Burn for Me (Hidden Legacy, #1) in What's the Name of That Book???

Nov 06, 2014 Lorena rated it really liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, fantasy

Yet another magical universe for the Ilona Andrews husband/wife author team, with different magical rules and consequences. Their great female heroines are a constant in each of their series, and I appreciate that. I also like the eccentric families that surround the characters in both this series and the Edge books (family in the Kate Daniels books is...a little more complicated). Another thing that stays the same, though, is the One True Alpha Male Romantic Lead across all of the series. Him, ...more

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Aug 28, 2015 thefourthvine rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, sff, urban-fantasy, queer-disinterest

My last two books were: 1. A hope-destroying everyone-dies human miseryfest. 2. A slow-start fantasy with a ton of torture and violence porn thrown in for the hell of it. I decided to go with a nice safe reread for my next book, and it doesn't get much safer than this series, where families matter, Team Good saves the day, and the worldbuilding is delightful.

The romance, admittedly, is not to my taste -- too much instant intense attraction, I-can't-control-myself lust, and Manly Man with Extra ...more

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Dec 31, 2015 Laurie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016

Oh my gosh, guys. Surprisingly good. Nevada is a super competent smart and dedicated family business owner in a world much like ours but with magic. She's forced to get involved in a case with several super powerful magic psychopaths. This just kept skirting some romance novel tropes that I find disturbing, but always stayed just on the right side. Definitely read if you're looking for romance novels with strong protagonists who don't take shit from anyone. ...more

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May 09, 2014 Min rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2025, 2024, favourites, 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022

Nevada Baylor loves her family. They are a bit odd, but she loves them. She will do anything to protect them. Including joining forces with the most powerful, dangerous Prime around...Connor "Mad" Rogan.
After being manipulated into a dangerous assignment, she realises she needs help. Rogan happens to need something from Nevada's target, Adam Pierce, so he decides to intervene. Then the fun begins.

I pre-ordered my copy and was expecting to have to wait and read it over Halloween weekend. But...h Nevada Baylor loves her family. They are a bit odd, but she loves them. She will do anything to protect them. Including joining forces with the most powerful, dangerous Prime around...Connor "Mad" Rogan.
After being manipulated into a dangerous assignment, she realises she needs help. Rogan happens to need something from Nevada's target, Adam Pierce, so he decides to intervene. Then the fun begins.

I pre-ordered my copy and was expecting to have to wait and read it over Halloween weekend. But...hurrah! My copy arrived early. I waited until Friday to pick it up because I knew that, once I started it, I wouldn't want to put it down.

I know me so well.

I read the first four chapters before bed. The only reason I stopped was because my eyes kept closing - apparently my body needed sleep. Fine. I slept. I woke up in the morning and dove right back in. I paused long enough to get cereal (the fastest breakfast food at hand) and kept on reading. And reading. And reading. This book had me so hooked that I didn't even notice when the power went out (there was still enough sun out to see the pages of my book) - my roommate had to alert me to the fact that there was no power in the apartment. Fortunately, I was mere pages from the end so I knew I would be able to finish it. And finish it I did, damn it. Now, I have to wait for the second book. And then even longer for the third book.

But, oh, is it worth it!

There are several funny one liners and dialog bits, which caused me to laugh out loud. The characters are three-dimensional, with foibles and stories and reasons. Some are misguided. Some are horrible. Some are overwhelmed. They all come together to create a fantastic story.

Ilona Andrews has long been a favourite of mine. Every story of theirs I've read has been well written, engaging, and transporting. I'm so happy they have chosen to start a new series because now I will have even more choices when I want to read an Ilona Andrews story. Their books, out of all of the ones I own, are the ones I re-read the most (and I own the Sandman comics as well as Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October, which I re-read annually around Halloween). This book joins their others on my favourites shelf. ...more

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Jul 10, 2014 Kerry (The Roaming Librarian) O'Donnell rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, paranormal

Be forewarned, this isn't a review so much as a random collection of thoughts I had on the book that may not make sense when read in tandem. Enjoy!!

This was SO much fun to read!!!!!!

It took a little too long for them (and by them I mean the two main characters) to meet for my taste (I was starting to get antsy right before it finally happened), but once they did... Whooooo! The chemistry between Nevada and "Mad" Rogan snaps, crackles, and pops like fire-crackers right off the page.

I cracked up s Be forewarned, this isn't a review so much as a random collection of thoughts I had on the book that may not make sense when read in tandem. Enjoy!!

This was SO much fun to read!!!!!!

It took a little too long for them (and by them I mean the two main characters) to meet for my taste (I was starting to get antsy right before it finally happened), but once they did... Whooooo! The chemistry between Nevada and "Mad" Rogan snaps, crackles, and pops like fire-crackers right off the page.

I cracked up so many times reading this! The good kind of laughter; that is due to snarky, sarcastic, and witty dialogue, hilarious situations, and hijinks perpetrated by the characters. Oh my gods, though, some of the stuff that came out of these characters mouths! I laughed at the sheer audacity of some of it. Fantastic stuff that no one should ever say in real life for fear of getting smacked. I reiterate -- soooo much fun!

Nevada has an AWESOME family! Siblings, cousins, all had such life and personality. But they still managed to pull off that "real" family vibe with fighting, bickering, and history that felt very grounded and down to earth in an unearthly world.

And speaking of that family: GRANDMA FRIDA!!! Oh gods, Grandma Frida! I want one, can I please make her real somehow so I can take her home with me? Please?!

(view spoiler)

I'm really digging how the author brings together magic and the "real world" in this series. It's basically our world with all it's history and technology but with the twist that a serum invented in the 1800's gave people magical abilities, which because another mode of currency and power. Which is so awesome! The details that are twisted like all the stuff with the Great Chicago Fire, coupled with the fact that giants of modern technological society like Twitter and Instagram are still so huge, made everything work one a world-building level for me. I loved it.

So yeah, clearly I'm recommending people read this book. I had a blast, and haven't had a book get me quite as excited in a while. I hope others do too. ...more

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Sep 03, 2014 Adrienne rated it really liked it

Shelves: yes-would-read-again, 2015-new, lib-oc, type-ebook, type-pbook, lib-queens, 2017-re-read, 2018-re-read, 2019-re-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. From the cover and summary I expected Doing It, but so long as this series does not take as long as Kate Daniels to have Kate and Curran finally do it (within reason, let's not forget the kidnapping and torture our great male lead didn't really apologize for), I'm happy.

Great lead, well-paced, and the dude manages to be all of heteronormative Manly Man as can be without being insufferable, probably because the Andrews are really good at actual character development. I really liked it overall!

201 From the cover and summary I expected Doing It, but so long as this series does not take as long as Kate Daniels to have Kate and Curran finally do it (within reason, let's not forget the kidnapping and torture our great male lead didn't really apologize for), I'm happy.

Great lead, well-paced, and the dude manages to be all of heteronormative Manly Man as can be without being insufferable, probably because the Andrews are really good at actual character development. I really liked it overall!

2018 re-read: I don’t remember when my 2017 re-read happened (before or after the release of the other two books), but now having read the last two and given time for the series to sink in—ultimately, Burn For Me works as a set-up novel. I don’t love the overdone alpha male nonsense and the dynamic it initially sets up, but what is important to me (and this is obviously colored by how the series worked... and a Rogan POV) is that there is excellent world building that rationalizes it, and more importantly, Nevada never caves to Rogan within that space.

She acknowledges her physical attraction to him from the beginning, but at the end of the day, she has her moral code (what I love, always, about IA characters), and she sticks to it. That closing speech is not her playing a game; it is a testament to her character and sense of self. Because of that, even with the imbalance in their relationship, I am really okay with modifying my initial reaction to this book, which was actually a lot more meh than the review above suggests. Nevada and Rogan just really work for me because of how they and the rest of the world around them are built.

2018 re-read (2): I stand by my assessment of the book upon reading the rest of the series! But for whatever reason, the alpha male nonsense worked better for me this re-read, though I definitely understand why it didn’t when I first read the book in 2015. It takes a lot of skill to balance viable love interest with psychopathic tendencies and everything else a hot billionaire Prime is burdened with, so I get why when I’ve read this earlier, it made me cringe more than anything else.

This re-read, Rogan’s comebacks made me laugh more than anything, and I think it was also because I was much more open to understanding Nevada’s radical honesty as a human lie detector as she reacted and tried not to react to him and warred with what she knew and what she felt. I was more receptive to the straightforward explanations for why things were the way that they were (why Rogan is the way he is)—a receptiveness that may have come only with knowing the rest of the story—because, as mentioned, Nevada still doesn’t accept those as legitimate reasons for being a monstrous person. So! It worked, and the chemistry written in here is sizzling. Ngl, that was probably what made it work for me this time more than anything.

2019 re-read: I stand by my second 2018 re-read comments. The sexual tension in this sizzles, and that it does so in a very convincing context of Nevada understanding, on a very pragmatic and reasonable level, why Mad Rogan is a bad idea in every way, is so good. It sets up something really interesting for them both as an eventual couple, as Rogan has to go through a lot of change to develop empathy and a real sense of humanity and make himself worthy of Nevada, who is a great heroine from the first page, but has a lot to navigate as someone who thought she had reached the full extent of her magic long ago. And of course, in a 2019 world, boy oh boy do some of the conflicts and themes of this book resonate...

2019 re-read (2): Hungover from Catalina’s first book and forgot that I had already re-read this already, but whatever, here we go again! So good for all of the reasons listed out before, and now after reading Sapphire Flames, this might just be a thing with IA—setting up a couple that may not be all that convincing, especially on the hero’s part, and teasing out the development and growth both undergo to actually make sense as a functional couple. But man, the chemistry between Rogan and Nevada gets better every single time. ...more

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Aug 22, 2021 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi, urban_fantasy, alternate_history, romance, ebook, local-color-tx, superpowers

Dear past me: thanks so much for buying this on sale and then tucking it away on the kindle for a rainy day, because this was exactly the kind of fluff I love the most and wow did I need this right about now.

Have y'all read an Ilona Andrews book? They're maybe the ideal genre mashup of fantasy, sci-fi, gun-toting-action, asskicking, and romance. Our heroes are usually tough-as-nails but kinda broken (there's often some ex-military PTSD to be deftly managed), our heroines are usually hard-working ...more

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Apr 13, 2018 Kate H rated it it was amazing

Shelves: goodreads-fiction

When I read this book the first time I was not sure if I liked it or not but when I re-read it I realized I loved it. This series just gets better with every book. The characters are engaging and I feel very invested in the stories. I really hope there will be more than three books in the series.

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