Review: Beast Business (Hidden Legacy #6.5) by lona Andrews

Beast Business by Ilona Andrews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

A thrilling novella by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews, set in the spellbinding Hidden Legacy World.

Show as little as possible. Make them think that illusion is all you have. Your life depends on it.

Augustine Montgomery is an Illusion Prime, the highest rank of magic user. The people who have seen his real face can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The people who've witnessed the full extent of his power are dead. Illusion isn’t just his brand of magic. It’s become his lifestyle.

One day Diana Harrison walks into the office of Augustine’s premier PI corporation. Diana is also a Prime, a mage who bonds with animals through her magic and prefers their company to humans. Something precious has been stolen from House Harrison. Something Diana must recover at all costs before it perishes.

Augustine is cold, rational, and calculating. He doesn’t get emotionally involved, but something about Diana disturbs the careful balance of Augustine’s inner world. She asks for his help, and he can’t refuse.

Neither Augustine nor Diana are who they appear to be. Both would die to keep their secrets. But the enemy they face is unimaginably powerful, and saving the life at risk will demand the ultimate price, one neither ever expected to pay – complete honesty.

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REVIEW

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I am part of the Book Devouring Horde, or BDH for short, the dedicated fandom and readership of Ilona Andrews. Their most recent book, This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me, is undoubtedly my top read of 2026. Yet the world of Hidden Legacy still has more stories to offer, particularly those told from the perspective of secondary characters such as Augustine Montgomery.

The Illusion Prime we met and, in a way, came to like (?) in the first and second trilogies of the series now gets the chance to tell his own story as he races against time to save a... magic-powered cub. By his side? The elusive and animal-mage Prime Diana Harrison, who may have a few secrets of her own.

As they navigate the power plays of Houston's magical society, they may discover that they have more in common than they initially thought.

I enjoyed this story immensely. I would recommend reading the Nevada Baylor trilogy first, followed by the Catalina Baylor trilogy, to get a better understanding of the characters and the society in which this story unfolds. That said, if you prefer a fast-paced read, this book also serves as a great introduction to an alternative world where magic exists thanks to a serum that grants people magical powers and has reshaped the course of history.

Augustine has always been something of an anti-hero in my eyes: ruthless yet intelligent, and a master of his magic. I particularly enjoyed seeing how he tried to avoid clashing with Diana, who, in turn, restrains both her magic and her emotions out of fear, but also because, deep down, she simply wants to be understood.

The action is interspersed with comedic moments, while the developing romance, although a subplot, is certainly there. I'd love to see more of these two, and I sincerely hope the power duo that is Ilona Andrews delivers!

Definitely recommended!

About the author: 

“Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing team. Ilona is a native-born Russian and Gordon is a former communications sergeant in the U.S. Army. Contrary to popular belief, Gordon was never an intelligence officer with a license to kill, and Ilona was never the mysterious Russian spy who seduced him. They met in college, in English Composition 101, where Ilona got a better grade. (Gordon is still sore about that.)

Gordon and Ilona currently reside in Texas with their two children and many dogs and cats.

They have co-authored several bestselling series, including the #1 NYT bestselling urban fantasy of Kate Daniels, rustic fantasy of the Edge, paranormal romance of Hidden Legacy, and Innkeeper Chronicles, which they post as a free weekly serial. For complete list of their books, fun extras, and Innkeeper installments, please visit their website at Ilona-andrews.com.

Review: "S'more of You" (Summer Lovin' #1) by Tessa Bailey

S'more of You by Tessa Bailey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

In this steamy rivals-to-lovers short story from New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey, a drama-loving camp counselor confronts the crush she’s been nursing for years on her gruff, rule-following fellow counselor.

Senior counselor Margot Berry is finally going to tell Dean Ingram how she feels. Sure, she’s been pranking him for eight years and they’ve formed something of a rivalry. But surely that will all be set aside when she fesses up to her crush, right? Wrong. Dean assumes her confession is just another prank. Can she convince him she’s for real before the camp session ends?

Tessa Bailey’s S’more of You is part of Summer Lovin’, a sweet and sultry collection of short summer romances that turn up the heat—and the heart. Read or listen to each short story in one easy, breezy sitting. And to fully immerse yourself in the flirty fun, try out the direct-to-listener audio experience.

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REVIEW

In this delightful bite of a book, we get standard Tessa Bailey in her stellar writing about misunderstandings, emotional support, and swoony romance, even if it comes in marshmallow size.

Summer camp counselor Margot is in love with Dean, who is also after the death of his parents, the camp owner, and a fellow counselor. But Margot has a...weird way to show her love, mainly via pranks. So when she decides to finally confess her feelings, he, rightfully, thinks she is pranking him again.

This story is exactly that. Two people who confess their feelings over the summer camp and with the shenanigans of the children they take care of.

It's sweet, it's a delightful read, and it ends way too quickly, just like a marshmallow. If you enjoy Tessa Bailey's writing this book is for you.

About the author:

New York Times Bestselling author Tessa Bailey can solve all problems except for her own, so she focuses those efforts on stubborn, fictional blue collar men and loyal, lovable heroines. She lives on Long Island avoiding the sun and social interactions, then wonders why no one has called. Dubbed the “Michelangelo of dirty talk,” by Entertainment Weekly, Tessa writes with spice, spirit, swoon and a guaranteed happily ever after. Catch her on TikTok at @authortessabailey or check out tessabailey.com for a complete list of books.

ARC Review: "This Blade of Ours" (This Monster of Mine #2) by Shalini Abeysekara

This Blade of Ours by Shalini Abeysekara
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Sarai believed the worst was behind her. However, months after exposing the government’s corruption in what has now been deemed “the Great Unravelling,” she faces scorn from citizens who preferred her and Kadra as the underdogs than victors. Worse, eerie omens rock the country: from a deadly plague outbreak to a sweeping madness that leave the afflicted ranting of an approaching reckoning. Accused of angering the gods, Sarai returns to the only place that can clear her name: Ur Dinyé’s frozen north. But among the secrets buried in its ice are Kadra’s.

Cursed with frightening, new abilities, Kadra struggles to protect Sarai against a land at odds with itself. When historical tensions worsen between the north and the south, a powerful religious order seizes control in the chaos, led by a man whose very voice can kill—Noceo bu Kader. Trapped between love and a crumbling country, Sarai and Kadra must outwit a power with roots as deep in fear as in cruelty. But the gods are always watching, and Sarai and Kadra may not escape a second time.

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KOBO | BLACKWELL'S

REVIEW

I received an e-ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

The second and final book of this series begins with a bang, bringing to a thrilling closing crescendo this amazing series. Shalini weaves intricate politics, backstabbing, plotting, romance, and magic in a tapestry of morally grey characters with the center of them being Kadra and Sarai. My beautiful stabby couple has a hard time managing a crumbling city from within, while at the same time, more danger lies on the horizon. Something dark and godly lurks, and it wants to devour the city of Edessa.

The story never lets you rest as the events unfold one after the other. The religious Order hunts Sarai, Kadra may or may not have visions of a god, and a new string of murders may be connected to a new epidemic.

The story is refreshing and vibrant in its descriptions, not to mention the romance between Kadra and Sarai. They complement each other so well despite both their traumas and pasts. I loved reading about them, and moreover, it was refreshing having a male character not being a Shadow Daddy. The series is a hidden gem, and it deserves more praise and love.

Absolutely recommended.



About the author:

Shalini Abeysekara (she/her/hers) is the #1 Sunday Times bestselling author of This Monster of Mine. As a former corporate lawyer, she enjoys using fantasy to interrogate reality, exploring monstrosity—perceived and real—and centering neurodivergent women of colour reckoning with themselves and their place in a world that tells them they’re too much and not enough. She is passionate about demystifying traditional publishing for all writers. When not writing, she games her life away and tries to make the perfect entremet. Most days though, she can’t believe she's an adult, and hope you don’t either.

Her debut dark fantasy romance, This Monster of Mine, is an Ancient Rome-inspired bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love. A second novel will follow in 2026.

Follow her @shalini.writes on IG/Tiktok to be the first to hear about promotions and more! 

Review: "The Moon Raven" by Grace Draven

The Moon Raven by Grace Draven
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Disaris jin Gheza's rare gift for code-breaking means she must flee a conquering army and a fanatical cult, or become their prisoner and pawn. To evade capture, she will cross perilous territories and sorcerous borders, her aim, rescue her sister from captivity and stop a goddess bent on remaking the world through destruction and bloodshed.

But she won't be facing danger alone. The battle mage known as the Moon Raven travels by her side. Once Disaris's best friend and lover, Bron is now an uneasy ally with a death bounty on his head for desertion.

Bound together by memories and a bond that they both believed broken, the two fugitives must outrun a deadly tracker, save a kingdom, and crush a savage deity - all without dying in the effort.

A tale of loyalty and longing.

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KOBO | AMAZON

REVIEW

It has been a while since I enjoyed a good Grace Draven book. Not for her lack of trying, but mostly because I love all her books, I can not simply choose one. After the author's health issues, this book felt like a comeback to her trademark writing; beautifully crafted worlds feeling fleshed out even for a stand-alone book, romance that develops sweetly and has its trials, and characters both with strengths and weaknesses making them lovable.

Disaris is a prisoner, and the tower she is in is about to collapse from the siege, which has been going for almost two years. By a stroke of luck she is saved by none other than Bron the Moon Raven, warrior and magician of the enemy whoc also used to be her first love and best friend. As the story progresses and Disaris and Bron must unravel their own feelings, war closes in. Disaris has the magic gift of translating everything and anything with a glance, and that is not easy when everyone either wants to use her or simply kill her.

And Bron has to contest both her rejection a few years back and his own feelings, as he never stopped loving her.

The book strikes a delicate balance between storytelling and character development. It goes back and forth between past and present, showing how Bron and Disaris met as children and grew up together.

It does not feel stifling, yet at the same time gives room for more development, as for example we see through Draven's descriptions the everyday life of the village our characters live in. Or how magic manifests without having to memorize a whole glossary of terms seen in other fantasy books.

There is spice, and trust me, they both deserve it after everything they have been through, but it is not the main focus of the book; it just complements the story as a whole.

Overall, this was a great book by one of my top authors, and I surely wish I could have a sequel about a specific sister and another magician.

About the author:

Grace Draven is a Louisiana native living in Texas with her husband, kids and a big, doofus dog. She has loved storytelling since forever and is a fan of the fictional bad boy. She is the winner of the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice for Best Fantasy Romance of 2014 and 2016, and a USA Today Bestselling author.

“Grace Draven is the gold standard for fantasy romance” ~ BookRiot

“When it comes to fantasy romance, Draven is in a class by herself”~ RT Book Reviews

ARC Review: "Vanguard" by Karina Halle

Vanguard by Karina Halle
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

Her kiss may be deadly, but he’s indestructible.

Erasmia "Mia" Baxter is her agency's most lethal operative, genetically engineered to have poisonous saliva. But having the kiss of death is hell on her social life. Her future holds no romance, no family, no intimacy of any kind—only killing for her country.

When her special ops group hears rumors that America's first enhanced soldier—Vanguard—may be more deadly weapon than savior, Mia is tasked with infiltrating his inner circle to investigate. What she finds is a former military asset with a hidden dark side—and the only man she can kiss without consequence.

Intoxicated by the obsessive passion rising between them, Mia falls deeper into lust with each new sensual encounter. But the closer they become, the more she realizes there might be truth to the rumors. Vanguard is changing—becoming more violent, more devious, less…human. And the truth of her identity might push him over the edge entirely.

In a world where heroes and monsters are separated by the thinnest of lines, Mia must Is the man she's falling for worth saving? Or is he the weapon he was created to be—one that will destroy her first?

A dark romance special ops spy thriller with a post-dystopian sci-fi bent—VANGUARD has the gripping twists and turns of BLACK DOVES paired with the seductive intensity of Runyx’s DARK VERSE series.

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AMAZON | BLACKWELL'S

REVIEW

I received an e-ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. 

TW: dub con

Karina Halle strikes again with a post-apocalyptic/dystopian book set in a future not so far away and feeling way too familiar with this reality we all face.

Erasmia, Mia is an elite spy from London, with a mission: learn everything she can about America's new hero, the enhanced human Vanguard, and if her is a threat, terminate him with a kiss. You see, Mia is also an enhanced human whose kiss is deadly, making her the perfect spy but also caging her in loneliness.

When her mission becomes more complicated than she anticipated, both she and Vanguard will face the consequences of their forbidden romance.

What drew me to this world was the world-building. This felt different from what Karina usually writes in a good way. The world the story is set on is not the distant 2040s, where the States come out from the so-called Dark Decade and corporations essentially rule behind the scenes. AI is dangerously incorporated into everyday life, and the surveillance is almost Big Brother-like. Mia and her team face a lot of difficulties, but nothing is more mysterious than Vanguard, or as he was known, Nate.

Nate was a very interesting character one I came to like despite what he faces and some of his very very wrong choices. Not to mention that in true Halle style the book ended in a spectacular cliffhanger with a revelation you do not expect! Definitely recommended!

About the author:

Karina Halle is a screenwriter, former music & travel journalist, and the New York Times bestselling author of Grave Matter, Blood Orange, & The Royals Next Door, as well as 80 other romances across all sub-genres, ranging from spicy rom coms to gothic horror and dark fantasy. Needless to say, whatever you're into, she's probably written an HEA for it.

When she's not traveling, she, her husband, and their pup Perry, split their time between a possibly haunted 120 year-old house in Victoria, BC, and their condo in Los Angeles.