ILONA ANDREWS

#1 New York Times Bestselling Author

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Totally Swept

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Hi everyone, Mod R here!

Orro by Isabeau Backhaus

Before I get to anything else, there have been several questions in the comments to Augustine’s FrInnterview about George getting married and whether you missed anything if you don’t know about it. I’m happy to report that if you want the dish on the wedding, who, when and what it took to make an honest man out of our favorite Arbitrator, it’s all coming in Sweep of the Heart!

This is the 4th Ilona Andrews book release I’ve been privileged to witness from backstage, as it were- and whilst it’s hard to pick favorites, I have to admit this one is just (sweeping) closest to my heart!

The first one was Blood Heir. I was with you all in the audience as a weekly serial reader, having no idea that I will be behind the curtain for the release. It was already a finished, shiny book though and House Andrews were in promo period when I became Mod R. I learned a lot about the Horde during a release and the alternating waves of devouring and fluffiness that happen, so no complaints here.

I’ve seen Fated Blades since it was a baby draft, but Fated Blades was something that basically fell out of Ilona and Gordon’s brains. It was “We have an idea!” one day and “Here’s the pretty much final version” 3 weeks later, so there wasn’t much time to experience the process. Ramona slashed, Matias dashed, and it’s all a whirlwind of secare fun in my memory hehe.

Ruby Fever is an amazing book that I love, but the less said about the process and how everything that could go badly went badly, the better. In fact, no one was even aware a few of the things that happened *could* happen (and I mean here experienced industry professionals, let alone wide-eyed me). At one point, I sent “I’m sorry the book is cursed” flowers to House Andrews for all they were going through because there were just no other words left. Fortunately, readers overwhelmingly loved it, and that’s what’s important. A difficult labour produced a prodigy baby!

But I was there with Sweep of the Heart almost every step of the way. From Ilona and Gordon kindly sharing the concept with me, to the Christmas Eve debut on the blog, seeing the draft chapters first (it’s ok, you can hate me hehe), the Friday BDH get-togethers in the comment section, and sending House Andrews weekly summaries of your questions and reactions.

I was privy to how much your reader feedback influenced the first draft (more on the process of writing a serial here). How things like length of the story, characters and worldbuild all grew like a living, breathing organism, yet throughout it all the initial concept never changed. Creative liberty standing up to criticism and negativity, and fair editor feedback being incorporated. I saw the creation of the covers by the talented Doris Mantair (yes, there were multiple covers, and one day you’ll learn why ::wink wink::) and all the stages of the characters taking shape with the amazing interior illustrations by Isabeau. I’ve also been privileged to read the polished final manuscript and have major things (major!) revealed and more tantalising questions created…

It’s simply like witnessing a masterclass and a love letter written for the BDH- and I think the Horde felt it because the FrInnDay comment sections were a weekly community party! All efforts went in from House Andrews to preserve as much of the serialised goodies as possible, which I hope will give everyone as much delight as they gave me. And if you haven’t read along, I hope they will at least amuse you.

All I know is that this book feels special, and I am so unspeakably grateful to have the chance to be around all of you.

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!

I’ve just heard news that House Andrews are trialling a pilot program that allows to have Print On Demand books available for preorder. We don’t fully know what this will do, the books may even get shipped before release? Permission to freak out hehe.

Here are the links for Sweep of the Heart paperback and audio preorder:

Amazon Paperback
B&N Paperback
B&N Audiobook
Kobo Audiobook

For ebook orders and other retailers, head to the main Sweep of the Heart page (with excerpt!).

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Comments

  1. The link on the main page to Amazon for the ebook takes you to Amazon.com is the a link for Amazon.co.uk?

  3. As much as I hate rushing to the holidays, I am READY, READY, READY for this book to be out on 12/13!

    And I want to see ModR in person with her Rudolph costume!

    Thank you so much for all you do for us and HA!

  4. Thank you! My print to order copies for my sisters and me are ordered. Imlove this book too. Nancy

  5. Thanks for all the thing you do, Mod R. Intriguingly multifaceted, multitalented, diplomatic, a good wrangler, a fine writer in your own right. You make our musing, reactions and speculation in the comments section even more fun. re: BDH “and the alternating waves of devouring and fluffiness that happen” – lol. Yep. Rock on.

    Listening to Ruby Fever again as I cook dinner.

  6. I know I’ve said this before – probably several times: Christmas this year is on December 13th.

  7. You rock Mod R!! Moderating isn’t easy & you do it so well. Thanks for sharing a peak behind the curtain from your perspective. We appreciate all the little tidbits, fun quizzes, etc, that you supply. I’m very happy that our amazing authors have you supporting them. Whoo hoo – Team House Andrews!!

    Looking forward to reading the finalized version of Sweep of the Heart!

  10. Speaking of topics on the brain lately I was thinking. Pretty sure it was mentioned we would see Lauralei again but I was wondering would we see Red again?

  11. I realize I can’t truly imagine what it’s like to have your viewpoint on this, but I’ve enjoyed what you’re shared. Thank you for it all. (And since I’ve learned by experience that my e-Voodoo skills are only imaginary, I won’t be performing any dark rituals with small animals or damaging little dolls. Pins, flames, acids, blunt force trauma … nothing. Ah, well …

  12. “A difficult labour produced a prodigy baby!”

    So… Ruby Fever is the Conlan of HA books?

    I’ll show myself out…

  14. I seriously count finding Ilona Andrews books in my library ebook collection as one of the best things to happen to me during 2020. I had never seen that author name before. Tried 1 book and proceeded to devour everything the library had and then moved on to Amazon. I didn’t think I could be any more hooked until I discovered the blog and snippets, etc. And the gravy on top was ModR and the BDH.

  15. The Power of the BDH. It’s only been a few hours since it was announced that the paperback copy of SWEEP could now be ordered. When the announcement was made the Best Seller’s rankings for the book were 37333, 1236 and 2146. Now, just a few hours later the rankings are 5836, 191 and 225. Pretty impressive I’d say. I wonder how many actual copies of the book had to be ordered in just that short a time to generate that positive change in the rankings?

    Anne in Virginia

    • Amazon.com.au
      Best Sellers Rank: 1,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
      159 in Paranormal Fantasy (Books)
      160 in Urban Fantasy (Books)
      278 in Romantic Fantasy

      And if you click on the 2 New from $32.99 (instead of the Paperback $41.37) you can get it from the Amazon for the cheaper amount (weird)

      Added Fated Blades and got free shipping

      Yeah

  16. I had a total mind splart and thought it came out this week, stayed up to midnight to download it ready for my very early morning hospital appointment and am now hugely disappointed and still getting up far too early for a much too long day but without a lovely book to pass the time. Damn you brain fog.

  17. I just ordered my print copy of SOTH . I’m so excited that I could order it a week ahead. Thank you HA and Mod R for all your fun blogs and comments. Happy Holidays to you and all of the Hoard.

  19. Print copy ordered!! So excited for the new pilot program – hope this works out well!
    ????????????
    Book birthday in one week!! Squee!!
    ????????????

  20. Lol..I initially thought “print on demand” meant “create a story for me on demand”…in my dreams and their nightmares.

    • The fluffy Horde would quickly turn into a multiheaded,all-devouring Hydra ????, with each head demanding “Feed Me” like the skulls on Baba Yaga’s fence posts.

      Despite my Rudolph gettup, I am still in Halloween mode, if you can’t tell ????

      • The BDH will never be appeased, poor HA would be crushed under the weight of the demands….no. Print in Demand is a Monkey’s Paw

  21. Question about the audiobook: Is Nora Sofyan also known as Nora Achrati? (I know Steve West also narrated books as Shane East, so I’m just curious.) Is Sofyan a new narrator? Or a pseudonym for the Graphic Audio voice artist?

  22. Mad props and thanks to you, Mod R, for indulging the BDH – we can be a bit of an unruly bunch at times, ha ha!

  25. The BDH is so so lucky to have HA and Mod R and all the goodness that comes out of all of them! ::big squooshy hugs::

    I hope you all are prepared for the post-release stampede of questions on the 17th! ????

  26. Tapas question: When it’s finished, will that book be available for print? I prefer Kindle books to read, but the Tapas book is so pretty. I would love to have a physical copy!

  27. I’m still so sad that Ruby Fever caused them so much pain. I’m also however a little sad that they don’t seem to talk much about the book. We love it and the series so much, but it feels like IA just wants to move on and quite forget about it ???? maybe they need some time away from it, but I hope they will talk about the book again at some point!

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