Review: Diamond Fire by Ilona Andrews

Diamond Fire
(Hidden Legacy #3.5)
Ilona Andrews
Release: November 3, 2018
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Nevada Frida Baylor and Connor Ander Rogan cordially invite you to join their wedding celebration. Summoning, weather manipulation, and other magical activities strictly forbidden.

Catalina Baylor is looking forward to wearing her maid of honor dress and watching her older sister walk down the aisle. Then the wedding planner gets escorted off the premises, the bride’s priceless tiara disappears, and Rogan's extensive family overruns his mother’s home. Someone is cheating, someone is lying, and someone is plotting murder.

To make this wedding happen, Catalina will have to do the thing she fears most: use her magic. But she’s a Baylor and there’s nothing she wouldn't do for her sister's happiness. Nevada will have her fairy tale wedding, even if Catalina has to tear the mansion apart brick by brick to get it done. 

Review:

Words cannot express how happy I am to have more Hidden Legacy. I love this world so much! Diamond Fire is set just after the end of Wildfire and transitions away from Nevada's POV, which we see in the prologue, to her younger sister's.

The world looks slightly different when seen through Catalina's eyes. Like Nevada, she's been taught to hide her powers but Catalina's even more guarded. She's wary of attention and fears forming attachments to anyone outside her family. It will be interesting to see her having an adult relationship, though that's not happening here. Catalina's only eighteen at this point and there's going to be a time jump to her first full length novel.

What we do get is the story of how Catalina learns to accept her magic over the course of her first big case. I'm looking forward to seeing how far she's come by the time we get her next book. I also love the rest of the younger Baylors and can't wait to see more from all of them. It looks like Rogan's mother may stick around as well. She's such an interesting combination of formidable and unassuming. Nevada doesn't appear much in the story but I didn't really miss her. Rogan shows up a few times, but I think the shift in focus to the younger characters was quite successful. So what I'm saying is I love them all and I need the next book like now!

My only complaint about Diamond Fire is that it ends abruptly and wraps up the mystery a little too easily. That's kind of to be expected with the novella length though. There are also some descriptions of characters' powers where I would have liked more explanation, but I'm thinking that will come in later books.

If you haven't read the Hidden Legacy series, I think you could start here and continue with Catalina's story. There are some spoilers for the first three books, though. But I don't know why you'd want to do that. This series is so good!

    1/2

4 1/2  stars

Our reviews of other books in this series:
Burn For Me (Hidden Legacy #1)
White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2)
Wildfire (Hidden Legacy #3)

Blog Tour Review: Sightwitch by Susan Dennard

Sightwitch
(The Witchlands #2.5)
Susan Dennard
Release: February 13, 2018
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Before Safi and Iseult battled a Bloodwitch...
Before Merik returned from the dead…

Ryber Fortiza was a Sightwitch Sister at a secluded convent, waiting to be called by her goddess into the depths of the mountain. There she would receive the gift of foretelling. But when that call never comes, Ryber finds herself the only Sister without the Sight.

Years pass and Ryber’s misfit pain becomes a dull ache, until one day, Sisters who already possess the Sight are summoned into the mountain, never to return. Soon enough, Ryber is the only Sister left. Now, it is up to her to save her Sisters, though she does not have the Sight―and though she does not know what might await her inside the mountain.

On her journey underground, she encounters a young captain named Kullen Ikray, who has no memory of who he is or how he got there. Together, the two journey ever deeper in search of answers, their road filled with horrors, and what they find at the end of that road will alter the fate of the Witchlands forever.

Review:

Going in, you should know that Sightwitch is a little different from the other books in the Witchlands series. In fact, I like to think of it as an actual artifact from that world. In Windwitch, Merik visits Kullen's apartment:

Merik's attention snagged on one spine now, a familiar title he'd seen Kullen reading on the Jana only hours before his death.
The True Tale of the Twelve Palladins
Merik's breath caught. He yanked it off the table in a rasp of leather, a puff of dust. He peeled back the cover. . .
Different copy. He exhaled - hard. This addition had a torn first page; the one on the Jana had been smooth.

And when you peel back the jacket on Sightwitch:

*gasp* And the first page tells us that "Sightwitch diaries have a way of changing, depending on who reads them." So while most of the book is Ryber's journal, we also have pieces of Erydice's, a Sightwitch who lived a thousand years earlier. The magic (or perhaps the goddess if you ask a Sightwitch) tells us everything we need to know, even though it's more than Ryber intended to tell. Within those journals are maps and sketches and other bits that Ryber collected that help tell the story.

 

My only real criticism is that I wish I could tell which parts Ryber added, like with whatever the Witchlands equivalent of tape or paperclips would be at the corners to give more of a scrapbook feel. I feel like the pages are too clean, though there instances where Ryber's made notes in the margins, which I love.

As readers we learn the history of the Witchlands along with Ryber and her friend Tanzi, including the origins of their magic and the story behind the construction of the underground city in Windwitch. I found those stories just as fascinating as Ryber and Erydice's own. It's so compelling, I read it more or less in one sitting. (It was a snow day, so I did have to pause for some kid-related trips to the kitchen.)

Sightwitch is set a year before Truthwitch, so it is technically a prequel, but I agree with the decision to call it book 2.5. Learning the world's mythology is so much more meaningful when you're already invested. I also think it would be frustrating to go from this story to Truthwitch where Ryber and Kullen play such small parts in the story. And I have so many theories about where the series is headed now that I know what the endgame is. At least, I think I do. I even have a (very spoilery) idea about the title of book four.

I've just been fascinated by the entire Witchlands series. I'm happy that I read Windwitch and Sightwitch together though, because I feel like there's so much going on in all of these books. If you want to refresh your memory but don't have time for a reread, Susan Dennard has done these really fun gif recaps of both of the previous books, Truthwitch and Windwitch. Even if you don't need a refresher, I highly recommend them.

    

4.5  stars

My posts about other books in this series:
Truthwitch

About the Author

I’ve come a long way from small-town Georgia. Working in marine biology, I got to travel the world—six out of seven continents, to be exact (I’ll get to you yet, Asia!)—before I settled down as a full-time novelist and writing instructor.

I’m the author of the Something Strange and Deadly series as well as the New York Times bestselling Witchlands books, Truthwitch and Windwitch, and if I’m not writing, then I’m busy slaying darkspawn or earning bruises at the dojo.

I live in the Midwestern US with my French husband, two spoiled dogs, and two grouchy cats. Learn more about me and my cookie-addiction on the blog, newsletter, twitter, instagram, or pinterest.

Audiobook Review: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

The Assassin's Blade
(Throne of Glass #0.1 - 0.5)
Author: Sarah J. Maas
Narrator: Elizabeth Evans
Release: March 4, 2014
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Audible

Contains all five novellas.

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

Audiobook Review: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. M

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Recommended for fans of: origin stories, young love, and sassy teenage assassins

  

Really Short Reviews: Audios of Beautiful Bastard Novellas

I've been listening to the Beautiful Bastard series on audio and I must admit, this series is turning around all my previous feelings about contemporary erotic romance. I'm reviewing the full-length books as I listen to them and I'm reviewing the novellas here, in our Really Short Reviews format. 

Have you started this series yet?

Beautiful Bitch

(Beautiful Bastard #1.5)

Author: Christina Lauren
Narrator: Grace Grant, Kirby Heybourne

Release: July 9, 2013

Goodreads Amazon
Audible

Really Short Review: 
This novella did not do it for me like the full length book that preceded it. I gave Beautiful Bastard a solid four star review, but this one falls a little flat for me. The focus here is a much-needed vacation that Bennett and Chloe decide to take but the focus is more on the sweet side of their relationship than their panty ripping sex. As much as I enjoyed all of the sweetness, I still could have used more of the hotness and tension that makes their relationship so enjoyable. The other drawback here was the addition of Kirby Heybourne as the voice for Bennett. Not only was this completely unnecessary, but it just plain didn't work. Kirby's voice is NOT EVEN CLOSE to how I would have imagined Bennett sounding. His voice is smooth and "everyday guy", not Bennett worthy at all. It should be noted that clearly I wasn't the only one who felt this way because in later novellas Kirby is replaced by another narrator who does a MUCH better job. This novella is a must listen, as it furthers the series and the relationship of these two, but I'd recommend reading it in print or in ebook format before starting the next full-length book in the series.

 1/2

2.5 / 5 stars

Beautiful Bombshell
(Beautiful Bastard #2.5)
Author: Christina Lauren
Narrator: Jonathan Cole, Sebastian York
Release: September 3, 2013
Goodreads Amazon
Audible

Really Short Review: 
Remember my issues with that first novella? My lackluster review? WELL. This second novella is on the completely opposite end of the spectrum. Not only was Beautiful Bombshell spectacular, it was actually my favorite book in the Beautiful Bastard series so far! I wish this somehow could have been made into a full-length novel, but at 160 pages it is a decent length for what it is. Beautiful Bombshell is dually narrated by Bennett and Max. In this one the boys travel to Vegas for Bennett's bachelor party but - surprise! - the ladies are secretly there too! Feisty, hot, intense, romantic, surprising sex ensues! Fun for everyone! The best thing about this novella? That male narrator for Bennett Ryan whom I did not enjoy has been replaced by perhaps the sexiest voice ever. Bennett's voice here is deep. Extremely deep. And a bit gravelly and smooth at the same time. Whoever was in charge of finding this guy gets a big BRAVO from me. And Jonathan Cole is back with his sexy British accent, of course. The other great thing about this novella? Seeing how both men adore their women so damn much. They genuinely see themselves as unbelievably lucky to be with them and they melted my hearts. Beautiful Bombshell was absolutely delightful, super super dirty, and completely wonderful. I might have to go back and listen to this one again.

  

5 / 5 stars