Sophia Rose reviews: On The Edge by Ilona Andrews

 

Today Sophia Rose reviews On the Edge by Ilona Andrews

On the Edge by Ilona Andrews, narrated by Renee Raudman

#1 Edge

Paranormal Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Published:  1.7.10

Time:  12 hours 8 minutes

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: audio

Source: bought

Sellers:  Amazon

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GoodReads Synopsis:

Rose Drayton lives on the Edge, between the world of the Broken (where people drive cars, shop at Wal-Mart, and magic is a fairy tale) and the Weird (where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny). Only Edgers like Rose can easily travel from one world to the next, but they never truly belong in either. Rose thought if she practiced her magic, she could build a better life for herself. But things didn't turn out how she planned, and now she works a minimum wage, off-the-books job in the Broken just to survive.

Then Declan Camarine, a blueblood noble straight out of the deepest part of the Weird, comes into her life, determined to have her (and her power). But when a terrible danger invades the Edge from the Weird, a flood of creatures hungry for magic, Declan and Rose must work together to destroy them - or they'll devour the Edge and everyone in it.

 

Sophia Rose’s review:

This was a relisten after several years for a Readalong. As my impressions didn't alter, I'll leave my original standing pat.

A new Ilona Andrews' world to encounter, a tough, irascible heroine, a warrior hero, delightful side characters, and a very drastic and dangerous situation narrated by the incomparable Renee Raudman made for a satisfying experience.

After catching up on the three currently released The Innkeeper Chronicles and encountering some intriguing figures in the second of those books, I decided my next venture would be to go back and get this series when those characters were still children (George, Jack, Gaston, and Sophie).

As I have come to expect with this pair of writers, On the Edge offered a clever and colorful new series world. The Edge is a place of half-magic where lesser magic users live between the broken (our world) and the Weird (the noble magic world). Parallel earth dimensions it seemed with the boundaries thin in this place of the Edge.

The characters were just as fascinating as the setting and the magical world. I took a while to warm up to Rose because she has a chip on her shoulder, but then I got to know why and that helped tremendously. She's had it rough and her trust has been broken so many times; it was amazing she was not a bitter thing. Rose is full of inner strength, a strong sense of duty, and a great love for her family. She has no idea what to do when Weird nobleman, Declan shows up and has an interest in her. 
Grandma and the children are great side characters. Jack and George are adventurous boys and I loved encountering them here as children after seeing them full-grown in the Innkeeper series. Declan seems straight-forward, but he has some great twists in his story and and his actions when it comes to Rose. He seems to figure out that he needs to work extra hard to gain her trust and she is worth it under all her prickles. That said, Declan has his own agenda and sense of duty that he must fulfill.

It was exciting and had a great build of tension in the plot. Itsthe first book in a series so the set up took its time, but even then there was quite a bit going on. My only niggle was the ending. It was abrupt. Not like a cliffhanger; just came to a stop before I was ready. I'm going to give it a little leeway though because this is a series and a few questions I still had are likely addressed in future books.

Renee Raudman's narration was stellar stuff. She nailed Rose's character and did all the others well, too. I was so glad to find out she was narrating this series after I fell in love with her work in the Innkeeper Chronicles.

All in all, great series start and I highly recommend it to paranormal romance fans.

 

Author Bio:

“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)

Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Texas with their two children and many dogs and cats.

They have co-authored several bestselling series, including the #1 NYT bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels, rustic fantasy of the Edge, paranormal romance of Hidden Legacy, and Innkeeper Chronicles, which they post as a free weekly serial. For complete list of their books, fun extras, and Innkeeper installments, please visit their website at Ilona-andrews.com.

Website:  https://ilona-andrews.com/

Sophia’s Bio:

Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.

As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587

Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816

GoodReads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose