Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Gunmetal Magic Giveaway Blog Tour!

Welcome to my stop on the GUNMETAL MAGIC Giveaway Blog Tour!
I am tickled silly that I get to be a part of this tour because not only do I get to give away a copy of GUNMETAL MAGIC but I also get to post something special:

Ilona Andrews Top 5 Moments in the Kate Daniels Series!

I am posting favorite moment #2!

Read on to find out a favorite moment of Gordon's and one of Ilona's from the series 
(they EACH chose one!):


Top Five Moments of Kate Daniels Series 

The world has suffered a magic apocalypse. We pushed the technological progress too far, and now magic returned with a vengeance. It comes in waves, without warning, and vanishes as suddenly as it appears. When magic is up, planes drop out of the sky, cars stall, electricity dies. When magic is down, guns work and spells fail. 

It’s a volatile, screwed-up world. Magic feeds on technology, gnawing down on skyscrappers until most of them topple and fall, leaving only skeletal husks behind. Monsters prowl the ruined streets, werebears and werehyenas stalk their prey; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst of knowledge and wealth, pilot blood-crazed vampires with their minds. 

In this world lives Kate Daniels. Kate likes her sword a little too much and has a hard time controlling her mouth. The magic in her blood makes her a target, and she spent most of her life hiding in plain sight. But sometimes even trained killers make friends and fall in love, and when the universe tries to kick them in the face, they kick back. 


Every author has favorite moments in their series. Gordon and I have many. We're easily bored, so we try to make each other laugh or go "Oooooh" at least once per scene. The idea is to cram as much gratuitous coolness into every chapter as humanly possible. Sometimes we come up with awesome moments, and sometimes it's kind of wince-inducing. We both had times when we'd ask each other, "Hey, this is what I've got. I need something funny here." Sometimes the response is great and sometimes we just end up rolling our eyes and scrapping the dialogue. 

With that in mind, here are some of our top favorite moments and how we came up with them. We will be posting one special moment on 5 different blogs, so stay tuned…. 

Hugs, 
Gordon and Ilona 



Ilona, Moment #2: Make that weight your bitch. (Magic Burns) 

This is one of my favorite Kate and Curran interactions. I just think it's hilarious, because this is probably the first time Kate gets checked. 

The roof was filled with assorted free weights. Curran lay on a massive weight bench with reinforced steel frame. He was working the bench press, raising a bar loaded with weight above him and bringing it back to his chest in a slow controlled movement. He didn't cheat by letting the bar "bounce" off his chest.

I came closer. The bar was thicker than my wrist. Had to be custom made. I tried to count the weight disks on the bar. Normal bar weighed forty five pounds, normal disks up to forty five pounds also. But these didn't look normal.

I stood to the side and watched the bar rise and fall. Curran wore an old, torn T-shirt, and I could see his muscles pump under the fabric.

"How much are you lifting?"

"Seven hundred."

Allrighty then. I will just stand over here, out of your way, and hope you don't remember my promise to kick your ass.

He grinned. "Wanna spot me?"

"No thanks. How about I just scream verbal encouragements at you?" I took a deep breath and barked. "No pain, no gain! That pain is just weakness leaving your body! Come on! Push! Push! Make that weight your bitch!" 


Gordon, Moment #2: Dancing Saiman (Magic Burns) 

It's a very rare moment for Saiman. The mask of careful civility drops, he loses his air of indifference. He's happy in this scene. He's enjoying life and embracing what he truly is. He's drunk with joy dancing on top of a the only highrise remaining in Atlanta, while snow swirls around him in mid-June. 

...A man wrapped his arm around my waist pulling me to him.

He was tall, perfectly proportioned, and muscled like a Roman statue. The same golden radiance that had illuminated the blonde lit his skin from within. His hair, a deep red streaked with gold, fell to his waist without a trace of a curl. His face was angular, yet masculine, and his grin had a mordant edge sharp enough to draw blood. He leaned to me and I got a good look at his eyes. They were orange. Radiant, brilliant orange, streaked with pale green that almost looked like the crystals of ice growing on a window during a freeze.

They did not look human.

"Kate," he repeated, pulling me closer. He towered at least half a foot above me. Snowflakes swirled around us. His breath smelled like honey. "I'm so glad you came to visit. I was so dreadfully bored."

That's it. The flare had driven him insane.

I tried to pull away, but he held me tight. There was strength in those arms that I had never expected to be there. ... Saiman touched my hair and I felt my braid unwinding on its own. In a moment, my hair framed my face. "What happened to you?" I asked.

He grinned wider. "Deep magic. It sings in my bones. Don't you feel it?"

I felt it. It pulsed through me like a wild wine ever since this magic wave had hit. Power twisted and wound within me, wanting to break loose, but I had held it in check this long and I wasn't about to let myself off the leash now.

"Can you dance?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Dance with me, Kate!"

And we were off, spinning and twirling through the snow, raising glittering snowflakes with our feet. The snow refused to fall but chased us, following our movement like a light shroud. It was a wild dance, primitive and fast, and all I could do was follow his lead.

 -Sigh-
Ahh, memories.



 Check out the other blogs participating and read all the other top moments Gordon and Ilona picked - and enter their giveaways as well!


Check out the other stops on this tour:


Moment #3: Pure Textuality


Moment #5: Dangerous Romance


Now enter to win a copy of GUNMETAL MAGIC for yourself!

This giveaway is US only and you must be 13 or older to enter. 


a Rafflecopter giveaway


58 comments:

  1. OMG! I LOVED that weight bitch scene! Haha! That is one of my favorites too! Was sooooo funny! :)

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  2. I haven't had a chance to start the series yet, but I have several of the books on my TBR shelf. I'm really getting behind, so I'm going to have to get started very soon. :D

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  3. YES! I have to agree also with the "make that weight your bitch" scene. LOVE IT!

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  4. so I haven't read this series, but uh I'll start soon. I promise lol

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  5. That is so tough. So many great scenes. I am going to have to go with the Hot Tub Scene in Magic Strikes.
    “I hit him on the back of the neck. He submerged. Help. I've drowned the Beast Lord.”
    -I was really happy when we got to see it from Curran's POV

    or the "Can I Girl" at the beginning of the book.
    “His Majesty needs a can-I girl anyway. And I'm not it."
    "A can-I girl?" Andrea frowned.
    I leaned back. "'Can I fetch your food, Your Majesty? Can I tell you how strong and mighty you are, Your Majesty? Can I pick your fleas, Your Majesty? Can I kiss your ass, Your Majesty? Can I..." It dawned on me that Raphael was sitting very still. Frozen, like a statue, his gaze fixed on the point above my head. "He's standing behind me, isn't he?" Andrea nodded slowly.

    "Technically it should be 'may I'," Curran said, his voice deeper than I remembered. "Since you're asking for permission." Why me? "To answer your question, yes, you may kiss my ass. Normally I prefer maintain my personal space, but you're a Friend of the Pack and your services have proven useful once or twice. I strive to accommodate the wishes of persons friendly to my people. My only question is, would kissing my ass be obeisance, grooming, or foreplay?"

    Okay I will stop. This series is one of my favorites. So really I could go on and on. :o)Thanks for the great giveaway opportunity.

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    1. Haha! I LOVE the hot tub scene! Thanks for sharing. :)

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  6. That weight scene was...oh yeah, I loved it! I haven't started this series, but just that one scene has made me want to run to my bookstore and find the start of it and every book after!

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  7. Hey! Okay so I wasn't entering for obvious reasons but I was tweeting it from Rafflecopter so you would get traffic from twitter, but your tweet says get stuff from Chloe Neil's books NOT Gunmetal Magic. Ummmmmmm you might want to change that..;)

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  8. I agree it's super tough. I think I would have to go with scenes from the fourth installment: Magic Bleeds. I just loved the courtship between Kate and Curran.

    Breaking-in at the Keep? Cool. Welding Curran's press bar to the bench? Awesome. Spreading catnip on Curran's bed?! HILARIOUS! Gluing Kate's butt to her chair AND having it set it on fire? HIlARIOUSLY AWESOME!

    Yea puts a whole new level on "Don't get mad, get even" ::shivers::

    OR

    "Saving Kate" scene
    The bed went airborne. It flew across the living room and slammed into the wall with a thud. That was the just about enough of that. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"
    "Saving you from whatever mess you got yourself into this time."
    Why me? "There is not mess! It's a professional arrangement."
    He's paying you?" Curran snarled.
    "No. I'm paying him."
    He roared. His mouth was human, but the blast of sound that shot out of it was like thunder.
    "Ran out of words, Your Majesty?"
    "Why him?" he growled. "Of all the men you could have, why would you hire him for 'that'?"
    "Because he has the best equipment in the city and he knows how to use it!"

    Honestly I think I its sweet how Curran cares<3. lol. OK I'm done or else I'll give away the whole book ><. I can't wait for "Gunmetal Magic", thanks for the giveaway!

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  9. The line about "He's got the best equipment in town.". I almost fell off the couch when I read this scene. All the anger, then POW! Kate hits him between the eyes with out realizing what she just said! Thanks for the giveaway!

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  10. I still love Curran and Kate's first meeting in the alley when Kate says here kitty kitty. It was classic!

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    1. Have you checked out the other stops on the tour so far? That was Gordon and Illona's favorite moment on the first stop! :)

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  11. It's not in one of the books but the POV Gordon wrote for Curran's meeting with the alphas after he wakes up from the coma. The betrayal by some of them after all he's done for the pack and how he protects his mate.

    It's not a funny quip, but very emotional.

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  12. Personally, my favorite moment from the Kate Daniels series is when Kate and Erra have tea. Talk about an awkward family reunion! Thanks for the giveaway.

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  13. Curran chasing Kate and Saiman through the city was an AMAZING scene!

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    1. Oops, it published as Anonymous. This is TaraR.

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  14. My favorite is when Saiman plays the video for Kate where Curran destroys Saiman's car shipment. The musical theme was genius.
    Tweet for the rafflecopter did not mention it was for gunmetal.

    koonie2888 at yahoo dot com

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    1. Yeah that was my bad. The tweeting feature on Rafflecopter is fixed now.

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  15. I love this blog tour. I have loved all the momments you have selected, but I am still waiting to see if you will hit my favorite.

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  16. I LOVE this series! It has been so fascinating reading Gordon and Ilona's favorite moments!

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  17. This is such a great feature. I look forward to the next favorite moment each day.

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  18. My favorite moment is Kate finding Curran's menu waiting for her. Totally put the cap on book 3.

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  19. Oh god, there are so many great scenes. I gotta go with a sexy one though - the hot tub scene! I love this series so much. Can't wait to read Andrea's story!

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  20. I'm embarrassed to say that while several of the KD titles are on my TBR, I haven't started them yet *hanging head* Looking forward to hitting these and other favorite moments when I do!

    f dot chen at comcast dot net

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  21. I absolutely love Kate Daniels, and I cannot wait to read this book. Thanks for the giveaway!

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  22. Thank you for the giveaway! I love (and horde) all the Andrews novels!

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  23. I really enjoyed this moment too because it was so surprising and out of character for Saiman and we finally get to find out about what he is, I love that you develop your side characters but I have got to admit that Saiman isn't a favourite but then he's not supposed to be super likeable, I am loving this tour because it gets me thinking about my favourite moment and there are too many to list! I can't enter the competition because I'm in the UK but thanks for doing this ^_^

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  24. It's competitions like this one, where I really, really want to get my hands on this book, that I wish that I live in the US not in AUS!

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  25. I have read all of the Kate series books and novellas cannot wait to get my hands on this one

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  27. Any part where Kate calls Curran Your Royal Furriness. Cracks me up every time.

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  28. I can't wait to read this book! I love the "kitty kitty" scene!

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  29. I don't think I have a favorite because there are so many Kate and Curran scenes that I love. For me this is one of those series where re-reading will only make it better.

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  30. The "Here Kitty, Kitty" scene is priceless! Definitely one of my favorites.

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  31. (I am going to have to agree with Ilona on this moment.

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  32. Love it when Kate tries to show she cares by fusing the weight bench! But there are so many scenes to love in the Daniels books!

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  33. It's hard to pick a favorite moment, but I love the council scene after Curran has been injured where Kate takes care of the challengers. I also like the one just after Curran wakes up. There are also a ton of Kate/Andrea scenes that crack me up every time.

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  34. Can snything beat Kate and Curran in the hot tub? Definitely a most excellent scene

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  35. So many good moments.Pretty much all of book 3 is gold One of my favorite scenes is in book 4, though, and it's Curran chasing Kate and Saimon back to her place. Saimon is scared for the first time and ditches Kate without a look back. Curran crashes into Kate's apartment and they finally confront their feelings for each other.

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  36. I love when Kate fuses the wight bench and the door to the bimbo room!

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  37. All of the scenes on this tour have been some of my favorites in the series as well. I cannot wait to find new scenes that will make me laugh in Andrea's book.

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  38. There are so many good scenes in this series. I love the with "Here Kitty, Kitty" quote. Also where Curran serves Kate soup and she finds out that means he has a romantic interest in her. The scene in which Kate loses a bet and has to serve dinner to Curran in her underwear was also fun.

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  39. All the Kate Curran scenes are awesome. The Here Kitty Kitty, weight bench and dinner scene are some of the best. But the back and forth between them is just classic

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  40. I like the 1st time he breaks into her place and she starts to realize what's going on, am I remembering that right? And the hot tub scene after the big arena fight.

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  41. My favorite moment is when Curran is in a coma like state and Kate is keeping watch over him. Even though she is injured, she steps up to meet all the challengers lining up to kill her and take a chance to steal Curran’s status as leader of the shifters. Kate never gives up on Curran and is finally rewarded when he wakes up and it’s finally clear just how much Kate loves him and he loves her. The moment brought tears to my eyes.

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  42. Great post!!! Love this series so much!! It is definitely one of my favorites and I am a HUGE fan of Ilona Andrews!!! Have reread this series so many times!! One of my favorite moments has to be the hot tub scene!!! ;)
    Have a great day and thanks for the chance to win!! :)

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  43. Love the moments that the authors favorites. I have loved all of the moments from all of their books. Cannot wait to read Gunmetal Magic. This will be my book for after finishing my English Comp 3 class, which ends next week.

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  44. Hanging my head in shame...I have not started this series yet! There are just too many great books out there...it is on my list to read very soon!

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  45. I kind of like when Kate meets the Boudas for the first time. She's just a touch taken aback...

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  46. I have all the books on audio and just hearing Kate yell "Push, Push, Make that weight your bitch" always has me laughing. Kate just has a wicked sense of humor I can relate to. Great work on all of them, one of my favorite series. When a new book is due out I listen to them all again, just to psych myself up for the new release. Thank you for the wonderful job you do.

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  47. I love all the Kate and Curran moments. Was unable to pick just one. All of them bring out such emotion.

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  48. I think when Kate & Curran push at each other is alway hilarious. Cracks me up. Reminds me a lot of my own hubby & his friends.

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  49. I loved every bit of the Kate Daniels Series but one of my favorites was the videotape of Curran destroying one of Saiman's cars or something like that. Another good scene was the "here, kitty, kitty" one. I'm always busting up reading their books.

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  50. I don't have a favorite moment...I like it all

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