Diamond Fire: A Hidden Legacy Novella (Hidden Legacy, #3.5)

by Ilona Andrews

Renee Raudman (Narrator) and Emily Rankin (Narrator)

Nevada Frida Baylor and Connor Ander Rogan cordially invite you to join their wedding celebration. Summoning, weather manipulation, and other magical activities strictly forbidden.

Catalina Baylor is looking forward to wearing her maid of honor dress and watching her older sister walk down the aisle. Then the wedding planner gets escorted off the premises, the bride's priceless tiara disappears, and Rogan's extensive family overruns his mother's home. Someone is cheating, someone is lying, and someone is plotting murder.

To make this wedding happen, Catalina will have to do the thing she fears most: use her magic. But she's a Baylor and there's nothing she wouldn't do for her sister's happiness. Nevada will have her fairy tale wedding, even if Catalina has to tear the mansion apart brick by brick to get it done.

• ISBN10: 0062889648
• ISBN13: 9780062889645
• Publish Date: 6 November 2018
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Inc
• Imprint: HarperAudio
• Edition: Unabridged edition
• Format: Audiobook (MP3)
• Duration: 3 hours and 57 minutes
• Language: English

Reviews

[Nadz@Totally Addicted to Reading]

The story began with Nevada panicking about meeting her future mother-in-law. We see Catalina being asked by Alessandro to go for a ride. She is refusing, as she believes her magic is responsible for his being attentive to her.

Fast forward two months and two weeks later Catalina and Arabella are planning Nevada’s wedding. In the midst of the planning, Connor’s mom approaches Catalina requesting she locate the tiara she wants Nevada to wear at the wedding. She believes a member of her family is responsible for it being missing. What follows is a tale of intrigue as Catalina digs deep and uses her magic, something she has avoided for fear of its adverse effects on persons, but drastic times call for drastic measures. To save her sister’s wedding she will have to wield the big guns.

I enjoyed seeing Catalina in action. She can surely hold her own. She is definitely not someone to mess around with, as one particular wedding guest would discover.

I also enjoyed meeting Rogan’s mom. She is awesome. The way she embraced Nevada and her family was heartwarming.

Diamond Fire is a well-written story filled with fun moments that had me smiling from ear to ear. Betrayal, greed and hate was centre stage. I could not wait to know who wanted to sabotage the wedding. It was a delight watching Catalina uncover the treachery.

Conclusion/Recommendation
This is a great addition to the series. I eagerly await the next full-length novel, as I would love more information on Catalina. This is not one to miss.

[MurderByDeath]

While I didn't like this one as much as I liked the first three, full-length Hidden Legacy novels that featured Nevada and Rogan, it was a nice little segue; it tied off all the loose ends in the Nevada/Rogan story line (not that there were many), while setting up the new background for the series to continue with a focus on Catalina, Nevada's sister.  Catalina's power didn't interest me much in the previous books, but Andrews adds some interesting dimensions to it in this short story that have me intrigued.   The plot, intricate for such a short story (143 pages), was two-pronged: who stole a tiara and who was trying to kill off the wedding guests?  Were they one in the same, or different enemies?   The resolution was both satisfying and sort of ... cute.  I feel like I should have seen that coming, but I didn't.  And that's why I like Ilona Andrews.  I'm definitely looking forward to the next full-length story.

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

This novella set in the Hidden Legacy world is a bridge between Nevada as the lead character to move to Catalina, Nevada’s younger sister. So Nevada and Mad Rogan are getting married. As if that wouldn’t be chaotic enough, a crown that Nevada is to wear in the wedding, a family heirloom in Rogan’s family, goes missing. Rogan’s mother doesn’t want to upset Nevada, so she asks Catalina to look into it.

So, Catalina has some massive power. Most people don’t know what it is, which is the way she wants it. She has the powers of a siren, so to speak. She can make people fall in love with her and do whatever she asks. She’s never really tried to develop her powers, but mostly works on keeping them contained and just avoiding people in general. She has to use her powers to figure out what happened with this crown.

I really enjoyed this short novella. We already see Catalina growing up, as she takes more of a role in the family business, investigations. She has learned that she must learn how to do more than just keep her powers under control. I think I’m really going to enjoy my time with Catalina, even as I will miss time with Nevada as the leading lady.

Overall, this was a fun story and a nice bridge between the two main women in the series.

Narration
So, this book starts off with Renee Raudman narrating as Nevada. Then quickly the reins are turned over to Emily Rankin as she narrates Catalina. I’m not sure the reason for a change in narrator. Renee Raudman has been narrating Ilona Andrews books since the beginning (with the exceptions of male narrated stories). I think it was a shock to most fans to have someone else narrate this story.

All that being said, I thought that Emily Rankin did a great job with the narration. I liked everything about her narration. She does a great job with the wide cast of characters (there were quite a few characters in this book, especially considering the length), and she did a great job with all of them. I thought the male and female voices were done well. Her pace and tone worked great for the series as well.

While, I’ll miss Renee Raudman’s narration of this series going forward. I think Emily Rankin will be a great substitute. I have no doubt that she will win the hearts of the Ilona Andrews fans if given a chance. I know that she has already won mine.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

[Quirky Cat]

Diamond Fire is a novella set in the world of Hidden Legacy. If you haven’t read any of those books yet, you should really stop reading this review and go check those out first. You could skip ahead to this one, but it would include major (and I do mean major) spoilers for the original trilogy.
There are a few ways to look at how this book fits in with the main cannon. You could consider it Nevada Baylor #3, Hidden Legacy #3.5, or Catalina Baylor #0.5. Honestly all three would be correct, and all three are listed on the Goodreads page for it as well.
This novella takes place after all three Hidden Legacy novels have been completed. But it isn’t focused on Nevada this time around. Instead her younger sister, Catalina, is the main character. Nevada and all the other characters we’ve come to know and love all are involved as well, of course. But we really get to see more about Catalina. How she thinks, how her magic works. All that fun stuff!
Rumor has it that this will be its own trilogy as well. Considering how much we still have to learn about Catalina’s powers (and really the family history as well) I think there’s more than enough material for two more novellas (or if we’re really lucky, a novel or two).

Spoiler Warning

Diamond Fire is a novella, so it probably isn’t surprising to hear me say that I read it all in one sitting. Even if it was a full novel I think I would have read it in one sitting. There was no way I was willing to put this beauty down.
It was so much fun getting to read from Catalina’s perspective. I loved seeing how she thought – how much of the investigation business she’s managed to successfully pick up. I also have loved her ability from the moment we finally got to see it, so I’ve been dying to see more of it. And here I finally got my wish!
Watching Catalina try and learn the ins and outs of her magic – the finer points, was a fascinating process. She’s so used to never allowing it to be used that she never stopped to consider the finesse an ability like hers could allow for. I’m glad to see she’s finally realizing that it could be more than a blunt force instrument (though it certainly is that as well).
The family tension felt so real it felt like I was watching it happen in real life. I can absolutely believe that a magical aristocratic family would behave exactly like that. At no point did I question any of it. It was nice having them all have secrets, and better that they were all believable.
Catalina’s investigation was both the main focus and the highlight of the novella. It was great seeing her work, knowing when to ask for help and when to go in alone. Likewise the investigation itself was really interesting. Dealing with a family full of that many secrets…while also at least pretending to be tactful? That does not sound like my sort of cup of tea. But Catalina managed it, and I have to give her credit for doing so.
I’ll admit that I did see one of the final twists coming, but that didn’t make me love it any less. If anything I love that the groundwork had been laid down for it so early in the novella. I love it when you can see the author(s) planning ahead like that.
I can’t wait for the release of the next Catalina book. I know it’ll be a bit though, so I’ll setting for happily waiting to hear the title of the next one.

For more reviews, check out Quirky Cat's Fat Stacks

[Cocktails and Books]

I enjoyed getting to know Catalina a little bit better and look forward to her book next year. But...I'd had my heart set on Connor and Nevada's wedding with them being the central characters of the book. I missed them and I really wanted this to close out their portion of the series before moving on.

[kimbacaffeinate]

While initially this story focused on Nevada Baylor and Connor Rogan as he takes her home to meet his Momma this writing duo quickly shifts the story to Catalina Baylor. From a Romeo and Juliet moment to an all out mystery and wedding this story delivered all of the elements I love about this series, characters and authors.

Snark
A missing heirloom
Character growth
Betrayal
Sleuthing
Humor
Catalina Baylor is a level headed badass and I adore her. She is a Prime with a skill set that feels more like a curse. She needs to learn to harness and test her abilities. Some of skills end up being pretty dang cool. You'll have to read Diamond Fire for the deets. I am dying to get my hands on the next full-length novel and felt this was the perfect bridge book. THIS, this is how you refocus a series on a new lead character. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[Linda]

Hidden Legacy keeps getting better, and Diamond Fire, while a novella was so good! I loved getting to know more about Catalina, and how she works. I enjoyed seeing how she dealt with adversity, and how she wanted to show everyone she could act with their best interest in mind.

[llamareads]

Ilona Andrews does Poirot, House Baylor-style.

Full review to come.



I’m a humongous Ilona Andrews fan. I’ve been reading their Kate Daniels series since the first book came out in 2007, and I’ve happily consumed their Edge and Innkeeper novels as well. My favorite, however, is their latest series, Hidden Legacy. I adored Nevada, her strong moral compass and her dedication to her family, so while I’m sad we’re moving on to a new character, I’m also excited to learn more about Catalina and the rest of House Baylor.

This novella is meant as a bridge between Nevada’s novels and Catalina’s novels, so while the prequel is from Nevada’s point of view, the rest of the story is from Catalina’s POV. The best way I can describe this is “Ilona Andrews does Poirot.” A Rogan family heirloom has gone missing, and the only possible perps are the members of Rogan’s extended family, who are staying at his mom’s mansion in advance of the wedding. Nevada’s busy being a bridezilla in the most Nevada-way possible, so Mrs. Rogan enlists Catalina’s help, and what ensues is a ridiculously fun investigation, Baylor-style, that gives us a taste of Catalina’s unique style and also manages to tie up a few loose plot threads.

Catalina shares many of the Baylor family characteristics with Nevada – her commitment to family and doing what’s right, even if it’s difficult, for starters. The similarities end there. While Nevada, as the oldest, has been shouldering the family’s burdens since her father died, Catalina, due to her Siren magic, has been much more sheltered. While we got a bit of that in the previous novels, the full ramifications of her gift are explored more here. Catalina is a very different young woman than Nevada, but she is just as kickass. The plot moves along quickly, with lots of hurdles to overcome, from a possible poisoning attempt to finding a bedazzler for Rogan’s niece’s stuffed unicorn. There was one particular plot thread left dangling that I had a major quibble with at the end of the third book, as it felt like was more specific to Nevada and Rogan than the overarching “Primes will take over the world!” plot line, and that’s finally wrapped up here.

My one criticism – there are so many characters for a novella of this size! Even with the family tree at the front of the book, I had issues keeping the characters straight. I can’t help but wishing this was a full-length novel, but I understand the constraints behind that. For one thing, there’s not much here in the way of romance, besides the obvious romantic setting of a wedding, though for very good reasons in Catalina’s case. I think a lot of people would’ve been confused by a whodunit mystery smack dab in the middle of a romance series. It does appear to set up Catalina’s romantic interest for the next novels, and I am ALL IN for that couple!

Overall, this was a delightful cherry on top to Nevada and Rogan’s HEA, and a deft handover to Catalina. I am ever so excited to see what comes next for her!

I received this book for free from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Rowena]

Catalina!!! I knew that she would be just as awesome as she was in this book. It was a quick read and it's made me quite thirsty for more but man oh man am I excited for more Catalina! This would have gotten another star but it was missing something, or someone rather... :( But I loved everything else! Full review to come later.

[EBookObsessed]

Diamond Fire is for fans of the Hidden Legacy series and help us turns the focus from Nevada and Connor to younger sister, Catalina.   If you haven't read the Hidden Legacy series yet, it would give you an introduction to the series without giving away any spoilers for the first three books, except that Rogan and Nevada get together...in a romance?  Unheard of right?

If you are a fans of Ilona Andrews like I am, you have read and enjoyed their Hidden Legacy series, and like me you were probably excited and disappointed to hear the news of the release of Diamond Fire as part of the Hidden Legacy series;  excited because there are more stories coming but disappointed that Nevada and Connor are not the focus of the new stories.  But remember, Ilona Andrews never disappoints and you will quickly switch from wanting more Nevada to wanting more Catalina.

Diamond Fire, the audiobook, started out being narrated by Renee Raudman in the prologue when we were again focusing on Nevada, but once we reach Chapter 1, the narration is taken over by Emily Rankin. I think it was a smart choice to change narrators. Renee Raudman narrates most of Ilona Andrews' audiobooks.  It is hard enough keeping in mind that Hidden Legacy or The Edge are not Kate Daniels and while there are similarities to the worlds and the magic therein, they different stories.  Hearing the same voices can make you forget.   Switching the narrators, while it was disorienting at first to hear familiar characters with new voices, it helped to remind the audience that our focus has changed from Nevada to Catalina.

In Diamond Fire, Catalina takes over as head investigator on the matter of Nevada's missing tiara since Nevada is (1) focused on a kidnapping and (2) they are trying not to piss off/freak out the bride. Meanwhile, Catalina and little sister, Arabella, are acting as wedding coordinator since Nevada has had a few bridezilla moments and had fired or scared off all of the others.

Catalina was declared a Prime when House Baylor underwent the trials to be declared a House and her designation was noted as a Siren. Simply, Catalina can draw anyone in under her spell. It is dangerous to her because those she draws in become obsessed with her to the point that they would tear her apart to have a piece of her. Catalina has spend the majority of her life trying to bury that part of her and keep it from leaking out. As a child, adults and children alike were obsessively drawn to her.

After all these years, Catalina now needs to learn how to use her ability and control just how much power she leaks and how it will effect those around her. In the Hidden Legacy series, Catalina stepped up a few times to help Nevada and Connor, but there she used her power en mass against the forces trying to take over Texas and she was taken away by Connor's people before the masses could attack her.  She didn't control her magic in any way, she just used it. Where Nevada can detect a lie and can force someone to tell the true, when Catalina unleashes her power, they trip over themselves to tell her everything she would want to know.

While I will definitely miss Nevada and Connor and hope to see them pop up in Catalina's story, I am also interested to see what Catalina brings to the series. I presume that Alessandro Sagredo, who appeared as her test subject for the trials, will be her love interest. Catalina is very interested in him and he seems to be interested in her but Catalina fears that his interest is only due to her Siren ability and not any real interest in Catalina. But since Alessandro's power seems to be a antistasi Prime who isn't affected by other Prime's powers, he would be the best candidate as a love interest. He only shows up in this novella in the prologue and, even though he is a Prime, he doesn't even rate an invite to the wedding of the year.

There is no question that I will be picking up a copy of the next book in the series.

See more at EBookObsessed.com