bites at a bookstore, saw the front cover had a woman with a sword and a blurb by Patricia Briggs (whose entire catalog I had already devoured) and impulse bought both Magic Bites and Magic Burns, just in case I liked Magic Bites enough to need the sequel. Well, two was certainly not enough and I was back at the bookstore the very next day for Magic Strikes. This was before Magic Bleeds was even published and to this day never have I ever been so desperate for the sequel! The cliffhanger between 3 and 4, oh my!
I was looking for a new book at Barnes and Noble. I was in the SciFi section and found a Kate Daniels book, the rest is history
I think it was 2011 or so. Kindle kept on recommending this author, Ilona Andrews. Probably because I read Patricia Briggs. Third time or so it recommended Magic Bites I decided to give it a go. Wasn’t quite sure, but bought and really liked the second book, dodgy cover and all. Then started searching for all things IA, including anthologies, short stories, etc. Loved the serialisation of Inkeeper, it really was the highlight of my weeks when it was running. Now the blog serves a similar function and I love the comments.
BDH forever!
I was reading Sookie Stackhouse series at the time, and picked up the anthology “An apple for the creature”. Ilona Andrews short story “Magic Tests” ended up being my favorite in the book, so I placed hold on the first Kate Daniels book at my library, and the rest is history 🙂
Me tooo!!
Similar experience. So bored, looking through different books, found the first Kate Daniel’s book, sounded vaguely interesting, and there I went. I was forever hooked after “Hey kitty kitty “. Now I own and have read everything I could get my hands on!
I just realised I don´t know what Ilona Andrews book was my first. It was either The Edge or Kate, but I just dont´t know. I have first read them when I was about fourteen, and I have been rereading them all since, because they are some of my favourite comfort books. And good mood books. And I´m bored books. I can defenitly relate to the blur. Time just disappears.
Was in my local Hastings bookstore waiting for a book order that was to be there later in afternoon, got there when store opened hoping I could get it early, browsed selection looking for something new and found Kate…
Ooooh, great question and story!
A friend said she thought I’d like Kate Daniels. The library did not have it, but for some reason I could request On the Edge. So I read that and loved it so much I re-read it while tracking down other books from partnership library systems. I became part of the BDH, reading the website and Blog to get my fix in between books, and enjoy some fun online camaraderie.
I will literally read anything they write in a variety of media: book, Kindle, Audible 😀 I wave them all gleefully in the faces of other friends in search of a good read.
PS: OF course, Kate was awesome, once I got started on her saga!
I had just gotten into reading the Urban Fantasy / Paranormal Romance genre and I had just finished reading the Mercy Thompson series and was looking for something similar and Kate Daniels came up. I saw all the love and positive reviews for the books and thought I’d give it a try. Magic Bleeds had just come out at this point and I remember specifically when I got to that book in the series and reading it in just one day (which is something I’m typically unable to do) and having the worst book hangover the next day at work. I knew immediately the best thing for a book hangover is to start the whole series all over again!
I found the Edge books in the library.. the rest is history ???? and they are my go to for rereads whenever I need a break from reality.. absolutely love everything they write and loved the way they published innkeeper chapter by chapter… saturdays were MY days…
I don’t really remember why I picked up Magic Bites. I think I was just binging anything in that kind of genre at the time and it came up and the premise caught my eye. I read it just before Magic Strikes was released. I know, because I devoured Bites, and then Burns and was so freaking happy Strikes was only a week or two away. Been devouring everything from House Andrews ever since. No regrets. Even if I’m in an enormous book slump, if a new IA comes out, I will read it non stop to the end. They are pretty much the only author I have left who can pull me out of any book funk and remind me I’m a book junkie.
I got my first Kindle and was on one of those Free Kindle Books sites and downloaded Alpha Origins. I thought it was imaginative and not formulaic. I read the reviews and they pointed me to Kate.
Mod R
I was wit cha gyrl, feeling ya all the way AND then ya did it … again …
tripped me switch, tail spin, mind … whirling how why is that possible -A-favorite IA book O K ok … alright, lord lord lord lord lord, YOU, back here, breathe…again
She has 1, um humm, her mod r … YOU, not , no, not so much, uh uh ah She can have one if she wants
???? ONE ? !! ??? … ????
Gryl leave those people be, she can have one if she wants ???? … ???? one
What I meant to say, fore l done lost my mind, was …
I was caught in one of those morasses of publishing hell created by the industry, last of july through august. So that in order to quench your hunger & lubricate your reading soul, they hope to trip you into, mindlessly buying anything they put out. ANYHOO while desperately searching the PFPLibrary,
I (found somebody’s stash)discovered magic burns, the edge, bayou moon
Gyrl ! THEN I found the site, got
A Formal Affair for free!!!
That was it for me, thankee thankee
Oh yeah
I discovered them from Amazon “people who bought this also bought this” suggestions. Once I read the first Kate Daniels I was completely hooked.
So cool that “Make your passion your profession!” came true for you! 🙂
I got converted when I picked up ‘Dark and stormy knights’ anthology (because of Jim Butcher’s novel) and ended up falling in love with ‘A questionable client’.
I was going through a funk after finishing all of my favorite author’s books about vampires, witches, werewolves and magic. She was my go to for quieting that inner demon brain of mine after a hard day of work. Ilona Andrews kept popping up in my Amazon search like a stubborn thirsty gnat on on my favorite diabetic inducing glass of southern sweet ice tea. I kept ignoring the books. For months. A wife-husband duo writer was just not appealing to me though I might add, they look mighty cute! Yep, I judged them based on the partnership tandem that they got going on and refused to read the synopsis. Out of desperation one day and a brain that won’t quit about work, I grabbed hidden legacy without knowing anything about the story except the subject of magic and written by this Russian lady and her military hubby. They can’t be ignored anymore. I just said “let’s see what you two have to offer apart from being such a good looking couple.” I fell hard into the rabbit hole that was Nevada Baylor and Mad Rogan and a bunch of madly entertaining secondary characters. I never knew where both writers will lead me, but oh so satisfactory and laugh out loud entertaining my inner incessant voice took a vacation. So to make amends for my wrongful judgment (except the cute part) I called my four sisters and screamed “Get all the books! NOW!”
I am a forever fan. I don’t know when one writer starts and the other takes over. It is one magical collaboration, very symbiotic. I’m so glad you two are doing it. Please keep spinning the tales and I (along w four other sisters and friends) will continue to buy and read them.
I was 16 and down at my dad’s, reading my way through the tiny local library, and found magic bites. Loved it so much, but it took years of rechecking before I found the next few in the series in my home town.
I was part of author Karen Marie Moning’s internet group years ago. She posted that she was thrilled another Kate Daniels book by Ilona Andrews had just been released. She highly commended the authors and the books. I bought Magic Bites, Magic Burns and Magic Slays that day snd have been buying the books ever since. ???? I love everything IA writes.
I was browsing the ‘Friends of the Library’ used-book rack during one of our family excursions to the local library when the spine of the book “Magic Burns” caught my eye. It looked like an interesting genere, so I pulled the book out to inspect it (judge it by it’s cover). I liked the way the heroine was depicted in the cover image and -after reading a random page- decided that I really liked the author’s voice, so I bought the book. Little did I know that my all night reading spree would be my initation into the BDH and Urban Fantasy.
I devoured all of the Ilona Andrews books I could find in the series and while googling for ‘more-books-by-this-author’ stumbled into the blog. House Andrews and the BDH introduced me to Patricia Briggs books, Sara Monette’s “The Goblin Emperor”, Jessie Mihalik’s blog & books, Jeannie Frost, and so many more…
It’s been a treat to read the blog and the BDH responses, as well as get a glimpse into the creative & publishing process. Thank you Ilona and Andrew for providing this wonderful space and thank you Moderator R for your peace-keeping-skills.
I totally judged a book by it’s cover: On the Edge. Woman with shot gun. Hm, kick ass heroine, happy ending. After reading the Edge series, I could see that all the people who left reviews kept on mentioning this Kate Daniels character, so of course, I had to read them next. I love all the series, but rather than say that there are series I particularly like, I would say there are books in each series that I have re-read many, many times.
Was a fan of Nalini Singh’s Changelings & followed her blog – she interviewed Ilona and Gordon & that was that 🙂
Funny thing? It was the reverse for me. Ilona talked about a Guild Hunter book by Nalini Singh and that hooked me on her series, too.
I was bored and looking for books recommendation and voila there it was, Goodreads Choice award. I checked each finalists, then noted them for future buy as always. And then there it was ‘White Hot’ by Ilona Andrews, Hot Dude on the cover, pretty girl, guess I’ll give it a try. Since it was the 2nd book in the series I went to look for the 1st book.
I was totally hooked on both books, read them voraciously. I finished them real quick (sadly) and then looking for more. I read other IA series one by one and happily become IA fans. The funny part, KD was my last series to start reading because the staggering number of series kinda scared me LOL
I was introduced to Jim Butcher during his early days, and the same friend who said “You have to read this!” pointed me toward IA’s Magic Bites. I loved Butcher’s books because vampires were still monsters, and I was burnt out on vampires as misunderstood nymphomaniacs. I wanted monsters, a neat world, and a new spin on things.
IA’s vampires are mindless killing machines=monsters. That won me over right there. The world was amazing and I loved the way magic was returning after being gone for thousands of years. IA’s books remain at the top of my ‘Buy at all costs’ list. My husband joined me half way through the Kate Daniel’s series. His favorites so far are Innkeeper, and the Edge. We both love everything that’s been written so far, and look forward to new works.
I’m pretty sure I was either going through my ex girlfriend’s kindle or she recommended it to me, but it was the first of the Innkeeper books, and from there i finished the second and third books and branched out into the rest of HAs novels. They are all on my reread list from time to time, though Innkeeper is my definite favorite.
I was in the last Waldens Books store in Louisiana when I picked up Magic Bites (very first book by a brand spanking new author). My knowledgeable sales lady, who knew me well, said yep, I thought that might interest you. I took it home and have been impatiently awaiting the next book ever since…
I discovered IA books through an audible book from Walmart. We were about to make yet another drive to Colorado Springs from Spokane, WA to see son’s family and squeeze the grandsons. This is the drive from hell: 11 hours each way, and we drive straight through. We grab fast food and eat in the car while driving. We stop only for gas and potty breaks. We start early in the morning, and reach our destination about 4:00 am the next morning. My husband and I would trade off driving; and the driver was in control of the music. Husband wouldn’t let me play Enya or classical music because “it made him sleepy”. I hated this drive, and fretted about the return trip the whole time we were visiting. I knew we had to have something to distract us so I went searching for an audible book. I didn’t have much hope for it; as the blurb was horrible and mentioned vampires. On the return trip I started the book, and loved it. The hours of the drive flew by. I even blew past an exit I wanted to take, as I was so into the book. As soon as we got home, I started searching for more IA books. Unfortunately, this was maybe 17 years ago and there weren’t that many out yet. Is that possible? (I’m going by the age of my oldest grandson.) So after I inhaled all that were available, I’ve had to wait for releases. That’s my story.
I was in high school. My mom and I were browsing books someplace. Found Magic Bites, a new UF we hadn’t read. It was great, but no other books were out at the time lol. Ilona Andrews definitely went on our “remember this author” list. We got every new book as they came out.
Thank you for this story Mod R.
Discovered Kate Daniels only end of 2016 because a reviewer of a book mentioned Kate being her favourite heroine. Read all Kate books available in a coupe of weeks and then branched out to Hidden Legacy, Innkeeper and the Edge and the whole wonderful Ilona Andrews books. Never looked back and always happy to visit the blog. One of my favourite moments is Julies Blood Heir though as it first appeared on the blog. Such a beautiful book with so many treasures and luckily it came to be despite some peoples misconceptions about Julie.
I always loved Julie with Kate and as her own person she is something else.
That is the beauty of HA books, the amazing characters that are embedded in their own multi layered world so that every re-read unearths sonething new.
I had just finished all of Elizabeth Hunter’s Elemental Mysteries series….my first in PNR, and I was hooked! I searched for similar books, and The Edge popped up. BDH is an apt description, because I devoured everything the Andrews had written to that point. I think it took me to Gunmetal Magic…then I had to wait for each new book, much to my dismay! Ilona and Gordon have continued to be my very favorite authors. I’ve read every single book…..but The Edge Series will always be my favorite! P.s. I still read Elizabeth Hunter too!
Browsing the SIFI/Fantasy section of a Borders bookstore (miss those days) and picked up a Kate Daniels paperback semi-randomly. It was awesome! I was back the next day to get the next one.
I was wandering through a new second hand book store to see what treasures they had. As I was making my way to the front of the store to pay for the treasures found, a book with a girl with a sword and a lion – Magic Bites.
They sucked me in with a free Kindle copy of the first Inn Keeper book.
I started reading Jeaniene Frost’s books with the first Night Huntress book, and she kept mentioning Ilona Andrews on her blog… I’d also seen the Kate Daniels books listed on UF recommendation lists, so I decided to give them a try and, well, here we are!
I’ve had to split up the different IA series on my bookshelves because there’s so many, but I still try to keep my Ilona Andrews and Jeaniene Frost books close to each other… (Too many books from a favorite author to fit on one shelf is my favorite problem to have.)
Cool story! I wonder if our first book introduction to IA usually becomes our favorite, owing to the magic of discovering something new and wonderful. Like falling in love for the first time. For me, it was Burn for Me.
My daughter had been raving about Kate Daniels for quite some time, so I’d heard of Ilona Andrews. Then I happened upon a listing on Amazon of Burn for Me, and it had over 1,000 reviews and it was full-on 5 stars. I had never seen that. The premise was pretty damned interesting, too, so — “add to cart.”
And damn…I’ve gone through all of Hidden Legacy, all of the Edge, and just finished the second Innkeeper (SO excited to get to see George, Jack, Gaston and Sophie again!).
Hidden Legacy will always have that special place…though I have to admit, I do love Lord Bill.
It was 2008-09 and I was going through all the urban fantasy audible had at the time when I got suggestion for Magic bites. I tried it and never regretted it.
I was in a job killing my brain cells and needed a good book to listen to, currently listed to Patrica Briggs and Audible suggested the Kate Daniels series, first book was a little bloody but the have fallen in love with all the characters and all on audio versions and listen to most of them at least 3 times. I love these books it brightens my days when they are dark
Sheer luck!!!!!
Lois McMaster Bujold.
I am an avid reader of her blog and about the nth time she praised IA I broke down (not ANOTHER werewolf series) and downloaded Magic Bites. Then all the other KD books that were out. Then all the Edge…then Clean Sweep. Then preordered the rest. Then found this blog. The rest is history.
I started reading Nalini Singh’s “Guild Hunter” series (which is spectacular and one the few authors I’ve found who can create a world and characters on par with those created by IA). Amazon had an “On the Edge” as a recommendation. I read the description, bought it and have been an IA fan ever since.
I was looking at books in a used bookstore in Dubai and read the blurbs and came about Burn for me. I read the blurbs and I was intrigued, the cover was not so great and I wasn’t sure. My mindset then was the publisher might not be so impressed with the author because they were scimping on the cover costs, but then again she is a bestseller author according to said cover so the publisher might be so confident with the writing. What a conundrum.
There was never any book that made me think so hard before I even read a single word of it and that is why I thought that the book was special after all and I was right.
When I finished everything Kim Harrison I was in kind of a book depression. I was looking for my next love and found Magic Bites by IA and Moon Called by Patricia Briggs. I read both but at first I was more enthralled with Moon Called because MB was a little too dark for me althoughI immediatelyloved the humor and the relationship between Kate and Curran. So I went off on a Briggs tangent and about 2 years later I came across On the Edge.
I had no idea it was the same author and absolutely loved it! It was all great but George and Jack def sealed the deal.
I read all the Edge books and thought I have to read more from this author! I was surprised to learn they had written MB and saw they had 2 other books which were the beginning of the Innkeeper series. I decided to give those a chance first and I looooved them! Some wonderful person on goodreads convinced me in their review of the series to give MB another shot!
I thought about skipping to the 2nd book but I just couldn’t do it. I can’t read out of order in a series and I didn’t remember the first one well at all. Now I was used to a bit darker themes and the strange ideas IA comes up with so I just fell in love with Kate whole heartedly. Even the first book was just so wonderful to me on the second read that I thought: how did I not devour this before?
I have since read everything! HL series, Hugh, Blood Heir and all the shorts and Kinsmen. I do not think there is one book or story so far that they have written that I have not loved. Even their stories from “the trunk” that they discarded- so interesting! Especially the dark one with the house on legs. IA is amazing and have become my favorite authors and I have reread almost everything at least twice- some much more!
I can’t wait for Ruby Fever as Catalina and Alessandro are one of my favorite couples!
i did that sort of thing with Anne Bishops, Written in Red. I read it, i know i did, but it didn’t impact me until i read it again years later, The second time through i was caught and was able to read the rest in the series, because they were already out. i couldn’t believe it didn’t catch me the first time.
My first IA was Gunmetal Magic, randomly in my local library in paperback. From there, the rest of Kate Daniels and beyond.
Well I was at Walmart looking for anything that looked halfway good because I had already read everything else and u came upon the first Kate Daniels book, I read that book in one day. That was the day I fell in love with her world.
I had just gotten a Kindle for an overseas trip (wow, so cool not to fill half my luggage with books!) and discovered that Amazon offered lots of books for free!
Magic Bites was on that list and was one of the first books I downloaded back in February 2010 – I’ve been hooked on IA ever since.
It took me a while to run across the blog and nothing would do but for me to go back and read every entry so I’d be all caught up.
Obsessed much?! ????
For me, it was Magic Steals in the Night Shift anthology. I picked the book up for the Lisa Shearin story, and ended up discovering both Ilona Andrews and Nalini Singh. Still reading all three authors with delight!
I tried KD 1 thanks to a high school student of mine, because we often spoke about fantasy books. But I wasn’t hooked. Then, some years later, I found The edge 1 and… I was enthralled! Then the short stories, Innkeeper Chronicles (love Sean, the Inn, the world building), Hidden Legacy (the gifts!) and when I was without new IA books, I read about Andrea in Gunmetal Magic, loved her so much that I read all the other books in the series and found my ever ever lasting love HUGH… ❤️♥️???????? Iron and Magic was stunning! I often re-read it because it gives me joy, fulfillment, strength, humor! ????????
Great story..
I have done the same process same author’s but it was not my first introduction
The our Authors.
My Discovery was Clean Sweep, and after reading it I started buying the books on tape or audio version as is presently called .
I did get the first few at the library but ended up purchasing them all so I always had them available to fe listen to. ….
a book must be well written ,have some humor ,interesting characters and a good adventure…a strong female leading character , some interesting romance ,sex is fine but not gratuitous, or over done….lots of descriptions…all of which. L.A. does very well.
I honestly don’t remember precisely how I found House Andrews’ books. I wanna say it was through Jeaniene Frost’s recommendations.
I’d been reading the Night Huntress series for a few years, and she, Ilona Andrews and I think Kelly Armstrong (and possibly Melissa Marr) did an anthology together. I was between books and thought: “let me check out this Ilona Andrews person”.
Even though I can’t remember the exact moment, it was then that my whole reading life, imagination…everything, was changed forever, though I didn’t know it at the time. I started with the Kate Daniels series, and my foot is STILL on the gas 9-10 years later.
So…thanks Jeaniene? Sidebar: it made my whole everything when I found out Jeaniene and Ilona were best friends. My ego was all like: “yeah…I know how to pick ’em.” Like I had anything whatsoever to do with that…
I stumbled on Magic Bites review on LoveVampires. I was in the “must read all vampire books” phase back then. It was when Ilona was still writing posts on LiveJournal. I gave the book a try, and I never turn my back since.
Great story..
I have done the same process….. same author’s, my first I A book
was Clean Sweep, and after reading it, I started buying audio version , as is presently called .
I did get the first books few at the library , but ended up purchasing them all ,so I always have them available to listen to. ….
Any book, I like, must be well written ,have some humor ,interesting characters and a good adventure…a strong female leading character , some interesting romance ,sex is fine , but not gratuitous, or over done….lots of descriptions…all of which Ilona Andrews , does very well. I listen to books a lot so they need excellent readers..I have tossed books because the readers were not my cup of tea….
Just got a Kindle and a livejournal friend had raved about the latest IA book at the time, Magic Bleeds. I have trouble finding authors/books that don’t bore me after a few chapters, so I’ll try most any book when someone praises it that hard.
Started with Magic Bites, ate through all 4 of the Kate books that were out at the time in a few days, then moved on to the Edge and sniffed out every anthology they were part of that I could find.
A decade later, still not even remotely bored. Favorite authors, hands down. 🙂
Picked up Magic Bites at an airport bookstore many moons ago. I was hooked at Here Kitty Kitty. It made me laugh out loud, which I rarely do when reading. I’ve read and enjoyed everything since but KD is still my favorite.
I like how their female characters are strong and their male partners have their own strengths and they work together and balance each other out. Action scenes are very well written, the world building is fabulous and you care about all the characters – hence the BDH demands for books on all of them! ????
Jeaniene Frost recommended them years ago. They are all still my favorite authors! ????
I found the Innkeeper series first though a daily deals email from BookBub and immediately fell in love. I’ve read IC, KD, The Edge and am about to tackle Hidden Legacy!
My mom recommended Magic Bites, and I read it so quickly. My youngest sister followed suit and we’ve read almost every thing IA has written!
I reread them frequently and share the snippet blog posts which gets them even more hype with me when the new books come out!
I, being a teenager with very little value for any fantasy that wasn’t of the high variety, was browsing B&N while waiting to pick my brother up at a birthday party and was finding nothing. Literally nothing. Everything was boring. So I picked up Magic Bites, thinking it could be worth a chuckle because urban fantasy was something people only wrote when they couldn’t do Real Fantasy (did I mention I was a teenager?).
And then it was amazing and Magic Burns was coming out the next week (back in the days when Amazon would get it to you on release day or before) so I devoured that too. I devoured pretty much any urban fantasy I could find before realizing that my biases weren’t completely off because every genre has bad writers (remind me to tell you about the book that changed tenses midway through), but I learned that I loved these books and would probably love any authors they also loved, which was largely true, and opened myself to the genre that is now my ultimate comfort read.
Magic Bites was being constantly recommended to me on goodreads. I vaguely remember googling up to see Kate and Curran would be together first(i was in a reading slump at the time and needed some emotional assurances going into the series ).
Out of curiosity, I looked up my kindle purchase dates:
Magic Bites 8/6/15
Magic Burns 8/7/15
Magic Strikes 8/8/15
Magic Bleeds 8/9/15…..
Aaah to be younger again, when I can live under a rock when binge on a series.
I think I found the first Kate Daniels book on Amazon checking out “books similar to” something else I was reading. I think I enjoyed it, but it took me a while to get the second one. Went back and read number 1 again, tried number 2 . . . and never looked back! Needless to say, I have forgotten whatever else I may have been trying to read. Thanks House Andrews! Thanks Mod R!!! Loved your story!!!
My local library, really small branch with limited offerings, had a table named: “It’s your Lucky Day”. they offered books that were recently published and were not in the Reservation system yet. I found Magic Burns one day while browsing. It truly was my lucky day. Only problem was that it took forever to get on the waiting list for Magic Bites! I traveled a lot on business and am always looking for a great escape. I found the other series and kept reading! When I finally bought my first kindle, the one with the buttons in 2016 , I immediately bought everything published so far… a true member of the BDH! I discovered the blog while looking up the Release schedule to see if there is anything new!
What a Joy to be part of the BDH. I immediately connected with all the comments on the blog and other people’s posts.
Then HA started posting Sweep of the Blade in installments, and I was hooked, it was my Saturday morning escape!
I reread them frequently, in the middle of KD right now, but I have to say that Innkeeper is my favorite!
So my story is a sad one. Six years ago this July my 81 yr old dad was hit by a car one afternoon while walking. He was Life Flighted to TMC in critical condition with a broken neck, traumatic brain injury, crushed chest, collapsed lung, bruised heart and many other injuries. It was 3am and my dad was in his 8th hour of surgery. The nurses kept coming out just the let us know that he was still alive. They had no expectation that he would even survive the surgery. We were told that arraignments should be made with a funeral home. I was the one in the family that was responsible for anything financial, medical, and legal for my parents. I had talked to the police, the insurance company, notified all of the extended family and had a funeral home on stand by at this point. So there we were, my mom, sister and I, in the trauma surgery waiting room at 3am. I hope you never have to be there yourselves because it is a very depressing place to be. At a certain time of night they turn off the TV’s and turn the lights down low so family can rest, as if that would actually happen. People are sobbing or staring blankly into space. Every time the doors to the operating area open the whole room holds its breath to see who the staff is coming to speak with and then more often than not bad news is delivered and that family is just devastated and you sit there as a spectator to all of that. I need to be busy in a crisis but I’m not a craft person. My mom was knitting and my sister doing needlepoint but I was just sitting there with nothing else left to take care of. I grabbed my phone and started looking for something to read on Kindle. I probable bought a half dozen books, started and then abandoned them in an hour’s time. Nothing could hold my attention and provide the distraction I needed. I was getting desperate for something to occupy my mind. After ditching the latest book that I’d bought, I went back to the Kindle recommendations for another try. This time it suggested this author I’d never heard of before, Ilona Andrews and the Edge series. I thought what the heck, what’s one more book. I started reading On the Edge and everything else just fell away. I didn’t budge until the nurse came out to give another update. Prior to that I’d been pacing the hall in between trying to read. I was total hooked. As soon as I finished the first book, I downloaded then next and just kept going. My dad was in surgery for a total of 15 hours and survived. The trauma surgeon told us he had no explanation as to how dad lived, that people a quarter of his age in top physical condition died from fewer injuries. He spent 6 weeks in intensive care and then another 9 months in the hospital before he finally came home. IA’s books helped get me through it all, series after series. When my dad finally came home he required constant care and when it was all too much, IA’s books helped make it all much more bearable. He passed away 2 years ago as a result of the injuries he sustained and rereading one of IA’s books that I first read while he was in the hospital always reminds me of my dad.
Oh ???? just oh! *hugz* IA books are magical, I’ve used them as quiet therapy from time to time.
I read everything by Jim Butcher that I could, and then Amazon suggested a Kate Daniels’ book. It was “Magic Bleeds.” I read a snippet under “Surprise me,” and I was interested enough to backtrack to find the first book. I pretty much went on an IA kick until I had read everything by them.
It was a weekend back in 2007 in good old London town when I had headed to Forbidden Planet on Shaftesbury Avenue to buy Claimed by Shadow (on or around the release date – I used to compile a list of forthcoming titles from Locus magazine and then call into the store to see if whatever I wanted had arrived yet).
Having got my grubby paws on my new Karen Chance I took a look at the recently published shelves that were so delightfully and prominently displayed, and there was this intriguing little paperbook sat there being endorsed by Patricia Briggs.
Now I won’t lie, the cover was not doing it for me (while green is lovely that shade is rather virulent), but ever since Dragon Bones (also sneakily sold to me via a tempting Forbidden Planet display back in it’s New Oxford Street days) I’ve been a big Patricia Briggs fan; plus it was published by Ace books and the blurb was not terrible – the vampires had me a bit “uhmm” but the mention of magic sold me so I was down with it.
I did buy a few other books too – I rarely went Forbidden Planet in those days without buying at least 3-5 paperbacks or 1 hardback (those US imports were based on weight – cheaper than UK pb’s but pricier Hb’s) so I can’t even say that I instantly read Magic Bites.
I had such a big tbr book heap it was actually a steamer trunk (for real – remember those days of only having physical books?! In fact it wasn’t until the Christmas holidays that I actually did read it (sacrilege!) and recognised the brilliance.
When of course I found there was nothing else published by this author and I had to suck it for another few months until more books came came out.
And now here I am fourteen years later. . . still waiting for more books 😉
Most patiently of course and at least I have an abundant backlist to read now – at my fingertips no less on my ereader. And I haven’t been to Forbidden Planet in years, this makes me so nostalgic. All I do these days is online bookshopping both for physical and ebooks. I used to love a wonder down Charing Cross Road (no bookshops left now!) and then to Murder One (long gone) and round to the uber masculine hot pot that was Forbidden Planet.
EDIT_
Before anyone asks, no, I never walked ten miles to school in the snow when I was younger. . .
(it’s London, we get more of a freezing-sleety-mush xD)
???? loved this story and yes london snow is slushy
I read Magic Bites when it was first released and have been pretty much spending the last 14 years waiting for what comes next *sigh*
Ilona mentioned in one of the posts recently that she was sad that they stopped making viennetta ice cream. I wanted to let her know that if she ever makes it to Ireland, that we still have it here and I will buy her all the ice creams.
Also, February, what a perfect time to find the IA books. Too cold and wet to go outside so perfect to read books 🙂
Thanks Mod R. My first exposure to IA was “” Magic Mourns” through the anthology “Must Love Hellhounds”.
I came for Charlaine Harris and left with Ilona Andrews. I try new authors through my library and don’t buy books unless they are a re-read. IA is a re-read times 10!
New books are an automatic pre-buy since IA is one of the few authors I buy. Like others here, their books have comforted me especially through the death of my husband. And when they go through tough times, I send prayers and love.
I have a handful of favorite authors, their place at the top of my list is solid and unassailable.
Honest to goodness I don’t remember when I discovered the Kate Daniels books. I must’ve been browsing through Barnes & Noble. It just feels like Ilona Andrews books have always been there, in the best possible way.
I found my first Ilona Andrews book (Magic Bites) when my husband brought it home from the library. We love all the same books and authors, so because he liked it, I gave it a try.
I have been addicted ever since.
For a long time, we would argue who got to read the new book first whenever there is a release. Now we just buy two and give the second one to a friend … once we’re both done reading them.
Saw “Clean Sweep” on the Kindle Store, and that was the start of a ton of hours of pure enjoyment.
I had recently moved from Bozeman, MT to Missoula Montana and went to check out the new Library available to me. I was pleasantly surprised with their SIFI/Fantasy selection, still am in fact. I picked out a book at the library,(Magic Bites) read it, afterwards went out and bought it, because i knew i’d be reading it over and over. Found either their email address or their website, i don’t remember which and sent an email. I actually received a response from them. I haven’t stopped reading their books, and in fact reread them all the time. Every time a new book is coming out, i reread all the books in the series (again) so i’m ready for the current book. With Magic Shifts i had to read the book cover to cover 8 times before i moved on to a new book.
I was browsing in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section of Barnes & Noble on my lunch hour and picked up the first “Kate” book because the cover looked interesting. I read the description on the back of the book and hurriedly bought it so I could walk back to the office. During a Christmas vacation I then discovered the same author had a website where they had kindly provided free fiction. I read through at least half of the first Inn Keeper book in one sitting on my laptop and from then on I was hooked.
Use to haunt library and bookstores, if a book intrested me I read it, admit a book or two a day was hard to fulfill, so I’d read anything. Was in the bookstore and the clerk recommended Ilona Andrews, read the first page of Magic Bites, grabbed the three books that where out in Kate Daniels, with the arm full of other authors and checked out. Went to the food court got some food, and grabbed a book out of the bag, Magic Bites, after a few chapters went back to the book store and grabbed what else they had by them, which was the first 2 books of the Edge and headed home (closest bookstore 36miles from home 2nd one 110 miles this was in the second). Next few years actively searched for anything by Ilona Andrews. Finally found my way to their blog and actually read it besides just looking for when the next book would be out, and guess what they were doing Innkeeper been a web stalker every since. By the way both bookstores don’t exist anymore, so barnes and noble is where I get my ebooks online, and use audible for the audio books. Really miss the real bookstores..lol family and friends still hit me up for books even though I mostly now digital, no shipping cost, but still get my favorites in all formats.
My husband found the innkeeper series. After he read them, he passes to me. He reads mostly fantasy, mysteries; not quite sure how he stumbled into Ilona Andrews but so happy he did! I’ve pretty much read everything.. fav of all, has to be Innkeeper.
Magic Bites was the first book I read. I was … underwhelmed. Not a bad book, but not exactly gripping, and too predictable, and a not very likable heroine, plus I had enough other authors on my tbr list, so no more Ilona Andrews for me.
Then, a few years later, someone mentioned on Nalini Singh’s blog that there was this free weekly serial about an Innkeeper and a magical Inn on IA‘s blog. I started reading and – was hooked. (This was Sweep in peace, btw.)
I looked at the other books this amazing author had written, found that I already owned another book – one I didn’t like, but hey, the Innkeeper was so good, let’s give the sequel to Magic Bites a try…and the next one, and the one after that…
Well, there are 35 books from Ilona Andrews on my Kindle now.
But I still don’t like Magic Bites ????
I wanted to read something about a house with magical doors/portals like Howl’s Moving Castle and I found Innkeeper. Then I read everything else too.
I was on a jag for fairy tale adaptations and On the Edge was recommended, because of Declan and Rose’s bargain I guess. I still have a sweet spot for that. I read the other edge books, and then Burn For Me ( and the Burn For Me again..and again..and again ), and all the innkeeper I could get hold of, until I broke and started on Kate’s books. I’d been putting them off because a swaggering mercenary fighter just isn’t what I usually like as a heroine, and she isn’t, but obviously I fell for Kate. I love how her her first person voice is so bluntly honest at the same time as she’s an obviously unreliable narrator with a lot of tricksy secrets. And I love how she usually thinks of herself as this big awkward mess when to everyone else she’s a terrifying war goddess, possibly literally.
First fell in love with Kate & Curran back when I murdered trees to scratch my itch. The KD series was the first (of many) series that broke my “if I own the hard copy I won’t buy the e-book” rule when I got my very first Kindle. Now KD is my major bug bear with Audible because I still can’t access them all in the UK but have fallen in love with the worlds of the Broken & the Weird & the Inn Keepers (defo team Vampire, just sayin’) & Hidden Legacy & Kinsmen. Ilona & Andrew are hands down my very favourite authors in my very favourite genre.
Book store owner suggested the Kate Daniels series, said she loved it. I wasn’t so sure but wanted to supported my local book store. Took me a while to read it, and then…just like Pokeman, I had to have them all! So Thanks Book Lady!! And Thanks IA!! These books have gotten me through some tough times!
My first kid was 15 months old and I was in a weird reading slump. I got an anthology to find something new and loved Grace of Small Magics. I started KD series, but got hooked when the power was out at work for 2 days and I had to come in anyway should the power come back sooner. I opened the blinds and just read in peace for 2 days. The book really suited my mood. I now take the day off to read new Ilona Andrews books because they’re so delicious read all at once.
Back in the day of paper books, I used to discover books by going to Barnes and Noble or Waldenbooks (RIP Waldenbooks) and browsing through the section. I’d check for new books by favorite authors. When that would fail to produce, I would look for interesting spines, or covers if it was a feature book. If I still didn’t find something to catch my eye, I’d go through the alphabet. I wouldn’t make it through the whole alphabet, but this was my every Thursday routine, so I would note where I left off the week before. In this case, I was starting with the A’s, and the title Magic Bites caught my attention. Magic? Check. Interesting cover? Check. Kick A** heroine, Check. Mystery? Check. The rest is history. I have since donated almost all of my paper books that I had been collecting for 30+ years to our library system for their book sale to fund purchasing new books and repurchased books as ebooks. While I prefer my old method of browsing, I simply cannot afford to purchase a giant warehouse to hold my collection. Plus, I have my library with me wherever I go. When I was a child I told my mom that I wanted something I could hold in my hand that would store all of my books and I could read them wherever and whenever I wanted. I got my wish.
Clean Sweep popped up on my Amazon recommendations. The cover was interesting enough for me to read the blurb, and immediately I saw my absolute favorite combination of science and magic. I had grown up on Christopher Stasheff’s The Wizard in Spite of Himself series, which had exposed me to that niche. I haven’t reread that series in a long time, with eyes more awakened to casual sexism, so I’m not sure that I can recommend it anymore. But the love of that mix remains!
I found the first Kate Daniels in my local library and since I love paranormal/supernatural/sci-fi/bada$$ heroines, I took it home. Then I went back and looked for more and that’s how I read most of the Edge series. I can’t not read any Ilona Andrews books I come across. They’re all epic!
So, I am an avid reader and I was recovering from my first ever college heartbreak and I decided “no romance books”.
Kate Daniels series was a recommendation on Goodreads. I read the blurb and decided “Magic Bites” seemed like a safe enough bet.
I discovered the romance as the storyline progressed, but by that time I was so engrossed in the KD world that my “no romance” rule didn’t matter.
Fast forward a year, I had finished all Ilona Andrews books I could lay my hands on and had introduced two of my closest friends to Kate Daniels.(They are huge fans now ????????)
Over the last few years, I have read and re read all IA’s works. I have enjoyed them and learnt from them. They have made me realise few of the best things about relationships (with family, friends or a partner).
Moreover, the works have given me strength in my hardest times, laughter in my darkest. (Not kidding, I have read each work atleast 5-10 times, if not more????????)
So yeah, very grateful and very happy to have discovered books by Ilona Andrews.
One of my friends that I share books with had started KD and recommend ed it. Selling point? We both love Fantasy and it takes place in an alternate Atlanta – our town! Have now read every word by House Andrews and joined the BDH! Thanks , Christy!!!
I read my first IA book way before kindle. I think it was 3-4 books into Harry Dresden and I was looking for something similar to read while waiting for the next book to come out and my little local bookshop recommended Magic Bites because it also had magic and urban fantasy in it, but also a strong female lead, the rest as they say, is history.
A friend was trying to get me into UF/PNR and gave me a stack of books she wanted me to try. Magic Bites & Magic Burns were two of the books, along with the first 2 from each of the Night Huntress, Mercy Thompson & Immortals After Dark series. I was hooked after that.
Ironically, the two Kate Daniel’s books were the only ones she didn’t want back. She told me they were enjoyable but she didn’t think she was going to continue the series or ever re-read them. I, on the other hand, continued on and proceeded to rave over books 3 & 5 so much I convinced her to give the series another go. We have now done a buddy read (and re-read) of the series and she convinced her hubby to read them as well.
LOL, a wolf and a bayou, you can’t go wrong. 🙂
I discovered the books via the short story about Kate and Saiman when she was his bodyguard. Loved the glimpse of Russian folklore and the ending. I loved Kate from the start even though I have always had trouble with the idea of tech and magic as forces and don’t see how people in that world will ever be able to find a happy balance of the two that won’t trigger another apocalypse. Surely at some point they stop oscillating and settle down to a state that allows some unknown levels of both magic and tech to coexist but how that could happen is a mystery to me. They need a handbook for their universe! 🙂
Despite that I stay for the characters and to see how they make this wild new world work somehow.
I bought all the Kindle books that were published in the series in advance of my c-spine surgery and recovery in Jan 2011. Since then I have of course devoured all other books and novellas and stories like a good member of the BDH.
I like to ponder what would happen if one started an alternate cult for Moloch with its own scripture that contradicts his child-sacrifice doctrine as heresy and proposes the opposite. (The “real” Moloch protects children and burns those who cause them great harm, unlike the false Moloch worshiped by heretics. Educating and feeding children are official forms of service to Him.) There would be a true scripture mass produced to back it up.
Haven’t we heard before that the danger of becoming a god or goddess is that followers can directly affect or change you against your will? I used to think about this in relation to Roland–turn him into a god against his will and alter his drive to conquer. But since Moloch already made himself vulnerable in that way. Granted it takes time and numbers to pull off and once he becomes aware he’d likely freak out and go on the attack. It would at least keep him busy. It’s definitely playing the long game and there may not be enough time. But writing a whole new scripture would be fun.
I picked up a copy of the audio version of Gunmetal Magic. I was hooked and now own all the books and all the audio books. My favorite authors!
I found my way to Kate Daniels by way of Harry Dresden. It came up as authors you might also like in a website and I haven’t looked back since. Love your work and I’m always thrilled for new adventures. I found your blog after researching you guys one day and fell in love with the BDH too. Thank you.
I’m pretty new to UF, and started reading the genre in March 2017 with Patricia Briggs. I really enjoyed her first Mercy Thompson book, and when I read the reviews, Faith Hunter and Ilona Andrews were often mentioned (e.g., “PB, FH, and IA are my favorite authors!”), so I decided to give Faith Hunter and Ilona Andrews a shot.
I really enjoyed the Jane Yellowrock books and I liked Magic Bites, although it was book 3 that really grabbed me and held me. After that, Innkeeper was suggested to me by Amazon, but the blurb never really intrigued me. I bought it, but didn’t read it, as I decided to hold on to it for when I was in between other books. I moved on to On the Edge and loved it, so I finally decided to give Innkeeper a chance, and I absolutely loved it! After that, I bought every book they had out at the time and I am happy to say that House Andrews is (are?) my favorite author(s)!
I was so very lucky to start with Magic Bites when it came out. It was praised in Charlene Harris’s Blog and Books, and thank goodness I gave it a try, so many hours of pure entertainment.
Amazon recommended Kate Daniels because I had watched Xena, Warrior Princess. I think it was an ad similar to “Like Xena, you’ll love Kate Daniels!” Truer words have never been spoken. I own all House Andrews books and every new one is an automatic pre-order.
12 years ago, when I was on maternity leave with my first baby, I let myself have a weekly outing to the local secondhand book seller. It was a chance to get out of the house and into sunshine and fresh air (wow isn’t that a familiar feeling now). My rule was I could only buy 3 books, something from an author I knew I would enjoy, something that I’d been looking at for a while that was either more literary or “improving” in some way, and something was completely new to me. In the second week of mat leave my something completely new was “Magic Bites”. Needless to say my “rules” went out the window as I got my hands on anything I could from House Andrews. I’ve also had the pleasure of introducing at least 10 other people to House Andrews, including my farmer brother who now listens to the audio books while driving tractors in 1000 hectare paddocks. House Andrews has become his gateway into urban fantasy and paranormal romance, something different from texts on crop yields and cattle breeding…
Bookslikewhoa on YouTube recommended the Kate Daniels series as her favorite. I tried Magic Bites and then binged everything.
Mod R., wow to read how you discovered HA, lovely indeed.
Frankly I can’t recall but I know it didn’t start with Kate Daniels world but one of the Edge novels. I saw an interesting paperback cover at my local library. Being an avid reader, I grab it read the back cover blurb and placed in my usual pile of 10+ books. It was Rose and Declan, the handsome noble the frazzled young woman trying to keep her family from going haywire. Oh my dang, holy flipping heck! What a world! What a concept. Raced to find the other books from the series, I still get ???? about how Cerise’s mother departed. It echoes in my head, how she fought, how she helped William. Hooked, I was hooked!
No more Edge novels, it must have 2010 ish so off to find others in the Ilona Andrews repertoire…Magic Bites. A new world, yes! Um huh ugly vampire? What, nah how not the norm ???? oh well, read on, read on. Done, next? Library had Burns; Strikes; Bleeds…Then wait for subsequent books in the series. Always made certain I placed a hold for each book. (Husband and I were still juggling finances so sadly buying books was in luxury category)
Now I’m card carrying (is there a virtual card?) BDH member. I’ve got a large canvas tote filled with all KD books, Hidden Legacy books, smattering of other IA titles. Why in a tote bag? It’s my Book “Go Bag” not far from my Zoll AED kit.
I really don’t remember but, in reading the remarks, I think it was probably an anthology book. It was most likely something with Patricia Briggs or Charlaine Harris. I used to use FantasticFiction.com a lot and checked out the authors recommended at the bottom of the author pages. However I got here, I’m always happy about it.
I don’t remember how I discovered IA, but Kate is my addiction. I love all the other series as well but will never get enough Kate
I randomly found the KD series while browsing in a bookstore. I think I came into the series at Book #3 or #4, and I’ve been stalking…ahem…following their work ever since.
I don’t remember for sure, but I think I must have finished the Patricia Briggs books available at the time and gone looking for something similar.
It looks like I ordered both Magic Bites and Bayou Moon on Amazon on September 29, 2010, which is what I would do for a new author where I couldn’t choose between series. 🙂
The next Amazon purchase was Magic Slays in June 2011, so I must have found the others in Barnes & Noble up to then – and shortly after that I got my first Kindle and stopped buying hardcopy books for the most part. 🙂
I found them through Jeaniene Frost years ago. I was a huge fan of her Night Huntress series and I think she mentioned Ilona in either a blog or newsletter. Little did I know I was about to discover my absolute favorite authors.
I picked up a KD book at my local library, I think it was about # 3 or 4. Went back to # 1 and never looked back. Some years later, I picked up a Nook (what can I say, I’ve never been an early adopter) and started picking up everything IA a bit at a time as I could afford it, because the library started getting rid of the earlier ones to make room for more recent books.
Now that I can afford more, I have only 3 authors that I pre-order everything that comes out, and IA is one of them. And I’ve never looked back!
Audible two-for-one sale on selected series.
Kate # 2 and 3. The previews sounded good, but one should start a series with the first book, right? So I got all three and went on a listening binge. This was before book 5 was released. I got book 4, then the Edge books . . .
I now have all HA in audio, and have listened many times.
Anything they choose to release, I will buy.
I have always loved science fiction and romance.. in the early 2000s they started melding and paranormal started to be more of a thing.. I found Patricia Briggs Moon Called, I too love a Werewolf, and soon after that book came out, Amazon recommended Magic Bites..
I still love the Kate Daniel’s books but my personal favorites are the Hidden Legacy, which were torture because after Burn for me there was a Huge time gap…
Next is the Innkeeper Chronicles. And the Edge books
Like I said, I love them all, but listen to the Innkeeper and Hidden Legacy again and again..
While I get them and read them, I listen to books more, since I can do it while I work.. I am working through hidden legacy series again this week..
That book is high up on my favorites list, too. I love The Edge books!
I checked on Magic Bites ( that’s the first one, right? Can never keep the titles straight) off of a “Best Paranormal Romance” list. Had never heard of a slow burn, so my initial reaction was, great book, what romance? But obviously, I got over that in a hurry.
“How did you discover IA books?” I picked up ‘Magic Bites’ in a bookstore, and I’ve been buying them ever since.
And loving them.
My bestie worked in a well-known Aussie book retailer from high school through university, her book knowledge is insanely good. I was tired of reading fantasy series centred on male “chosen ones” and I asked her for a recommendation of fantasy series with a strong female protagonist. Without hesitation she said Kate Daniels series, and I was hooked from there.
One of my student employees gave me the first Kate Daniels book. “Here”, he said, “the girl is incredibly crabby and she gets it done without going manic pixie. You’ll like it. You’ll like it a lot.” He was right.
KD became a rope that tied a group of friends together as our lives drifted further apart and came back together, the way friendships do. And when one of us died far too soon, horribly, unexpectedly, on the other side of the world from the community that loved him so, I emailed HA and told them that not 8 hours before his death we had been bickering about KD and got a response that to this leaves me dumbfounded with its generosity, grace and kindness.
Everyone’s found joy in these books even in their worst days. That’s sort of me as well. I had just failed a 2nd attempt at a life-changing indian civil service exam and felt every inch a failure. I was depressed, had no hopes for a future, had isolated myself away from all friends by ghosting everyone, was living away from family and lying to them about my health & progress daily. Just in a bad place all around. I (felt like) had literally nowhere to go, so decided to look up the last thing that made me happy in order to maybe find some spark inside myself again. That was a specific memory of a few years before, when I was at home with my dog & mom & dad & brother and the last harry potter book came out. And how everyone, even my dog, made space for me to read it in peace in one sitting because they knew I needed it. No one questioned the time away from exam prep (for final year high school & college entrance then), gave me food & water without interruption and just let me be. So, I jumped onto google and searched for harry potter fansites looking to find a place to connect with other people. A goodreads list placed magic bites as something fans of hp read. So I did. And then as a good member of the horde, devoured everything in their catalog before haunting the blog also. House Andrews has helped me out of a rather dark period of my life (I failed a 3rd attempt before finding a new direction for financial independance), answered questions about book marketing when they didn’t have to and been so generous with their time with all their fans. Their characters are rich, flawed and so truly human despite all the power at their disposal that it is always a joy to find something of them in you and yourself in them. I love your story Mod R, am so sorry for the tragedies members of the BDH have faced while getting here, and just overjoyed to have these books in my life. HA are just amazing and the BDH community wonderful. So grateful to be a part of it.
I was in Barnes & Noble, looking for something new to read as I had read everything in my house. I saw the cover of the book, ‘On the Edge.’ It had a women with a weapon on it. I was intrigue. I bought the book and finished it the next day. I went to the internet and check Barnes & Noble to see the name of the next book. It had not been released yet, but I could Pre-order it, so I did. Bayou Moon was mailed to me the next month. Haven’t missed a AI book since.
Like a lot of others I was a fan of Jeaniene Frost. Shortly after Magic Triumphs released and shortly before Frost’s first Night Rebel book released there was a short-lived book cover war in which Ilona photoshopped nipple tassels onto Ian’s chest on the Shades of Wicked cover and Jeaniene responded with a photoshopped version of Magic Triumphs where Kate’s head had been replaced with that of an opossum. This was all recorded on Jeaniene Frost’s blog and was my first exposure to House Andrews. (So how did I hear about Ilona Andrews? Nipple tassels.)
I searched my digital library and nearly all books by the author were checked out, but I did snag the first Edge book. Then a copy of Clean Sweep came available and I fell in love (Innkeeper remains my favorite). I was a little intimidated by Kate Daniels just because it was such a long series and I’m the type that has to read all stories in a series, including shorts stories and novellas, in order. Then the pandemic hit and I was on lockdown and wading through 20+ titles in an effort to stay sane didn’t sound like such a bad idea. I know I am not alone in saying your books were life savers for my mental health during 2020. Thank you Ilona and Gordon for your amazing work and bringing some much needed light to dark times.
Another caveat to this story that comes to me just now as I sit in the parking lot of the Intergris Cancer Center in OKC. Covid hit the US March of 2020. My mother was diagnosed with advanced stage 3 colon cancer December of 2019 and was halfway through a truly hellacious 6-month chemo infusion regimen when all of a sudden we couldn’t even sit with her during the treatments because of safety protocols.
The cancer center was over an hour away from home, her treatments took four hours and I didn’t dare go anyplace in the meantime for fear of exposing myself, and by extension my extremely immunocompromised mother, to covid.
That was around the time I started Kate Daniels and it only now occurs to me how much of that series was read in the cancer center parking lot as I waited and tried not to lose my mind from fear for Mom’s safety. Over and over again Kate overcame fear and supported those she loved and that was a message I sorely needed at the time.
Mom’s here again for a check up and I’m once again in the parking lot, only for an hour this time. It’s been a year since she finished her infusions and is now on a maintenance dose and is doing well so far. Each day is still a gift.
I know writing is a hard and often thankless occupation, but we would lose our minds without stories. Thank you Gordon and Ilona for giving us these escapes and these messages of hope when we need them the most.
And Mod R, sorry for the length of this post, I just needed to get this out for whatever reason.
Love and hugs from Oklahoma,
DeAnna
Trying out key words in library browser: I typed “magic” and the rest is history ????
I was in the local bookstore looking for my next book and came across Magic Burns. Strong female lead✔️ First chapter that sucked me in ✔️ It was probably 2008 although it might have been earlier and I’ve been looking forward to every new book since.
Preface: Back when I started going to a library, I think the only reading categories were Non-Fiction, Fiction, Periodicals and Children. Historic Fiction, when it came along, was quite the leap. When I found Dracula, under Horror by then, and later vampire and werewolves, I knew I’d found a great category for me. When we finally evolved to Paranormal/Shifters, I discovered Psy-Changelings and a suggestion, in some early “similar” grouping, was Magic Strikes when it came out.
I have no clue how they made the comparison, it didn’t matter. I needed outstanding world-building, strong hero/heroines with snark and a soupcon of romance in anything related to or having elements of paranormal/otherworld/magic. I’d never even heard of Urban Fantasy. First I read Strikes, then went immediately back to the beginning.
Somewhere between Magic Slays and Magic Rises I discovered the audio books and THOSE were world defining. I became a BDH member after I heard Rene Raudmann bring the KD world to a level I just hadn’t heard in my head. Her narration of IA was the only reason I got into audio books, although I’ve since found other great narration.
Like the great authors, the greatest narrators are a world apart and her vocalizations were perfect for the KD, Edge and Innkeeper worlds. Now that I am so steeped in the world(s), I’m happy with other narrators, too, but I’m glad she was there when her vocal performances really made a difference.
I find new authors with more difficulty than ever, though, because now EVERYone will quote the “if you like IA, then you’ll love” and my standards are quite well defined. I still try quite a few, but there are fewer I continue with.
It almost feels like we need another organic leap to define really great books, because there is more volume than ever and a good “measure” gets lost in the noise of so many.
I was hanging out on Patty Brigg’s forum and several people were talking about Ilona Andrews books, I believe it was the second Kate Daniels, or maybe 3rd? It was before The Edge series came out. I then started hanging on the IA forums.
Similar story! Needed a shifter book! Googled shifter books … read read read ooh who is this Ilona Andrews?? Buy book one of KD…. make bad decisions and read all night barely functioning the next day at work.
Buy book 2 and 3 and wait patiently for book 4….
and here I still am! Loving all their books!
I discovered IA by pure chance. I came across Magic Bites on a random day–finished it the same day and the rest was history. I literally scoured all bookstores–mind you Urban Fantasy Genre was not so popular here. I even had to order their books and wait for a few weeks (gaahhh the wait)–this was when I preferred reading actual paper copies. LOL. Now, I buy the Ebook, WHILE I wait for the paperback.
How’d I find Ilona Andrews you ask? The same way I find any new author these days my local library had their first book. I was going through the new release paperbacks when I noticed this book called “Magic Bites” in the science fiction & fantasy section. I picked it up to see what the back cover teaser and first chapter were like liked what they said and checked it out. Read most of them since then.
I was 4 months pregnant and found Magic Bites on Kindle. I stayed in bed reading for the next few days. Told my husband I was “sick” so I could find all the Kate Daniel’s books that were out. Then I continued on to find The Edge series. The rest is history and I have the loved their writing ever since. It’s been a 10 year love affair. Don’t tell my husband though. He gets jealous pretty easily.
Very first book I read by IA was Burn For Me, the owner of my favorite used bookstore recommended it even though she didn’t have it in stock. I went to the nearest Barnes and Noble and bought a copy. Tore through it that night and desperately looked for the sequel, which wasn’t released at that time. Realized that the sequel wasn’t available and proceeded to buy every other book available at that time. And then I started haunting the blog and got hooked on the Innkeeper Chronicles, which got me through some very dreary days at a previous job. They required so much time (I would hit 40 hours somewhere in Wednesdays most weeks.) that I would take a break and read the newest installment of Innkeeper as soon as I saw it was available.
I discovered IA’s Magic Dreams in the anthology Hexed and never looked back. Tore through KD then Edge and Hidden Legacy, plan on tackling the Innkeepers as soon as I finish Ruby Fever( which I’m really enjoying the peeks)
I’m not sure how I found the Andrews books. I think a friend either gave me a copy of the first Edge books or told me about them and the Kate Daniels series, but the first of their books was the first Edge book. Then a friend gave me an iPad mini and I had a great online library … and then one day, I read on the Ilona Andrews site that there was a big sale on ALL their titles on Amazon over a weekend and I bought everything they had written to that point. Now everything by House Andrews is an auto-buy. I kinda pissed off that friend when I neglected to tell her about the big sale and I think she still kinda resents me for it …. 🙂
I borrowed Magic Bites from a friend and devoured the book, only to discover that the rest of the series hadn’t been publish here (I’m brazilian). So I went and learned english. I have now read almost every IA book.
I don’t recall what it was exactly in the synopsis that compelled me to purchase “Magic Bites” at my local Barnes & Noble when it was 1st published.
But I have bought every book published after “Magic Bites.” (Sometimes in multiples to give away copies to friends.) Although I have transitioned to buying the electronic versions of the books for myself b/c I am too impatient to wait for the physical book to be delivered.
This was so lovely. This is the story of a kid who has a dream and actually grows up to get paid doing what they love. Thank you for sharing this fairy tale and I do hope you live happily ever after.
I discovered Ilona Andrews books in the YA section of the library. I had taken my son to pick out some manga books and I saw the title Magic Bites. It looked interesting so I checked it out and brought it home. I finished it that night and went back the next day to get the other two the library had. I’ve been reading ever since. Note: I do own all of the books now.
Thanks Mod R for the wonderful story of how you found HA and are now in your dream job ????
Jeaniene Frost is to blame for my Ilona Andrews addiction. She was blogging about her latest book that had a plot hole and she gave it to Ilona to read who promptly pointed out where the issue was and how to fix it.
I had to look them up, Iron and Magic was on special so I read it. Yep – I read Hugh’s book first ????
I have zero regrets and have now binge read their entire book list.
Thanks for the Magic ????
You can thank Bec McMaster!
I belong to a FB group for Bec’s books. Every week she has a post asking what everyone is reading for the weekend. The weekend Emerald Flames was released, Bec and everyone was raving about. I asked about the series in the comments and Bec totally recommended started with Burn For Me. I loved it so much. After finishing that series, I moved to the Kate Daniels series, then devoured the Inn Keeper Series, and then the Edge series.
Btw, Bayou Moon is one of my favorites. But all the books are great!
It was 2009. The economic crash the previous year had forced my husband and myself to return from Japan and move in with his parents (one of my visions of hell). Found Magic Bites @ the bookstore. Bought the first 3 books (all that were out) and was instantly hooked. Eventually worked my way through everything by IA. New works are immediately added to my Kindle wishlist. Of Swine & Roses & Silver Shark are particular favorites. Found the blog through the posts for Maud’s book. Fully embraced the BDH in early 2020. Come for the post, stay for the comments 🙂 I know to have tea prepared beforehand! This blog has led me to subscribe to several author newsletters (10 & counting…) but there is truly nothing like IA & the BDH for fan support and entertainment. Thank you IA & BDH. Together we truly are mighty 🙂
For me, it was a suggestion from, I think, some publishing site on new books out. It was one of the Kate Daniel’s books. (I think it was Magic Bleeds.) I was instantly intrigued by the premise, and when I saw that it was part of a series, I immediately searched out the first book, Magic Bites. That was it for me. After devouring the story in less than a day, I promptly went on to read everything I could get my hands on written by the fantastic author duo known as Ilona Andrew’s. I am now most firmly ensconced in the many world that Ilona creates and a lifetime member of the BDH. ❤️
I got the first four Kate Daniels books all at once from a used bookstore. I’m not sure how long it was until I opened the first one, but I do remember reading it on a bus…so high school?
I also remember the new books always came out when we were on vacation (with NO CONVENIENT INTERNET) each summer and I had to walk each time to the wifi to download them. Did I make that walk before the sun came up? I don’t have any firm recollections, but it certainly sounds like me.
I think I found Magic Bites at a bookstore, possibly off a new release display; I know that was my first book by Ilona Andrews. It was a long time ago. I got my dad hooked, too, and we’ve been fans ever since.
The year was 2009. I was in law school desperately looking for an escape from all the daily heavy reading. A classmate of mine recommended Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews. I picked it up from the local library that week and devoured it. It was exactly what I needed. I kept talking about the KD series to my then boyfriend and now husband, so he eventually picked up my well loved copy of Magic Bites (yes I went out and bought copies of all the KD books I could get my hands on) and he also became a convert. We re-read all IA series together and talk about them, the characters, plot twists, what they are doing now, what it would be like to live in their worlds, etc. KD holds a special place in my heart, it is very much like we are old friends and reading her books is like coming home. Of course I am a proud member of BDH and love all House Andrews series (fav authors by far), especially KD and Hidden Legacy.
Can’t even remember at this point. Think I started with the third and fourth Edge books at the library, tracked down the first few Kate Daniels at a used bookstore, and Kindle’d everything from there
Got an ad for the first Kate Daniels book….. the rest is history
Pretty sure I wound up here by way of Patricia Briggs, recommended by fellow hurogs.
I don’t remember specifically what brought me over to the Post-Shift side, but I DO remember the day I saw Moon Called in the bookstore. I was not looking for a new series, and having been utterly traumatized by my first foray into the grown-up fantasy books on offer at the bookstore (as a pretty sheltered 12ish-year-old, I picked up a book where the main character is forced into a marriage and raped by her husband at least twice. I think there may have been consensual incest as well; all of which was described in uncomfortable detail) I was extremely suspicious of unfamiliar authors from that section. (Ironically this suspicion continued after I no longer was quite so traumatized by reading sex scenes. I don’t mind reading it, sometimes, but I want to know about it before I pay for the book so I can make a decision as to whether I want to read it)
Still, the cover intrigued me into picking it up. The blurb interested me, but I put it down again. I had other books I wanted, from familiar authors… but it snuck back into the pile before I got to the checkout. And now, my bookcase has a Patricia Briggs shelf with an Ilona Andrews shelf above it
Charlaine Harris Book & Blog mentioned Magic Burns by Ilona Andrews, and that Magic Bites was the first book in the series.
I requested my local library purchase both books – and they obliged. I loved both books and ended up buying the books in paperback, so I could re-read whenever I want!
I have just kept buying every new release book, enjoying the free fiction on their website and I loved the Innkeeper serial.
I recently moved house after more than 15 years in the one place. I donated a lot of books to charity and bought my favourites as
e-books, obviously including IA!
I can’t remember exactly, but I know I was reading KD 2 or 3 in 2012, and had On the Edge audiobook before that, and have been stalking the blog since the early days of the first Innkeeper book :> I have read, reread and pre-ordered everything published ny the House of IA ever since!
I’m British so discovered Terry Pratchett as a science geek kid in about 1980 at age 16. I didn’t discover Nora Roberts until I first visited the US in 1989. I spent a very miserable and cold 2 weeks in San Francisco in August reading romance novels I couldn’t get in the UK. I’m a fan of both, alas Sir Terry is dead, tragically taken by early Alzheimer’s and I fear Nora has handed it over to ghost writers as her recent efforts have been rehashes of old themes. I think I discovered Ilona from a “strong female protagonist thred” I followed that and got Kate Daniels. And from there to Mercy (Patricia Briggs). Both series I love.
Admittedly i go through phases of loving authors. Only a few stay on guaranteed buy list. I can’t always love everything from everyone i had on the list. IA is and has been in the list since i first read the Angels anthology and have never been disappointed so here i stay. Happily enjoying the comments of the community but always pre-buying the ebooks.
I know it’s difficult to appease your fans, and I am one. I think I speak for all of us when I say we want a satisfying ending. I’ve read several books where the author punts. Kills the protagonist, No No No don’t do that. Leaves it so open ended that you go “huh so is he dead?”. You can only do that if it’s irony, Terry Pratchett, Guards Guards.
Back in 2014, I picked up an anthology called Hex Appeal. Inside was a short story called “Retribution Clause” by Ilona Andrews. After reading, I knew I wanted to try more.
By the end of 2014 I had found and read read 9 more Ilona Andrews books. And that’s how I became a member of the BDH.
My library had a copy of Burn for Me which I borrowed. I love the book so much that I brought my own Kindle book. Once I have reread Burn for Me I went looking on goodreads and on your website for more of your books and found the the innkeeper series which I brought and loved. I have since got/read the Kate Daniels books. I am reading the Blood Heir which I love so far. You are now one of my favourite authors.
I started with the first Edge book. ( Bayou moon is my favorite as well). Finish that series and bought the first Kate book. Confession time:I didn’t like it. Reflecting on it now, I must have thoughtVampires should be sexy, not hairless cats???? So Kate went on the bookshelf and I moved on to HL. Discovered Innkeeper looking for information about Nevada’s next book. When you all started to get excited about Hugh’s book I thought I would give Kate another try. I blew the dust off MB and started it again. Due to a combo of covid restrictions and a broken leg, I read the entire series in 3 days. Apparently I had matured.
I think I picked one up randomly in a Barnes and noble – it was book 1 of the Kate Daniels series. Luckily they were already on book four and the fifth was just about to come out! I lost two weekends to those books! And have been anxiously awaiting the next next one every since!
Think it was around 2011, I found The Edge series whilst browsing through Borders (which was beginning to shut down in Australia) for books to buy.
I brought ‘On the Edge’ which I finished that night and absolutely loved. So naturally, I went back to Borders the next day and brought buy every IA book I could find lol, including the Kate Daniels series.
I’ve been a fan and following ever since 🙂
I honestly can’t remember. I can remember reading them through the night, and while feeding my babies, on lunch breaks at work, and even at red lights. I’m just so glad they were written.
I was working part time in an entertainment store. Which sold books, movies, music and video games, I worked in the book section because I love to read. I was looking for something new as long as the writing style worked for me. I glanced at the first book in the Kate Daniel’s series, Magic Bites, an d was hooked. I then proceeded to haunt the shelves for any of their books for when they were released. Fell in love with the Edge series as they were just as good as the Kate Daniel’s. Then I purchased a tablet and discovered the Innkeeper series, each of them unique and special in their own ways. If I love the stories I read then over and over. Which I do for all of their books. I am happy to have a tablet now as it makes it a lot easier to find and reread one of their stories. I ran out of room for any more books in my house.
Probably 2017 or 2018: The first Dali and Jim short story, in an anthology. A girl who was seriously myopic like I was from 4th grade on. And she drove race cars!! My inner Jr. high self became a serious fan girl! Went to the IA website to see if there were more Dali stories. Score! A second one in an other anthology. Then I borrowed all the Kate Daniels books from my local library, supplemented by the inter-library loan system my library is part of. Then The Edge series, Hidden Legacy and Innkeeper. Bought Hugh’s book (Iron and Magic #1), and after a very short debate, went on a buying binge of all things IA. (So much easier to do a re-read marathon when the books live at your house!!)
I found the newly released Magic Bites while browsing at B&N as a Teenager, and have been a super-fan of literally everything “Ilona Andrews” in the Decade-plus since then.
My fav is definitely the Innkeeper Chronicles, however. They are my ultimate comfort-read and have helped me get through some truly terrible circumstances.
I am and always will be a forever fan of Ilona Andrews and everything they write or release. The authors themselves did something amazing for me and my baby son earlier this summer, it made a huge difference in our lives, and I will never forget it. They are amazing people as well as amazing writers, and I cannot think of any author who deserves patronage/support and success as much as they do❤️
THAT FEELS LIKE A DREAM COME TRUE! I know I have no experience in PR to speak of but working for my favorite authors is a dream for me too!
In my case, it was the audiobooks. I wanted a UF with action and kissing so from Good reads I went to Amazon and when I hear the audible sample I was hooked.
First I listened to all the Edge series, then I listened my way to Kate Daniels, then I read the Innkeeper chronicles, and then I read all the novellas and short stories till now where I am waiting for all the upcoming books!
I was lucky enough as a blogger to be approved for the Sapphire Flames and Emerald Blaze ARCs by the publisher as a blogger so….yes I am a hard core fan (but not to the point of picking sides in the worlds of the book series)
I was browsing the Sci Fi/Fantasy section of the dead tree bookstore and it had a chick with a sword and a badass looking lion on the cover. And the back cover blub intrigued me.
The title (Magic Bites) made me pull it out from amongst all the other book spines, the cover caught my eye, the blurb reeled me in. When i ran out of books to read, I hunted down any web site that would hint at the next publication date in the series and discovered Clean Sweep in serial progress. I had already discovered and read the Edge books by then and devoured new publications as fast as they became available… still do.
I neverr used the AL term for them, always using IA when referring to both. And Ido not mentally referred to “Gordon” but Andrew since i read the whole husband &wife writing team pseudonym information. I do not comment often any more, but i slurp up every snippet I can and enjoy the varied blog topics. I truly do devour good books as often as I can find them.
I bought Gunmetal Magic on a whim. My brother had been reading House Andrews for a while, he recommended Kate and Innkeeper for me. I am hooked for life.
Well, my family consists of voracious readers and I’ve always loved fantasy and science fiction. Mind you, I live in Greece, so unfortunately it’s quite difficult to find urban fantasy, since very few such books get translated in Greek. I could either find some selection in one particular bookstore that carried books in English (which was unfortunately closed down somewhere around 2010 I think?), or order them from amazon UK, and let me tell you, the transportation costs are substantial. (Especially if you read more than 20 books a month).
So, my sweet brother, being fed up with me bitching about the lack of my preferred reading material, despite my vehement assertion that nothing could replace books made of paper, went and bought me a Kindle around 2011, just to prove that I was wrong to snob his favourite device. He even connected it to his credit card, so he has been paying for the books on my Kindle ever since. (I know, I have a great brother, but he makes much more money than I do, so he can afford it). While I was trying to come to grips with how many books were at my disposal, without having to wait, I found Magic Bites through the “recommended for you” section. The rest is a haze of reading everything that was available from our beloved HA. I did feel guilty because I bought too many books at once (I do have a conscience and try not to overcharge my poor -not really- brother) but I just couldn’t stop. I actually informed him it was my birthday present and what a present it was!
I discovered Kate Daniels trawling through goodreads one evening stuck on finding a decent read. I had little expectations but boy was I immediately blown away!! Funnily enough that is my all time favourite series I just love it!
My first was Magic Bites, recommended by a bookworm group I’m in. I didn’t finish the first chapter on my first reading. I just finished a series, (a fantasy genre I think), and was going to use Magic Bites as palate cleanser before diving into another series, but emaciated vampires at that point were not what I was looking for so I put it down and looked for another. A few days afterwards I picked it up again and finished it. That was year 2016. The next few days after I finished it was spent hunting down the next books in the KD series. It took me a week to finish them, then looked again for other books by IA. All in all, I spent maybe 3 months to devour all their books up to that point. When no more new books were found, I settled with the short stories and snippets. Then I found their blog. Now, I open it at least twice a day. When I see a new post I do a happy dance before diving in. Btw, thank you for the links to all the snippets and other what nots. Now I have all of them in one place instead of hunting all over the blog everytime I want to refresh my memory.
It was the Goth makeup clerk at my local Walgreens drugstore. She saw my Unseen University T-shirt and asked about it. I gave her Terry Pratchett, the Black Company, and Robin Hobb and she put me on to KD. I was waiting for the last volume in the Lost Fleet series (I’m an ancient historian and there’s no way I could resist the Anabasis in space.) I needed something to read, and the rest, as they say, is history.
I love them all, but I am especially fond of Innkeeper because Dina seems to go against expectations: Caldenia, Arland, Sean, & Orro head the list. She really surprises Maud. I do wonder if her parents will be as surprised.
My story of how much the series mean started this time last summer, when I went in for a relatively common, relatively safe neck surgery, and ended up completely paralyzed. They did a second surgery and stuck me into inpatient rehab to learn how to walk and do all of that normal stuff again. Fortunately, a couple of days after the second surgery, I regained enough use of my hands to keep a decent hold on my iPad. I’d been saving Sweep of the Blade for my surgery, so I started reading that. During the two months I spent in neuro rehab, I reread my way through all of the HA series, the Black Company”, Garrett, P.I., all of Catherine Aird, and a couple of others. I read the Innkeeper” series twice. Outside of relearning how to walk, shower myself, and all those other necessary life skills, I had a lot of free time. There’s only so much TV you can watch, particularly when your only choices are Animal Planet and the Hallmark channel. I do normally watch both channels, but there are limits.
I got two physical therapists, an occupational therapist, several nurses and a couple of CNA‘s turned onto the various series. And, at the end of two months I staggered out of the hospital with a death grip on my walker and went home able to more or less take care of myself. Since then things have gotten a lot better, I can walk, although I look like a toddler pretending to be a sumo wrestler, and I can drive, although that took a while because my car has a standard transmission AND the clutch is really springy. I am beyond sick and tired of physical therapy, but by this time next year they expect me to be back to almost normal.
HA materially contributed to my sanity and continues to do so. For that, and for hours of pleasure through the years, many thanks!
My apologies for any issues above, I’m using speech to text on my iPad, and, for all that I’m grateful to have it, it has issues.
Downloaded “Of Swine and Roses” as a free read – can’t remember where from. Loved it and have read everything written by IA since.
A lot of searching for something that works .There are a lot of books but I was looking for an unicorn-not stupid,not silly,not flaky(I can go on) heroine.In short I was looking for Kate Daniels.It took me a long time to buy the first book.Now I own all of them.
A friend of mine gave me magic bites with the words “The world is not my cup of tea (lacks in romance), but the writing is good. You can keep it if you like.”
I read it, liked it, but being a poor university student in Germany, was without funds to keep on reading. A year later, after my birthday, I stumbled upon it while browsing my own shelf. Read it again, fell in love and bought the next two installments. Since then, everything IA is autobuy for me. Regretfully, I need to buy because German Public Libraries don’t stock a lot of UF in English.
How did I come by Ilona Andrews?
I live in France and wanted to keep up with my english (I’m french btw). Being a Mercedes Lackey fan of many years, after reading all that was available, I started browsing in the kindle shop for the next book to sink my teeth in.
And I came accross this:
“On the outside, Dina Demille is the epitome of normal. She runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town, owns a Shih Tzu named Beast, and is a perfect neighbor, whose biggest problem should be what to serve her guests for breakfast. But Dina is…different: Her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn is magic and thinks for itself. Meant to be a lodging for otherworldly visitors, the only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can’t leave the grounds because she’s responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Under the circumstances, “normal” is a bit of a stretch for Dina.” (exerpt taken from Amazon website)
I bought it and did not put the book down until I finished. I was lucky that all 3 of Dina’s books were available at the time. So read them all in 3 days.
Then, of course, as a newly hooked fan, I had to read everything else and even looked for this website, where I’m writing to you today.
I am now a proud member of the BDH.
For me, it was the very first KD book, about a decade ago (or even earlier, maybe) I remember that i bought book 2-3 right away to sunk deep into the world of KD. I loved it right from the start and was so sad, when i realized, that there wasn’t more books available in German an this time. I was so impatient and couldn’t wait until the next book was finally published in Germany. Hence i started buying the english versions. (And after published in Germany, the german Version too) Its funny, when you can compare the same story in two different languages. (Spoiler: No, its not the same experience to read the same story in two languages) Allthough i struggeld a lot in the beginning (mainly because of the complex words, terms and “slang” words we didn’t learn back in school) was i able, to improve my english through reading your books. And the love for the books grew stronger and stronger throughout the years.
I started reading UF in 2010 or 2011, coming back to fantasy in general actually (I‘d had a phase of crime and thrillers for a few years) with „Graceling“. Since I was totally out of the loop, I got me some help from the „All things urban fantasy“ blog (I am so sad this blog isn’t existing any more ????), which brought me to Patricia Briggs and Mercy Thompson and Seanan McGuire‘s October Daye series, which I both totally loved (and still love). By then Amazon knew me enough to give good recommendations and „Magic Bites“ was one of them. Blurb sounded great to me and the rest is history – IA are my heroes and I read everything they wrote to date ????
… and Gods do I miss London!!!
I made my first journey to USA to attend a book signing and author weekend. I was to meet many of my favorite authors and it was epic.
While there I went crazy book buying and I mean crazy. I filled an entire suitcase with books.
Books in Australia are 3-4 times more expensive so I was going for gold. In that suitcase laid the first Kate Daniels book.
I believe there was only two books out – when I first discovered IA so I have eagerly awaited every release since then.
Of all the books in the suitcase Ilona Andrews was my greatest find and IA are in a very short list of authors who can write consistent exceptional stories that I cannot fault. There is not one book I do not love.
As many of you – I have read thousands of books by hundreds of authors. So when I say IA is top 4 of all time for me – You will understand my joy of taking a punt on unknown author (to me) on my grand suitcase shopping spree.
Much love to your IA.
I’m so glad you asked….. I was looking for a new audiobook. I like sword and sorcery & urban fantasy. It so hard to get what I like because they are either mega romance or combat and I’m not a huge fan of either. I found Bayou Moon which was at a stupidly low price so I bought it and … what do you know it was both romance and a bit combat ….. and I loved it. proceeded to buy everything I.A. I could find. Now every potential urban fantasy is measured against Kate and Dina and the Edge.
Probably via reading Patricia Briggs. Her Hurog duology (which has, among other things, a dragon) came out 2003’ish, and I stayed with her when Moon Called came out 2006, – fine capable heroine, wolves, and a series still going strong at book 12. Moon Called came out the next year, so it’s likely I pounced on that, then read each and every one of IA’s books as they were published. When I like an author, I hang on in there!
Magic Bites came out a year after Moon Called, not Moon Called. How can you check something reads fine, and miss mistakes?
I had just been given my first tablet and I was browsing the ebooks. The first innkeeper title caught my eye and looked it up. It sounded interesting so I bought it and loved it. Looked up more by this author and bought the first KD. And the rest as they say is history !!
I discovered IA during my Urban Fantasy frenzy. It was more than 10 years ago while I was a highschool student, living in a small town in Romania. I had gone through my family’s rather large book collection and the meagre offerings of the public library years ago before I discovered the magic of Ebooks. Pretty much every penny I made during my summer job went towards books. Unlike what Americans might think, Romanians are not much into vampires and werewolves so when I first got my hands on Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs, Kelley Armstrong and the like I became obsessed.
Later on (after a deep dive into urban fantasy) I started craving a more badass female main character. I was just discovering feminism (not an easy thing to do as a young Eastern European woman) and wanted to read about women kicking ass and not needing to be rescued by the hot male lead. Still remember the search that lead me to Kate Daniels: “urban fantasy, kickass female character”. I think only the first 2 books were out and I read them both in one night. Stayed up until 4 am and then continued to get my hands on everything IA had ever written. KD always came out near my birthday (summer) and it was honestly one of the best gifts ever. I love every IA book but KD is still my comfort read. The books came with me when I moved away to college, left Romania for Norway, started my first job, bought my first apartment and every other good or bad thing in my life.
I now own a house, two cats and a fiance but still jump around like a maniac and stay up reading until morning whenever a new IA book comes out. I own all the books in all the formats (I have a dedicated IA shelf in my library) and stalk the blog every day.
I like books with rules so the author can’t do dumb stuff like…
‘The princess was attacked by an unbeatable squid that’s only weakness is pink salt magic which nobody in the world has….
….. “and so” the princess said while cooking calamari “that is how I discovered I had pink salt magic, seasoning anybody?”‘
As a result I used to read a lot of shapeshifter urban fantasy, it’s a person who can turn into a animal so it will try and eat the squid, get hurt then figure out something else to stop it.
When the pool got low Magic Bites popped up and it had shapeshifters and magic, I almost didn’t read it.
And so began my month of everything IA. My wife did not remind me to eat. It was a hungry time.
I discovered IA because Amazon recommended it. So I bought Magic bites and now have read and reread all their books many times. They always bring me joy.
Thank you Mod R for this post. I feel really late to the party because unlike most here, I only discovered IA books about 3 years ago, and this blog about a couple of months ago.
My sister introduced me to audiobooks since she knew I rarely read anymore. I had started to teach hand quilting and hand sewing and didn’t have a lot of time or so I thought. She knew I missed it and so told me I could be listening to books while plying my needle when it wasn’t with students.
I started with the edge series and was hooked. I’ve listened to everything available on audio and when my students ask me when I find time to quilt/sew, I told them waiting rooms, watching TV or listening to audiobooks which invariably ended up with the discussion of favorite authors. Circle time then always seemed to always include IA book discussions.
Since I adored teaching beginners, my circle members tended to be newbies and I’m always amazed at how I missed these books for so long! Since I’ve stopped teaching, I’ve missed the people and discussions which is how I discovered this blog. Thank you to both IA team and Mod R for brightening my life in these trying times!
They did a contest of best male character and their book was up against another of my favorites so I had to read it to see who I liked more and I got sucked in.
The parents wanted a family beach vacation, and rented a condo on South Padre. Neither my sister nor I were seriously dating, so just the four of us, no extras. Reading on the beach is one of my favorite things, so I came with tons of new books downloaded on my kindle. Friend recommendations, book club list, GoodRead authors lists, and “if you liked this book…” suggestions from Amazon. An eclectic conglomeration of genres in the hopes that I would find “the one.” (You know, the author you can binge back-to-back?). The Kate Daniels series was on the Amazon suggestion list, and sounded interesting. It rained pretty much the whole vacation. I happily binged!
Through a Goodreads Karen Chance chat room: people were raving about the ‘Here Kitty Kitty scene’ in Magic Bites, though to be honest it took till Book 3 -Magic Strikes before I was seriously hooked on anything IA.
I first found Ilona Andrews reading the “Night Shift” anthology. I’m a Nalini Singh fan and had bought the book for her story. “Alphas: Origins” was my first IA story, but certainly not the last.
I picked up Magic Bites in Borders just before closing one Saturday night back in 2009. I devoured it, then went looking for the next books, and picked up Magic Burns and Magic Strikes the next Monday.
Then I found the Edge books, then the Kinsmen series, and Innkeeper and Hidden Legacy. I have all of them in my Kindle, and about half in paperback!
I was having some vision problems and unable to read so I downloaded the Scribd app in the hopes of finding an audiobook that interested me. I really hated audiobooks back then (because I’d only heard terrible narrators) so I was desperate for a good one. I came across Burn For Me (the only book on the series at the time), absolutely loved it and when my vision sorted itself out I proceeded to read every published IA book to date. Best decision ever.
I picked up the Hidden Legacy books first. Might have been an Amazon recommendation. I almost wish I could go back to that moment. There is nothing like finding yourself on the cliff edge that will be your next reading obsession.
Checking the racks out at Barnes and Noble I found the first in the Edge series and loved it. My libraryhad the audio books for the Kate Daniel’s series but it took me a year to go back and listen! I am so glad I did.
It was 2010. I had been going thru a truly horrible divorce and it was the first weekend that my 2 little ones would be away with “visitation”. That first Saturday nite I went to the nearest bookstore to drown my sorrows in books. Wandering the aisles for hours helped to pass that lonely sad time. I found a KD book and it was truly “Magic”. On Sunday I went back to find the earlier ones. I was hooked. All the series have become go to re reads when I’m waiting for the next book. Plus I found this site and have gotten so many great book recommendations. I am truly thankful to IA for helping me cope and escape during that especially bad time in my life.
One of my friends recommended Magic Bites… several days later another friend also reccomended it. I read it… and fell in love with it. I then realized I’d read parts of clean sweep before and had liked it too… I’ve read all of KD, most of the universe too, all of the innkeeper series and am starting to collect the other series so I can read them too. I will have the best home library ever one day.
Checked my Amazon account and I bought magic bites on 29 December 2009.
Two weeks later on the 13th January I bought burns, strikes and bleeds ????. Paid postage for all of them which is unheard of for me.
Just finished a reread of hidden legacy, Kate and innkeeper. Might be time for the edge books.
Every year, early December, we’d zip into the local bookstore, spend a couple hundred dollars on books, and the entire family would choose whatever we wanted to read when the snow plow didn’t come and we were stuck at home for days at a time in winter. Our little trick to stop the children from obsessing over Christmas gifts to come! My husband picked up the first Kate Daniels book, and after a few weeks, I’d read everything I bought and turned to his purchases. I asked him if it was good, because it didn’t look good to me from the cover and the blurb on the back. He wasn’t impressed with it, said it was OK, well-written, but not his idea of “good”. (I realized later that having a female lead who was totally bad-ass was his issue. He never read another one.) I read everything else we had, finally picked it up.
Our next visit to the book store was for the school break in spring so the children would be home all day again, and they needed reading material. My list of what I wanted said, “Anything Ilona Andrews” and I think I got two more in the KD series. As the years marched on, the book store closed, and I had to go to Kindle. Imagine my surprise to find so many books and then to find online libraries with all the books I couldn’t get locally in our library and how far behind I was on all things IA! I borrowed a lot, read them multiple times, realized I had to own them to do that because I found out that the library had to pay for the book every time it got borrowed for Kindle. Now that my library is files on my computer, I am content, and read them whenever I want to.
Now I’m old, my children are grown and gone, and I still love the old books and the new. It’s comforting to read things I’ve read before as I sit and ponder the pandemic and the cancer treatments and how much my life has changed, as the books have stayed the same and still entertain me. I have been told not to expect to be here to read Ruby Fever, because the publication date is so far away, but I still hope to be here to read it, and if I am, I will snatch it up on publication day and read it avidly. You cannot rush perfection, and all your books are so perfect that waiting is hard, but a known necessity. Like Mr. Morton, I have a good reason to fight this cancer and stay alive. I thank you for that!
We were making an overseas move, and Himself was trying to keep me from packing books in our hand luggage, because we needed space for, you know, clothes and things to keep us until our belongings shipped. In an attempt not to have to lug physical books across the Atlantic, he bought me one of those newfangled e-readers that had finally come down a little in price. As a bribe, it worked – but I didn’t know how to use it. Never mind, he said, and bought me a few books… and I rolled my eyes. He’d bought me a book about a SHARK? Seriously?
Um, no. SILVER SHARK is not really about sea life so much… And then I had to read allll the rest of the Kinsmen Universe and I had to read all her other books, and then re-read them while I made him read them, and we still occasionally re-read the Innkeepers from start to present, and There Is Much Happy.
I was hunting for a new to me author. My sister listed a bunch then said I’m sure you’ve read IA. I said nooooo
She almost spit her coffee at me. Then she said, and I couldn’t quite catch it. Something about here kitty kitty. She was laughing so hard.
She handed me her kindle and snatched mine. I call ya in a couple days. The series is called kate Daniels.
I’ve loved every word and series since.
Sending peace light and love????K
I was looking for a new vampire fix and Kate Daniel’s series came up in my search and I have loved it so much better than anything else I’ve read until The Hidden Legacy came out
My lovely friend and Pilates instructor, Tasha, introduced me to both Ilona Andrews and Robin Hobb. We loved ALL their books and would talk about them often during Pilates workouts :). Sadly, Tasha died in 2016 at only 54. She never got to read _Magic Triumphs_ or _Assassin’s Fate_ the final books in two deliciously long story arcs. I read them for myself and for her, and am forever grateful for the many many ways she enriched my life.
I was having a me-weekend out of my town and went to big book store here in Finland. Saw Magic Bites. Liked to the cover and the blurb. Spent rest of the evening in the hotel reading the book. Next morning before going home went and bought the next in series. Order from Amazon the third and then realized that i would have to wait at least a year for the fourth. Agony! So googled the author, discovered this block and the The edge series and never left. That was over a decade ago.
Being part of BDH is big part of me, even this is my second time leaving a comment. I do all the polls and quizzes though.
Thank you Ilona and Gordon and all you wonderful and funny people here in blog. You always make my day!
When I was in college, I spent way more time at the public library instead of the university library. In 2008ish the library had both Magic Bites and Magic Burns. I was intrigued and checked them out.
I read them. Loved them. Promptly bought them at Borders. I have read and loved everything that House Andrews has written since. It has been wonderful and I adored this blog, Mod R and everything from Ilona and Gordon. Thank you!
My BFF, Jeanne is a voracious reader and knows all the best books. A few years ago she told me about this really great new book that could be read for free on line. I took her advice and started following the House Andrews blog every Friday. Clean Sweep was my first HA book. I have read and re-read all the Innkeeper books, the Kate Daniels, series and The Edge. Those worlds and the characters in them seem so real; nice places to get lost in for a while. I also love reading the blog for the BDH comments, speculations and conversations. It can be so much fun trying to guess what the Andrews are going to do with a certain plot or character. Never mind that our guesses are way off. It is just so much fun to imagine the possibilities.
I am a very picky reader. I have about 8 fantasy authors I read anything they write, and am always looking, rarely finding new ones.
I also read pretty quickly. And all the time. Which means I go through books at an alarming rate, and reread multiple times when nothing else is new and good enough to capture my attention.
I had read and reread, Patricia Briggs, every single book; Robin McKinley; Neil Gaiman, Charles deLint, Jacqueline Carey, all ditto. The same with several other authors, most of whom I would read once, sigh and move on from.
I was so desperate. I found the “On the Edge” as a Kindle recommendation based on my history. It sounded pretty good. I COULD. NOT. BELIEVE. that I had ignored HA for a decade plus. Then I saw how prolific they are–because, they are!!–and EVERY. SINGLE. BOOK. was as good or better than the previous.
I won the jackpot that day, several years ago. I won’t say how many times I reread every single book. I will say, they stay as good each time. HA are a miracle.
I picked up Magic Bites at an airport conveinence shop ironically on my way to London! Upon arriving I came down with a terrible cold. Luckily I had the best medicine with me. Read through the night, couldn’t put it down. (So maybe not the best medicine) and quickly gobbled my way through the rest. The books, the blog, had I only known how much joy that one simple book choice would bring to my life. 🙂 What other authors have you stumbled upon and devoured so thoroughly? I’m still working my way through all of Diana Wynne Jones’s books…
A locker room with ruined boots. At that stage the second IC was being posted on the website, so I had to urgently catch up so I could follow along. I’ve never looked back.
Yes, I am referring to two different stories… The KD world and the IC world will forever vie for dominance within my mind. Then HL was thrown on top of it. I’m a lost cause.
I really can’t remember what book I read first. What I do remember is reading KD#2 (it had come up in my library online holds) and thinking “what am I reading?” I thought it was book#2 of another series. Oy. The drawbacks of reading multiple series at a time…on the plus side, my name was used in the last KD book. I told my mom when I gave her a copy, “I told you one day I’d own a restaurant.” lol
After I got over the confusion, I stormed through KD#2, walked into the bookstore and bought every IA book I could get my hands on. Inhaled the Edge like an asthmatic after a marathon! Really glad IA did a revisit of the Edge kids in Innkeeper.
The first time I read Innkeeper, I actually waited until Innkeeper #1 was fully complete because I thought just reading a bit at a time would cause me anxiety. I later realized that I enjoy seeing the development of the book from the online format to the final printed format. Totally worth the anxiety.
I’ve now shared the Innkeeper with my son (I read the stories out loud to him the day they came out…edited for content). It was fun to have something to look forward to. He would walk in my room with a hopeful look and just say “BOOK?” He loves Arland and will be 19 in a few days.
Kinsmen–I still can’t decide which of the stories is my favorite. Love that the printed collection includes A Mere Formality–that one always makes me laugh. Very excited that House Andrews is going back to the Kinsmen universe for a visit!!
Love this post! Such a good story, Mod R 🙂 I always feel like the Edge books are underrated, when they’re some of my favs.
I started with Magic Bites, maybe the year after it came out? Magic Burns was already out, and I read it quickly after. I remember loving the characters, world-building, and snappy dialogue. I also loved how I could see the authors changing their style slowly and becoming more confident/cementing into what I feel is now IA voice. I can’t remember when I started reading the blog, but it was probably soon after (I followed several blogs by my favorite authors, many who have stopped blogging by now) and I sort of fell in love with the blog just as much as the books 🙂 “Rox fall, everyone dies” is a phrase I still use, and I’m so glad IA are still writing.
It’s a good question. I don’t recall how I found them. I downloaded the sample of Magic Bites on Nook and I was hooked. It was the vampires that first hooked me. EVERY ONE had sexy vampires and I was just so freaking sick of it. And when Gastec navigated that abomination into Kate’s Savannah house I got that tingle… the one you get when you start to extend that trust and hope the author is worthy of it. I think only 3 books were out at that time. I recall I read the series, then immediately re-read it. So it was probably around 2009. Book 3 remains my favorite and when I am re-reading the series that’s where I’ll normally start. And it’s the only series I habitually re-read. At least 10 times a year. No joke.
And they’ve been my favorite author since.
Working at a bookstore coffee shop. One of my regulars and I would trade books. She and her husband had retired to a local nudist community and she had the best stories.
It was the second Kate Daniels, Magic Burns, and I have made sure to recommend IA to everyone at every opportunity.
I suppose my moral is nudists have the best book recommendations? Lol
My sister and I used to read alot of the same books (she got a dog a year ago and claims she has no time to read now). About 4 years ago she mentioned an author/series to me. I was busy and had sooo many books to read that I wrote the name down, probably used it for a book mark and forgot about it. Fast forward to 2019. I’m cruising Amazon for books and come across a book that sounds really interesting. Read the “look inside” and decided this was my kind of book! Bought it. Then bought the series. Kate Daniels. It was at this point I suggest Ilona Andrews to my sister. Her reply was “That’s the author I told you about.” When I finished Kate Daniels I found Hidden Legacy! Then all the other Ilona Andrews books. Thank you, thank you! Love your worlds! Love your writing style! Impatiently/patiently waiting for RUBY FEVER. It seems like it’s not the book you want to write at this time. I figure other worlds are calling. I am sorry you are stuck writing RF if that is the case. I will be waiting for whatever you write, whenever you write it. Forget Marvel! Make mine Andrews!
It was a kate daniels short story in an anthology. I can’t remember which one or which story, but I loved the setting. (It was a guild story. It might have been the story of how she met Saiman). I forgot about it for a few years and I had tagged one of the newer books on goodreads for my want to read list. I had participated in the secret santa that year, and while at the time I was looking for historical fiction, I ended up with a copy of the first book in paperback along with some other fantasy novels. A few years later I was looking for a new author to read, and pulled another anthology. It contained a kate daniels story, and I rediscovered the setting I had liked and then proceeded to read the entire series, along with many of the other novels.
I don’t even know how many years ago… I was browsing my local used bookstore’s scifi/fantasy paperback section, looking for “new” (to me) stuff to read. I tend to skim every shelf looking for titles that catch my eye.
When I spot something (and am not familiar with the author), I’ll read the back cover and first few pages before deciding whether to buy it. Or if it’s visibly part of a series I’ll look for book one and try that.
For some reason I’d skipped over the “Magic ______” (Kate Daniels) books on previous visits, but this time I figured “hey, I see these a lot here and at chain bookstores, maybe it’s worth a look?”
It took me literally two or three pages to be hooked hard, and the rest is history.
I discovered IA by accident at the library about 12 years ago. I really enjoy strong female character lead stories (blame Buffy), and stumbled on Magic Bites by accident as it was near Virgina Andrews novels. I too spent a day doing nothing but reading and re-reading the same book. For the past decade, I have graduated from haunting booksellers, libraries and the local bookshop for the latest IA to getting Google and Amazon instant buy alerts. IA continue to be my favourite authors, and now I’ve turned my younger sister and nieces into fans. The writing is great, characters are interesting and never overdone and even the blog keeps me in stitches.
Through the Patricia Briggs forum. Someone mentioned Kate Daniels, I looked the series up and was hooked!
My first Ilona Andrew’s book is a short story “Grace of small magics” from “Under Her Skin” book bought in May 2011.
I was reading Jeaniene Frost’s A night huntress series and her short story is in “Under Her Skin” book along side with Meljean Brook’s and Ilona Andrews’s.
That how I found IA’s, then I went to website and bought Kate Daniel’s first book “Magic Bites”and subsequently books and other series ever since. :).
Had begun reading The Dresden Files and was waiting for his latest; while waiting, I was also searching for another writer who told wonderful stories. Went on amazon and read about Ilona Andrews and then searched online for other lists of urban fantasy writers and found them there as well. I bought a book and the rest is personal history! Actually, I have been trying to find someone to read between the Andrews’ book, but no luck so far.
You create magic in your stories and no one else does it as well.
Love the Dresden Files! My son is named Dresden after them????
I was browsing through a bookstore and randomly saw a book with a queenly Latina woman on the cover. She looked vaguely pissed off and so ready to fight-and that was just her facial expression. I bought it because the description was intriguing but mostly because she didn’t look oh so caucasion like most book covers. Coming from a biracial family I loved it. And bonus that there wasn’t an overwhelming “omg the man’s so hawt, I wanna jump his bones” subplot.
I stayed because the writing is among the best I’ve ever read. Dialogue is believable. It fits the characters. I read all I could find by her/THEM that was in print.
Until the hidden legacy serie scame out. The covers put me off. Too romance bodice ripper vibe.
Ironically-because How could anything they write be bad? But I am way over the sex you up books where the sex seems to be the main plot. Judgemental of me, maybe. But I’m over 60 and way past wanting the breathless “romance-cough-sexsexsex” if I want to read sex I’ll look up straight porn.
But then I realized that the magic Kate series was done. Already read the iron book. Loved it. And was feeling like it wasn’t worth reading anything because even my favorite sci fi authors were between books…
So I read thefirst legacy book. Wow.
Bought the rest. Hate the covers. Love the stories.
Btw- am saddened that the later covers of the Kate books have a completely non Latina looking woman on the covers. The Latina look originally caught my attention. ????????
Way back when (2011?) I was checking out a review site (Dear Author or AAR or SBTB- can’t remember which) in search of new authors to try when I saw on their blog that there was a free serial on Ilona Andrews web site so I thought why not check it out. I went over there and it was Clean Sweep and there were already about 10 episodes to read. By the time I read them I was totally hooked. To fill in the time waiting for my weekly fix of Innkeeper I immediately started on the IA backlist. Now I have every book (most as ebooks and dead tree copy and audiobook) and reread/ relisten regularly.
This is one of my favourite websites and I enjoy the commentary (and book recommendations) from my fellow BDHers.
I found IA while I worked at Borders Books. I was shelving and making face out displays in the scifi/fantasy section when I came across Magic Bites. I read the blurb and bought it that day, and have been hooked ever since. ????
A few years ago, I was looking at nominations for best books on Goodreads and came across one of the Kate Daniels books. (I can’t remember which one it was)
The story looked interesting but I researched first as I didn’t want to start a book in the middle of a series. I read Magic Bites. Admittedly, as I’d not read such an in depth fantasy book before, it took me a while for my imagination to adjust to all the characters and world set, but by the 2nd book I was completely hooked. I have since read everything available by Ilona Andrews at least twice! I’m always super impatient for the next book. I can’t even tell you which is my favourite series, I love them all equally.
It opened my world to fantasy books and I now read at least 2 a week.
I can honestly say that Ilona & Gordon’s writing style, dialogue, humour and wit is the best I’ve ever read.
Their friend Jeaniene Frost is also excellent, who I found after reading their blogs.
Thank you for bringing us these wonderful stories…..
P.S Can we get a move on with Iron Covenant series…..I need some Hugh ????????
I read magic bites while on a 3 month backpacking trip through Southeast Asia. I had just bought a kindle for the trip and was desperately trying not to spend all my limited funds on books. I read it, liked it, then promptly forgot. Some great loves take a moment to settle into your bones (same with my partner, I wasn’t so sure after the first date!).
Then a few years later I found it on my kindle again. Re-read, saw it was a series and have never looked back. IA is hands down my favorite author. I will read anything and everything by them and have never been disappointed. IA books are the books I turn to when I’m feeling happy, sad, overwhelmed etc… it’s like coming home.
I was reading an anthology for another author. Found a short story from House Andrews that I really enjoyed and hoped it was part of a series. That one turned out to be a one-shot, but they had this intriguing Kate Daniels thing that looked like it might be worth a shot…
I’ve been an avid reader my whole life. I even tried to read all the books in my high school library on various genres. We had this one small used bookstore that included trading books. I believe this is where I bought my first used paperback copy of Kate Daniels. I remembered eagerly waiting for the next book to come out.
I followed Charlaine Harris and so read Apple for the Creature, a collection of fantastical short stories. In there was Julie’s story at school. The title of the collection was perfect for Julie’s story (which is actually titled Magic Tests). I loved i and went looking for Ilona Andrews. That was how I came to read the early Kate Daniels stories out of order and had to search for the book where Julie was actually introduced. I too love Bayou Moon.
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! ^_^