Buddy Read with Ilona Andrews Addicts (IAA)!

“You are the measure of my wrath.”

Okay, first I need to address the elephant in the room! I originally wanted to read these books, because while reading Sweep in Peace my friends kept telling me about the crossover of characters from this book. No big deal, I marked it in my notes and figured I’d read this series eventually. Then, at the perfect time Ilona Andrews Addicts (IAA) decided to do a buddy read! So I’m reading this, and completely loving it, and by the end I’m like, “Man, I really love Jack, he’s like my favorite in this book!” Then I finish and I’m like, “Where was that crossover everyone was talking about?” Finally, I look at my notes and almost faint! I didn’t even take into account that the crossover characters could have aged! And apparently, I didn’t look at the names in the notes very well. Seriously, I was at a loss for words! And now I have to read on and find out about Gaston and Lark/Sophie.

Okay, enough fangirling. This story is about the Edge, which is where the Weird and the Broken touch. The Weird has magic, and the Broken does not. They are mirrors, or parallel universes, to each other. So essentially, the people that live in the Edge are between worlds.

Edgers have a magical “flash”, which is a very powerful magic whip that varies on potency with not only your practice, but also your bloodline. The more white your flash is, the better it is. There is a vast array of colors, but I know white is the best, blue and green are second, and red is the worst. The main character of this book, Rose, surprises everyone when she is able to flash white. Not only are they surprised because she’s always been looked over as nothing special, but because this must mean she has royalty in her bloodline. One would think this is a good thing, but it truly is a curse, because now people see how valuable she really is! So now they want to breed her, marry her off then breed her, or sell her off to be bred. This did remind me a little of Storm Born by Richelle Mead, but it’s also my favorite Richelle Mead series, so whatever.

Rose is also taking care of her two younger brothers that I was fangirling over earlier. Georgie is a necromancer that doesn’t fully understand his power. He also has a very hard time letting things die, so he’s constantly resurrecting them, but at a price. Then we have Jack, who is an Edge Lynx! Aka: an adorable cat shifter! Georgie is only ten, and Jack is only eight, but their unconditional love (for each other, and their sister) was really heartwarming, and maybe the best thing about this book.

Rose and her brothers have had a hard life. Their mother passed away, but not before completely tarnishing their reputation. Their father also left them high and dry to find treasure. All they have left is their Grandmother who is one of the six elders in the town. None of them have any money, so Rose is doing her best, working minimum wage jobs and getting treated very poorly. Rose is a really strong female lead, but people treat her pretty shitty in this book, and she is unable to do anything about it (even though she is more powerful than any of them), because everything in the Edge has a repercussion. The Edge has no real law enforcement, so the families just do whatever retaliation they see fit. Rose cares too much about not being able to put food on the table for her bothers, to start a rift between the other people of the Edge.

Rose is just barely getting by, while making the best of the situation for her little brothers, until a powerful nobleman comes to her door named Declan. Rose immediately thinks he is after her for breeding purposes and that she can scare him off, but soon realizes that he is even more powerful than her. They make an arrangement that he has to complete three tasks for her, and if he is able to do so, then she has to come, willingly, with him.

While all of this is going on, someone (well, technically two people) from Declan’s past is also in the Edge, and is making quite a few problems for the townsfolk. This villain is making magical hounds that want to eat magic; whether it is spells, or just human bodies that contain magic. After this information comes to light, it’s a battle between Rose, Declan, and the townspeople versus this evil sorcerer. Rose soon discovers that Declan is worthy of her trust, and it has nothing to do with the tasks he is completing for her. Declan isn’t likable right away (far from it), but by the end I really came around to him, and cannot wait to start the second book in this series. Oh my gosh, I loved Declan’s Mom at the end of this book, too!

The sole reason I didn’t give this five stars was because the William situations with Rose made me uncomfortable. Like, why was he at Wal-Mart, and why did he so badly want to date Rose out of nowhere? They legitimately only shared a few words, but he seemed appalled that she wouldn’t go out with him. Then, he kept trying and kept asking. It’s like, dude, she told you no. Get out of her life. I understand the convenient twist at the end made the situation more acceptable, but I couldn’t get passed the awkwardness and unnecessariness of William and Rose’s meeting. Couldn’t she of just spotted the wolf a few places and felt compelled to learn more? Then when the twists came out she could have been like, “Oh my gosh, I’ve been seeing that wolf everywhere lately!”

I’m still convinced that Ilona and Gordon cannot write a bad book. This writing duo is seriously at the top of their genre, and not even a single writer comes close. They are consistently delivering me (and my Kindle) great stories that are unique. I will auto-buy and read everything by them, at this point in my life.