Magic Breaks

5/5 stars

All you have to do is say, “Hugh, Please.”

“Stick a thumb up your ass and twirl on it.”

The Skinny:
In this installment, Kate is back to her usual kick-assery and she is trying her damndest to protect the pact. The problem is this is getting harder and harder to do, especially when her all-powerful father is thrown into the mix.

Review time:
My love for this series seems to grow after each book I read. Much of this love can be attributed to Kate, who is one of the snarkiest, most badass characters I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. Also, each installment is rife with intense situations that made me want to speed read to the end.

This book was no different; Kate was present in all of her glory, and I was flipping pages fast enough to give me paper cuts. The thing is, I felt that the problems Kate and her companions were faced with in Magic Breaks were even more intense than in previous books. The whole scene involving Kate and Ghastek had me biting my fingernails. The part where Kate was (view spoiler)[ mourning her broken sword (hide spoiler)] practically had me in tears. Curran’s reunion with Kate squeezed my heart into a little ball. All of the Kate Daniel’s books have included their own heart-pounding moments, I just found them to be more intense in Magic Breaks.

As hinted at previously, Kate totally kicked some major ass in this book. The part where Kate had to save her friends totally showcases how awesome she is. I do not want to spoil anything, so I will stop my love-affair of this scene after a brief quote:

He wanted a demonstration of what I could do with the sword, and he must’ve known I couldn’t resist the bait. Very well. I would oblige.

And boyyyy does she oblige!

The end of Magic Breaks has me wondering what the heck is in store for Magic Shifts. Obviously things are not resolved with Roland and co., yet I don’t know exactly what is going to happen with that whole situation. Also, Kate and Curran are in a different sort of predicament now, so I’m wondering how that is going to play out?!

Side note: Guys, I can’t review this book without mentioning Cuddles. Cuddles is the resident fur-baby in Magic Breaks. Because Grendel was missing from the story, it seems that Ilona Andrews added a stand-in. All I can say is: I loved Cuddles.

Overall:
It seems as if many people didn’t like this book as much. The loudest reason was that Kate and others in the book were ‘not themselves.’ Maybe I just didn’t see the problems, but I thought this book was friggin awesome! Magic Breaks embodied everything that I can expect from a Kate Daniels novel, while also turning up the feels and intensity.