Book Review: Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews

Magic Bites
Ilona Andrews
Length: 220 Pages
Published: 2007 (Berkley Publishing Group)
Rating:  

Atlanta would be a nice place to live, if it weren’t for the magic…  When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. Then technology returns and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake. Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles. The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way…

I picked up Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews on the recommendation of my sister-in-law. I am so glad that I did! Strong, sassy female leads are my jam.

Kate is a down-on-her-luck mercenary, traipsing around as a mostly lone wolf. Kate is informed that her guardian died, rather brutally, and sets off on an investigation of her own. This book carried on at a very quick pace. Clocking in at 220 pages, I devoured it in no time. I’ll admit, the world-building left me a little confused but the writer duo truly hooked me with the excellent banter. I’m hoping that by reading the rest of the series I will have a better idea of how the world operates. Really, the characters carried the story for me.

I love that Kate puts on an air of confidence and badassery but inside she still tends to second-guess herself and takes ownership of decisions she makes that don’t work out. I enjoy reading about flawed characters that aren’t all-powerful but I really really (cue fangirl gushing) love when the female leads challenge someone (like the alpha male).

The scenes with Curran were truly a delight to read. This is the first time I’ve read about a lion shifter outside of Shelly Laurenston’s world and I really enjoyed the duo’s approach. I have a weakness for Alpha males that are attracted to infuriating, sassy females. The challenge with alpha males in romance is skirting the line between healthy and unhealthy. I give paranormal romances about shifters a little more leeway than normal simply because they are supposed to be half animal (lion, wolf, etc) so I don’t feel like I can expect them to give up the dominant nature but they still need to respect boundaries. I feel like this was really accomplished and I totally ship Kate and Curran.

I am limited in the amount of material I can cover since the book was so short so I’ll wrap up by saying this was wonderful and I’m excited to read the next one in the new year as one of my Romanceopoly books!