Magic Bites was honestly decent Urban Fantasy. Strong characters with more than one dimension (admittedly sometimes only barely), a mythology that doesn't suck, real life that's not just "grizzled detective showing off his depression" – yeah, I can get behind this.

More magical tavern innkeeper stories! This one wasn't that different from the first part. It has found its footing, and instead of going for more of the usual urban fantasy romance stuff, it is about an intergalactic peace conference. Our protagonist has to handle three warring species under her roof, and it's fun and comfy and an all-around good time. Still not the height of … anything, but good fun.

Magic Burns continues where Magic Bites left off. It continues to be pulpy urban fantasy, and if that's what you're looking for, this is a decent series to go for. This time we have power-hungry Celtic gods and goddesses, plus more preparation for a reluctant snarky romance in following books – at least it's explicit, I'd be very annoyed otherwise. The worldbuilding holds up, but has slowed down a lot, which left me a bit disappointed.

Ensemble casts are very hit and miss for me, and this one was a miss. The Innkeeper Chronicles have an ensemble cast by design, but this book added more family (the protagonist's sister and niece) to the mix, and that one plus a siege story just didn't do it for me. Still a nice comfort read, but not generally it.

Ilona Andrews, who I only knew from her Kate Daniels series, with the magical tavern/innkeeper trope. This is significantly worse than Kate Daniels – writing quality, plot quality, worldbuilding, characters: Everything. Apparently this series grew out of an online serial, which accounts for some of it.