Diamond Fire: A Hidden Legacy Novella Mass Market Paperback – Import, 6 November 2018

Book number four of a six book and one novella (seven books total) paranormal romance fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound novella MMPB published by Avon in 2018 that I just bought new from Amazon. I have the other three books in the series and will read those soon.Totally cool series for me. This makes the fourth series that I have read from Ilona Andrews, a husband and wife writing team based here in Texas. The Innkeeper, Kate Daniels, and The Edge are the other series of books.The Hidden Legacy Universe is a complex place. The Osiris serum that induced magical powers in humans was released to the general public in 1863 and the world was never the same. The serum was banned after a while but the world was irreparably changed. Families starting breeding children for strength in magical powers with breathtaking results. Magic users are segregated into five ranks: Minor, Average, Notable, Significant, and Prime. The Prime families operate mostly outside the law since they are so powerful and incredibly dangerous.Nevada Baylor runs a very small detective agency in Houston, Texas ( ! ) that usually works on scammers and divorce cases. She is a 25 year old hidden Prime Truthseeker, she can unerringly tell lies from truths and can sometimes force people to emit truths. Her mother and father started the detective agency but there is a huge mortgage to a Prime Family that funded the effort to try to save her father from cancer. The effort failed and left them with a huge mortgage when Nevada was 17.Connor "Mad" Rogan is a Prime Telekinetic and a noted combat veteran, famous and feared for leveling a village in the Mexican-Belize war. He is a billionaire with a private army and wants Nevada Baylor very badly. So badly that he bought all of the property around the Baylor household in a one mile radius so he can protect Nevada and her family.Nevada and Connor's first meeting was when he kidnapped her and chained her to the floor in his house basement. Things have gotten better since then. Mostly. Now they are getting married but Nevada does not know that Connor severely understated the size of his extended family and their general dysfunctionality, except for five year old Mia who is a Prime Telekinetic.My rating: 5 out of 5 stars (I am starting to think 6 stars)

Roh, comme j’étais impatiente de me plonger dans cette histoire. Hidden Legacy est une série que j’aime beaucoup et j’étais plus que ravie quand les auteurs ont annoncé plus de romans. Et que dire de plus quand nous nous concentrons cette fois sur Catalina ?Le mariage de Nevada et Connor approche et vous vous doutez déjà que ce ne sera pas de tout repos, ça non ! En plus de devoir organiser le mariage avec sa sœur, Catalina va aussi devoir gérer tous les problèmes à côté quand elle est engagée par la mère de Mad Rogan pour retrouver une tiare disparue.Comment résister à ce roman ? Parce qu’une fois de plus j’ai été vraiment ravie de retrouver tous les personnages ! C’était vraiment très sympa de suivre un autre personnage tel que Catalina, de voir ce qu’elle ressentait face aux changements de sa vie en tant que prime et aussi la façon dont elle gère ses pouvoirs. C’est une jeune femme discrète et sensible et sa vie est complètement chamboulée. J’ai eu plusieurs fois beaucoup de peine pour elle et j’espère qu’elle arrivera à évoluer par la suite.Une histoire transitoire parfaite pour les fans de la série et qui nous fera patienter jusqu’au prochain !

I’m so glad Andrews released a novella for Rogan and Nevada’s wedding and making Catalina our main heroine. It’s a nice bridge to Catalina’s trilogy, the first book, Sapphire Flames which is slated for this summer. I normally don’t like spin-offs, but I was totally digging Catalina’s POV. Diamond Fire clocks out at over 160 pages, longer than usual when it comes to novellas, but this is ILONA ANDREWS, nothing is ever too long. More words equal happy readers.I don’t read novellas often. I find, most of the time, that they lacked character development, world building, plot or a combination of all three. However, that wasn’t the case with Diamond Fire. Diamond Fire excelled in all three aspect. I’ve always enjoyed Nevada’s interaction with her family and thought her sisters were great. Catalina turned out to be just as capable and interesting of a female lead as Nevada, whereas Nevada was like a firecracker, Catalina was an introvert that kept everyone at arm’s length, but for an understandable reason. Catalina is a Siren Prime, she can get people to do anything she say. However, Catalina spent most of her life suppressing her abilities; afraid she’d lose control and hurt someone. I loved getting to know more about Catalina, reading about her thoughts, feelings and seeing how she interacted with people around her. And if Diamond Fire is any indication of how Catalina’s series is going to be, I’m all for it!We also met many of Rogan’s extended family and boy, were they a crazy-dysfunctional bunch. Again, there was only so much an author can squeeze into a novella, so I was amazed at how well fleshed out everyone was…even five-year-old Mia, whom I hope to see again in future books…she’s adorable! While I liked learning about all the family members, I especially liked learning the backstory/history of Rogan’s parents. Rogan’s personality and why he does the things he does can all be, in some way traced back to the type of parents he had. And his parents were strong-willed and powerful. When they wanted something, they got it. Does that sound like another couple we know?I really enjoyed Diamond Fire. It was fun and had a solid mystery that had a clear beginning, middle and end. Despite the plot of a missing heirloom being simple and straightforward, Andrews created complexity with layers of family secrets and weaved thread of subplots to reinforce one another. I can’t wait to read Sapphire Flames later this year, super excited that we’ll see more of the Baylor family!

OK. This Chica is not one of my favorite. NOT at all. Her talent is a bit too smarmy and she is rather timid bordering on pathetic. This is the first in this series that I had to force myself to read.It is told from the POV of Catalina. She is young and unsure And it shows. She is powerful but it is a rather boring superpower to me..and it IS boring. Nevada is boring too but Rogan makes her powers sing and she has some action skills.I guess it is like mashed potatoes or grits...alone, they are boring but add some gravy or cheese and they can become desired foods..add some type of protein and it's even better.The mind stuff is boring to the real skinny. I guess it is because I have only one or 2 deep, dark secrets and they are not really mine just stuff I am holding tight to for others so the idea of anyone forcing me to reveal those secrets is a "so what?"I love ruthless, brutal honesty..no subterfuge or white lies.I think my apathy towards Catalina has to do with her bleeding heart kind of goody/goody. At this point it is a dangerous cliche.Feel sorry or hold back and you will face the evil another day, dummy.I love Rogan because he did not waste time on dropping a building on a killer back in the day. YAAAAS..git er done Rogan.This is important because to me?, it is very frustrating when these so called super heroes leave evil guys around to harm others another day..like they are aware that they need to keep the evil going to stay relevant.This of course means in my book that they are just as evil as the person they foil. Cuz always the evil they allow to continue will harm someone else in the future and technically, the new evil would never have occurred if the superhero at finished the job. Nevada has the same problem too which is annoying but Cat...well.Wait.... About THIS book..It is short and covers 1 event..Nevada only makes a cameo as a disturbingly out of character self centered , quasi bridezilla.Same with Arabella. and Bern.brash, a few words..we are served to the inner mind of Cat the timid Virgin. WhoVirginia. Fall in love lest her love get her killed plus its unfair to make others love you (said no obsessed human ever)...but Cst (hon) if they are going to tear you apart that is not love. That is obsession and is just across the border between love and hate in the liminal space.So a wedding, a few plots, kiddy antics, too much not happening..no real action..almost all passive. I knew who stole the tiara from about the time it was discovered missing.I knew who the snake was..the rest of the Ramirez secrets..who cares..was Ruthless Rogan EVER gonna leave loot to all those parasites?Predictable. Even cute discoveries Disgustingly cute. This was a lazy novel. We do not get plots within plots or introduction to new magics.. really..just a drive by...we get only a few revelations about Rogans family and to me they also fall short..i am wondering with all the magic why Rogans mom is in a wheelchair and why in the world we care in any way , shape and form about any of thos extended clan.It would have been funnier and gotten a huge WHOOP if that one person (SPOILER SORT OF) had been the love child of 2 siblings..borrowing from GOT. HeheThat part would have been worth a reread and guffaws EACH TIME!!!This book imo needed elevation ..had it gone on much longer, my eyes might have permanently crossed.And Arrosa..Nobody got magic to fix what ails her? She can't animate herself?I am wondering why Cat is super innocent and goody and how this EVER can become a stand alone heroinr..Kate Daniel's she is not. I am wondering why Nevada (spoiler) did not address the arrest at the end and get all the info she needed for that other issue.I was disappointed Grandma T was not working the crowd in some way during the wedding. (I like her ballsy, evil a..)..and for the record jail is always a "to be continued move"Where was the excitement/adventure in this? None.I am about to read the next one..it is a tall order to move on from interesting, strong characters and try to give sidekicks center stage.This novella did not work for me. I hope the fluff and clutter in Cat's brain stops..I rarely read teen novels and though she is supposed to be grown from my own POV Cat has a mind similar to my own..around age 11.3.5 stars upgraded to 4 cuz I love the series but please..if we are going to get an excerpt at least let it entice us to WANT to read about the Main character.

Diamond Fire was such a great novella - After reading this I'm really looking forward to Catalina's books releasing, can't wait to find out more about her and her magic.Thank goodness for the Ramirez Family Tree at the start, it helped me wrap my head around some of the many characters mentioned in this story. Rogan does have a rather large family, with quite a few jealous and spiteful relatives. Catalina is tasked with the job of discovering who in the family is trying to ruin Nevada and Rogan's wedding.The story in this novella wraps up really well, I do wonder what is going to happen with the Alessandro situation in the next book. Surely we are going to see lots more of him!!