From #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews comes an enthralling new trilogy set in the Hidden Legacy world, where magic means power, and family bloodlines are the new currency of society… Catalina has always been afraid to use her unique powers, but when her friend’s mother and sister are murdered, Catalina risks her reputation and safety to unravel the mystery.
But behind the scenes powerful forces are at work, and one of them is Alessandro Sagredo, the Italian Prime who was once Catalina’s teenage crush. Dangerous and unpredictable, Alessandro’s true motives are unclear, but he’s drawn to Catalina like a moth to a flame.
To help her friend, Catalina must test the limits of her extraordinary powers, but doing so may cost her both her House–and her heart.
more
ilona andrews…don’t know how two people can write so seamlessly. don’t know how they do it, but, I’m so glad they can. you should read this if you like action, fantasy, magic, some light romance, and fun. not gonna tell you what tis is about; this is a review. just read the book; then go out and get the rest. you can thank me later.
Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews is a fabulous 5-star read. This continuation of the Hidden Legacy series was excellent, as everything Andrews writes is, but this team has truly shined in this volume. As every great story does, this book leaves you longing to know more, read more, experience more. And so we await the next volume and highly recommend you read this now.
I was so excited to read this book, and now, of course, I’m so excited to read the next book!
Ilona Andrews is my all time favorite, and they’ve created a story line for Catalina that’s just as good as her sister’s. I can’t wait for the romance to blossom in the next two books. In the meantime, I’ll be re-reading the previous books!
Another fantastic story in this outstanding series that has everything you want in a in a great paranormal/fantasy read. The writing is superb with characters that jump off the pages in heart-pounding action adventure storylines that always satisfy. I’ve loved this series from the start with the spunky oldest sister Nevada and the hunky Mad Rogan and there has been no letdown with the continuation of the series. I’m so excited to move on to the siblings with Catalina up first as the new head of House Baylor in the game of magic users and the Prime hierarchy. And she gets a dreamy (mostly) Italian hottie as her love interest. Alessandro makes a different kind of magic happen! But their encounters aren’t all hearts and flowers as the couple face challenge after challenge and are at odds quite a bit. As usual there’s violence galore and blood and bits flying as these magic users do their thing. I will say there seemed to be a few discrepancies with the previous stories and missing characters but not enough to overshadow the enjoyment of this one. This writing duo has a talent for spectacular storytelling with unique characters and along with the gore parts there’s also romance and some hilarious moments. I love this crazy Baylor family and can’t wait for the next installment. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC.
Another winner in the Hidden Legacy Series! Have read it twice and can hardly wait for the next book in the series! Catalina and House Baylor are coming into their own!
Probably the best of the series with a newish character.
Though I normally give books by Ilona Andrews 5 stars, I prefer their books with a more adult heroine. There was plenty of action, political wrangling, and tense moments as I’ve come to expect but dealing with the angst of a late teen, early twenty-something failed to resonate.
I still adore the side characters who bring so much to the family and the story in unconventional ways, something this writing duo does so well. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes urban fantasy with a wrapping of romance.
Ilona Andrews heats things up with SAPPHIRE FLAMES (Hidden Legacy #4). In this story, Head of her House/Prime Catalina Baylor investigates the murder of a friend’s mother and sister. Concurrently, she is trying to figure out the motives of her teenage crush Italian Prime Alessandro Sagredo. This contemporary urban fantasy is suitable for adults.
Catalina and Alessandro first met when the Baylors were applying to become a house. Alessandro was Catalina’s judge. The two have sizzling chemistry. We discover more about Alessandro. He is not what you would expect. I love how much Catalina has grown since the series started. The once shy girl is becoming a worthy leader. I like that she is coming into her own. She is developing into a strong heroine with good values.
I enjoyed the plot. It was mysterious with numerous twists. The politics involved with the houses are interesting. SAPPHIRE FLAMES is a thought-provoking addition to the Hidden Legacy series. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series. I recommend this book to fans of crime mystery urban fantasy. I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.
This book is great and I can’t wait for the next one in the series.
This book left me extremely eager to read the next book in the series.
I was immediately dragged into this story and didn’t want to let go. Catalina is now the head of her house. It’s a small house and not very powerful but they have powerful friends. Since it’s still a pretty new house it’s been under some protections, but those are about to expire and that could mean open war fire on them.
You see, these are just regular humans. They are all supernatural creatures with individual powers. Catalina’s special though, she’s the only known siren in existence, only no one really knows her true powers, they only know what she allows them to know. She can call any person to do her bidding, while that sounds like a wonderful power, it can go really wrong really fast. If she uses too much power, they become stalker-like. If she doesn’t remove the whisps of her power that enter their body, it will stay forever, and they will forever do her bidding. She’s been called in to help save a teen about to kill himself after his mother and sister have been savagely murdered, Catalina does what she can and saves him. She ends up contracting with his sister, who’s now head of their house, to find out who murdered their family members, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. Officials have been bribed, lies have been issued as facts, the case is tied up in so many knots Catalina doesn’t know which way to turn, or who to turn to. But she’s not alone. The infamous Alessandro, the man Catalina’s had a crush on for years is also investigating, but for another reason. The two together cause mass damage wherever they go and boy do the sparks fly.
I truly loved this story. Every part of it, from the different powers people possess, to the way the story line flowed, the snarkiness of some of the characters, yet the love for family they all show. As I described this story to my husband (because I was so excited, I needed to share) I described it as one would an action movie. You’ve got car chases, armored vehicles, buildings exploding, 60 ft tall creatures, people who can manifest anything from an axe to an exoskeleton suit. This story is pure action and adventure with paranormal elements as the basis. I couldn’t stop reading and I desperately need more.
*I received an ARC of this story and this is my honest and voluntary review.
I always await the next book in the series when it’s Ilona Andrews. They’re always so enjoyable. And always a wonderful blend of action, adventure and slightly sardonic romance.
It’s been a while since I read an Ilona Andrews book, but I enjoyed this one as well as I did the others. You’re reeled in from the very beginning and the mystery and action keep you engaged throughout. I love the characters and their interactions. Catalina is faced with some tough decisions but she keeps her head and does what needs to be done. I highly recommend this book and I’m looking forward to the next installment in the series.
Loved it and i’m ready for the next sequel.
Ilona Andrews never disappoints!
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Sarah –
I’m going to say it. I think this is the best book in the series so far – and I’ve loved every moment of every book. Catalina started to come into her own in Diamond Fire, but this is the first time we get to meet her as Head of House. And she’s fabulous. All grown up and in complete control of her powers, Catalina is a force to be reckoned with. I love that everyone in the book underestimates Catalina and House Baylor and I love how she proves her haters wrong.
This is one of the most action-packed stories in the series. It starts with a simple murder investigation that quickly spirals out of control. It’s the story of underdogs against a powerful secret organisation and it’s the story of Catalina learning who in her circle is an ally – and who is an enemy. Catalina is even more ruthless than Nevada and she leads with a cooler head. I love the way she uses her powers in combat situations and I love that she never backs down from a fight. By the end, Catalina’s choices end up opening up a whole new world of possibilities – and possible horrors – for House Baylor.
There is a hint of romance between Catalina and her unlikely ally, Alessandro, but Catalina’s focus is on her job and the survival of her family. As a siren, Catalina can’t trust that anyone’s emotions towards her are genuine, so she responds to Alessandro with caution, her walls firmly in place. I love her strength, her drive, and her focus – though I also wish Alessandro well in the next book.
It’s not quite a cliffhanger ending but I genuinely can’t wait to see what Catalina does with the new role she assumes at the end of this book. I almost wish I wasn’t reading this series book by book, pre-publication, because I can’t think of anything more enjoyable than spending an entire weekend binge reading the complete series back to back. This is turning into one of my all-time favourite Urban Fantasy series and I can’t wait for the next book.
Jordan –
I have read all the previous books in the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews and I definitely would recommend starting from the beginning to have a more solid foundation of the world of Primes and Houses, but if you planned to skip ahead, then starting at Sapphire Flames is probably the best jumping off point without having read books #1–3 because Sapphire Flames is a new trilogy that takes place several years after the end of Wild Fire (book #3), but takes place in the Hidden Legacy world.
I think Ilona Andrews excels at that slow burn kind of love story mixed in with just the right amount of action and adventure. When Catalina and Alessandro finally cross paths again, I was 100% here for this reunion. When these two are on the pages together, I am laser focused because I don’t want to miss a single word in their exchanges. It has been great to see how much Catalina has grown up and begun to come out of her shell and utilize her power. Honestly, I can’t help but get super invested whenever I pick up a book by Andrews, but especially when it comes to the Hidden Legacy series. Ilona Andrews’ Sapphire Flames is exactly the story I’ve been waiting for ever since Alessandro Sagredo and Catalina Baylor first graced the same pages in Wild Fire. Also, after reading Nevada and Rogan’s story in the first three books of the Hidden Legacy series, I was super pumped to finally get a chance to read Catalina’s story.
I don’t often get the urge to re-read a series, but every time I read a book in Andrews’ Hidden Legacy series I find myself reading all the previous books as well. I just am so in awe and curious about the world of Houston’s Houses and Primes. Plus, I have grown so attached to all these characters and I am looking forward to reading the next installment and what they’re all up to. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
5 stars for Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews!
Reviewers received a free copy of this book to read and review for Wicked Reads.
Review of audiobook version—another fabulous entry in the Hidden Legacy series!
As an enormously, magically gifted Prime, in a world where magical talent is the key to power and wealth, twenty-one-year-old Catalina Baylor has been head of the House of Baylor for three years now, after its former head, her older sister, Nevada Baylor, married Connor “Mad” Rogan and joined his house. Catalina simultaneously inherited leadership of the Baylors’ private investigation agency. Her father started the agency many years ago and, previously, Nevada had been in charge of it since the age of 17, after their father died and her mother, a retired military sharpshooter, lost her PI license. Catalina has an extremely rare power as a siren—she is possibly the only one left on earth. She has been forced to place a massive, psychic wall around her power since earliest childhood in order to protect herself and others from the way her power drives people mad with obsessive love for her. Only her own family are not affected by her power.
Catalina has never dared to date, but for the past three years, she has had a persistent crush on twenty-something, gorgeous, compelling, Italian Prime, Alessandro Sagredo, ever since he was tasked with testing her siren power in order for her to be officially certified with the status of Prime. Unfortunately, Catalina is positive that nothing can ever come of her feelings for Alessandro and, when shortly after her testing, he asked her for a date, she drove him away. She did it for his own safety, but also for her own. She is convinced that no man can ever authentically love her, because her siren power will inevitably induce a false, dangerously obsequious passion in him. She could not bear the thought of perhaps instinctively stimulating a bogus love in Alessandro if she got close to him, due to desperately wanting him to return her regard. She desires something real in a potential mate or nothing at all, especially from Alessandro.
Catalina has followed Alessandro on social media all this time, and he has followed her—though they have never communicated directly. She has learned thereby that he is a member of an ancient, noble, and exorbitantly wealthy family, and that he seems to do nothing with his life but flit around the world as a useless, international playboy. The photos he regularly posts on his social-media account indicate that he travels a lot to exotic locales, drives sinfully expensive cars, dates an endless string of stunningly beautiful women, and has had four broken engagements. Her sisters have teased her unmercifully for the past few years about the enduring infatuation with Alessandro that Catalina has not been able to suppress or conceal, but she has long been convinced that she will never see him again. He lives half a world away, and his elite lifestyle puts him completely out of her league. Until the day that, out of the blue, in the midst of a terrifyingly dangerous investigation into the murder of the mother and sister of a family friend, Alessandro begins showing up everywhere Catalina goes as she follows leads in the case. Not only that, he displays James Bond type mojo against various evil, magical villains who are endangering Catalina, which she finds shockingly out of character for the dilettante, care-for-nobody persona that Alessandro has always presented to the world.
I have been looking forward to this book ever since it was announced, and it is every bit as wonderful as I had hoped it would be, based on how very much I have enjoyed this entire series so far. Catalina and Alessandro are fabulous romantic protagonists, and extremely well matched as potential lovers and as positive, magical warriors, fighting the good fight to protect and defend “truth and justice.”
Note that this is the fourth book in the Hidden Legacy series. Though it is conceivably possible to read this book as a stand-alone novel, I don’t recommend it. Catalina appears in all three of the previous novels as an important subcharacter, and a lot of significant events take place in those books that impact major occurrences in this story. Also, if you have not read those books, many incidents in this book will be a spoiler for them.
Nevada, Catalina’s older sister, and her husband, Rogan, are the main protagonists for the first three books. They are out of town during this entire book. This is a useful fictional technique for two reasons. First, it keeps Nevada, who is the first-person narrator of the first three books, from overshadowing Catalina, who is the first-person narrator of this book, and will be for the next two books in this new trilogy. Secondly, Nevada and Rogan’s absence effectively “orphans” Catalina so that she cannot call on their considerable magical and financial resources to bail her and the rest of the Baylor family out of the consequences of the deadly foes who come at Catalina and her family from all sides due to the gigantic, evil-Primes conspiracy Catalina’s investigation has landed her in the big middle of. Fortunately for Catalina, the absence of support from Nevada and Rogan is more than adequately compensated for by Alessandro. He is not only a one-man army, he proves to be a fabulous partner in general as Catalina pursues her murder investigation, and the action-adventure scenes with the two of them are amazing. They are always edge-of-the-seat exciting, and also at times quite hilarious.
It is also terrific to have a chance to spend time with the rest of the Baylor family again, each with a unique and lovable personality, and each with their own magical power. We also meet a brand new subcharacter in this book in the form of an adorable little stray dog that Catalina rescues and christens, Shadow.
As is the case with the three-part romance between Nevada and Rogan, the arc of the romance of Catalina and Alessandro will spread out across three books. Though the murder mystery that is the core of the action-adventure plot in this first book of their love story is resolved by the end of this book, the romance plot itself will not be 100% resolved until the end of book three in this trilogy, which will be book 6 in the Hidden Legacy series as a whole.
Thus, like the initial trilogy, this is very much a “slow burn” trilogy. That lack of focus on sex, which is so very common in a typical, single-title, paranormal-romance novel, never bothers me in an Ilona Andrews series, because they do a better job than any other paranormal romance authors I’ve ever read in showing, on the page, that their romantic protagonists are soulmates. And they absolutely fulfill the ultimate goal of any romance novel which, also, few others routinely manage to achieve. They firmly convince us, their avid fans, that the lives of each of their sets of potential lovers, in this case, Catalina and Alessandro, will be forever blighted if they do not ultimately achieve a happily ever after.
I experienced this novel in audiobook form. Emily Rankin is the narrator. I had never listened to any book performed by her before and was delightfully surprised at her skill. It is crucial that a narrator not simply read a book, but effectively act out all the parts, believably sounding like people of both genders and all ages, and offering authentic regional and national accents. Ms. Rankin excels at all of these dramatic skills.
In addition, since a performed novel is experienced in every detail much more slowly than one can read it on the page silently, this tends to spotlight every possible flaw in a given story. I am happy to report that, as always, there are no flaws of any kind to be found in this or any other Ilona Andrews novel I’ve ever read or heard performed. For that reason, this is a recording I know that I will listen to again, many, many times in the future.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 5 stars
Romantic Hero: 5 stars
Subcharacters: 5 stars
Romance Plot: 5 stars
Murder-Mystery Plot: 5 stars
Action-Adventure Plot: 5 stars
Urban-Fantasy World Building: 5 stars
Writing: 5 stars
Audiobook Narration: 5 stars
Overall: 5 stars
Ilona Andrews never disappoints me. I loved this book and I can’t wait for the next one!
I stan for anything Ilona Andrews writes!
Wonderful start to a new trilogy in the Baylor family world of Houston magic.