SAPPHIRE FLAMES is finally out. Happy book birthday to everyone. We hope you’ll like it, we are sorry if you don’t. Thank you for giving our work a chance. 🙂
We had a great time in Houston. Your next chance to see us in person is in Austin with Jessie Mihalik. 8/29 Barnes & Noble, Austin , 7:00 pm. More information here.
This is your place to post comments and theories. The comments will be SPOILERY, so if you haven’t read the book, please be aware. We probably won’t respond to most of the comments on this post because we still have FAQs coming up, but if a particular question is very interesting, please +1 so we will know to address it in the chats.
Is it weird that I am secretly hoping Alessandro dies in a tragic fight to save Catalina, but Cornelius is a constant presence in her life to help pick up the pieces? And that they end up being together?
Ok, maybe that is just me.
No, it’s kind of me too. I loved the plot line, I loved Linus, Penelope, Heart, Leon, arabella, matilda, Zeus, Bug (the list goes on) and I really liked Catalina. And I can see the journey the family is on, particularly without Nevada. In short I liked it a lot but alessandro just wouldn’t come into focus for me. It was a great book, I still ignored the kids for hours to read it, but I didn’t love him, except for his ability to materialise any weapon nearby!! Now that was cool.
Happy book birthday! I loved it just as I love all your work. Thank you for sharing your talent with us. Also, thank you for describing white men as white men. It means so much to me that you’re making the conscious choice to break the assumption that all characters are white until or unless described otherwise. I believe it’s those little choices that will make all the difference in the world I want to live in. Thank you and bless you. I wish you happiness and continued success. Much love.
Well said!
Thank you very much for “tartled” I have tartled my whole life, and never knew there was a word for it. Now I do.
(Oh, by the way, thank you for the rest of the book.)
Hmmm. Does that mean Linus is not Ceasar?
I know, right? I was convinced he is Ceasar. Now, I’m not so sure
I reread all the Hidden Legacy books to prepare. That was fun. And I just finished Sapphire Flames. My jaw is on the floor. What? What happened?! The good news is there has to be another book at some point. The bad news: he walked away because he had to and Catalina is being noble…again. I want to slap both of them. I’m going to have to reread Innkeeper again. I love you guys but this was mean…. Hope you’re having fun with all the gallivanting.
You used sororicide! Awesome!
Wonderful as always. Really enjoying Catalina as a protagonist, though I do hope we get a bit more Nevada next go around.
I hope Penelope is able to find some happiness with Heart, she deserves it after all she’s been through. Her life isn’t over yet l.
Definitely see the influence Cdramas are having on your writing in the ending. Oh Alessandro.
Can’t wait for more of the Linus/Ceasar storyline (he does so hate to be bored).
Awesome book, just finished second reading.
Just figured out only one of the five missing serums was found at the lab. Four to go.
I also thought Grama Frida was just being cheeky by wiggling her fingers at Linus, now I am wondering if they are related by blood or old combat buddies.
I finished the book on Saturday morning and have been germinating on it since. I have not read anyone’s post about the books except the 4-5 before mine. I loved the book overall. Thought there were a few times when it didn’t flow well or jive but it’s hard to put my finger on that. However, I loved it overall and love how you have built this world . You have put such thought into creating their world. It’s a hard world and it reminds me of the medieval times when the smartest, strongest and baddest survived. The family characters have developed and matured and thought it great that Arabella drives a Mercedes ????. I thought you handled Catalina’s feelings for Alessandro and how she viewed herself as things went along and when it didn’t work out how she had hoped they would go well. To me it was very realistic for a young woman who had lived such a sheltered life. I’m glad things did not tie up with a neat bow at the end of the book too. I like that Alessandro has some family issue going on which we will see develop in the next installment. I expect though he will be surprised with the next version of Catalina that he meets. I think he will be very surprised. He first thought of her as nice and shy. Now she is beautiful, conniving, and confident. Next he may meet a a very direct and maybe pissed off woman who has a few new things to surprise him with. Ha! Parts of me wants them to bump into each other somewhere that’s not in Houston. Thank you!
Nevada had to save Houston; Catalina has to save the world. I think Arabella should have to save the universe. In all honesty though, this was amazing. I just finished my first re-read and caught a lot of things I missed the first go around.
I absolutely adore Alessandro. I am so interested to know what’s really going on with him. As for Ms. Catalina? She is, quite literally, the most savage of the sisters. They say power rests best with those who don’t really want it, and she is the perfect example of that.
House Andrews, you’ve outdone yourselves once again. Thanks so much for the fantastic book. I can’t wait to see where the rest of this Epicness goes.
+1
Love the bit about ” think Arabella should have to save the universe”
Congratulations on your new book! ????
Excellent start for Catalina, congratulations!
I have to respectfully question the premise that Linus is Caesar. It’s a little too overt and Linus has been very much in power before, and now with the Warden revelation, we see he’s still very much in the power structure. With that much scrutiny, it would be tough to be under the radar as much as Caesar has shown himself to be.
When Nevada saves Victoria at Takara, Victoria tells her to “not take” the deal with the Keeper. Also, Michael states, “A mistake”. We can infer he means Nevada saving Victoria, but also it could be that Michael thinks Nevada’s choice to owe the Keeper a favor is a mistake.
I believe that Caesar’s final identity reveal will be a bit of a surprise. We got the reason why Rogan doesn’t trust Linus fully, which is the proposal for him to be the deputy Warden of Texas. The National Assembly is portrayed as the ultimate power, so I see Rogan’s motivation to be that he doesn’t want to answer to anyone else’s authority.
I don’t think enough information was given for Alessandro’s revelation about Linus’ attachment to the Baylor family. I think there’s more to come there, and it may not be about relation as much as resemblance. Linus’ history is still fairly open and blank at this point, so hopefully we can shade in a few more pages in the upcoming books.
I’m really curious if I’m alone in this one big issue I had: Am I the only one who had problems with how Nevada was moved to the background? If this was the first Hidden Legacy book I had read, I would have had no problem with it at all. But the explanation for Nevada no longer being head of House bothered me. Catalina used emotional blackmail on her to get her to back down (for her own good true, but it was still a shit thing to do to her). Nevada had literally carried the entire family since she was 17. It was all on her and she handled it even when she literally expected to die (Burn For Me, she makes a deal with Augustine to sell the name back for $1 in the event of her death which she fully expects to occur, she keeps an insane life insurance policy not linked to the business to protect her family), it is totally unrealistic to expect her to suddenly be able to delegate, especially to her younger sisters who she helped raise and who have been perfectly happy letting her handle everything up to that point. The other problem is that while I do understand her response (it would have been mine too, both the walking out and the 3 week silent treatment), I can’t see her refocusing so totally onto House Rogan. She’s lived and breathed 25+ years just for the Baylor family, always putting them first above her own happiness and health and suddenly she’s now hands off and I’m going to focus on my hot hubbie and his problems?
If it was absolutely necessary for Catalina to be head of house (really, was it? wouldn’t the deputy warden thing be enough for her?, was it necessary to just negate all the pain and effort from the first trilogy?), I just would have liked to see a smoother transition. Obviously Catalina feels guilt because a random comment upset her so much. Maybe Nevada and Catalina will have a huge sister blow-out argument in the next book and clear the air and bring some closure (even it it’s just for readers like me, I literally could not sleep the night I finished reading because my brain would not stop twisting this point around and I had no one to talk it out with). Heck maybe part of the issue is they literally gave away Nevada’s room the second she hooked up with Rogan (thanks for all the sacrifices now that you found happiness get the hell out and we won’t tell you anything that goes on in our lives from now on).
You’re not the only one. I was similarly bothered, although for slightly different reasons. Everything about how being a Baylor was everything to Nevada is true, and I found the way that Catalina became Head of the House to be jarring and inconsistent with what we had understood about the Baylor dynamic up to this point. Perhaps extreme situations call for extreme measures, as Nevada was clearly not going to stop working on her own, but it really did not sit well with me.
I think it is in part because I had assumed the transition would be obvious. There are Baylors who could take over the House in Nevada’s stead, but there was no one other than Connor in House Rogan other than his mother, so it made sense that Nevada would move into House Rogan. Not only that, but she would make clear that her split was clear, because a big part of the conflict over deciding if they would become a House was whether or not they’d be seen as vassals of House Rogan, and while she would obviously no longer be involved with House Baylor business, she would always be a part of the agency. In other words, I assumed it was obvious that everything that did end up happening would just happen, and I am very confused and very curious about why such extreme measures were taken. I hope, like you, that all of this is addressed in a major sister blow-up of some kind, because they otherwise really did discard Nevada in a way that felt very much like betrayal, and it really needs to be addressed.
My interpertation was that Nevada could not let go even if she probably knew she was supposed to and the only way to stop her from working herslf to death and move on was for them to force her to the sideline. Nevada probably understands this deep down but as of this book wasn’t ready to accept it so we’re still seeing the fallout.
I think this feels jaring because the previous books were from Nevada’s perspective so you always had her side and her internal feelings rationalizing that this is what she ‘had’ to do. Her sisters were young and you only saw glimpses of their personalities which I think both reflects their age and the way Nevada sees them as her’s to look after. In this book we’re seeing Catalina as her own person and how she’s growing into a capibale head of house. From her perspective Nevada isn’t perfect even if she is doing what she thinks is best. It’s also possible Nevada doesn’t quite see the other kids as quite grown up yet since she was acting as a provider and guardian in a lot of ways before.
I do agree though that hopefully they will have a chance to finally work through it together, but I think it’s ok to have this issue span across a book as Catalina is still figuring out how to live her life in this new roll and Nevada needs time to adjust to her own changing life.
Thank you so much for Sapphire Flames. Well done.
Neglected my family til the end. Good thing made cabbage roll soup and bread yesterday…left overs today.
LOVED LOVED LOVED the book!
I reckon Linus is Caesar and Alessandro’s family is involved too, I kind of got estranged/not happy with them vibes from Alessandro.. buuut I devoured the book so may have that completely wrong, will have to check when I reread it slower..
I did miss Nevada a little bit, but I think Catalina will grow on me
Oh, the book hangover. I love Catalina and my heart is breaking for her and Alessandro. Can’t wait for the next book!
I love how Catalina forced Nevada out. It’s a beautiful sacrifice. Catalina doesn’t want to be head of house, but she does it to keep her sister alive and healthy.
I’m so invested with all these characters. Just want to put it out in the universe that I really, really want major storylines for everyone!
Last, is it just me or is there some chemistry with Bern and Runa?
I have not yet finished the book but am past 90%. I just read and laughed slightly evily and very loudly awoke my entire household to this small Easter egg:
““I love your makeup.” “Thank you!” The receptionist’s voice warmed by at least ten degrees. “It’s the new Oksana palette.” “The limited edition one?”
Do you remember the IG handle of Ilona and Gordon’s daughter that models? Its Ms.Oksanaa
So many questions!!! But they all need spoilery answers so I’ll just wait until the next books.
I’m re-reading the whole series and I’ve found a few interesting tidbits. Alessandro’s reaction to Linus’ relationship to the Baylors was very very interesting. If they are able to pretend that only the women in House Molpe are sirens, what is the second prime talent they use as a cover?
The habanero? Best ever!
Hey! Great book! I have just one little complaint – They forgot to bring Zeus back from their “Mr Moody reconnaissance mission”! I know they were kind of occupied, being under attack and all, but they should have thought to collect him afterwards.
Anyway, he was meant to be backup when things got dicey ( – and wow, did they ever!) – so why didn’t he show up? What happened to him?
He was never mentioned again during the rest of the book, so I am kind of worried now.
This creature always adds such lot of panache to already absurd situations and I would really hate to do without that.
I hope he finds his way back on his own!
What sort of magic lets Alessandro jump out of windows? Does he have three kinds of magic, or is antigravity magic part of being an antistasi?
Did the Baylors refuse payment from the Ettersons? after all, it was blood money.