housebaylor

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"Kill them with kindness" WRONG. drop the opera house chandelier on them.

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CAUSE I'M A PUNKROCKER YES I AM!

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Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews

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Burn for Me: A Hidden Legacy Novel, Ilona Andrews

I picked this one up because the author of the Beyond series (which I’m rereading) was excited about it!

* It was a nice opening action sequence (with the heroine saving the girl and standing up to the bully-mage-ex-military guy), but then it’s followed by having to do a lot of math to figure out the lead and her sister’s ages, so I dunno.

* “Yes or no?” Augustine asked. On one end of the seesaw my family, on the other, possibly my life. “Yes,” I said. “You’re a terrible person.” The lead can tell when people lie, and she knows the guy expects her to fail. He is, indeed, a terrible person.

* I’m guessing Lenora Jordan is either going to be super awesome or turn about to be totally corrupt. No middle ground, that’s my bet.

* Ok, after three chapters I officially like the lead. She’s funny but not too quirky, smart without being OP, and generally charming.

* This is Adam Pierce’s mother (except she’s probably wearing a Trump hat, too):

* Heh, Nevada brings Adam a t-shirt to have a discussion with him because he always forgets to put one on

* Ooooo! A muscly man in a plain black t-shirt and jeans just walked into the scene. Obviously this is the primary love interest because this is the standard costume they wear in modern-setting romances!

* This was actually pretty good informed consent for an illegal procedure.

* “Okay,” Mad Rogan said. “This is distracting you, and I need you to function, so let’s fix this. Which part of what happened is upsetting?” He squished a guy to death with a building in front of her. I’m not sure where she should start.

* “I really would like to know,” he said with genuine curiosity. “The next time I kill someone, I’d like to do it in a way that doesn’t trip you up.” This is a very weird relationship.

* We are 55% of the way through the book and while the lead’s mind may be in the gutter, zero romance so far. I’m impressed.

* The lightening mage got the drop on Rogan and incapacitated him. If the mage wasn’t also dead immediately afterward, he should have been very proud of himself.

* We are at 70% and the guy continues to be pretty much an asshole. He also has zero conscience. I’m wondering where the character redemption will come in?

* “Programmer and cybermagician. We don’t join fraternities. We hide in our lairs in darkness and bloom under the glow of computer screens.” “Like mushrooms?”

* And now there is an oblique Star Trek reference that I adore.

* “Mad Rogan took the lemon wedge off his glass and deposited it onto his appetizer plate, as if it had been some sort of offending bug.” Ooo, Rogan and I have something in common. How exciting!

* “You know what? No: if he ever fell in love, it wouldn’t be great romantic devotion. It would be an exercise in frustration and lust, and at the end of it his significant other would strangle him.” 89% done, guys. He’s won some decent-person points, but still waiting for full character redemption!

* “He wanted Nevada Baylor. He wanted her more than he had wanted anyone in a long, long time, and he would get her. She just didn’t realize it yet.”

Bottom Line: Guys, I’m sucked in. The leading lady is great. She’s so normal. She isn’t terribly special, except that she has a good head on her shoulders and a family that loves her. She let the guy know in no uncertain terms how terrible he was, and she’s absolutely right. The guy has potential, but not because he’s secretly inherently good or anything. He’s going to have to grow to earn her. I really liked this book, didn’t want to put it down, and I really have things I need to do, but I want to start the next one right now!

Rating: five out of five arcane magic circles

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New release date, August 12th

cover by Candice Slater

The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews

if you haven't readed it yet, the full edited version is estimated to be out on August 8th, more info here

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"So okay, you're probably going, 'Is this like a Noxzema commercial or what?' But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl." "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence; and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress her."

CHER HOROWITZ and EMMA WOODHOUSE 1/2 From Clueless (1995), Emma. (2020) adaptations of Jane Austen's Emma

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cover by Candice Slater

The Inheritance by Ilona Andrews

if you haven't readed it yet, the full edited version is estimated to be out on August 8th, more info here

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la belle et la bête 2014

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cover by Andrew Davis

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews

The page-turning politics of Game of Thrones meets the worlds-spanning romance of Outlander in this blockbuster new epic fantasy series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo Ilona Andrews.

DELUXE EDITION—featuring gorgeous sprayed edges!

When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn’t take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she’s been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel.

Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters’ ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she’s coming to love—a motley band that includes a former lady’s maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes—and attentions—of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war.

For fans of Samantha Shannon, Danielle L. Jensen, Sarah J. Maas, and isekai and portal fantasy, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me is the beginning of the most epic adventure yet from genre powerhouse author duo Ilona Andrews.

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The unexpected reason why the drive-through line is so long

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ahhh I can't wait to see the cover of This Kingdom will not Kill me

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ɪᴛ’ꜱ ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴍɪɴᴅ’ꜱ ᴇʏᴇ, ᴅʀᴏᴡɴɪɴɢ ᴏᴜᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅᴀʏʟɪɢʜᴛ 💀

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📸: @ niamhlouphotos for ampedmaguk

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Hugh d'Ambray is my emotional support villian

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FUCK. honestly just FUCK. We missed a very important day yesterday.