Waiting on Wednesday: Gunmetal Magic

"Waiting on Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that spotlights anticipated upcoming releases. This week my can't-wait to-read book is:

Gunmetal Magic
by Ilona Andrews
Drops July 31, 2012


Some people have everything figured out — Andrea Nash is not one of those people. After being kicked out of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, Andrea's whole existence is in shambles. All she can do is try to put herself back together, something made easier by working for Cutting Edge, a small investigative firm owned by her best friend, Kate Daniels. 


When several shapeshifters working for Raphael Medrano — the male alpha of Clan Bouda and Andrea's former lover — die unexpectedly at a dig site, Andrea is assigned to investigate ... and must work with Raphael.  As her search for the killer leads her into the secret underbelly of supernatural Atlanta, Andrea knows that dealing with her feelings for Raphael might have to take a backseat to saving the world ...




If you haven't been reading the Kate Daniels series, start.  Now.  Written by a husband and wife team under the name Ilona Andrews, this is a series that has gotten better with each book.  Seriously.  The whole series is awesome-sauce.  


Gunmetal Magic, unlike the previous books in the series, focuses on Kate's best friend, Andrea and it's probably best if you read the proceeding books before picking this one up.  Especially the novella, Magic Mourns, from the anthology Must Love Hellhounds.  (A solid anthology, by the way.)  This book should raise the stakes even higher in the complex, volatile world of the Kate Daniels series and also promises some heavy duty sparks clashes  romantical drama between former lovers Andrea and Raphael, both of whom are FANTASTIC characters.  This is an urban fantasy, though, so expect plenty of action, violence and things that go boom.  After all, Andrea is a weapons specialist and more apt to take on the bad guys with heavy duty artillery than relying on her shapeshifter skills.


You can find links to chapter one excerpts from Gunmetal Magic here.




***As always, don't forget to leave a comment if you're participating in Waiting On Wednesday with a link to your can't-wait-to-read so I can swing on by!

Book Newsy Stuff, Excerpts and More!

• Over on her blog, Ilona Andrews has posted part of chapter one from Gunmetal Magic.  I lurv the Kate Daniels series and am really looking forward to Andrea's story. ETA: Here is the second part of chapter one.

• Jennifer Estep has just sold three more books in her Elemental Assassin series.  No info on release dates yet but there will be at least 10 books in the series.  I'm not sure how I feel about this news.  I like this series very much so more books should be a good thing but I am also getting tired of series that run their course and yet, still don't end.  At some point, this reader needs closure.

• Speaking of series that don't deliver on closure, Harper Voyager has published the first four chapters of Kim Harrison's 10th entry into the Hollows series, A Perfect Blood, online.  You can read them here:  One, Two, Three, Four.  Chapter five is also supposed to be posted but all the links I try don't seem to work.  

• L.J. Smith, author of the popular series the Vampire Diaries, has been fired by HarperTeen/Alloy.  Smith was hired back in 1990 to write the series for Alloy but doesn't actually own the rights.  The television series will not be effected  by the change.

• Alison Pang has an excerpt up from A Sliver of Shadow, the second book in her Abby Sinclair series.

• Angelfall, the fabulous ebook by Susan Ee, is now available for purchase in print.  You can find it here at Createspace or over at Amazon.

• One of things that impressed me about Angelfall was how well this self-published book was edited.  My (limited) experience with ebooks is that they are often riddled with typos, no matter who the publisher is. Kirkus Editorial has developed a book editing division for self-published and unpublished authors to help alleviate this problem and strengthen manuscripts before they are submitted to publishers.

Free Kate Daniels Novella!

If you're like me, you spent at least part of your holiday reading the new Kate Daniels novella, Magic Gifts.  Wait, what?  You hadn't heard?  Well, Ilona Andrews released it online as gift to readers and its free!  But it is only available for a limited amount of time, so get it while you can.  Two weeks after December 24th, it will no longer be offered.  (It's going to appear as a bonus at the end of Gunmetal Magic but that's not coming out till later in 2012.)  This is a fantastic series that gets better with every book.  SInce the next Kate Daniels book won't be out until 2013 (!!!), this should help take the edge off.


Magic Gifts - Ilona Andrews' blog

Yay! Another Curran Snippet!

As a thanks to readers for voting for her books in the Goodreads Reader's Choice Awards, Ilona Andrews posted another Curran POV snippet over at her blog.  I look forward to these snippets. It's cool to see Curran's take on events and it helps alleviate the wait between Kate Daniels books.  In this latest one, we get the scene where Jim explains to Curran that Kate has some serious daddy issues (and I don't mean the kind that can be solved with therapy.) If your interested, you can check out the snippet at Andrews' blog.


Curran POV

Kate Daniels News & a couple of links

If you know me, you know that I am a big fan of Ilona Andrew's Kate Daniels series.  Well, today over at her blog, Andrews announced that the next book in the series won't be out until February 2013.  That's right.  2013! 

I'm not completely surprised by this news.  Andrews had already stated that in terms of the story's timeline, Andrea's book needed to happen first.  That book will be out May 2012.

You can read Andrew's post on the subject here.

If you need a laugh after that news head over to The Hairpin for Favorite Books of the Secretly Jerky.

Also, over at NPR is a poll in which you can vote for the top 100 Science Fiction/Fantasy books ever.

Fan of the Kate Daniels Series?

Then what are you waiting for?
Get Yourself over to Ilona Andrew's blog where you can read some free extras of Curran's POV.
Magic Bleeds, Curran POV
Magic Bleeds, Curran POV Part II