Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, #5) by Ilona Andrews

• Title: Magic Slays (Kate Daniels, Book 5)
• Classification: Adult Fiction
• Genre: Urban Fantasy
• Format: Paperback, 320 pages
• Publisher: Ace (May 31, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0441020429
• ISBN-13: 978-0441020423
• Author's Website:  http://www.ilona-andrews.com/

     "Kate...Are you happy? With Curran I mean."
     "When I can get my own way."
     She glanced at me, " And the rest of the time?"
     "The rest of the time I'm in a state of silent panic. I'm afraid it will end. I'll lose him. Lose Julie. Lose everyone."

Kate Daniel's life has been anything but easy. She's lost many people she's loved over the years. Now that Kate and Curran (aka Beast Lord) are officially mated, she's still afraid death will make another call and steal someone else she loves away. People around her tend to die. She realizes she can't let fear rule her, but it's always on the back burner of her mind.

Kate has moved in with Curran and the Pack is financing her new business which she has named Cutting Edge. Kate had hoped to use the skills and the connections she had acquired from working for the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid and the Mercenary Guild in her new position as owner of her own detective agency. The business has been opened for a month, but despite her reputation no one has attempted to hire her. That is until now. The Red Guard has hired her to help find a "misplaced" item they were hired to guard. Descriptions of what the "misplaced" item is are sketchy at best, but if she can pull it off, her business is pretty much guaranteed to take off. The only clue she really has is that when the mysterious object disappeared so did Adam Kaman, "a brilliant engineer, genius applied magic theorist." He also invented whatever it is the Red Guard was supposed to guard.

One of the possible leads as to who could have stolen (You didn't really believe it was misplaced did you?) the missing item comes from Andrea whom Kate hires to help her--"The Order suspects the existence of a secret society called the Lighthouse Keepers. They're well organized and really well hidden."..."They hate magic, they hate magic users, they hate magic creatures, and they would love to exterminate the lot of us with extreme prejudice."


Kate will have to face her fears head on and what she does to protect her own, I fear, may have repercussions in the future she may never have suspected or foreseen...

Usually after the two main love interests in a series get together things get well, boring. That is so not the case with this book. Ilona Andrews succeeds where many have failed and made my book crush even bigger as I find myself falling more and more for Curran. *sigh* The bantering that goes on between the two makes me chuckle, and I live vicariously through Kate.

The drama which unfolds is quick paced and keeps your attention. I didn't want to put the book down. At one point, Kate has to make a heart wrenching decision which adds tension to Kate and Curran's relationship. Plus, Julie once again runs away from the safe haven Kate has tried to create for her. Kate will learn  a lot about herself and her family in this one and some of the discoveries are quite shocking.

Some of my favorite quotes:
- “Help me, I can’t breathe, your ego is pushing all the air out of the room.”
- "If I fought for them and was crippled, they would all say nice things, and then they would replace me and forget I was ever there. You would stay with me. You would take care of me, because you love me. I love you too, Kate. If you ever became hurt, I would not leave you. I’ll be there. Wherever you want ‘there’ to be. "

This one will have a lot of shocks, twists, drama, and OMG moments. I think this is my favorite of the series and, as I love this series, that says a lot. I gave this one 5 out of 5 roses and eagerly await the next book. On the Lisarenee Romance Rating Scale, this one gets a STEAM rating--too hot for a fan, but you still have a handle on things. You should use extreme caution when reading a book with this rating in public. People may inquire as to why you looked flustered and flushed.