On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

Rose Drayton has lived all her life in the Edge - a small strip of land stretching between the Broken (the world as we know it and completely non magical) and the Weird (magic, magic everywhere). Edgers usually possess a little magic and can travel freely between both worlds, but usually stick to themselves. Living in the Edge will make you tough all by itself without compounding the fact that Rose has had to raise her two younger brothers all alone while defending herself from bride-hunting bluebloods and Edgers alike who simply would like her as a brood mare due to her impressive magical abilities. To say she has some trust issues with males and outsiders in general would be an understatement. So when an imposing blueblood Lord Declan Camarine shows up on her land declaring Rose to be 'his' and demanding three challenges to win her hand, Rose is less than enthusiastic. Her response is to shoot Declan with a cross-bow. Not that she hits him, but still, my kind of girl. Rose is already feeling a little out of her league, when some truly nasty creatures begin showing up in the Edge and fighting them off might become the hardest thing she's had to do yet...besides accepting Declan's help.

Out of all the characters in this novel, Rose's two younger brothers, Jack (a shape shifter) and Georgie (a boy who can raise the dead), were obvious standouts. They trust Rose implicitly and even though they sometimes don't follow instructions explicitly (they are boys) they stole my heart. Both Rose and Declan are fighters and their relationship morphed into something very believable even if I sometimes found myself giggling over Rose's effusive descriptions of Declan's rippling abs since it reminded me so much of Hugh Jackman's 'shower' in Australia. Other than that, Rose is smart and knows how to take care of those she loves which totally rocks in my book. To be honest, I'm not really sure where Ilona Andrews is planning on heading with the next installment, but my hopes firmly rest on a story for William, Declan's shape shifter army buddy. The man has Potential in spades.

Can I talk about the cover a moment here? If they had left off the Highland Warrior (he is SO not Declan) I would have totally dug it. Rose against the old truck with a rifle slung carelessly over her shoulder and magic swirling around? Super. But Mr. Piercing Gaze just ruins it for me. This was a fun book, but I'm not going to lie that the teaser for Magic Bleeds, the much anticipated fourth Kate Daniels book, had me squealing for joy.

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