A review by kzimm2024
Iron and Magic by Ilona Andrews

5.0

Re-read Feb 2024, as good as ever and all I would do is add more delightful highlights so all done and moving on :)

ReRead Aug 2022- so good, 10 stars for me. I feel sad that there isn't more of the series yet. I miss Hugh and Elara and found a few more things to highlight. I enjoy every tidbit of this book and really hope they finish this series!

Lamar, Bale, Stoyan- all great characters and have a bond with Hugh.
"Hugh shut his eyes for a long moment. The world was sliding sideways, and he really needed to get a grip. “Who would I be marrying?”
“The White Warlock.”
Hugh’s eyes snapped open. “You want me to marry a man?”

and he and Elara are equals but don't know it yet, lots of secrets yet to be revealed:
“And just to be crystal clear,” Elara said. “This marriage is in name only.”
“Sweetheart, you couldn’t pay me enough.” Pink touched her tan cheeks.
“If you betray us, I’ll make you suffer.”
“We haven’t even married yet, and I’m suffering already.”
“We have that in common,” she snapped.

and-
"She sighed.
“Come on, then, wife. Put on a happy face.”
“Ugh.” She reached over and slid her fingers into the crook of his elbow.
“Good God, control yourself, woman. We’re in public. At least wait until we’re in the bedroom.”
“Your corpse will grow lovely goldenseal.”
He laughed again and walked her down to the smithy.

after facing so much together, we get this from Elara:
“Hugh was abandoned by everyone in his life.” Her words rang out. “His parents, his teacher, his surrogate father. They all threw him away. He trusted us. He sacrificed himself to save us. This is his home. I’m his wife. I will not abandon him. Bring the cows.”

Also, I enjoyed the little talk with Roland and how he greeted the creature that was Elara with "Hi, honey".

I will never stop loving this story.

ReRead July 2020, 2 years later
LOVED it, read it slowly so I could savor it.
Elara and Hugh, what a fun couple. The verbal jabs were so fun, I would love to live there in the castle and watch them daily for entertainment.
Cannot wait for the next book- I love the line "Bring in the cows"
Its like what? Typo?
And what is Elara? Looking forward to finding out.

Original read June 2018, no review and 5 stars