Blogiversary Day 3: Win a SIGNED copy of Magic Bleeds by Ilona Andrews

From the author's website:
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. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it rose.

Kate Daniels works for the Order of the Knights of Merciful Aid, officially as a liaison with the mercenary guild. Unofficially, she cleans up the paranormal problems no one else wants to handle—especially if they involve Atlanta’s shapeshifting community.

When she’s called in to investigate a fight at the Steel Horse, a bar midway between the territories of the shapeshifters and the necromancers, Kate quickly discovers there’s a new player in town. One who’s been around for thousands of years—and rode to war at the side of Kate’s father.

This foe may be too much even for Kate and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, to handle. Because this time, Kate will be taking on family…

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*Spoilery Spoilers Ahead*

Oh. Mah. Gawd. Loved it, loved it, loved it! I had such high expectations for this book and it was everything I thought it would be and more. I have seen a ton of reviews for this book already, so I'm just going to go into my thoughts...

Ilona and Gordon are brilliant! I was afraid this would end up being a book I had waited and waited for only to be met with disappointment because I had built it up so much in anticipation. I really should have known better.

This book was heavy on the mythology and had not just one bad guy but 7 (or really, 8). Kate went through the ringer physically and emotionally in this book; she saw a lot of her friends/acquantainces die and learned more than she ever wanted to know about her family. Ilona Andrews did not pull any punches in this book.

For some warped reason I loved the scene with the head in the fridge and her conversation with Ghastek (although Magic Bleeds was light on the vamps they were still there).

Also love how the dog adopted Kate :)

Of course, I cannot forget the sexin'. Seriously, the sexin'. I loved when Kate decided to take the plunge and show Curran she was interested. Not only did it show emotional growth on her part by taking the risk, but it also showed how the other characters feel about her by giving her assistance. As they say down South, "she's good people". (And the "slut hut", OMG - I spit diet coke all over my desk at lunch!)

We got some great peeks into Kate's head in this book, from Kate talking to Andrea about her first friendship and first relationship to Kate's revelation to Curran about her father. I love how her character has developed over the course of the series so far.

I could not have asked for a better ending. This book definitely gets 5/5 stars!

And while some storylines were (very) nicely wrapped up, there are some questions I have: Is Andrea still her friend? Will Curran let her interact with Siaman in the future? What was up with the writing on her skin when she said the power word? Why did Hugo set a bodyguard on Kate? Is Roland melancholy because he wants her back or because he wants to kill her? When is the next book coming out - I need these answers!!!

Oh, just wondering: Does Ilona Andrews pick her power words from Blogger w/v?

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The Giveaway:

I purchased a signed copy of Magic Bleeds from Powell's Books

to give away to one lucky follower.

Here's the deets:

Open to all but you MUST follow this blog.

Answer this question:

What do you do when you've got a much-anticipated book in your hands -

read it quickly or make it last?

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Ends June 30 at midnight central time.