Gunmetal Magic by Ilona Andrews

5 Stars (Can I give it 6 stars?  It’s my blog and I say yes! So….) 6 Stars

Why, oh why do I do this to myself?  I have had this book since very soon after it came out, but when I read about Andrea Nash through the Kate Daniels series, she never inspired me to want to read an entire book about her.  So I put it off and put it off and read some really good, some ok and some bad books in the meantime.  However, I should know better.  Who is my favorite author?  Yes, you remember correctly, it is Ilona Andrews.  I have read everything Ilona and Gordon Andrews have written and loved it all.  I read “Of Swine and Roses” and I am O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D with theirnew Innkeeper Chronicles, which is a free online serial publication. 

So to recap Andrea had been burned badly fighting Kate’s crazy Aunt Erra.  Then the Order of Merciful Aid came for her and they found out their top knight was a shapeshifter and they kicked her out of the order.  Raphael was her honey lumpkins, but after that debacle in which time Andrea pulled away from him for three weeks after a giant fight it seems this was over and done.  Andrea gets called into a shapeshifter murder scene by Jim (the pack’s head of security).  And where do you think this murder took place?  That is right, on one of Raphael’s worksites!  Ugh, that is the worst and there is nothing I love better than some good old fashioned heartache!  I loved it.  I felt Andrea’s anguish with seeing and speaking with Raphael again.  Raphael behaves like a big fat jerk and I just want to hold Andrea while she cries.  So Andrea focuses on work and tries to find justice for the families of those killed.  This was a character that I had no interest in previously, but I was won over.  Andrea is an awesome fighter (not as good as Kate I think) and a person I would want to know.    

This author always knows how to make a great plot.  You think you know where it is going, but it twists so many times before it is over.  It is always steeped in so much history, legend, myth, ancient culture and religion it is amazing to read! 

Favorite quote (there are so many, this is just one):

“You will not pass!” Roman thundered. 

Great.  Now he had decided he was Gandalf.