Saturday, October 19, 2019

SERIES REVIEW - The Hidden Legacy Series by Ilona Andrews


#1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews launches a brand new Hidden Legacy series, in which one woman must place her trust in a seductive, dangerous man who sets off an even more dangerous desire…

This delightful urban fantasy series was an incredible read and this is a combined series review. What I loved about the series, especially since I do not read paranormal, is that the whole setup about magic is due to genetics that occurred due to a magic serum. 

After I was encouraged to read the series, by my fellow reviewer and friend who knows how I feel about paranormal, I was thrilled that I was able to read this and did not make me cross any lines. Instead I was able to jump into this amazing world with these fantastic people and situations and, with the bonus of listening to the first three books via audiobook, was able to step out of my life for a few hours each day as I enjoyed this series.


Title:   Burn for Me
Publisher:  Avon
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   406
Date of Publication:  October 28, 2014
My Rating:  4.5 Stars
Purchase link:  https://amzn.to/2P35prc

DESCRIPTION:

Nevada Baylor is faced with the most challenging case of her detective career—a suicide mission to bring in a suspect in a volatile case. Nevada isn't sure she has the chops. Her quarry is a Prime, the highest rank of magic user, who can set anyone and anything on fire. 

Then she's kidnapped by Connor "Mad" Rogan—a darkly tempting billionaire with equally devastating powers. Torn between wanting to run or surrender to their overwhelming attraction, Nevada must join forces with Rogan to stay alive.

Rogan's after the same target, so he needs Nevada. But she's getting under his skin, making him care about someone other than himself for a change. And, as Rogan has learned, love can be as perilous as death, especially in the magic world.

MY THOUGHTS:

Burn for Me is my first excursion into the urban fantasy genre. I had to learn what this genre was and that went a long way in helping me to be able to relax and enjoy this series. It is set in an alternate universe where some have received a special serum that has given them magic powers. However it has taken time for some of them to recognize the extent of their new abilities. Nevada Baylor is the heroine of the series. She is the primary protagonist and we meet her as she is working a job as a private investigator and she has to bring in someone that is missing back to his family.

This is no simple case for Nevada. The person that she must bring back home is Prime. The Prime who is missing is the highest rate of magic user and he the skill of setting anything or anyone on fire. Connor "Mad" Rogan is also Prime and he has his own reasons for wanting to find the missing man. In so doing he kidnaps Nevada and then decides that he would like to work along with her to solve this case.

As mentioned, this is a whole new type of book for me. I have often heard the term world-building. In this series, there are a lot of things that are established. kind of like a political system, including Houses, powers, levels and things of that nature. Furthermore, it is clear that the “regular” people that live among those magic users understand that they are on their own. The authorities don’t even get involved in the dramatic situations that affect these members.

Not only is Nevada facing the situation of first being kidnapped and now rather being forced to work with Mad Rogan, she starts to recognize that she herself has powers. Once Nevada is honest with herself, it doesn’t take very long for these to develop even more fully.

What an exciting, thrilling beginning of a remarkable series! We have adventure, intrigue, magic and family drama in this book. The extra bonus is watching the relationship between Nevada and Mad Rogan develop, albeit a slow burn that sets the pace for this series.


Title:   White Hot
Publisher:  Avon
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   389
Date of Publication:  May 30, 2017
My Rating:  4.5 Stars
Purchase link:  https://amzn.to/33NTr9d

DESCRIPTION:

Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she’s used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family’s detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor “Mad” Rogan.

Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice …

MY THOUGHTS:

As readers are moving into the second book of the series, one thing has been made clear. Nevada Baylor does indeed have special skills. She can tell when people are lying and this goes a long way for her as she does what she does best. She not only works hard at the family detective agency, and what her family they are, but she gets to work with Connor/Mad Rogan yet again. At first Nevada does not know what to think, especially she had to fight her own heart‘s desire for him, and she was fairly sure she would never see him again. That is not the case.

Mad Rogan, as we learned in the first book, is a Prime. He is the top of his game, the highest rank. And to show the extent of his ability, Nevada’s skills do not work on him. Yet the pair must work together once more as danger faces them yet again. As this happens, the fight against their feelings will soon be lost.

Beyond the exciting romance that is beginning to shine through on every page, Nevada‘s  current case (as her family owns a private detective agency) is a very serious one. A man’s wife was murdered and Nevada is working hard to find out what happened. While working on this case, alongside Mad Rogan, we learn even more about the magic system that is an integral part of this series.

Since I love romance, I found there was a delightful bonus as this series has progressed. Mad Rogan and Nevada make an amazing couple, and I loved watching their relationship develop and grow, especially since there was a definite conflict with their skills and abilities when it came to the system that exists in their world.

It should come to know surprise that I had to read book 3 immediately after finishing this story.


Title:    Wildfire
Publisher:  Avon
Format:  Audiobook
No. of Pages:   391
Date of Publication:  July 25, 2017
My Rating:  4.5 Stars
Purchase link:  https://amzn.to/31AgBhS

DESCRIPTION:

Just when Nevada Baylor has finally come to accept the depths of her magical powers, she also realizes she’s fallen in love. Connor “Mad” Rogan is in many ways her equal when it comes to magic, but she’s completely out of her elements when it comes to her feelings for him. To make matters more complicated, an old flame comes back into Rogan’s life…

Rogan knows there’s nothing between him and his ex-fiance, Rynda Sherwood. But as Nevada begins to learn more about her past, her power, and her potential future, he knows she will be faced with choices she never dreamed of and the promise of a life spent without him.

As Nevada and Rogan race to discover the whereabouts of Rynda’s kidnapped husband and are forced to confront Nevada’s grandmother, who may or may not have evil motives, these two people must decide if they can trust in each other or allow everything to go up in smoke.

MY THOUGHTS:

They gave up the fight. The relationship between Nevada Baylor and Connor “Mad” Rogan is in full bloom. Despite the progress they have made, including dealing with the politics involved in their magic system, Nevada has truly come into her own with her magical powers. Nothing is meant to be easy, however, and Nevada now has to fight someone that has come back into Mad’s life. Dealing with this woman, Rynda Sherwood, whose husband has disappeared, is only one level of stress in Nevada’s life at this time.

Nevada is trying to keep her family business afloat. This involves her feeling primarily responsible for her mother, her sister Catalina, and her cousins and each of their special gifts. They are all remarkable people and they make a wonderful set of supporting characters in this thrilling series. Nevada is a true heroine, and has proven this time and again in each book of this series. 

Just as in the first two books of this series, there is no end to the action, danger, intrigue and drama that Nevada and Mad Rogan face as they work feverishly to handle the situations they face. For readers who read this series as it was released, it may have seemed to be over. For me, however, I just discovered it, so was able to read and enjoy the novella that ended Nevada’s starring role.


Title:    Diamond Fire
Publisher:  Avon
Format:  Kindle
No. of Pages:   160
Date of Publication:  November 6, 2018
My Rating:  4 Stars
Purchase link:  https://amzn.to/33Len0p

DESCRIPTION:

Nevada Frida Baylor and Connor Ander Rogan cordially invite you to join their wedding celebration. Summoning, weather manipulation, and other magical activities strictly forbidden. 

Catalina Baylor is looking forward to wearing her maid of honor dress and watching her older sister walk down the aisle. Then the wedding planner gets escorted off the premises, the bride’s priceless tiara disappears, and Rogan's extensive family overruns his mother’s home. Someone is cheating, someone is lying, and someone is plotting murder.

To make this wedding happen, Catalina will have to do the thing she fears most: use her magic. But she’s a Baylor and there’s nothing she wouldn't do for her sister's happiness. Nevada will have her fairy tale wedding, even if Catalina has to tear the mansion apart brick by brick to get it done.

MY THOUGHTS:

Nevada Baylor and Conner “Mad” Rogan are tying the not! As exciting as this was for people like myself who devoured the first three books in this series, Catalina, Nevada’s sister, steps into the limelight.

Catalina is the maid of honor. What is more is that lovers of the Hidden Legacy series are being prepared to see Catalina launched into her own series. The first book in Catalina’s trilogy is Sapphire Flames. The following two books are yet untitled.

Meanwhile, as Catalina prepares to stand by Nevada, a tiara that Nevada had hoped to wear in her wedding has disappeared. Catalina will do anything at all possible to find the missing tiara and to give her sister the best day ever. To accomplish this, Catalina must face a side of herself that she would rather keep hidden. She has her own magic skills and it is well past time for her to employ them.

This novella fits perfectly between the two series. It closes off the trilogy that features Nevada and sets readers up for Catalina’s books. The first of the three is Sapphire Flames, released in August, with two yet untitled books.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)

Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Texas with their two children and many dogs and cats.

They have co-authored four NYT and USAT bestselling series, the #1 NYT bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels, rustic fantasy of the Edge, paranormal romance of Hidden Legacy, and Innkeeper Chronicles, which they post as a free weekly serial. For complete list of their books, fun extras, and Innkeeper installments, please visit their website at Ilona-andrews.com.


9 comments:

  1. This sounds like my kind of series. I know how I am spending my next Audible credit.(it may sound odd, but I prefer listening to paranormal stories to reading them.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. With Hoopla and Overdrive, and my decades-long subscription to Audible, there definitely are some books that I enjoy more as audio.

      Delete
  2. Wow - you are blazing through these series - excellent post!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Seems like you enjoyed this series.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have heard a lot about this author. I may have to look into them soon.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great reviews Robin this book series looks and sounds absolutely amazingly fantastic and right up my alley as well. I'm really glad you fully enjoyed reading this series. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome post.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Not a series I'm familiar with, glad you enjoyed them so much. Great reviews.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love a good paranormal and this one sounds like it's a slow build that makes it more natural while still fulfilling all the romance needs (AKA. the happily ever after) and I love a bit of paranormal in there too. When there's some great world building like you're saying it's even better!

    ReplyDelete