White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) by Ilona Andrews-Review and Book Tour
WHITE HOT
Hidden Legacy #2
by Ilona Andrews
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Genre: adult, contemporary, paranormal, romance
AMAZON | AMAZON . ca |B & N | GOOGLE | ITUNES | KOBO
ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 30, 2017
Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she’s used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family’s detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor “Mad” Rogan.
Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice
•••••••••••
Barb’s Review:
White Hot by Ilona Andrews is the 2nd book in their Hidden Legacy series. I am a big fan of the Ilona Andrews duo (Ilona & Gordon), having read almost all of their books. I love the Kate Daniels series, and when I read the first book, Burn for Me, in this series, I was hooked. White Hot is equally as good, and as I started this book, I could not stop reading, it was that great. As always with anything that Andrews writes, I always want to savior it, but end up reading it non-stop; which does force me to go back and re-read it again. Ok, now for my review.
Nevada Baylor and Connor “Mad”Rogan are once again our heroes. Nevada has not heard from Rogan for months, and despite her family pressuring her to get him to marry her (He is head of his own house as a Prime, and wealthy), she ignores them and continues to run her PI firm. She is offered a case from Cornelius (a member of another house) to find out who murdered his wife, and despite her concerns, she does accept. This will bring Mad Rogan back into her life, as he is also interested in who was involved in the murders of multiple people. Mad suspects a few houses are behind the murders, and will join hands with Nevada once again to stop conflict between houses, which could cause massive destruction.
Nevada has the ability to read people and tell if they lie or tell the truth. She also has learned other amazing abilities, such as forcing someone to answer her questions truthgully; along the way we do learn more about her growing magical powers. Mad is ultra powerful, and feared by everyone, except Nevada, who really does love him. I totally adore them together. They are strong, smart, wild, crazy, magically enhanced and together they mindboggling powerful.
The story line with the Prime houses, the magic, the plots to destroy are a bit complicated, but nevertheless you remained engrossed and unable to let the story go. The secondary characters, especially Nevada’s family (her sisters, mother, grandmother, cousin, etc), Cornelius (his ability to use animals to help), and Augustine are simply amazing. Even the villains are powerful and bad. I do not want to give out spoilers, other than to say how great this series is, and how wonderfully it was written by the Andrews duo. White Hot had a bit of everything; suspense, danger, tension, non-stop action, wild battles, magic, thrilling and scary moments, as well some humor along the way. Most of all, the two lead characters, Nevada and Mad, are two of the best I have read; their chemistry was totally white hot when they were together. Sizzling….
I loved every moment of this book, and can’t wait for the next. However, that being said, it does grieve me that this series ends with the next book. Darn, I want to revisit and savor Nevada and Mad in more books. If you love Urban Fantasy, then you should be reading this series. It is not a standalone, so you need to start with the first book, Burn for Me, then you can savior White Hot. If you have not read Ilona Andrews, you need to start now. They are simply great.
His face contorted with raw pain and grief. I was trying so hard not to cry. “I love her determination. I love her spirit. I’m proud to have been her husband. And now she’s dead. Someone took this wonderful—this truly beautiful—human being and turned her into a corpse. I saw her on the morgue table. She’s just . . . cold and lifeless as if she never was. Everything is gone except for our daughter and my memories. I have to strive to be the man she thought I was. When my daughter grows up, she’ll ask me why her mother was murdered and I’ll have to answer her. I have to account for my actions. I want to tell her that I found those responsible and I made sure they wouldn’t hurt anyone else.”
He brushed moisture from his eyes with a furious swipe of his hand. “Nobody else will do this. Her family doesn’t have the means, my family doesn’t care, and her employer might have murdered her. There is only me. Will you help me? Please.”
He fell silent. He was sitting here asking for my help and I couldn’t throw him out of my office. I just couldn’t. I remembered when Mom sold our house to pay for Dad’s bills. I remembered when we mortgaged the business and kept it from him, because it would’ve killed him faster than any disease. If someone I loved was murdered, I would do the same thing Cornelius did. He had nowhere to turn. If I slammed the door in his face now, I wouldn’t be able to look my reflection in the eye.
I reached into the top drawer of my desk and took out the blue new-client folder. I opened it so it faced him, placed it on the table, and wrote $50,000 in the margins on the front. “This is my retainer. This stays with the agency no matter what happens. It’s nonnegotiable.”
I used my pen to circle the bottom number on the right side. “These are our rates. This job is likely to be high-risk, so the top rate right here will apply. As you can see, it’s a daily and not hourly rate. Depending on the situation, I may have to charge you hazard pay or additional expenses. The retainer acts like a deductible. Once the amount billed to you exceeds it, you will make additional payments in installments of $10,000. After we’re done here, you may want to go to the bank and withdraw at least $20,000 in cash. We may have to bribe people . . .”
“Thank you.”
“This is a bad idea. Please reconsider.”
He shook his head. “No.”
I walked him through the privacy policy and had him sign all of the waivers. “What happens once we find whoever is responsible?”
“I’ll take care of things from there.”
“Meaning you’ll kill your wife’s murderer.”
“It’s the way Houses handle things,” Cornelius said.
“Well, I’m not a House. I’m a person with a family, and I respect and try to obey the laws of this country. I won’t hesitate to defend you or myself, but I won’t condone murder.”
“Understood,” Cornelius said. “How do we start?”
“I need to be able to speak to Matthias Forsberg. I need face-to-face time so I can ask him some questions. I can make the necessary calls tomorrow, but he’ll refuse to see me.”
“You don’t have the social status and you work for his competitor.” Cornelius nodded. “Matthias is an active participant in the Assembly. He never misses a session. Tomorrow happens to be December 15th. The session starts at 9:00 a.m.”
“I don’t have admission to the Assembly.” The Assembly was an unofficial executive body that governed the magic users at state and national levels. The Texas State Assembly met in Houston. A family had to have at least two Prime-caliber magic users in three generations to be considered a House and each House had a single seat. Technically the Assembly had no power within the US government, but, practically, when the Houses spoke in one collective voice, both Congress and the White House listened.
“A family name has to be good for something, right?”
Cornelius smiled. It never reached his eyes. They stayed bitter and haunted. “As a Significant and a scion of a House, I’m free to attend the Assembly and bring a companion of my choice. I intend to be an active participant in this investigation, Ms. Baylor.”
“Call me Nevada,” I told him. “Good. Then we’ll meet here tomorrow at seven.”
“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.) They have co-authored two New York Times and USA Today bestselling series—the urban fantasy of Kate Daniels and the romantic urban fantasy of The Edge—and are working on the next volumes for both. They live in Texas with their two children and many dogs and cats.
Author Links: WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | GOODREADS
NOTE: The Reading Cafe is NOT responsible for the rafflecopter giveaway. If you have any questions, please contact the tour provider
Great review.
Terrific review, Barb. I love all the series by Andrews. This one has been great so far.
Wonderful review, thanks Barb. I have enjoyed this series so far.
Thanks for the great review.
Great review. Thank you for this update. I loved the first book.
Very nice review, I like the sound of this series. Thanks.
i love the review. I am going to read this series.
Great review, Barb. One of my favorite authors.
Another great review, thanks Barb.
Looks great thanks Barb.
Very nice review, thanks BArb.
Looks great, thanks Barb.
Thanks for another wonderful review.
Great review, Barb. I am a big fan of Ilona Andrews books.