Review: Love Ilona, love this short story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 28, 2014
So after I finished reading Burn for Me, the first book in Ilona Andrews’ new and AMAZING Hidden Legacy series, I got to talking with another Ilona fan, who had been told that the world-building in Burn for Me was similar to the worlds in the Kinsmen series and the novella, Of Swine and Roses.And I was like, “Huh. I can see that.” But it’d been years since my early OMG-I-LOVE-Ilona binge, so I decided a reread was in order.And here we are.Some time in the indeterminate future, when space colonization was the new Big Thing, humans began to genetically enhance themselves. They needed to be stronger, faster, heartier, more versatile. Some of these enhancements were tech-based, effecting only the individual, and some were biological, being inherited by offspring."It was quickly realized that the advantage of these biological enhancements lay in their exclusivity. Thus, the biologically enhanced united and shut down all further biological modification."And consolidated their power. They were called the Kinsmen, and to maintain both the potency and exclusivity of their enhanced blood, the families arranged marriages for their children based on bloodlines and business alliances.This is why Meli Galdes was betrothed to Celino Carvanna when she was 10 years old and he was 16.While neither of them was happy with the arrangement, Meli accepted it, but Celino did NOT. He worked the next 6 years to make himself indispensable to his family, and worth more as an individual than the alliance with the Galdes family.And he succeeded.But where did that leave Meli?An excellent question. And one you will only get the answer to by . . . wait for it . . . yes, that’s right—READING the book. *winsome face*Verdict: a quick, fun, and SEXY read. Yes, I know it’s Ilona Andrews, and yes, I know that fabulous as she is, she’s not particularly well known for sexy times, but there’s a first for everything, right? Highly recommended.