Published: 30th May 2017
Source: Bought
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Romance
My Rating:
Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she's used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family's detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor "Mad" Rogan.
Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada's "talent." But there's no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice . . .
I have been waiting for the publication of White Hot ever since I read Burn for Me in 2015. So two years I have been waiting and it was made all the more painful because I expected it to be published not long after I’d finished Burn for Me but then the date got pushed back two years! They do say good things come to those who wait, though, and this was most definitely good, brilliant, in fact.
I have been intending to review this book ever since I read in May and I began my review with one single word: Brilliant. I left that review sat in my drafts waiting for me to finish. Rather unsurprisingly that is not helpful when you sit down to write the review a month later. Luckily for me, I wrote up notes on my phone as soon as I finished. They aren’t all coherent thoughts (asd;fkljj is one of them) but we’ll work with what I’ve got.
After such a long, long, loooooong wait for this book to be released, I obviously had high expectations for White Hot. I mean, sky-high ones. I’d been hooked into Nevada and Rogan’s story from the get go and I was eagerly anticipating the next book with hopes of some sexy times for them and hopefully a bit more background on both because we didn’t get to find out anywhere near enough details in the first book. When I say the writing duo that is Ilona Andrews exceeded all expectations and blew me away I mean they seriously smashed it with this book. I mean, the storyline was excellent and everything but it was the amount of work that was done on both our MCs but the secondary characters as well. This book made Burn For Me look like child’s play in comparison to this and I loved Burn for Me.
I feel I should explain some background for you, in case you’ve not read the first book (why not? Go check out my review and correct said error) the world of White Hot is very similar to ours except that there are people with powers. There was some kind of serum developed with gave people abilities in the past and now there are families in the world with power (called houses) which are basically the ruling class. They are rich and powerful and you do not cross them. Nevada and her family run a private detective agency and try and stay off the radar. They are not deemed powerful or anything. They just investigate stuff. Mad Rogan is crazy powerful (like seriously, it’s kind of scary) and he is totally uber rich and also a total recluse. I think that’s all the background you really need in the world this book is set in, but I probably have missed an essential detail.
What made this book so great really was the character development. Anyone who had read Burn for Me will know what I mean when I say Mad Rogan, whilst kind of hot (totally hot, actually) he is full on cray-cray and I would not let anyone I liked go anywhere near him. I don’t care how much money the boy has he comes across a touch psychopathic. I say this because in this book he gets all fleshed out and I loved him for his personality not just his bank account and smoking hot body. He still comes across like a bit of a psychopath but you get an explanation for why he acts like he does. Before he just came across like that billionaire you get in romance, the one who notices the nobody and instantly wants to marry her and throw money at her to fix her problems. As well as a psychopath who will kidnap folks off the street and doesn’t blink an eye when he has to kill somebody because that is the most expedient solution to his problem. This time around you get background for why he is so distant from people and why he acts as he does. It still doesn’t justify his actions but knowing why definitely makes him more Rogan and less Mad Rogan.
The other aspect of this book I loved was the entire Baylor clan. We met them all in Burn for Me but not all of them had the full personality they got this second time around. I mean, I already loved Nevada’s grandmother (that woman is hilarious) but I didn’t realise how awesome her sisters were! They are hilarious (I mean, sticking Nevada’s face on wedding pictures and decorating her office with them whilst they ask her to marry Mad Rogan kind of funny) and we really learn more about each family member which was great. I think it’s very easy to forget about secondary characters so to have them develop their own story and background was really appreciated. You realise how much they were neglected in the first book this way.
I will not reveal too much about the book itself as I hate spoiling stuff but the relationship between Nevada and Rogan developed awesomely, those two have chemistry which is off the charts! And the mystery in this one was pretty brilliant too. I can tell that the story is building up to what will happen in the third book, Wildfire, and I cannot wait for it be released. Luckily for me, that is at the end of this month so no two year wait for me this time.
If you haven’t already check out Burn for Me. If you’re even slightly a fan of urban fantasy this will be a series for you (I hope). White Hot demonstrated that sometimes a long wait for a book is worth it. It did everything the first book did but better and I am definitely deeming this a favourite book of 2017, if not just a favourite book.
Have you read any Ilona Andrews books? Which is your favourite? What was the last book you had to wait for which was totally worth waiting for?
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