Sapphire Flames

Okay, so. Firstly, IA are amazing authors, and their books generally sit up on the tippy-top of my favorites list. But I think that this series is just not for me anymore.

It's just a huge departure from the series that I loved in the original trilogy - the characters are younger and more angst-ridden, and I feel like so much of the progress that we've established in character arcs is just erased here at book 4. Another point of clarity on my taste: I rarely enjoy PNR, because changing out lead characters in that world frustrates me. Lots of PNR series, for me, are all about the glimpses that we get of the original main characters, and I never like anyone as much as I liked them. For what it's worth, I even struggled with IA's

Edge series in this same way - I enjoyed them, for sure, but I never really got invested, and I was always looking for bits on the original couple. So between the roll to more of a YA pair and the change of leads, lots of this just doesn't work for me.

It also bothered me that this book does a lot to undercut Nevada as a character. I talked about that a bit in

my review of Diamond Fire, the novella that transitions to Catalina's lead role. Here, it gets even worse.

Basically, Catalina overthrew her as Head of House Baylor, because apparently, doing the job caused her to have a breakdown. This is - to me - so out of character for Nevada that my jaw was on the floor. Nevada has lived her life as The Rock for her family, the one that holds shit together. She did that when - as a child - she stepped in for her dying father and took over the business, supporting her family and keeping them all safe, fed, housed, and sane. And then after the crazy events in her trilogy, and her not having a breakdown, we're to believe that in the aftermath - when the worst was over, she was married to Rogan, and they were dealing with House politics and warfare (something Rogan freaking excels at and so it shouldn't have rattled her even more than the shitstorm from her own books) - she completely fell apart and lost all damn sense, cracking like an egg under the pressure until her family had to force her out of a position of responsibility before she killed herself?

That just really, really doesn't sit well with me.

I get her needing a break - and hell, she DESERVES a break. I get her family needling her to step back a little, enjoy her life more, let them carry more of the load. And with Rogan also applying pressure to that end - because he's so overprotective, I can't imagine him letting herself work herself to death without carrying her off like a caveman - I just can't ever see these characters letting things get so out of hand.

I get she needed to be separated from House Baylor in order to push this series forward with these characters and not have her be the lead. It just didn't work, for me, for it to be done this way.

That's in addition to my general disbelief that they would let the whole Caesar thing go, as I talked about in my review of the novella. This is their fight, and I don't see the characters we know and love just walking away from it or handing it off to kids trying to run an underfunded, understaffed baby House.

But I'll stop there. I think I've made my feelings on those points more than clear, haha.

I also didn't like Alessandro much, honestly, and I didn't get where this insta-attraction between Catalina and Alessandro came from. They don't know each other. She fawned over his celebrity profiles but never actually interacted with him ... and even before she gets to interact with him much in this book, she's talking about falling in love with him. How? And the same is true on his end - how does he know enough about Catalina to love her? Because if her powers don't work on him - and it seems they don't - then as it has been explained to us, he does in fact love her. And I don't see it. She doesn't know him. He doesn't know her. They both know almost nothing about each other, just crap they've seen in a superficial way, and it seems like his reality is so much more complex than that (as is Catalina's). So it was a weird insta-love that just wasn't believable to me - I kept thinking that maybe he

was trapped by her powers, because I couldn't figure out what else had him so captivated (not that she isn't awesome - I do like Catalina! - I'm just saying that he hasn't had the chance to see it). Plus, he was so condescending to her, constantly, and it never made her like him less. He makes some douche comment about dropping her off for coffee while he goes and handles the potentially dangerous meeting in the case, and while she refuses to be sidelined, him saying that about her - him thinking so little of her - doesn't make her think less of him. She just ogles him and continues to fantasize about him in the car on the way to said meeting.

**eyeroll**

That said, I liked Catalina more than I thought I would, even if I didn't like her panting over Alessandro despite his constant condescension to her. I also thought she was slow on the uptake with a couple things, but meh.

I liked getting more with Linus Duncan. Even though I was peeved at how quickly both he and Victoria Tremaine lost interest in Nevada and now apparently hold Catalina up as the true successor. Catalina doesn't even have Victoria's abilities.

**eyeroll** Also, I can't help but feel like

Catalina getting entangled with the Warden stuff should have been Nevada's plot, given the deal she made to save her grandmother.

So that's where I'm at with it. IDK if I'll continue, because even though I liked Catalina more than I thought I would, she still feels a bit Nevada-lite to me, and Alessandro is meh. But I probably will, because I'll want every bit of info I can scrape up about Nevada and Rogan.

*sigh*

Ilona Andrews gave us another masterpiece. I really loved this book and also reading my first language from the mouth of Alessandro

I know that the next book in this series will not be released until the end of August and there was a good chance that if I started Catalina's story I would want to read all the books right away. As was the case with Nevada's history. So I consciously refrained from reading this book for a while longer. But after I started and put aside about ten books, and at the same time I really wanted to read something, I decided it was time to read this book. And I was not disappointed.

Catalina is just as strong the main character as Nevada, maybe just a little less experienced. Alessandro is incredibly cute, and I can easily see how well they fit together. Even the fact that he is very arrogant at times did not bother me. I wondered how the authors would manage to distinguish this pair from Nevada and Connor, but I think it turned out pretty well.

If I'm disappointed in something, I'd like more romance. I wish the relationship between Catalina and Alessandro was fully developed in this book. I am also a bit disappointed with the ending of this thread in this story.

But I really liked the suspense part. The action was fast and the mystery, as always in this series, was closely related to the world created by the authors.

It is practically certain that I will read the next book in this series right away.

I love all the characters. I love how emotionally strong and ready to sacrifice our heroine is. I love the angst and the drama of the romance.