sapphire flames emarald blaze titles

Book Reviews: Sapphire Flames AND Emerald Blaze, by Ilona Andrews

I borrowed audio versions of Sapphire Flames and Emerald Blaze through Hoopla. While these are books 4 and 5 of the Hidden Legacy series, they are also books one and two of the Catalina Baylor Trilogy.

I’m just going to write the one review for the two of these, since I listened to them back to back and they come to a satisfying stopping point.

Catalina Baylor books

catalina baylor blurbs

Oh boy, I’ve taken my time with this series. I read the first book in 2015, second one in 2017, third in 2018, the novella that comes between the third and fourth book in 2019, and now the fourth and fifth in 2021. Who knows when I’ll make it back for the sixth. Not until next year, at least, since that’s when it’s scheduled for release.

If you want to read the actual reviews, you can find them here:

Burn For Me / White Hot / Wildfire/ Diamond Fire

Luckily this was largely doable since the series changes focus and picks up with the second Baylor sister, Catalina, instead of the older Nevada (books 1-3). So, I mostly only needed to remember the events of Diamond Fire and could be hazy on the previous three books. Honestly, I think you could follow them well enough even if you hadn’t read any of the previous books, though you’d sense you were missing history.

I like Catalina a lot. I was so-so on Alessandro. I don’t feel like he was particularly well defined outside of Catalina’s longing for him and I found his arrogance annoying (even when it was clearly an act). However, as always, the writing is fabulous and I love the world Andrews has created here. I’ll be back for more.


ruby fever bannerSince Ruby Fever is book six in the Hidden Legacy series and/or third in the Catalina Baylor Trilogy, and I don’t anticipate writing a long review of it, I’ve just decided to bring it back here and add it to the post for the previous two books. (Even if it wasn’t technically even published when the original blog post went up.)

ruby fever coverAbout the Book:

An escaped spider, the unexpected arrival of an Imperial Russian Prince, the senseless assassination of a powerful figure, a shocking attack on the supposedly invincible Warden of Texas, Catalina’s boss… And it’s only Monday.

Within hours, the fate of Houston—not to mention the House of Baylor—now rests on Catalina, who will have to harness her powers as never before. But even with her fellow Prime and fiancé Alessandro Sagredo by her side, she may not be able to expose who’s responsible before all hell really breaks loose.

My review:

I thought this concluded the series well and I hope that the series picks up with Arabella and The Beast of Cologne, as the teaser suggests. However, I have to admit that I didn’t feel particularly connected to anyone in this book. I think this is just a symptom of it being a third book for the couple and a lot of the connection-making happened in previous books. But still, I was a little disappointed in that aspect of it. All in all, however, I’ll still read anything Ilona Andrews writes and I look forward to more.

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