Gunmetal Magic (Kate Daniels, #5.5)

by Ilona Andrews

[kimbacaffeinate]

Gunmetal Magic shares what happens to Andrea after she was evicted from the Knights of Merciful Aid. It also shares her romance with Raphael Medrano, the Clan Bouda male alpha and I had such a blast listening to their story.

Andrea Nash is kick-ass, snarky and downright hilarious. I should have known, after all she is Kate’s best friend. She is plagued with nightmares from her past but outwardly she personifies this cool, take no prisoners, confident, “I am woman, hear me roar” heroine. Her back history is brutal and socially she is a bit of an outcast even among shifters since she is a beastkin. Wanting to impress Jim, she takes her first PI case and it causes her to interact with her ex-lover Raphael. Shapeshifters in his crew die at a dig site and things look suspicious. Raphael makes some huge mistakes in the beginning and I wanted to slap him in the back of the head. Watching these two one up each other was hilarious. The pranks were the best, prepare to gigglesnort. We get some heat, but it is very fade to black with some tender moments.

Ascanio, Roman, Aunt B, Doolittle and of course Kate and Curran all make appearance. I laughed and even shed a tear for Andrea as we see her overcome some of her fears. Roman is such an interesting character and I loved scenes with him. I just picture him as a younger Ozzie Osborn. We learn more about Ascanio, he is a lunk-head but the kid grows on you. As for Aunt B and her pack, I loved seeing Andrea interact with them and getting the full story...it was absolutely perfect.

Andrews’ use of mythology is twisted and brilliant. This time they weave in Egyptian mythology and I found myself completely caught up in this thread. The battles were gloriously brutal and as always I found myself in awe of the creatures, weapons, and near death experiences. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer