Ignis

I found this book fascinating. It has the HEA, but the structure is about the crimes and how Felicity's history was wound up in it. Told from Felicity and 'the girl's' perspective, we can see how Tal reeled her in, and how they felt for one another.It is set before the other books in the series, and there is just a bit of Tal mentioning her gift and that it does not work for reading Felicity

I couldn’t put this book down. What a fantastic read. Well written and engaging. The journey is well worth taking.

I love K.J. stories and this was another excellent one. I live in an area where "religious" cults abound, and taught students who have been kicked out of cult and had to leave every thing they know. This story reminded me the difficulty of finding your true self.

I would love to have more of these characters…. The way KJ described everything so perfectly is addicting!! All of the relationships in this story are perfect but Felicity and Tal are just top notch!!I’m not usually one for a thriller vibe but damn this was good!!

Ignis is the third book by KJ following the characters introduced in Coming Home and Art of Magic. KJ’s expertly chosen words are concise, erudite, and the dialogue is delicious between Felicity and Tal. Body language, mannerisms, facial expressions, even when slow and precise, are nonetheless explosive. Two wary, traumatized yet powerful creatures parry and riposte. Felicity’s wears an ironclad mask of armor. Tal is panther-like, lithe. Tal’s vehicle, a motorcycle, even purrs and growls.The story revolves around Felicity and the beginning half of the book flips back and forth between her past and present. Felicity is her own savior and to do so she cuts herself from everything in her childhood, including her identity. But her past comes searching; he doesn’t want to let go. He wants to terrorize her, to break her spirit, destroy her world. He has no concept of who he’s messing with.

I don't like this book. I completely love it. I read it in just a few hours, ignoring my duties as a dog and human mother and I don't even feel bad about it. KJ's books usually leave me all warm and fuzzy. This doesn't have the same effect. It's a thrilling, stressful but deeply satisfying ride. This is  KJ's magnus opus.Felicity Davis is the principal of Rawson Girls Grammar School in Melbourne, Australia. She is featured in both Coming Home and Art of Magic. This is her back story and after having read it, her strength is even more admirable. A student at a neighboring school disappears and inspector Tal Diamandis comes to the school to speak with Felicity. There is an instant connection between the two. Tal has difficulty getting a read on Felicity, which makes her all the more fascinating.There are a lot of other occurrences that keep Tal and Felicity in each others orbit and working together to try to set things right. Tal is nonbinary and is the perfect match for Felicity. Tal and Felicity both exhibit strength of character, while showing each other their vulnerability.This book kept me on the edge of my couch. Felicity is such a great character and I am so glad she got a story worthy of her. KJ is one of my favorite authors and I love that she gave us something unexpected. Anyone who reads this won't soon forget it. Ignis is an exceptionally well written book.

While technically not a series, I consider this to be book three of connecting story lines that belong together, the first being Coming Home, then Art of Magic and now Ignis. These are my favorites of KJ's books - primarily because I fell in love with the characters and wanted to know more about them, but also because they're just so well written.Ignis is Felicity Davis's story - the principal of Rawson's Girls Grammar School - and it went in a completely different direction than Home or Magic did. Home was a fun, swoon-worthy romance, Magic is an almost otherworldly romance with absolutely gorgeous prose, and this is more of a thriller - a surprising turn that highlights KJ's versatility as a writer.We see Felicity's introduction to Inspector Tal Diamandis here, and while there is too much happening in the story to make this a romance per se, their chemistry is palpable. It's still rare finding non-binary characters in lesfic and KJ makes Tal sexy, intriguing and a worthy candidate for Felicity's affections. I'm so glad KJ gave Felicity her own book because she was completely deserving of one and while I want to comment on some of Felicity's actions in this story, I can't without giving something away. I strongly encourage anyone who hasn't discovered KJ's work yet to start with Coming Home and then read these next two books. They'll make fans out of you! 4.5 stars

Wow KJ, excellent work!Mystery-thriller-romance(sub plot) featuring an non-binary character! I’ve been lucky to read a couple books lately having representation and it’s nice to see inclusion in the sapphic-fiction writing community.So I’ve read 2 other books from KJ, Coming Home and Kick Back, and this was so different and exceeded my expectations! I really enjoy when authors surprise me like this!Felicity (principal) and Tal(inspector), the two mains, meet due to girls going missing near and in Felicity’s school. This dredges up Felicity’s past and forces her to trust and accept the help of Tal. The two dance around their mutual attraction and the flirting and banter is superb. The story is set in Melbourne so for a US reader is always fun reading/learning Aussie vernacular.The story line of the main plot is very well written, researched, and complex. I really hope KJ writes more mystery/thrillers because she really does have a knack for it.I think there is potential for a 2nd book, or hopefully maybe a short story but we’ll see.I think this could work for a lot of people, especially those who only want a romance subplot.

To be fair in this review, I have to note two things.Firstly, that I bought Ignis as an experiment. Normally, a detectivey-thriller is not my usual flavour of romance. I used to like them, but the sub-genre has become too brutal for me to want to spend time in those worlds. (If anyone writes a good lesbian romantic thriller where the grisly aspects are left ‘offstage,’ please let me know!) The second thing I want to admit is that when this story got to the villainous parts, I flipped past those pages. Therefore my review is based on a most-but-not-all reading of it.Okay, here are my two cents. Begin with: I read it through. That’s a compliment. (As I have mentioned in other reviews, I abandon books I don’t like. I guesstimate that I don’t finish about 65 percent of the books I buy, so right there Ignis is in the top 35%.)This book is readable, and engaging enough to have kept me turning the pages to the end. Both the main characters are strong women. Hot, in fact—Tal in the black leather motorcycle kind of way, and Felicity in the heels and business suits way. They are powerful and competent. They are middle-aged. All traits I like in MCs. The story moves along and the writing craft is solid. And, it is set in Australia. I love that setting.The thing that jumped out at me is that nowhere in this romantic thriller do we get inside Tal’s (they/them) head. To me, that’s either a very brave authorial choice / experiment, or a major oversight. I’m going to go with authorial choice because I think the writer is competent.So this next part of my review addresses that choice. Can one love someone else who is not visible? With no internal life of their own represented, Tal basically becomes a character of Felicity’s creation and interpretation. They are seen exclusively as she sees them—from the outside. Tal is drawn through behaviour, tells, and Felicity’s interpretations of what Tal is thinking or feeling. (And don’t get me wrong, Tal is charming.)But we all know that the face we show the world is a guarded one. What we think and what we do often differ. (For example, I wish I could be half as kind as I dream of being.) We also know that two people, however in love with each other, have areas of disagreement, and occasions when their viewpoints differ. Without those differences—even if they’re only internally admitted—the characters risk becoming mirror images of each other.An interesting aspect of this novel is that it explores a theme of control / power / consent. I suspect that theme set up the extreme care / formality with which the principals engaged with each other, especially at the beginning.So, all in all this was an interesting work. And as I said, I finished it.

I liked the present-day thriller arc, it was fast paced and well executed. It took Felicity a while to catch up with the obvious perpetrator which wasn't very convincing in my opinion. The romance part was a nice addition, it isn't central to the plot, but it was executed well and it balanced the overall sense of uncertainty and danger.

I've read hundreds...enjoyed most ...been absolutely riveted by a few...and this joins one other as top of a very tall heap...cheers

This was so far from what I thought it would be but it was utterly fantastic. The easiest part adding to how fantastic this was is the fact that this story has Tal. And by having Tal, this story also has a nonbinary main character. And I loved everything about Tal. And Felicity of course.The entire story was brilliantly written making it incredibly difficult to put the book down and not think about it. Even when I put the book down, my mind was always with Felicity and Tal. The 'Before' chapters had a haunting quality to them which made them creepily intense which also translated to the present day chapters. What an amazing read.

Very well written, great characters and great plot. Loved the read. Very difficult to put down though, make sure you have nothing important to achieve before you start reading