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Amanda Shofner

Grand Mistress of On a Book Bender. On the path of least revision. Wine supplier for grammar pain sufferers. #BecauseWine. Idea wrangler. Wielder of words. Black coffee drinker.

Currently reading

Amaryllis
Jayne Castle
Rampant
Diana Peterfreund
Bad Behavior
Jennifer Lane
The False Prince
Jennifer A. Nielsen
Light of the Moon (Legend of the Dreamer, Book 1)
David James
Amaryllis (St. Helen's Series #1)

Gunmetal Magic: A Novel in the World of Kate Daniels

Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels, #5.5) -  Ilona Andrews Original review (jointly reviewed with Kelly): http://onabookbender.com/2012/09/03/joint-review-gunmetal-magic-by-ilona-andrews/Kelly: OMG!OMG!OMG! Annnnndrea! Who’s happy that she gets to play in all the crazy again??? I AM!Amanda: *blinks* *covers ears*Kelly: Oh, c’mon! This book was exciting! Shenanigans! Mating pranks! Death! Blood! ROMAN!Amanda: This book WAS exciting! I’m just trying to protect the integrity of my eardrums. Gunmetal Magic had all the elements of a typical Kate Daniels book, but with ANDREA! and RAPHAEL! instead, which, honestly, was just as good as having Kate and Curran. And we can’t forget about Roman, though I strongly suspect Kelly may steal Roman for her own devious purposes.Kelly: Roman fascinated me. I’m not ashamed of my undying love for strong, snarky men who wield a lot of power. Literally, in this case. The guy has some magical chops!Amanda: Not only that, but it was pretty clear that there was a lot more to Roman than what meets the eye. I see lots of layers with that one. But if we can *kind of* get back to the review here, rather than moon over Roman, I think we should discuss what it’s like to see Kate from someone else’s perspective. Having read all the Kate Daniels books, we truly know Kate because she’s narrated and brought us into her world, but now we actually get to see Kate, and that was a fun experience, too. In fact, it made me anxious to dive back into her story soon.Kelly: *thinks fondly of Roman for a moment* Very well. I did love seeing Kate from an outsider’s perspective. Spending so much time in her head in the other series, I had forgotten how CRAZY some of her actions must look to others. I think Andrea referred to her “crazy look” on more than one occasion. Speaking of Andrea, her past kind of killed me. The things she suffered through as a child… it makes some of her decisions in the later KD books make a little more sense.Amanda: Oh, Andrea! It is hard to imagine the kind of brutality she went through as a child. Some of the dreams she had and what happened to her when she had those dreams slayed me. But you’re right. Seeing what she suffered through as a child definitely makes her actions understandable. And I think we needed that understanding, because Andrea became a very important part of Kate’s life in the later KD books.Kelly: I really enjoyed Andrea’s interactions with Raphael. Well, once I got past the jaw drop in the beginning. They had that whole push and pull thing working overtime as they fought against their attraction for one another. I would LOVE to see more of them. Absolutely love it!Amanda: OMG! When Raphael was being a total ass, and Andrea goes a little bat shit crazy (or should it be bouda shit crazy? I don’t know), I just about died. Watching Andrea embrace her beastkin side was actually a lot of fun to watch. I mean, it was poignant, too, because I think she reached a point where she realized she had to accept ALL of herself, but how she does it is quite entertaining.Kelly: YES! The whole wandering the city as her beastkin self pretty much rocked! Let’s talk about the bad guy here. This was one of those sticky books where you’re never quite sure who can be trusted and who’s preparing to stab someone in the back. What did you think of the baddie?Amanda: Random aside, when I read “sticky books” it looked like “sticky boobs” because of Andrea’s beastskin self. The baddie was a very typical Kate Daniels-ish baddie, especially toward the end, almost to the detriment of Andrea’s story. But the entire investigation leading up to it was absolutely fabulous, and I loved seeing Andrea in action.Kelly: *giggles at the idea of sticky boobs**focuses at the task at hand* Andrea in action was pretty fantastic. I was glad she got to use her investigative skills. And her sharpshooting. Nothing says fun like pinpoint accuracy!Amanda: I think Andrea’s story really opened up and expanded the Kate Daniels’ world. I mean, we’ve learned a lot of from the Kate Daniels’ books, but seeing the Kate Daniels world through Andrea’s eyes just continued to add to the world, and I like that. I like that a lot. I hope future KD World books do the same.Kelly: I hope we get to see more Roman in future KD and KDW books. LOTS more Roman!Amanda: You just want to see more of Roman so you can do dirty things to him.Kelly: I hear he has a tattoo. I *am* partial to tattoos, you know. Rawr!