A winning romance that will thrill and satisfy fans while leaving them clamoring for the final book in the trilogy.
Two powerful magic users forge an uneasy alliance while investigating a murder.
Catalina Baylor is no stranger to duty and responsibility, as we learned in Andrews' first book about her, Sapphire Flames (2019). Even though she’s in her early 20s, she’s the capable manager of her family’s investigation business, the powerful head of her family’s emerging magical house, and the covert Deputy Warden for the state of Texas. After Catalina is attacked by a series of magically fueled monsters that crawled out of a nearby swamp, her boss, Linus Duncan, the Deputy of Texas, assigns her to investigate the murder of Felix Morton. The dangerous monsters she encountered are connected to the work Felix and a consortium of powerful houses were doing to reclaim a dangerous magic-rich swamp on prime Houston real estate. Catalina has no doubt she’s up to the task of investigating the murder; however, she’s furious when Linus insists she accept the protection of Alessandro Sagredo, a powerful assassin and the only man Catalina has ever loved. They worked together on a previous case, but she was humiliated and depressed when he left her just as she was about to reveal her feelings for him. This time, she’s determined to find the murderer without damaging her heart. Catalina and Alessandro’s discovery of an unsettling, sentient magical presence living in the swamp is frightening not only as an individual enemy, but also for what it reveals about how recklessly humans pursue power. The romance between Catalina and Alessandro is a thrilling match between equals, and both must share their past hurts and reveal their vulnerabilities on the path to love. Andrews has a gift for placing likable characters within complex and interesting mysteries in which small, seemingly inconsequential, clues weave together into a spectacular finish.
A winning romance that will thrill and satisfy fans while leaving them clamoring for the final book in the trilogy.Pub Date: Aug. 25, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-303547-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.
On the orders of her mother, a woman goes to dragon-riding school.
Even though her mother is a general in Navarre’s army, 20-year-old Violet Sorrengail was raised by her father to follow his path as a scribe. After his death, though, Violet's mother shocks her by forcing her to enter the elite and deadly dragon rider academy at Basgiath War College. Most students die at the War College: during training sessions, at the hands of their classmates, or by the very dragons they hope to one day be paired with. From Day One, Violet is targeted by her classmates, some because they hate her mother, others because they think she’s too physically frail to succeed. She must survive a daily gauntlet of physical challenges and the deadly attacks of classmates, which she does with the help of secret knowledge handed down by her two older siblings, who'd been students there before her. Violet is at the mercy of the plot rather than being in charge of it, hurtling through one obstacle after another. As a result, the story is action-packed and fast-paced, but Violet is a strange mix of pure competence and total passivity, always managing to come out on the winning side. The book is categorized as romantasy, with Violet pulled between the comforting love she feels from her childhood best friend, Dain Aetos, and the incendiary attraction she feels for family enemy Xaden Riorson. However, the way Dain constantly undermines Violet's abilities and his lack of character development make this an unconvincing storyline. The plots and subplots aren’t well-integrated, with the first half purely focused on Violet’s training, followed by a brief detour for romance, and then a final focus on outside threats.
Read this for the action-packed plot, not character development or worldbuilding.Pub Date: May 2, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374042
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 12, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.
After 500 years, the Grief of Ages is a distant memory—until dragons hellbent on destruction begin to wake again.
In this relatively brief prequel to the epic The Priory of the Orange Tree (2019), the kingdoms of Virtudom have experienced centuries of relative peace. Marosa Vetalda, the Princess of Yscalin, spends her days behind castle walls under the gaze of her overprotective father, awaiting the date when she’ll be wed to Aubrecht of Mentendon, her ticket to freedom. While the book’s main focus is initially on the political threads weaving the Western kingdoms together, the frailty of best-laid plans is exposed when evidence of the reemergence of draconic beings reaches castle ears. These tales often come from the cullers who make their living slaying these creatures, and who are often blamed for intentionally waking them for profit. No one alive remembers the Grief of Ages, so no one’s prepared when Fýredel, the great High Western dragon, surfaces from the volcanic mountain that towers ominously over Yscalin’s capital city of Cárscaro. What follows is the backstory of how the devoted Yscali kingdom comes to shift allegiance to Fýredel and his master, the Nameless One, a main catalyst to events in The Priory. Overall, this book reads more like history lesson than fantasy adventure, but the sheer terror that befalls the Yscali people as they face Fýredel’s pure evil is both powerful and relevant. Marosa’s plight further solidifies her as a hero worth remembering; her strength and defiance shine through as hope for the future she’s dreamed of slowly flickers out.
Devoted series fans will appreciate the added pieces to this expansive narrative puzzle.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9781639736010
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
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