Burn for Me

This is just hilariously fun and enjoyable.

Re-Read Review:

Kindle edition (1 May 2017) ✮✮✮✮✮

It'd been 2.5 years since reading this book and I knew I'd need a re-read refresher before jumping into book 2, [b:White Hot|22303684|White Hot (Hidden Legacy, #2)|Ilona Andrews|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477567905s/22303684.jpg|41692791], due out 30 May 2017. As you'd imagine, this go'round I had no trouble getting into the story. It was great to reacquaint myself with Nevada and her family, who run the Baylor Investigative Agency, as well as Connor "Mad" Rogan, one of my favorite characters created by IA.

Montgomery International Investigations (MII) has owned Baylor for five years, yet this is the first time they've given the small family firm an assignment - find and deliver Adam Pierce to his family, alive. Unfortunately, the assignment is to apprehend a Prime pyrokinetic something they're not really equipped to handle. Augustine Montgomery makes it clear that refusal means losing their company, which is the family's livelihood.

In the process of trying to wrangle up the suspect, Nevada meets Connor "Mad" Rogan, a Prime with off-the-charts power who earned his nickname in past military conflicts. He's on the hunt for Gavin Waller, his cousin who was also implicated in the arson. Against her better judgement, but knowing she could use the help, Nevada accepts Rogan's offer to work together.

He wasn't a tiger. He was a dragon, regal and deadly, and he was coming for me.

The connection between the two sets off sparks from the start and by the end you just know the best is yet to come. Though very different, the two work very well together. They'll have to if they want to not only capture the two they're hunting, but also save the city from the dangers to come.

Fans of Ilona Andrews' other series will love this one, too. It's a kind of UF + romance mix that works extremely well.

First Read Review:

Paperback edition (23 Nov 2014) ✮✮✮✮½

What a fun read! I so love Ilona and Gordon's writing. This Avon release is a touch hotter (pardon the pun) than their others, but ya won't hear me complaining. It took me a bit to get seriously absorbed in Nevada's world, but once I did I didn't want to leave. I'm really looking forward to the next book.

Re-read May 2017

I read this to refresh my brain before the next book comes out, which is happening in just a few hours... hooray!

I don't know why I didn't write a review of this the first time around. What a slacker I am!

Maybe because there isn't much to say besides: wow. I'm fascinated. Look, first books in a new series are always a little bulky, because they have a world to set up and a whole book of new characters to introduce. This one didn't really feel bulky to me. The book moved at a great clip, and I was fascinated from start to finish.

Rogan is such a powerhouse. I was worried about his introduction - it is hard to get over him torturing the heroine - but I felt like, by the end, I had a better picture of who he is. To some degree, it seems the monster is a mask (note that I said to some degree - there's definitely a more-than-healthy dose of psycho in there, but unlike Nevada, I don't feel like he doesn't care about anything or anyone). I feel like the reader probably has a better idea of who he is than Nevada... she doesn't give him enough credit for helping. Then again, she was the person who was tortured, so that's justifiably hard to get over.

He's an interesting hero, because he isn't - and will never be - a good guy. I think the way his power functions is a good clue to him -

in the epilogue, he talks about how in the ascent, there is nothing. No emotion, no joy, no fear, no people, just peace. I'm guessing that to a large degree, this has ... somewhat polluted his life. It took a tremendous burst of emotion and will for Nevada to reach him in his ascent. And similarly, in his life I think it takes something tremendous to break through this fog of antipathy that he surrounds himself with.

It's a dangerous line to walk - we're left wondering how much he really doesn't care (

like when he threatens to make Nevada an orphan... because her mom was trying to protect her

), or is he just pretending to be a super hardass?

Some things were borderline unforgivable. The torture (I don't feel like that's too spoilery, because it is literally Rogan and Nevada's first meeting), the threats,

putting Bern in the middle of the city in order to push Nevada

... it is a dangerous line to walk. Can Rogan be reached, really?

And Nevada! She's amazing, but I worry for her. She's like ... 25 going on 50. Way too much weight on her shoulders, and now her secret is out... it will change her life. Plus, she's clearly terrified of Rogan - which is fair - and is working pretty hard to push him away... but I can't help but feel like, with the cat out of the bag, she's going to need a powerful ally. Her family is too easy to manipulate - they don't have the money/power to protect themselves.

All this plus a really fantastic secondary cast, and a great plot (both this book, and what seems to be the overall plot of the series) that made me unable to put the book down, even in a re-read, means this series will likely land on my favorites shelf.

Not that I expected less from Ilona Andrews. :)

Re-read 2 July 2017

Hey man, I finished

Wildfire and wasn't ready to be done, so series re-read needed to happen.

The fabulous thing about IA is how many additional details you pick out on re-read... as the plot has moved further, in later books, you can see the seeds of that in the first book, and that's just so much fun.

In this particular re-read, my brain was fixated on what inhuman monsters most Primes are. How they view themselves as a race set above everyone else... the rest of us are just peons, really. Pawns. Expendable. And it is true for Rogan too, in many ways... I mean, really, his first interaction with Nevada is so appalling that I'm frankly surprised with myself for liking him at all. So I wondered why.

I think it is because Rogan, at least, knows what he is. Montgomery is upset when Nevada tells him that he's a terrible person, because Montgomery tries to fool himself. But anytime Nevada says something similar to Rogan, he just nods. That kind of frank ability to see yourself, and to understand that you'll do any ruthless thing you need to do to hit your goal, is interesting.

It would be off-putting, though, if it wasn't balanced by a protective streak. None of the other Primes show that - Augustine Montgomery doesn't care that he sentenced Nevada (and likely her whole family) to death; Adam Pierce certainly gives no fucks. And pretty much no one else does either. Lenora Jordan

sort of does, but you really get the impression that she doesn't actually care about

people - she cares about order. She's basically like a giant neat freak. She doesn't put shit away because she's worried it will get broken. She puts shit away because it has a proper place where it belongs, and that's where it will be dammit.

For Rogan, I think the world is sort of ... split into two categories: Mine and Not Mine. While he tries to avoid civilian casualties, at the end of the day, he's going to do whatever he needs to do - no matter how horrible - to take care of everything in the Mine category. In the beginning, Gavin was in the Mine category, and Nevada was not... and that's why she ends up chained in a basement. But it doesn't take long for her to land in his Mine category - she catches his interest immediately, but I'd guess she lands in "Mine" when she surprises him with her competence while they are fighting for the second piece. From then on, he's fiercely protective. Though he masks it with a lot of bullshit, he clearly does care very much about everything that is his, from his family to his people/employees. He doesn't sacrifice them after running some risk/gain analysis... which, frankly, I feel like every other Prime probably does. People are pawns. Everyone who isn't family is expendable.

I don't know. I thought it was interesting, and it's where my head is at after this re-read, so I decided to share.

Re-read Nov 2018

Re-reading after the disappointing Diamond Fire, with the transition to Catalina and the belitting of R/N ... because I love them and I wanted to remind myself of who they are. Nevada, the serious, determined, practical, compassionate woman who above all takes care of her family. Rogan, the somewhat psychopathic badass who would never just shrug off this war with the cabal and let someone else handle people who have brought so much harm to him and his people.

I love them. *sigh*

Loved the book, hated the audiobook narrator.

The plot and relationships are fascinating. I love our protagonist. I'm not quite sure if I ship the main couple, but I'm intrigued by them.

I don't know why I didn't read this book earlier. After all, I liked the series about Kate Daniels. But I am very glad that I finally did it, because it is a really good book.

This pair of authors can create a truly fascinating and unique world for their stories. And this is also the case this time. Of course, I see some similarities to the world in the Kate Daniels series, but it's also something completely new and unlike any other. Andrews are also great at introducing readers to this new and complex system with real ease. You won't find long and boring descriptions of mythology here, yet you will quickly and painlessly understand the rules governing this new world.

The plotline is also interesting. And as is the case with most of the stories in the Kate Daniels series, the plot is very closely related to the world in which it is set. It can only happen in this world and allows us to understand it much better. And it is a really suspenseful story.

I also liked the main characters. The strength of their characters leads to a constant clash of personalities. And that guarantees really good dialogues. Besides, it's just easy to like them. Nevada is a really strong woman, even if in my opinion too stubborn at times for her own good.

As expected, the love thread was divided between this and the next books. Personally, I would prefer everything to happen in this book. But that's a matter of personal preference. And so, more than I expected happened in this book.

I saw that there are two more books in this series with these pair of main characters, and I am now very eager to read them as soon as possible. Which I will probably do. What about the other books, we'll see. I also think that one of the reasons I haven't read this book before is because of its ugly cover. It doesn't look like something I could like.

Strong heroine