Wildfire by Ilona Andrews

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The June assigned books for the Hidden Legacy readalong starts with Wildfire. This is the third book in Ilona Andrews's very popular series. If you didn't see in my previous reviews, the Hidden Legacy readalong is hosted by Stef, Megan, Heather and Izzy. I used this read to cover the prompts Me! (one word title) for the Taylor Swift Quarterly Challenge and the prompt cover model with long hair for Summer of Swoon.

Nevada is getting hounded by her paternal grandmother to join her house, things are getting more serious with Connor "Mad" Rogan, and she has taken the case of his ex-fiancé's missing husband. A lot is happening at once for Nevada and her family and more of the houses are starting to pay attention. When the Caesar and the conspiracy group end up behind the husband's disappearance, things start to become more deadly. With all this going on, Rogan and Nevada come to the conclusion that the best way to protect her family from Victoria is to establish themselves as their own house, House Baylor. Connor is concerned that when they become a house Nevada and her family with join the houses and adopt the same mindset and won't want to be with him any more since their genetics probably won't help bring forth magically powerful children. Nevada didn't grow up in those games though and fights for her right to choose her man because she loves him and will love any kids they have regardless of magical ability.

Oh my gosh. Oh my freaking goodness. This was such a fun wrap up to the trilogy and to see how much Nevada is starting to master her powers was so good. We also get to see more of her family's magic. I've mentioned this before, but Ilona Andrews does such a good job fleshing out their worlds/universes and here it is just the same. I love the full cast of secondary characters and you really get attached to them as well. We get so much more about magic and the houses here with Nevada petitioning to become a house and I cannot wait to see the future books when they are officially established. If you haven't read this series before, there are a lot of threads tied up in this book, but we do still have the identity of Caesar unknown and he's not taken down. The next trilogy will be focused on Catalina and will be in her POV. If you aren't interested in reading more, I think this does a good job of leaving some small threads to continue on, but tying it up enough that you could stop here if you so choose (buy why would you choose that?). 

Let's focus on Nevada though for a moment. I loved her even more in this book and I loved that with Connor's ex around, while she wasn't fond of her trying to finagle her way into his life more, she trusted Connor. She understood why Connor was helping his ex in this touch situation, but also was over the way she was acting. She didn't get all jealous or butthurt though and I just loved how she put her foot down. She made it known that she understood why Connor wanted to help her (since they were childhood friends as well), but she wasn't going to be 2nd in priority. She also didn't let Connor distance himself and she got closer and closer to finalizing her house's formation. She was so staunch in that who she wanted as a husband was Connor. Did she go on a date with someone who approached to make a  match, yes. She made it clear though that it was because she wanted to learn more about her abilities and talk with another truthseeker, as well as try to get more information from him. I just loved how level-headed she was and just was so open about her feelings with Connor; never mind the fact that as much as Connor "tried" to distance himself, he never really could stay away from Nevada.

I cannot wait to see what happens in the future books and how House Baylor is going to grow. I'm so intrigued to learn more about Catalina's, and Arabella's, magic. Ilona Andrews just does such a good job getting you so invested in so many side characters, but it also doesn't feel like it's too much. I'll pick up any of their books and am so excited that we'll be catching up in time for the release of book 6, Ruby Fever, in August!

Have you read Wildfire?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: Wildfire, Ilona Andrews, 5-stars, 1 day, Paperback, 391 pages, published in 2017, traditionally published