First half of the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews

 Book Titles: Magic Bites, Magic Burns, and Magic Strikes

Author: Ilona Andrews

*Note: These are the first three books of the series

Review:
In my defense, I like paranormal romance. Criticize as much as you want. I could probably pick several books off your books list and laugh at your tastes. So this review is coming from someone who likes paranormal romance. She likes good PNR, and she likes it done well. But she doesn't automatically jump on the "Ew slut porn with magic books" bandwagon.

So I actually sort of enjoyed the first half of the Kate Daniels series. What did I like?

• The badass, eponymous protagonist, Kate Daniels. She has a wicked magical sword that slices through undead vampires like they're melted butter, and she has an equally impressive arsenal of snappy retorts. She greets the Beast Lord with "Here, kitty, kitty."
• The steam is so HOT. I like sex scenes, okay? Geez. I admit it. But can you believe that in these first books, there was NO SEX AT ALL! That's got to break some unwritten adult PNR rule that God created to satisfy all the horny readers all the time. Kate obviously is meant to get with Curran, the sexy Beast Lord. And yes, they have some tense, chemically charged moments. Yet, there was no doing the deed. Thank God! I've gotten really tired of the female protagonists having some serious libido touch.
• The last scene in the third book says it all. What a LOL moment.

What I don't really like about the series:

• The first book is typical for a PNR: infodumps, internal monologues, and sarcasm. 
• Sometimes, the plot gets forced. I feel like Andrews sometimes just adds stuff for the sake of keeping the momentum going. Mystery is not the best point to this series; the "subtle" clues sort of hit you in the back of your head. 
• Overall, there just wasn't much that really separated the first half of the series from any of the other PNR series I've read. It had some memorable moments, but for the most part, it was fairly average.