Review: Sapphire Flames

Sapphire Flames by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

4.5 Stars

Authors Ilona Andrews have come up with a winning formula in their Hidden Legacy series, which is about the Baylor family and a magical world set largely in a alternate-world Houston metropolitan area, where powerful families are represented as Houses. The first three novels of this series focused on magical Truthseeker detective Nevada Baylor, oldest daughter of a matriarchal family, led by her engineer, Grandma Frida, and military sharpshooter mom, Penelope. Sisters Catalina and Arabella, along with their cousins Bern and Leon, round out the Baylor family. Nevada has, over the course of the first three books, managed to keep things moving forward to form House Baylor. Although Sapphire Flames can be read as separate from the earlier books in the series, I won't spoil any more of the events from those books, other than to say we only really started to get to know Catalina as a character in a recent novella, Diamond Fire. (All the books in this series toy with the "hot/heat" concept in their titles and they are worth a read because they are such fun.) Having moved forward three years from the events of Diamond Fire we find that Catalina is now the Head of House Baylor (and series readers know why). Catalina's magical abilities, termed Siren abilities at the time House Baylor formed, have not, until now, been shown off in full fashion. And of course, in keeping with the Baylor Detective Agency tradition, she'll be showing them off after taking a case everyone told her to avoid. Everyone including the mysterious Alessandro Sagredo, the young Italian Count Antistasi Prime (in this world magical power is rated Prime, Significant, etc.) who helped certify her as one of the three Primes of House Baylor when it was founded. The case involves the murder of some of the family of Runa Etterson, the young Prime Venenata who saved the day at Nevada's wedding by purging poison from the food served at her reception. Catalina feels for Runa's terrible loss and wants to help her, and her suicidal younger brother Ragnar, but the timing is terrible. House Baylor's three years of protection as a new house are about to run out, along with their insurance coverage, and the added shield of the powerful House Rogan. (Nevada, her husband, and mother-in-law are off in Spain while the events of this novel unfold.) Catalina wants her House to stand on its own merits, but she also wants to help seek justice for a young woman that is sure to become a powerful ally in later books. Just as Nevada did with animal mage Cornelius and his daughter Matilda, Catalina and the Baylor family risk sheltering Runa and Ragnar and hunting down the parties that harmed their mother and sister. The stakes are high but two fateful events (or an event and a promise) seem bound to change the future course of Catalina's life and the stature of House Baylor.

While the plot of these novels is formulaic, it's a truly enjoyable formula in these authors' hands. Catalina is beautiful, smart, compassionate and loyal. Alessandro is handsome, dashing, and, of course, deeply troubled by something that we're sure to get to the bottom of by the end of Catalina's trilogy. The warm camaraderie of the Baylor family and Runa's easy integration into their safe haven are a pleasure to read. These authors can write about family and sibling relationships the whole long day and always manage to make it fresh, real, and delightful without being twee.

If you are looking for a Labor Day weekend beach read to close out your summer, be sure to pre-order the novel, which releases August 27. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Ilona Andrews before and are looking for a light and diverting series, just ignore the overwrought romance-style covers of the Hidden Legacy books. (Oh, Avon, those covers! Ugh!) Or get them on an e-reader, so no one will judge you. Like everything this husband and wife team write, you're in for a great time.

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