Four and a half stars. When the Speaker of the Texas State Assembly is very publicly murdered in a restaurant owned by Linus Duncan, the Warden of Texas, and Linus himself is unconscious after having ingested a potentially fatal dose of a drug designed to protect him from attack by a Mental Mage, Catalina is catapulted into acting Warden. Alessandro is having troubles with his Italian grandfather. There's an extremely rare and deadly spider loose somewhere in the compound. Cat and Alessandro are trying to track down and eliminate the Russian assassin Arkan. A member of the Russian Imperium is snooping around, and there's the usual big explosions, crazy magic, and Cat discovers a whole new facet of her magic. What can I say? A triumphant end to Catalina's story. How can a 370 page novel feel like a short story? is it the writing? The story? The way you just plunge in and emerge hours later surprised to see you're no longer in Texas? Loved it and didn't want it to end.

If I could choose a fictional family to visit, this family might well be it. Family is at the heart of the Hidden Legacy series, and I've re-read every book in this series multiple times. I've already read this book twice. It starts out with humor but it rapidly moves into suspense and then the story takes off like a rocket. This is the third book where Catalina has been the main character. The fun begins with the family visiting a large estate, since their old home had been destroyed in a previous book. Arabella, Leon and Bern were not happy about it until they turned around and saw the *other* houses on the property - including free-standing towers. Next came a situation about an incredibly expensive and even rarer spider - one of seven in the world - that had gotten free in the Baylor's conference room and hid. Catalina (currently head of the family business) had refused to accept this job and someone on her team went over her head. Oops. Then things get serious. Catalina gets a call about a murder, and she can't reach Linus - which isn't supposed to happen. The action is non-stop for the rest of the book. While Linus is not available, Catalina as his deputy has to step up in his place, and has to deal with a dangerous conspiracy, one powerful enough to reach even Linus. Arabella also shines in this book but I won't give any more spoilers. It needs to be enjoyed as it happens. This is a fine addition to the Hidden Legacy series, and I can hardly wait to see what comes next. My thanks to publisher Avon and Harper Voyager and NetGalley for the advance reading copy. These are my own opinions of the book.