Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews

Narrated by Renee Raudman

I’ve been a fan of the books of Ilona Andrews and the narration of Renee Raudman for a while now so I was very excited to listen to Burn for Me, the first in Andrews’ Hidden Legacy trilogy, which is set in Houston and based around a world exactly like ours but with some families having various degrees of magic. In this universe, magic is inherited by the next generation. Powerful magic families, known as “houses” have formed wealthy and influential corporations. For the highest echelons, marriage and children is an exercise in breeding for genetic abilities rather than love. It is a completely separate world from the previous Kate Daniels and The Edge series.

I knew from trusted friends that despite the cover, this series is a romantic urban fantasy rather than a paranormal romance. I wasn’t expecting resolution to the romantic relationship in this book and, because I didn’t get one, I was happy to have understood that going in.

Nevada Baylor is a private detective and human lie detector. She and her family have concealed her magical power because they didn’t want her forced into interrogation work which is what would have inevitably happened otherwise. The Baylor family lives in a warehouse from which they also operate their business. Baylor Investigations was heavily mortgaged to the powerful Montgomery House some years earlier, when the family needed money for experimental treatment for Nevada’s father. He died of a rare form of cancer five years earlier. Nevada’s mother is a war veteran who is a magically gifted sniper. Grandma Freda has magical gifts with engines and builds tanks and other armoured vehicles. Also in the family unit are siblings and cousins ranging in age from 15 to 19. Bernard, the eldest, does the tech work for the business while attending college.

Due to the terms of the mortgage contract between Baylor Investigations and the Montgomerys, when Nevada is assigned what is basically a suicide mission, she cannot refuse the job without the loan being called and losing both the warehouse and the business.

Adam Pierce, a pyrokinetic Prime, is wanted for arson and murder. House Pierce wants their prodigal son returned to them before the police catch him and have contracted the task to House Montgomery – who in turn have handpassed it to Nevada. The work is lucrative but very dangerous. Adam Pierce is known to be unstable and he controls fire magic sufficient to melt steel.

Connor “Mad” Rogan is a war veteran and the Prime in charge of House Rogan. He is a powerful telekinetic mage. He is powerful enough to bring down buildings with his mind and precise enough to perform very delicate tasks as well. He has been asked to find a member of his family who apparently assisted Pierce in the arson and murder and so he and Nevada have essentially the same goal – find Adam Pierce.

Rogan and Nevada’s initial meeting is inauspicious. He kidnaps her and tries to force her to give up her information. With her family’s well-being as motivation, Nevada manages to resist his efforts. Thus begins Rogan’s fascination with Nevada and shortly after, he offers to partner up to find Pierce. Nevada is initially resistant because: kidnap. But she comes to realise that Rogan makes a powerful ally and she is sorely in need of one in this battle.

Burn for Me is about the search for Pierce, with Nevada and Rogan attempting to stop him burning down Houston. The deeper motivations behind it all is the subject of the trilogy – not everything is answered in this book. However, it does have a satisfying conclusion. As I said above, it does not have a HEA ending. Rogan has a lot of work to do to be trusted with Nevada’s heart. I’m sure he will succeed – eventually.

Renee Raudman’s narration was very good. Rogan sounded quite a bit like Curran (from the Kate Daniels series) but with a slight Texan accent, and I thought he had some common characteristics too – self-belief, arrogance, and core-deep loyalty are some of them. Grandma Freda reminded me a bit of Eleonore from The Edge series – both in terms of sound and personality.

My biggest criticism of the narration was Adam Pierce’s portrayal. For most of the book, Adam Pierce had a snobby and superior air. At the end, his voice suddenly changes to young hipster rebel. The characterisations were really quite different.

Nevada will do anything to protect her loved ones. During the course of the book, some other manifestations of her magic are revealed and I have no doubt there will be more in future books. She is strongly attracted to Rogan but she sees their differences as insurmountable. Nevada is relatively powerless and he is not (although I think she will be surprised to find just how much power she actually wields – Rogan likes to keep things close to his chest). She is concerned that Rogan lives like he is a law unto himself and lacks empathy. For myself, I’m not so sure I agreed with Nevada’s opinion of Rogan. I think he just hides his feelings. Perhaps I am “importing” too much of Curran into his personality though – it probably has something to do with the growly voice which just shouts “HERO” to me. This is not a complaint.

I do enjoy the way Ms. Raudman delivers the emotion of the text – from the bickering between sisters Arabella and Catalina to the teen angst of Leon, and the genuine rage Nevada feels toward Rogan and Pierce at various times throughout the story. Rogan is a bit of a charming rogue (I admit a strong partiality to such a character) and he is also an “end justifies the means” kind of guy which often causes him to clash with Nevada. Their interplay had a snap and sparkle to it which was not only courtesy of the writing.

I have noted the steam level of Burn for Me at “Glad I had my earbuds in” but listeners will have to wait for sexytimes. There is a lot of mental lusting and sexual tension, with some fairly frank daydreams and discussions between Nevada and Rogan, but their romance is definitely a slow build. I think there is plenty to satisfy romance fans – but do bear in mind that this book is not their whole love story. (It is far more romantic than the first Kate Daniels book however.)

Burn for Me is a strong opening to what promises to be another fantastic series by Ilona Andrews and, as is usually the case with the Andrews/Raudman audio team, listeners will not be disappointed.

Kaetrin

Narration:  B

Book Content:  B+

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in (but at the tamer end of the scale)

Violence:  Fighting

Genre:  Urban Fantasy Romance

Publisher:  Harper Audio

Burn for Me was provided to AudioGals by Harper Audio for review.