Novels by Ilona Andrews and Jeffe Kennedy
July Reading & Reviews 
In July I started out reading Magic Slays, the 5th book of Illona Andrew's Kate Daniels series. Kate has changed and not necessarily for the better. She is now known as the Beast Lord's Consort, which irks me and Kate herself to be fair. Also as she often thinks of and remember's her guardian's teachings, she's got too many people that she cares about and I got a little tired reading about that. Overall however, she is still the same kicking butt, taking names badass from the other novels! Not a bad read if you like action and stressful reading.
After being stressed from the previous book, I picked something lighter and romanic according to reviews. The Edge of the Blade by Jeffe Kennedy. My first mistake was not realizing that this book was #2 of The Uncharted Realms series. I understand romance series should be comprised of books that can be read out of order so I hoped it would be fine and continued on. I did get confused at times with the world setup, but I will not fault the author as I hate not starting at book 1 in a series and that's my own fault. Anyway, on the book itself, I liked the main character, although she had her annoying moments, but I really disliked her love interest. They just were so different that even at the end of the book, I'm not convinced they have a happily ever after. I'm sorry, I cannot recommend. The chemistry was not great and the ending incredibly annoying as the female character would have to change herself majorly for them to stay together.
The last 2 books I read in the month were back to Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels world. First, I took a break from Kate and read what was happening for Andrea Nash in Gunmetal Magic, book 5.5 of the series. I'm sad to say Andrea read like a selfish little snit. Her boyfriend, Raphael, was no better. They were both so wrapped up their own insecurities that neither of them could take a moment to consider things from the others' perspective. When a book makes me want to yell at the characters, it's not fun. Now, it wasn't all terrible as I got to read about Roman who is a Volvh. Volvh are russian magic users, like witches but male and russian. He was a great guy and I now want to read a story where he is the main character! I started the next book in the series, #6, Magic Rises but have not finished it yet. So please wait until August's Reading List for that one!