Ilona Andrews

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
🌶/4

*Contains spoilers if you haven't read book 1*

Book 2 of the Hidden Legacy series starts off a few months after book 1 (Burn for Me) and Nevada has tried to forget all about the dark, dangerous, and sexy Mad Rogan. But when an old acquaintance comes to her with a new case, things are not all as they seem.

What started out as trying to find who murdered her client's wife quickly turns into a much larger investigation into a conspiracy for ultimate power in show more Houston. As fate would have it and as the details unfold, Nevada is once again forced to work with Mad Rogan and the sparks pick right back up brighter and hotter than before.

Alongside the continuing excitement that comes with murder investigations, magical House power struggles, and the slow burn tension that is Nevada and Rogan, we also learn more about the other members of the Baylor Family and see that Nevada might not be the only one hiding her powerful magical secrets.

A great second installment in this series, and we FINALLY get some relief from the steamy slow burn tension that has been building between Nevada & Rogan from book 1. The side characters are all delightful and offer both story depth and comic relief. Between the Baylor Clan and many of Rogan's associates, we have a fantastic growing cast to choose many new favorites from.

Best random scene, two words: Ferret Heist. show less

I've procrastinated forever in writing this review. Magic Burns is one of my frequent re-reads, and I'm not sure I can do it justice.

What keeps drawing me back? An interesting heroine that is confident, skilled in her field, funny, occasionally lonely, caring despite herself and lives according to an ethical code? Action that builds from the somewhat ridiculous (a salamander pyromaniac) to the tragic (spikey dogs) to epic (a battle between shapeshifters and gods)? Relationship building that show more gives equal importance to girlfriends, adopted family and potential romance? A sophisticated vision of a post-apocalypic Atlanta that shifts from magic to tech? Vampires that are not romantacized and moreover, most empathetically, do not sparkle? Hard to say, but it's a favorite. If they ever release it in hardcover, I'll buy it in a flash, because my paperback is worn out.

Kate is the heroine of the series, and one of my all-time favorite characters.

She's anything but a sweet talking diplomat:

"Negotiate. He [Jim] wanted me to engage a lunatic who had already burned four people into smoking meat. Okay, I could do that.
'Alright, Jeremy,' I yelled into the night. 'Give me the salamander and I won't cut your head off!'"

She's got a gift of understatement:

"His nose no longer looked broken. No blood, either. Wonderful. Not only could he teleport, but he also regenerated while he did it. If he started spitting fire, we'd be all set."

She knows a losing battle when she sees one:

"I looked at his face and saw the decisive thrust of the adolescent jaw. No intelligent life there. I turned to Julie."

She's creative:

"The vampire started at me, his mouth slack as Ghastek assessed his options. I took a couple of forms from my desk, put them in the vamp's mouth, and pulled them up by their edges.
'What are you doing?' Ghastek asked.
'My hole puncher broke.'
'You have no respect for the undead."

And sometimes, very rarely, she has nothing to say:

"She [Julie] shrugged. 'Sex. Red knows a ritual that would give him my powers if I do sex with him.'
I stared at her, speechless. There were so many things wrong with what she said that my brain experienced a momentary shutdown."

But don't be misled, she isn't all sarcasm, and her confrontations with evil aren't marked by trading witticisms. But there's enough humor to ease the way in to the serious stuff.

Five stars, again and again.

Re-read May, 2017, because my cousin was borrowing it. Idk, maybe I needed to make sure it was good or something, before I lent it to her? Or just in case she didn't return it?

Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/magic-burns-kate-daniels-2-by-ilona-an... show less

Have you ever had a series that was everything you ever wanted and you both wanted to consume every book in a crazy-fast reading blur and savor them so they never ended? I am sad to see Kate and company end, but so delighted that I got to be along for the ride. Not sure how to talk about this one without it being one big spoiler-fest, so I’m going to put the whole thing in spoiler tags.

Conlan=ADORABLE. Kate being the world’s most overprotective parent and going to Doolittle over rashes show more even when she’s constantly fighting demons and covered in gore? Ilona Andrews knows how to add the hilarious moments. I loved the honey and cookies bit.

Derek and Julie. YES PLEASE. I would LOVE a Derek and Julie series and desperately hope the secret project to which Ilona Andrews cannot allude to involves future Derek and Julie sometime down the road after she has had some adventures and grown up into an adult. They are my ship! Throw in some Ascanscio and Yun Fan love quadrangle for fun because I like those characters, too, and want to see EVERYONE in this universe, but Team Derek and Julie all the way!

I loved the way each of my favorite characters… Roman, Erra (she was SO cool here!), the witches, Saiman, Ghastek, the pack, Christopher, clan heavy, etc, all got some page time with Kate, and sort of a final hurrah. The evil mystery/villain to root out was well done as always, and the final battle with Roland, which all of this was leading up to. Terrific end to a series.

I love all of IA’s books and am excited to hear some of their other series will be continuing. Yay!

Please excuse typos/name misspellings. Entered on screen reader. show less

Bayou Moon is the second book of The Edge by Ilona Andrews. This installment takes a darker turn the first and is highly entertaining. We also get to see a new location in the Edge.

Carise Mar and her family live in the Mire, a large swamp in the Edge between the Kingdom of Louisiana in the Weird and the state of Louisiana in the Broken. They are money poor but land rich. An old feud with the Sheerile family reignites when Carise's parents go missing and the Sheerile brothers are found in her show more parent's house claiming Cerise's father sold it to them. William, a changeling soldier, has retired to a trailer in the Broken in an effort to escape the politics of the Weird. When several changeling children are found slaughtered in Adrianglia, William is recruited to track down the killer. When William and Cerise's paths cross, sparks fly and they will have to learn to work together if they want to make it through their missions alive.

I was so happy to see William again. He was a neat side character in the first book so it's great he gets his own story. I liked being inside his head and the struggle that goes on to keep the wild side of him under control. Carise is also great as the strong female lead. She's willing to go to great lengths to protect her family. I liked the unique fighting style that Andrews gave her for the use of her flash, very creative and quite powerful in the right situation. Their "Lord Bill" and "Hobo Queen" banter was so much fun to read. I love a book with good character banter! The two of them end up working very well together and I even enjoyed their romance story line for the most part. The rest of the Mar family makes a great supporting cast and there are a lot of them. Cerise's brother (cousin?) Kaldar's magical luck was pretty darn cool and boy would that come in handy in real life! As for the bad guys, they reminded me a bit of comic book villains, each with a particular strength and weakness.

The world building is fantastic! The Mire is one crazy place, a swamp on magical steroids. The descriptions bring everything to life. I felt like I was wading through the muck right along with our heroes, feeling the stifling humidity and avoiding the monsters. I don't think it's a place I'd ever care to visit!

The story has elements that toe the line with horror, especially regarding the bad guys and how they are "enhanced." There are a couple especially violent scenes that surprised me as well. Ilona Andrews doesn't pull any punches in this book.

My only disappointment was with the very end as the story is wrapping up. The last couple chapters and epilogue felt very rushed and were out of sync with the rest of the book. I wish there was another 50 pages or so to finish off that section properly. Also after everything they've gone through and where their characters ended up, that last little bit where Cerise thought William didn't like her any more just didn't fit at all. Otherwise this was quite an enjoyable read. show less