Series: Hidden Legacy
Release Date: October 28, 2014
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.
• BIPOC characters
• LGBTQIA+ characters
• Characters with a disability
And doesn’t address fatphobia
• Murder (Committed by the Hero as well as the villain.)
• Arson
• Torture (Mental and physical)
– Heroine is abducted and mentally tortured (he’s a psychic) by the Hero (when he doesn’t know her). He would’ve killed her had she not been of use to him.
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does not have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Format: Kindle
Rating: 4.25/5
The Hidden Legacy series focuses on its protagonist, Nevada, the head of her family’s private investigative firm. Her family-run PI firm is the only thing keeping her family afloat but was mortgaged to the hilt to pay for her dead father’s medical bills. Unluckily for Nevada, the private security firm that owns her family’s mortgage has just called in their debt. They want Nevada to track and detain a runaway “poor rich boy” who just so happens to be a Prime –the highest and most dangerous level of magic-user – with his magic, of course, being fire. Throughout Burn for Me, Nevada uses her abilities as a detective to find her quarry, but it’s her own magic as a (very rare) Truthteller that enables her to succeed.
I loved how Burn for Me focused primarily on Nevada and how this case immerses her into the world of Primes and Family Houses (powerful magical families). The world-building was done so well, and they were able to create a fantastic story without an insane amount of information dumping. Also, the fact that Nevada is a human who is put up against possibly the strongest fire elemental is quite a match-up. How could a human win? Luckily – or maybe unluckily – Nevada’s agenda lines up with the most powerful Prime, Connor “Mad” Ragan, as he searches for his lost nephew, who happens to be an accomplice to the fire elemental “bad boy.” What commences is an action-filled plot as Nevada and Connor work together to accomplish their respective tasks. However, it quickly becomes apparent that all is not what it seems; there is a much larger conspiracy at work that endangers the current balance of power amongst Primes and Family Houses.
The most detailed aspect of Burn for Me – which they keep building throughout the series – is the world of a Prime. Being Prime and/or part of a Family House results in mini-monarchy-like establishments, where Family Houses can go to war with each other with no reprisal from the law. However, amongst all this elitism and the power-hungry and violent magical people, Nevada just wants to protect her family, which means completing the job and keeping her head down so no one notices her – or her siblings’ – special abilities.
Nevada is a fantastic character because she’s smart and honest with herself. There are no stupid moments of denial – at least internally – about her interest in Connor “Mad” Ragan (he’s thought to be the most powerful Prime and also crazy). But, she’s realistic in the sense that dating such a man would not be good for her. And to be honest, she’s much more concerned with protecting and keeping her family afloat – very real-world concerns. She’s also not afraid to ask for help or back up, and she doesn’t suffer fools, although she does have a bit of a bleeding heart (though that shows up later on in the series).
Andrews also does a fantastic job realistically transforming Nevada from a small-time PI – just read the first scene to understand what I mean – to an operative capable of standing against the most powerful of foes.
I have to say that being a romance fan, that Burn for Me is romance-lite since the love interest, Connor, is thought to be a) crazy and b) comes from a completely different world that appears almost inhumane to Nevada. There’s also the fact that if Nevada were to date Connor – and therefore synonymize her name with Connor’s – all of Connor’s really powerful (in monetary and magical terms) enemies would become her and her family‘s enemies. Therefore, it takes them a while to get on equal footing and to be honest, all is not really “established” until the second book.
Burn for Me is a kickass action book, and the action (and conspiracy plots) only gets better as the series continues!
Buy Burn For Me
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Other Books I’ve Reviewed by Ilona Andrews
Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant, #1)
Quick Take: An action-driven urban fantasy that sets up marriage-of-convenience between two anti-Hero leaders, one of which is a shrewd and badass Heroine. However, the Hero’s insufferable narcissism stops the book from reaching 5-stars.
Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be. Hugh knows he must carve a new place for himself and his people, but they have no money, no shelter, and no food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast.
Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people call her White Lady. Tasked with their protection, she’s trapped between the magical heavyweights about to collide and plunge the state of Kentucky into a war that humans have no power to stop. Desperate to shield her people and their simple way of life, she would accept help from the devil himself—and Hugh d’Ambray might qualify.
Hugh needs a base, Elara needs soldiers. Both are infamous for betraying their allies, so how can they create a believable alliance to meet the challenge of their enemies?
As the prophet says: “It is better to marry than to burn.”
Hugh and Elara may do both.
Tags: Anti-Hero, Asshole Hero, Kickass Heroine, Magic, Marriage of Convenience, Politics, Shapeshifting, Slow-burn Romance, Urban Fantasy, Vampires
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