Curran, Vol. I

Curran POV #1

by Gordon Andrews, Ilona Andrews

This isn't a short story or a novella. This is a collection of scenes written by Gordon Andrews as a companion to our Kate Daniels series of books. These scenes illustrate the point of view of Curran, the Beast Lord of Atlanta and are provided in gratitude to our readers for all of their support. This collection isn't meant to stand on its own as an independent work of fiction.

This collection is available free on Smashwords. We've received so many requests from people asking to pay us for it that we finally put it up on Amazon, so you have a you can pay us for it or you can download it free.

Genres: Urban Fantasy, Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Shapeshifters, Magic, Paranormal Romance

33 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 21, 2010

About the author

One half of the team behind best-selling author Ilona Andrews .

Reviews

[Sophia Triad]

Curran’s point of view in 4 major scenes where he interacts with Kate:

MAGIC BITES
Kate whispering: “Here, kitty, kitty, kitty.”
Curran thinking: “Oh my God, she was retarded and I was going to kill Jim.”

MAGIC BURNS
Curran saying: “Shut up and eat your soup.”
Curran thinking: “This was nice, we were together and so far had not tried to kill each other. Maybe if I could just keep her quiet…Maybe if I kept feeding her.”

MAGIC STRIKES
Curran thinking: “I broke into her place. I kissed her. Any sane woman at this point would know where we stood.”

MAGIC BLEEDS
Curran mouthing: “Later.”
Kate staring back: “Any time.”

The book does not add anything to the plot, but it will help you understand the Beast Lord more.
It will also make you smile with the reactions of clueless Kate.

[Alex ☣ Deranged KittyCat ☣]

Needless to say, the scene in Unicorn Lane is my favorite. I like Curran and getting to see things from his point of view is pretty nice.

She crouched with her hand out. What the hell was she doing...
"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."
Oh my God, she was retarded and I was going to kill Jim.

[Sarah]

1st read - September 2013
2nd read - April 2015
3rd read - June 2016
4th read - November 2017
5th read - July 2018
6th read - June 2019
7th read - October 2020
8th read - January 2021

1st Read

I LOVE Curran so I was excited to get inside his head and see some of the pivotal scenes from the series from his POV. This free ebook contains scenes from each of the first four books in the series (Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes & Magic Bleeds) and I would recommend reading each one after the book in question.

I always wanted to know what went through Curran's head when he first met Kate (remember the "Here kitty, kitty, kitty" line?) and it was just as funny as I thought it would be! It was so good to see how Curran's opinion of Kate changed as he got to know her and my only complaint is that I wanted more.

Kate Daniels fans are going to love these little extras but I'll warn you now this isn't a good place to start if you're unfamiliar with the series. They aren't full length stories so taken out of context they'll mean very little but for those of us who've read and loved the books they are perfect.

______________________

2nd Read

This volume contains quite a few different Curran POV's that slot in around the first 4 books in the Kate Daniels series:

Magic Bites POV:
Unicorn Lane - see Kate and Curran's first meeting through his eyes

Magic Burns POV:
Soup - Curran's side of the story when he offers food to an injured Kate

Magic Strikes POV:
Midnight Games - Curran's reaction when he finds out exactly what Kate and the others are up to

Magic Bleeds POV:
Conclave - What Curran thought when he arrived at Conclave and found Kate all dressed up and apparently on a date with Saiman

I loved these shorts, the Midnight Games short one didn't quite tie in with the way things happened in the main book (you can tell they weren't written at the same time anyway!) but I will never get to spend enough time in Curran's head so I will happily devour any of these shorts that I can get my hands on.

[Lora]

Curran's POV Vol 1 is a free, online collection of four short scenes from Curran's POV set in the Kate Daniels series. There is one scene for each of the first four books in the series.

The first scene is when Curran and Kate first meet. It was definitely interesting to read his initial thoughts about Kate. And if you thought the "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty" thing was funny in Magic Bites, just wait until you read Curran's reaction to it. That had me rolling.

The second is when Kate is injured and Curran is unsure of whether Doolittle can save her. I think this is when Curran first begins to realize that he feels more than just irritation toward Kate. It was sweet to see the moment when he began to really care for her.

The third short scene is the one where Curran is trapped in the cage and must convince Julie to let him out. Personally, out of all of the possible scenes from Magic Strikes, I would've prefered the hot tub scene, but that's just me. All jokes aside, this scene was funny, cute, and insightful. I had no idea that there was something brewing between Jim and Dali until Curran mentioned it in this scene. Goes to show you how perceptive I am!

"She had broken into my place, messed up my weights, and even put catnip into my bed. In retaliation I had glued that cute butt of hers into her office chair. In short we were doing the mating dance."

That quote is taken from the fourth, and my personal favorite, scene.

If there's one thing that I've learned from reading this it is that Curran's POV is often as humorous as Kate's, and reading this has reaffirmed my love for the Beast Lord.

You can read this collection here for free.

[AvidReader]

Recommended.

[Liz* Fashionably Late]

That's right. I READ ALL THE STORIES!

I love all things Curran and his POV was perfect. Exactly how I had imagined him.

[Anna]

Kate short-circuits my brain. In my head we always have these clear coherent exchanges, but once we meet, what comes out it is, "Kate, do what I say or I'll kill you." Her default reply is, "Fuck you!" and we go downhill from there.

[Renegade ♥]

4 1/2 to 5 stars

Excerpt from Unicorn Lane
(Scene from "Magic Bites")



Moonlight from gaps in the ceiling illuminated the scene as she stepped through the gap. She came in sideways, slowly and carefully, carrying a sword. An odd-looking blade, pale. She held it like she knew what she was doing, but her faith in its ability to protect her was misplaced. The tips of my claws, wanting to come out, caused the inside of my skin to itch. She had one sword, but I had ten claws.

She scanned the area, stopped to listen, then moved forward again--stealthily, like a dancer--hiding in the nearest shadow before I caught a glimpse of her face. The draft brought another whiff of her scent. She paused and I knew she was peering into the gloom, trying to find me. I liked the way she moved, balanced and light, neither tiptoeing nor stiff. Nice body. Come to me, mouse, don't be scared.

She took a step forward and I saw her in profile. Exotic, strong features. Not pretty, but I liked what I saw.

I drew my fingers through the dirt, scraping the floor a little.

She pivoted on one foot, turning her sword. Fast. Her head snapped toward me. Dark eyes stared straight at me. I detected no fear. Instead, it was a look of challenge. So not a mouse after all, but something more. This could be interesting. I'd let her dance in the dirt a bit more. She was fun to watch.

She crouched with her hand out. What the hell was she doing...?

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty."



***

Very cool that there are extra scenes from Curran's POV.

Of course, I can't (or should I say won't?) read them all since I've only read the first book in this series at this point in time, but the extra tidbits for "Magic Bites" (Unicorn Lane and Fernando's) were a wee tasty treat.

I'll be back for more...

***

For those of you who might be interested:

Curran POV Series Info on Goodreads

Curran POV Collection (Free download)

[Claire]

When I first saw this, I was excited to get a glimpse of what Curran was thinking during key moments with Kate. I know this wasn't written by Ilona, so I didn't expect her writing style. I also knew they would more like snippets of a plot instead of the full story. However, I did expect good writing, and unfortunately, this didn't deliver. I get that it's a free story, but would it be too much to expect that it would be proof read? There were typographical errors galore. In addition, and this may just be my complaint, this didn't quite sound like Curran. The writing didn't flow or feel natural. It was stiff and formal in a way Curran never is. I hate to say it, but this reminded me more of badly written fanfiction than an actual published story.

[Sans]

I'm officially on the "I Heart Curran" bandwagon. My only problem with this little batch of scenes is that it was completely unedited. Or even proof-read. There were a bunch of spelling mistakes and some grammatical errors. But! My love remains undiminished.

[Marissa]

Loved these of course, but my greedy mind wants an entire book in Currans POV!

[Vishous]

MAGIC BITES: 4*

Here, kitty, kitty ... <3 <3 <3

MAGIC BURNS: 4*

MAGIC STRIKES: 3*

MAGIC BLEEDS: 4*

[Kathleen]

I want to say 3 stars, but I just don't see it. Curran goes with the Kate Daniel's series, written primarily by Ilona Andrews. Her husband Gordon wrote this. I first read the series through book 5, then I bought this little piece, to avoid spoiling the stories. However, it is fine to read it after book 4, since it has a scene, told from Curran's POV, from events that took place in books 1-4 (or skip it -- it adds nothing to the series, plot wise).

About 33 pages in length, and self-published, it only cost .99 cents on Amazon, but originally it was free, intended as a gift to faithful fans. Sadly, it is littered with typos. I was surprised that such accomplished authors would release such sloppy work.

The series is written in Kate's POV, so a goal of this book is to show Curran's POV, especially his thoughts about Kate. A good goal, but Curran's inner dialogue was disappointing, IMO. I guess I expected the Beast Lord's thoughts to reflect keen intelligence and shrewd perception, as well as some loneliness, need, drive, integrity, and fire. I had hoped Curran's thoughts would be akin to the intelligent yet emotionally charged ruminations of William the changeling wolf, in Bayou Moon. One reason I liked Bayou Moon is because the authors made William so authentic, tugging on my heartstrings through his POV, which clearly revealed his brilliant mind, his need to protect and avenge the children, his never-ending loneliness, and his intense desire to mate with Cerise.

Scenes: The scene from book 3 where Curran gets info from Julie? That was pretty much a wash for me. I would have preferred to hear the lion-shifter's thoughts and feelings when he was desperately searching for Kate, who was in such dire straights at the end of book 3.

But some scenes are fun. I liked the scene outside Unicorn Lane best, where Kate calls out, "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" to Curran. Haha! And I liked the soup scene, when Curran fed Kate. Again, amusing.

Tentatively recommended to diehard fans who can't get enough of Curran.

[Pepito]

3.5 STARS

While I enjoyed reading things from Curran's POV, I don't thing it changed anything. We could see how he felt in all the books clearly even though things were from Kate's POV. The author had a way of letting us know how Curran felt. So I felt I didn't really need this book. But it was nice at the same time. I enjoyed it because it was short, but it felt like reading the same things over again.

I love Curran but this book helped me realize that it is because of Kate that I love this series so much. She is funny, brave and an ass-kicker! The best type pf heroine. She is the soul of this series and I like her POV the best. Maybe I would have enjoyed the scenes from Curran's POV better if they had been scenes we could have not appreciated from Kate's POV. But all the scenes in this book had developed in the previous books, so it felt a bit repetitive.

What I liked the most about this book was that we got to see the scene where he met Kate, another where he started to like her, and another where he realized he wanted all from her. I like that this author makes it seem like an evolving relationship. He may not have believed she was the sexiest women in the world but there was something he liked about her, and then that something just became stronger.

Nice read but you own't be loosing a thing for not reading it.

[♥Rachel♥]

Whether or not she knew it, Kate was mine now and I would save her or die trying.

I loved reading scenes from Curran's POV! Just wish there were more. I think the scene with Curran feeding Kate the chicken soup, and the weighty implications behind that act was my favorite.

[Dianne]

This is an interesting companion piece to the Kate Daniels stories. It gives us select scenes from the first 4 books that feature Curran and Kate. We get to see these scenes from Curran’s eyes. These scenes are coming from:

Magic Bites

Magic Burns

Magic Strikes

and

Magic Bleeds

It amuses me to see how Kate has misunderstood Curran’s intentions, or so Curran has always thought. It shows how he has feelings that go beyond the lord and m aster persona. This was a free/cheap way of getting a small fix in-between books.

I would advise anyone getting this book, to read each companion story just after you finish the book it goes with.

Also remember to buy “Father’s and Son’s Curran’s POV” which is written as a companion to “Magic Slays”

[Lynsey is Reading]

Nice to see Curran's POV. There are even more scenes on Ilona Andrew's website. Great series. Great author. Great free extras!

Edit: This is not a book, or even a novella. It is simply a collection of scenes from a different character's point of view, and was given to fans of the series, for free, on the author's website. Beware of people who are reviewing it poorly as if it's a fully formed novel, despite the introduction in the ebook by the authors explaining exactly what it is.

Harrumph. Y'all made me get my grumpy on.

Oh, and FYI, you shouldn't read it until after book 4, Magic Bleeds :)

[Suzanne (Under the Covers Book blog)]

This isn't really a short story, it is a POV from Curran for each book tha tis currently out (Magic Bites, Magic Burns, Magic Strikes, & Magic Bleeds) my fave was Magic Strikes where he is trying to talk his way out of the cage and also Magic Bites when he first sees Kate. I loved seeing those scenes from his POV!

[Bonnie]

A tiny yet enjoyable little tidbit. I liked it but considering that it didn't exactly add anything to the original story, just told it from a different point of view, I didn't rate it as highly. Still recommended for any Kate Daniels fans. :)

[Peep (Pop! Pop!)]

Although I love, love, love Curran, I don't think I liked being inside his head. It was funny and pretty awesome seeing his POV for some of my favorite scenes in Kate's books. I guess I got used to Kate's thoughts and not so much Curran and his very short thoughts.

Curran makes me smile every time he appears in a scene! I loved hearing his reasoning for the soup. You know, I was wondering why he held the bowl and looked at it for a while! That part made me smile all over again.

One of my favorite parts is when he sees Kate after she was attacked by these freaky looking mermaid lady things and almost dies. She was rescued by Curran and had recently woken up. She is described as having dark, puffy circles under her eyes, and her face looked gaunt.

So anyway, Curran sees her and says (Oh! I edited just like Bindy would):

I was not used to seeing her like this. I scared me a little bit.

"You look like SCOUT." Honesty is important in any relationship.

Hahahahaha!

Even though I didn't really like this, I still love Curran and would have likely kept reading even if this went up to 500 pages. That being said, only read this if you've already read the first 3 books at least. Otherwise you'll be spoiled!

[Carolyn F.]

Short story. 18 pages.

The Kate Daniels series is one of my favorites and it was nice to get a look in Curran's head of their first meeting.

[Kay]

I'd like to have Curran for breakfast, lunch, dinner and as snacks throughout the day. He is so yummy.

[Leo C.]

Me ha gustado conocer el punto de vista de Curran en varias de las escenas más destacadas de algunos de los libros de la serie.

[BJ]

This is snippets from Curran's view of various events in other books. Nice addition to the series.

[Jessica ❁ ➳ Silverbow ➳ ❁]

Unicorn Lane

Ever wonder what was going on in Curran's head when Kate crouched down and said, "Here kitty, kitty, kitty," when they first met? Here you go.

Soup

And who could forget the notorious feeding of soup? NOT ME. Not only is it fantastic to know what Curran is thinking when he tricks Kate into accepting his suit, but you get to see his distress over the state of her health that put her in a position to be fed soup in the first place. Maybe my favorite of the POVs.

Midnight Games

This one covers everything that happened from the time that Kate tricked Curran into the loup cage and Julie letting him out. Curran calls Julie something that is ridiculously cute, but I'm not going to ruin it for you by telling you what it is.

Conclave

This is what went on in Curran's head when he showed up for the Pack/People/etc. meeting at Bernard's, and saw Kate there with Saiman. HIGHLY entertaining.

[Angie ~aka Reading Machine~]

This collection of scenes are from Curran's POV which is very interesting and unique too. Curran is probably my favorite character from Kate Daniels Series but I couldn't put my finger on why until I read these scenes. Now I understand why he's a fan favorite. Seeing Kate through his eyes was a real eye opener for me. I'm considering giving the series another try. Alot of my GR friends told me that I would come to love Kate I'm finding that isn't necessarily true for me. My favorite heroines are Mercy Thompson, Anita Blake, Merry Gentry, and Anna Cornick. Maybe if I never read them then Kate would be included on this list.

[KA]

I skimmed all of the Curran POV stories, and they weren't particularly interesting or well written. They were disappointingly shallow and honestly felt like OOC fan fiction. In the published series, Curran comes across as a lot more shrewd and observant, but in attempting to flesh out his thoughts, all of that cunning and mental strength just goes right out the window. I didn't even get a sense of his possessiveness or loyalty or love for Kate, just his attraction, his frustration at her when she snarks at him, and his stubbornness/petulance when it comes to giving up. So I'm just going to pretend this doesn't exist and imagine Curran's POV for myself.

[Sharon ∞❥ is an emotional book junkie ❥∞]

started Jan 6th.

This is a collection of Curran's POV for Kate Daniels book. I would recommend reading the book first and then Curran's POV for a particular scene.

I'm sooo glad that I got to read the Kate Daniels series with Curran's POV. He is sooo funny and it just added so much more to the story. It's really made me realize that I enjoy reading the other side of things.

I would definitely recommend reading this.

[BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme]

Really, it's a 3.5 star. Since no half stars, it's truncated to 3 stars. I love Curran. It's fascinating reading from his point of view. I like that Gordon's the one writing the story. Curran is a kick ass shifter and his perspective gives me an added layer which pulls me into this world even more.

[icantfightfate]

Forgive me Your Furriness, But I find this lacking of depth, emotions and all that. Quite disappointing for a "Must Read"

Err, does the Beast Lord really love Kate or what?? 'cause seriously, I didn't felt it when I read his POV.