ILONA ANDREWS

Since the Oscars are just around the corner, it seems only fair that the Book Devouring Horde hold their own awards ceremony.

Andrea donated some extra-long purple shag carpet and Steve said any machine is a smoke machine if he operates it, so the ceremony part is clearly handled.

We just need you to pick the most beloved winners. Polls will stay open until next Friday and I’ve tried (operative word) to enable multiple options. You should be able to choose two answers in these, the most impossible of choices. Mwahaha!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Everything happened so much this week, why not pour your favourite drink and relax by thinking about your favourite among these capable, fierce men:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

But Mod R, there’s only one leading man from the Edge! So much squandered hunkiness! Yes, he’s my favourite, I love him the best, and this is my poll *phhhrrrrbttt*.

Now it’s your turn to nominate:

Suppose you wake up in an Ilona Andrews world* the way Maggie does in This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me: cold, confused, and very much alone. The protagonists are busy saving the day, so they’re not available to help you. Which supporting character do you go looking for first?

*Because the Innkeeper world is our world, we’ll mix it up and have you waking up in Baha-char, with nothing on you, not even a sneaker to trade the muckrats.

And if you can’t wait to find out how Maggie handled the world of her favourite series, reminder that the first chapters of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me are currently running as a serial over at Reactor Magazine and are available as an extended preview for readers served by the US edition.

Take care out there, BDH!

The post The Devouring Oscars first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

That’s how much time I have for the blog post today. I have a fancy and semi-intelligent post in drafts about Fantasy genres and it need more braining than I have at the moment. So this is a rambling salad of randomness instead.

On Monday we got a massive attack of Chinese IPs and the site has crashed. We have solved the problem but it ate most of the day, even with the capable assistance of WP-Engine Support.

I worked two weeks straight without breaks and crashed just like the website for the whole day yesterday. It was that place where you haven’t slept well and you have a low grade headache, and you almost feel slightly out of it because you are that tired. This release + deadline is kicking my ass.

It’s been hot and humid, so we haven’t gone walking this week. I can’t play computer games because we are signing things for Waterstones and I am making a blanket for Gordon, and the hand can only take so much. The blanket actually helps to loosen the fingers up, because I’m using a very bulky yard and a big hook, so the motion is wider. I will take a pic once it’s done. It is very pretty.

All my coping mechanisms are failing a bit.

In a flash of brilliance or desperation, I’ve off loaded the This Kingdom website to Anchored Designs, who created this one, so that is one less thing on my plate. I’ve also learned the InDesign in self-defense. OMG, editing graphics for print layout is so much easier.

In the good news, This Kingdom has taken the triple crown in audio: Audible, Apple and Spotify all selected it as their featured release for the month of March.

I leave you with this wonderful post by Éros Brousson. Everything you ever wanted to know about Texas HEB religion. If you are reading this in your email, here is a direct link.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Éros Brousson (@erosbrousson)

That reminds me, I need to put a grocery order in and the flyer should’ve just come out.

The post 25 Minutes first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Thank you all for bearing with us yesterday through the technical difficulties. It was not the BDH enthusiasm (this time!) but I will let Ilona tell you more about it another day. Just happy to be back.

I come with the promissed reminder about the Imagine Books preorder for their resale edition of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, which is now live.

What is a resale edition?

Imagine Books are purchasing the hardcover teal-edged edition directly from the publisher, then creating a redesigned, double-sided dust jacket with foiling, page overlays and bookmarks with character art.

The book:

The extras:

• Signed bookplate sticker with House Andrews autographs
• Redesigned front dust jacket with foiling: @jescole.art
• Reverse dust jacket: @davidev.art
• Page overlays: @avoccatt_art
• Bookmark with character art

A page overlay is a semi-transparent illustrated sheet designed to be placed inside the book over a specific page — essentially a removable full-page art print tied to a scene.

This is a limited run and Imagine Books typically do not offer reprints. It is open to everyone and does not require subscription. Before you ask: yes, there are two more US special editions not yet announced officially. I cannot speak about them, do not mine me for information, I am bound by contract.

Preorder: Imagine Books Shop website

Price: $42.99 plus tax plus shipping. Add on option: additional page overlay $11.99

Shipping: International.

Shipping date: This resale edition is estimated to ship in JUNE. So later than the book release at the end of March (only 27 more days!). This is because the featured custom art must be produced and shipped to Imagine Books before they send the customized books to you.

DISCLAIMER: For all additional inquiries, please contact Imagine Book Shop.
House Andrews did not commission this edition and are not involved with order fulfillment. This was done through the main publishers, Tor.

The post This Kingdom Imagine Books Edition first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Friday means winners! And today we have three of them for the This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me giveaway.

US Winner – This Kingdom Hardcover Copy International Winners – 2 ARC pdf copies

and

Congratulations all!

Winners will be contacted from the modr@ilona-andrews.com email. If we don’t hear back by Wednesday, March 4th, a new winner will be drawn next Friday.

A special thank you to the Horde’s creativity for keeping me snorting through the week with over 3,000 comments of the most flooftastic alter egos. The portal fantasy realms would not know what hit them if we landed.

Online safety reminder: please be vigilant for social media scammers. We will never ask you to cover postage costs or have any other money transfer related to these giveaways and will only contact you from the official Ilona Andrews accounts, with the public blog post link as proof that you are indeed the winner.

If your name was not drawn this time, do not despair. There are more prizes and surprises to come, as we’re finally heading into the release month of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.

Squee and happy weekend!

The post Winners of This Kingdom Will Giveaway first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Solentine Dagarra. Bastard son of a hero margrave, secret head of the Shears, devoted older brother, cousin, and son. Urbane, charming, ruthless. Noble by day, assassin by night, effortless thirst trap on all occasions.

Favorite quote: “Nothing is more annoying than a man who doesn’t have the decency to die after he’s murdered.”

It is said that the male lead belongs to the heroine.* Solentine is not the male lead. He belongs to everyone.

Artwork by Helena Elias

*The Romance of Tiger and Rose, cdrama.

Large files ahead. Click the images to view the artwork in detail.

A small snippet from Solentine’s short story.

A wiry woman charged Sol, swinging a short sword. He leaned back, and the point of her blade fanned his face, cutting only air. He spun past her, stabbing and slashing. She fell, and he kept moving. A tall dark-haired fighter blocked his way. Sol stabbed him twice, once in the kidney and then in the stomach, rupturing the bowels, and kicked his leading leg out from under him. The third man, in his thirties, with his red hair tied back, dropped his club and raised his hands. Sol pointed his left dagger at the wall, where the small man lay, crumpled on the floor. The man obeyed and ran there.

The last remaining fighter swung a long slender blade, drawing an elaborate pattern around himself. Southeastern style. The man was in his mid-twenties, athletic and light on his feet. A pricy haircut, a decent sword. A small medallion embossed with a white sword hung around his neck. Fador had hired himself a mercenary duelist.

The mercenary cut the air with a flourish. “I am Derrein of Garver. I have never lost a fight to the death.”

“I would imagine so,” Sol said. “Or we wouldn’t be having this conversation, would we?”

“Whom do I have the honor of …”

Sol struck. Derrein saw the attack coming but wasn’t fast enough. Sol’s right dagger slid into his side, lacerating the liver. The mercenary stumbled away, clutching at the red stain spreading through his tunic.

Sol pointed at the door. Derrein fled. If he made it to a healer in time, he’d have a chance to recover, though his ego likely never would.

Promotion, we do it:

BOOKSHOP

The post Solentine Dagarra, Handsome Devil first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

It’s Monday and I can’t think of a title, because Sookie Jean woke up at dark o’clock and then proceeded to wander about. I took her outside, thinking this was a bathroom emergency. Sookie walks very, very slowly now. She is of advanced age, and I have to hover in case she wipes out. She is 80lbs, and it takes a bit of strength to get her back up. It was cold, I was in my nightgown outside for about 15 minutes, and when I brought her in, she kept huffing and puffing, and waking me up every time I closed my eyes.

The culprit

Let’s all hope I make sense. If I don’t, I don’t care. I’m too tired, and I just want to go back to writing. Phhh.

Reactor Preview

Dear Commonwealth and everyone else who could not download a free preview of This Kingdom, Reactor Magazine is running the preview as a serial with illustrations. You can now access it as well.

CLICK HERE TO READ UK Special Edition

Remember how I said we can announce nothing? Okay, we can now announce this. The UK now has 3 editions.

Previously we had:

Regular Hardcover Waterstones

And now we also have the Broken Binding edition.

The Broken Binding is signed. That is to mean, we signed way too many pages and sent them back to UK. Waterstones will be signed also. ::slaps hand over twitching eye::

To learn more about the Broken Binding Edition: Instagram Post. To learn more about The Broken Binding: website.

To reiterate for UK, AUS, and Commonwealth: flower edges – regular hardcover, gilded pattern – Waterstones, drezmur and tower – the Broken Binding.

The Tour

When the tour was announced, we did a post, but some of the tickets were not yet available. We had dinner with Jessie Mihalik and Mr. Mihalik last night, and she reminded me that nobody remembers by now that you need tickets to attend the tour stops.

Here is the link to the tour again. The information is always available on the Appearances page. If you want to attend, please RSVP.

BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

I was going to post artwork today, but this post is already full, so that’s a mission for tomorrow. Love you, I’m out, we have a battle to finish.

The post This Kingdom: Lots of Stuff, Read This first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

It’s Giveaway Friday, squeee!

House Andrews have witnessed the Horde’s long-suffering battle with our most relentless adversaries, W*iting and P*tience.

To fortify morale, they are gifting This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me: 1 hardcover copy will go to a lucky US winner and 2 PDF ARCs to international winners.

To Enter:

Comment below and let us know:

1. which country you’re from
2. what your name would be, if, like Maggie, you would find yourself transported into a book (any book, by any author).

You can use your own name, make one up, or go full fantasy-protagonist and keysmash a lot of “y” and “z” into the usual unpronounceable creations. Have fun, Horde!

Giveaway Admin

This is a blog-only giveaway, only answers in blog comments count.

Winners will be chosen next Friday, February 27th 2026, with the aid of a random number generator.

The international winners will have to sign an NDA before receiving their PDF copies. This is not personal, but standard publishing practice to ensure the file will remain private with the winner. We appreciate your understanding.

For readers who are receiving this post in their newsletter email and don’t know how to get to the blog to make a valid entry comment, you can click here.

Comments are paginated, so the BDH chalance doesn’t break the blog (again lol). If you don’t see your entry, it means it’s on a previous page. Please do not resubmit, it is one entry per person.

Happy weekend and good luck!

Signed: Moderataria Rhae’zalyndrix, First of Her Name,

The Untouched by Sun, Lady of the Soggy Isles

The post This Kingdom Will Giveaway Us first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Mod R has been painstakingly gathering your This Kingdom questions and here are some non-answers.

Will there be any art in the ebook?

The official hardcover and ebook from Tor will have a black and white map.

Is this art (Candice’s Landmarks and Leesha’s Sushi) in the hardcover?

No. We have the hardcover, so we can confirm that there is only the map. The art we’ve been posting has been commissioned by us for inclusion into marketing materials and bonus things.

We have not posted any art from special editions because we do not own it.

Is the picture of the Hireling Temple in Maggie 1 or 2?

Neither. It is referenced in both books, but we do not visit it except in bonus material.

When are the special editions going on sale?

Umm, we are not sure, and we are not sure we are allowed to say.

Is there bonus fiction material in the special editions?

There is a short story in one of the US bonus special editions that explains things. Those who don’t end up buying that special edition will learn the exact nature of that episode when Book 2 comes.

How long is the Book 2 right now?

123,121 words and it needs to be longer, so we are working on it very hard.

Does Book 2 have a title?

Yes.

Can we be told the title?

No.

When can we have a round-up of all the editions available everywhere before release in March?

When the collective publishers allow us to do that. Right now we are not allowed.

Why?

We are not sure. It must have something to do with the way those special editions are distributed. Some of them are subscription-model book clubs and they have secrecy.

Why can’t we get art and bonus stuff?

You can. Or you will be able to. More on that after the release. We have invested into art for this trilogy from multiple artists. We will need to get our investment back so we will be doing things with art and bonus fiction. We have deleted scenes and scenes from other characters. We are not ready to discuss anything until we have something concrete to show you.

But will we have pretty things and mugs and all the other stuff?

Yes.

Some authors are doing special boxes…

::putting hand over twitching eye:: Are they?

Hypothetically, we would be open to special boxes. There are enough interesting things in the book to put together a very fun Kair Toren experience box. There is tea, and coins, and stuff.

But that would be after the release. We would not want to compete with other special editions and boxes, so you would be able to buy something like that for rereads, later, to revisit the city with your favorite copy of This Kingdom, whether it is in hardcover or ebook or audio.

Right now we must concentrate on writing.

People often ask me which of our characters I resemble the most. I am Cookie from that bit where he is trading with the muckrats.

::raises her hands up in the air and makes big circles::

An enormous rock blocked out the sun and crashed to our left with a shocking thud, sending the bodies flying from the impact. I felt it through the horse. The damn boulder was the size of a house. Fifty feet closer, and all of us would be on the ground.

The white stallion went into full gallop. My terrified horse followed, running for her life. We were flying through the battle, right in the middle of the enemy advance.

This was suicide. We were all going to die.

See? This is where we left off today. Rocks fall. Everyone dies. Must deliver sensawunda. Chi? Chi.

Can we have the countdown clock on the front page for TK?

Ehhhh… yes. Let me get the banner fixed first and I will get it up there.

PS Mod R:

What we can definitely have is DEALS!

If you’re in the US and an Audible Premium Plus member, Audible are running an Epic Series Sale until February 22nd, including 11 titles from Ilona Andrews, in both the Innkeeper and Kate Daniels series.

If you’re in the UK, Waterstones have a preorder sale until the 20th of February with code FEB26, including the This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me hardback (not special edition).

Finally, the lovely people at Graphic Audio are running a sale for everyone – 55% off selected title until March, including the KD series, Innkeeper series and the Hidden Legacy titles.

The post Can We Go To The Hireling Temple? first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

And that voice is Kristen Sieh.

Audiobooks are, by nature, transformative. It is very rare when the author and the audio performer’s vision perfectly aligns. When you listen to your own book on audio, there are always little things that jar you out of the experience. A line that is spoken with the wrong emphasis. A rhythm that is just slightly off from how it should sound in your head.

Kristen Sieh is spot on. She is utterly amazing. This book has a massive cast. So many people, and she embodies them all.

She was kind enough to record some previews for us, and I have links for you. You can view the video on your social networks or below.

Facebook / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube

You can grab your preorder of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me audiobook at your favorite retailer. Some buy links are listed below.

Audible / Amazon / Apple Books / Libro

The post This Kingdom Has a Voice first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.