REVIEW - HOW TO DATE A DRAGON

"Another book I really wanted to like and gave it a good shot at maturing but sigh, no dice! Let's get the negative out of the way so I can talk about the good points. This story tried too hard, it was fully of fantasy, contemporary chick-lit, suspense and romance - but hey that sounds good, you might say. Yeah, it would be if the transition from one to another was smooth."

Author: Ashlyn Chase
Pages: 352 pages
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca on Sep. 3rd 2013
Form: E-book (from NetGalley for an honest review)
Genre: Fantasy/ Paranormal Romance
Series:  Flirting with Fangs Trilogy #2
Amazon: Buy / $6.29 (Paperpack) ( EU price, click to see yours )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $6.49 (Nook)
IndieBound: Buy / $?.?? (E-book)
Excerpt: Chapter 1

"Let the Sparks Fly...

Bliss Russo thought nothing exciting ever happened in her life. Until her building caught on fire, and she had to be carried out of the flames in the arms of a gorgeous fireman. Sure, her apartment is now in shambles, and she'll have to start her huge work project completely from scratch. But at least her love life is finally looking up…if only she can find her red-hot rescuer again.

Dragon shapeshifter Drake Cameron is the last of his clan, and the loneliness is starting to claw at him. He's met only one woman who might be able to stand the shock of his true nature. After all, she barely batted an eyelash when her home burned down. And feeling her curves against him was just as hot as the inferno. Just when he thinks he'll never track her down, she walks into his firehouse—with no idea what she's about to get herself into…"  ~ From Goodreads

Another book I really wanted to like and gave it a good shot at maturing but sigh, no dice! Let's get the negative out of the way so I can talk about the good points. This story tried too hard, it was fully of fantasy, contemporary chick-lit, suspense and romance - but hey that sounds good, you might say. Yeah, it would be if the transition from one to another was smooth. Sadly it was not. Let me give you an example, sometimes there was a week or days between paragraphs, when something interesting was going suddenly you lost a week - I don't know if the author didn't want to show how these two fell for each other or if she was just pressed to create a lengthy romance - either way the effect was that I missed falling in love with the couple falling in love. The two of them seemed cold to each other even when things were heated it just read off and cringe worthy bad sex because you had no emotional connection to this couple. See the image below ( by reading the pages before will in no way effect knowing the couple better... )

Faced forward and nodded...

Like mentioned above I missed the emotional connection. Individually the characters were interesting most of the time, Bliss was cooky and ditzy, Drake was single minded but hot, the slew of other characters like mother earth and gods, vampires and such to good human friends kept the book filled with dialogue and scenes.

The cover is more erotic romance, but don't let it fool you, this one is classified as Mainstream, and it is.

Top three likes : liked the names Bliss and Drake, I like dragons... the cover.

Top three dislikes : no emotional connection, choppy scenes and bad sex.

Rating :

REVIEW - CALLER OF LIGHT

"Carina's beauty and willfulness intrigue Marek, and he's determined to have her. When his enemies try to come between them, he discovers just how much he will endure to protect her. Together, they can unlock a love that binds their souls, but only if they find the strength to follow their hearts."

Author: T.J. Shaw
Pages: 252 pages
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press on Nov 2012
Form: E-book (from the author for an honest review)
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Amazon: Buy / $5.99 (Kindle) ( EU price, click to see yours )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $5.99 (Nook)
All Romance E-books: Buy / $5.99 (E-book)
Excerpt: Second meeting

"Carina McKay is an outsider. With one parent of royal blood, she's not nobility, yet not a servant either. The only comfort in her mundane existence is her love of Critons, the large fire-breathing creatures that protect the border of her homeland. But her destiny changes forever the day she catches the eye of King Marek Duncan.

Marek's heart is closed to love. After an arranged marriage withers to a bitter end, he dedicates his energy to protecting his kingdom. Yet he's searching for something more--the Caller of Light, the one who summons Critons.

Carina's beauty and willfulness intrigue Marek, and he's determined to have her. When his enemies try to come between them, he discovers just how much he will endure to protect her. Together, they can unlock a love that binds their souls, but only if they find the strength to follow their hearts."  ~ From Goodreads

I absolutely love fantasy, Tolkien, Martin and Eddings to name few faves! Which is why I'm probably bit harsher in reviewing Caller of Light.

I liked the story for Caller of Light, I have always loved the story of the underdog proving their strength and importance, especially when they are put down in the beginning. What I found somewhat distracting was that even though there was a great story idea it sprouted around and that dispersed the story too much to keep a clean line. I often though what happened with that idea or why did something happen to begin with. But really that wasn't way too distracting and I was enjoying reading this book.

I found Carina's character charming, her quiet demeanor with her family, the bullies, and her bravery when she wasn't under their scrutiny. I loved her consistent nature through out the book, she was strong but still doubted people because of how her family had treated her. She was very reletable Marek was bit selfish and was doubting Carina in the beginning, which I did not like, but also loved as a story line! It reminded me of those medieval historical romances where the nobility marries a commoner and all the package that come with that. I was left wanting something stronger from Marek, he showed strength at some pivotal points and more of that would have been nice.

The romance was in good focus, but it moved weirdly, like I mentioned at the very top the plot and story flow wasn't compact. So when it came to sex the intensity had waned and as nicely as T.J. Shaw had written it it wasn't as powerful a point in the story. I did often find myself lost in what happened at the time as T.J. Shaw has great writing skills and many parts were great reading! With a strong, tight plot I would have been hooked.

Now the cover, there is way too much going on the eyeball, the glowing key, the tree, the arrows, the castle, two many colors and fonts in the text, also too saturated with yellow and texture for clean and viewer friendly look. I give careful consideration for covers before I accept a book for review, and this was right on the line.

Even all this said I really did enjoy reading Caller of Light, and probably if I didn't have such powerful Fantasy reading background I might have not got caught up in all the details. If you love strong heroine's with vulnerable, shy side and hot hunky men who ride "dragons" in medieval setting then give this book a shot!

Rating :

REVIEW - CLAIMED BY DRAGONS (GIVEAWAY)

"The African scenery is stunning but the unexpected arrival of her two office crushes, Roarke and Kypton ignites her passion. Just as the trio is getting steamy at a beautiful waterfall, danger intervenes forcing the men to reveal their secret. They're dragons."

Author: Amber Skyze & Katalina Leon
Pages: 265 pages
Publisher: Loose ID Publishing on Sept. 2012
Form: E-book (from tour for an honest review)
Genre: Paranormal Erotic Romance (+18 Only)
Series: Bag of Tricks #2
Amazon: Buy / $11.49 (Kindle) ( EU price, click to see yours )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $6.79 (Nook)
All Romance E-books: Buy / $7.99 (E-book)

"In an odd Wiccan shop in Salem, Jael pulls an unusual stone from a witch’s wish bag. Little does she know her wildest dreams of adventure and a torrid affair with two gorgeous co-workers are about to come true--in spades.

Jael’s dreamy boss, Roarke offers her the assignment of a lifetime: a photo safari to Mount Kilimanjaro. The African scenery is stunning but the unexpected arrival of her two office crushes, Roarke and Kypton ignites her passion. Just as the trio is getting steamy at a beautiful waterfall, danger intervenes forcing the men to reveal their secret. They're dragons. And now, to save her life, they have no choice but to abduct a startled Jael to their mountain lair on Kilimanjaro.

In the dragons' love nest, Jael learns the truth about their origins and explores all the erotic possibilities two eager lovers can offer. Love awakens, but the guys are being stalked by a covert group of dragon hunters and withholding a life or death secret that will push Jael’s courageous heart and commitment to the limits."  ~ From Goodreads

I got to say I quite loved Claimed by Dragons, even though the beginning dragged on and I was tempted to read something else it soon enough picked up and I was hooked. There was a lot more science fiction in this than I expected, but in a good way - it was still very much a shifter romance but I loved the sci-fi angle. I don't know how Skyze and Leon worked this duo but they mesh well and there isn't obvious lines drawn on writers and their style. I'm always so tempted to try and figure out who is writing who, but here I just went with the story. Claimed by Dragons is well written, fun, exciting and definitely sexy in all the yummy ways!

Now to characters! Roarke the Alpha of the dragons was quite intimidating dark, powerful and strict but ended up being more gentle in the bedroom than Kypton who was blond, slighter in built, shyer but had a real dominating streak when it came to sex. And that little mix-up was delicious! Both men were entertaining to read and their relationship with each other was quite loving, I really never read M/M but I liked Roarke and Kypton together even when Jael wasn't there.

Jael was alright, she had some fire and guts, but I couldn't really relate to her, she was bit too brazen at times to be believable - but then she had gentler moments and those I really liked.

I enjoyed the angle on the romance, Roarke's demise if he doesn't get mated created a nice urgency to the story, but let's face it it was all there to begin with so all they needed was to fess up and it was good. What I really liked was the covert group OKSG coming at them to make falling in love and mating a lot harder, it had a cool little Da Vinci Code vibe to it.

I loved all the romance, and I loved the erotic side of Claimed by Dragons! With slightly more believable characters and nixing or mixing the past in there differently this would have been 5 star for me. But at 4 stars you can see it wasn't a big deal, and I very much enjoyed the whole book!

Rating :

[ THE GIVEAWAY HAS BEEN CLOSED ]

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How to participate = Comment here answering

"What's sexy about shifter romance to you?"

REVIEW - A HINT OF FROST

"Lourdes has to change the binding agreement promising Rhys her hand in a true marriage with the price of saving her sister. But Rhys has secrets, and his interests in marrying her seems much more than just political scheming, but can she trust him, after all she seems to have nothing in common with the flesh eating, poisonous, scheming Mimetidae Clan of skilled mercenaries."

Author: Hailey Edwards
Published: Samhain Publishing on April 17th 2012
Pages: 122 Pages
Form: E-book (from the author for an honest review)
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Araneae Nation #1
Amazon: Buy / $7.63 (Kindle) Pre-Order ( EU price, click to see US price )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $4.56 (Nook) Pre-Order
Samhain : Buy / $3.85 (Ebook) Pre-Order
Excerpt: Chapter 1

Lourdes has agreed to bind herself to Rhys, a political "marriage" of sorts to the questionable Mimetidae, to keep her Clan of silk weaving Araneidae safe and to revenge her parent’s murder which has made her the leader of her people.

But when her sister is kidnapped by their old guards, turned her parents' murderers Lourdes has to change the binding agreement promising Rhys her hand in a true marriage with the price of saving her sister.

But Rhys has secrets, and his interests in marrying her seems much more than just political scheming, but can she trust him, after all she seems to have nothing in common with the son of flesh eating, poisonous, scheming Mimetidae Maiven and her Clan of skilled mercenaries.

A Hint of Frost was one excellent fantasy novel, with romance to spice it up. From bear riders to spider like clans of people it was unique read, even to a mild case of arachnophobia like me. I loved the Araneidae people, the artisans of the nation, them spinning silk stronger than any metal to armor and to soft to touch fabric. I loved how much fantasy this novel had and how well it was used to tell an interesting story that is begging for a book two!

The plot was interesting, Theridiidae Clan went back on their word killing Lourdes’s parents making her the youngest Maiven of the Araneidae Clan, which forces her to make a deal with the Mimetidae Maiven ( equivalent of a Queen ) to marry one of her sons for the protection of her Clan against the Theridiidae. Lourdes expects one of the poisonous cannibalistic brute warriors and is shocked to find herself with a man with kindness and understanding. But that’s not all, her sister has been kidnapped, and on her search for her they come across a deadly gruesome plague that turns animals and people to something unnatural and bleeds them yellow.

The romance in A Hint of Frost was suggestive and mostly sweet, protected Lourdes had no clue how things were to go, and having Rhys tempt her and protect her gave a interesting feel to their romance. I probably would have loved more romance in the book, I felt it was perhaps left too much in the end. The book almost had a slightly christian feel to it with the innocence and the waiting, but when things got hot there wasn’t much christian about it.

I enjoyed the contrasting religions of healing and science, I liked seeing it explored in the book. I think this book introduced the characters well for the future books, left a lot of interesting openings for future relationships and political intrigue. Great fantasy, lovely romance and interesting twist on the mesh of spiders and people and their culture.

Rating :

REVIEW - MARK OF THE SYLPH

"Maya is Taeg’s best hope for uncovering the sword. Unfortunately, she wants nothing more than to kill him. As he fights for her trust and to save his family, she is forced to face the truth that not all demons are evil. And the worst part? She might be falling in love with one, too."

Author: Rosalie Lario
Pages: 268 pages
Publisher: Entagled Publishing
Published: September, 2011
Form: E-book (from a tour for an honest review)
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Series: Demons of Infernum #2
Amazon: Buy / $6.99 (Kindle) ( EU price, click to see US price )
Barnes & Noble: Buy / $6.99 (Nook)
The Book Depository: Buy / €10.25 (Paperback)
Excerpt: Chapter 1 and 2

"Half-demon Taeg is desperate to free his pregnant sister-in-law, who is spellbound to an indestructible book that will create an army of the undead. He is convinced that an ancient sword can destroy the book and the spell forever, but this relic has been hidden for a millennia by a powerful glamour. The clock begins to run out on his search when an old rival goes after the book and Taeg’s family in his quest for revenge.

Librarian Maya Flores has a secret: she’s immune to magic and is well aware of the supernatural beings prowling the streets of New York City. Haunted by a brutal demon attack that took her family, she is on a one-woman mission to destroy the evil demons who did it—and any others who get in her way.

Maya is Taeg’s best hope for uncovering the sword. Unfortunately, she wants nothing more than to kill him. As he fights for her trust and to save his family, she is forced to face the truth that not all demons are evil. And the worst part? She might be falling in love with one, too." ~Goodreads

If you read my review on the 4th book earlier you know I gushed about these covers, love them! They set the mood for the book perfectly, it's bit dark and has the romance without the buff guy shot ( not that I don't love those as well! ;D ). I really do enjoy Lario's writing, its right up there with the best of them. It's fun, witty, hot and had the right amount of darkness, sadness and tension. And I love a book with tension to keep the chemistry just right! Mark Of The Sylph was great tale of romance, demons, tension and inevitable danger to bring the couple together and sealing the deal.

Maya and Taeg made the best couple, with the fighting and the banter and the scorching hot sex! I loved their chemistry ( and the kidnapping and the tied to the bed bit! ;) ), Taeg felt instant attraction, Maya felt instant hate, and watching much strong Taeg toy with Maya who could hold her own was the best form of couple foreplay! Also this is the first I got to know of the half-demon brothers and boy do they have things going for them, I love guys who act arrogant and snarky and yet completely fall for the girl and give her the whole world and the soft heart they had secretly nurtured the whole time just for her. Can't wait to read more of these books!


The only reason why I didn't give this book the full five stars was because while it was amazing it was slightly slow at parts that made me want to skip a little to get to where Maya and Taeg were the main focus, I could have lived without the enemy's chapters.

You'll love this if... you like your heroines strong in give a run for your money kind of way, and your heroes tough, strong in the will kick your ass six ways till Sunday kind of way - and love seeing them battle out while falling in love, when that's the last thing they should be doing.

Want to find out more about the other books in the series, check out THIS, 

and get to know Blood of The Demon (1st), Touch of The Angel (2nd) and also see my 

5 Star Review of Heart of The Incubus (4th)!

Rating :

REVIEW - HEART OF THE DRAGON

Author: Gena Showalter
Pages: 384 pages
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: January, 2009
Form: Mass Market Paperback
Series: Atlantis #1
Amazon: Buy
Adlibris: Buy

Darius en Kragin has been schooled from the tender age of 8 to become a Guardian of the Mist, a dragon that stands between people who enter Atlantis through the portal and his own people. No one can enter, everyone has to be slain for the safety of Atlantis, no exceptions.

Grace Carlyle is lost in the jungle after her guide deserts her in her search for her brother who seems to have disappeared after mailing her a necklace, an old dragon necklace. As she now tumbles through the jungle, thirsty, hungry and sweating she finds a cave, the cave transports her to a new location where a man wielding a sword comes at her. No matter how hot the guy you can't mistake the big sword and the fact that he's about to use it on you.

Darius can't believe what he's seeing, he hasn't seen colors or smelled or tasted anything in close to hundred years and now in front of him is a curvy woman with blazing red curly hair, one who smells divine and he bets taste amazing as well. Against all his teaching he takes her captive instead of slaying her where she stands, as would be prober. Now he has a prisoner in his chambers, tied to his bed, but not for long because Grace isn't just any girl and she might just be able to pull a fast one and fool the dragon.

Darius fights between having to kill her and needing to bed her and have her be his for the rest of his life, while Grace must find her brother, escape Atlantis and figure out just what does Darius want from her.

Great start for the Atlantis series! I'll definitely be reading the following books!

Rating :

Started Reading : 16th of Aug. 2011
Finished Reading : 17th of Aug. 2011

REVIEW - UP IN SMOKE -SILVER DRAGONS BOOK#2

Author: Katie MacAlister
Pages: 352 pages
Publisher: Signet
Published: October, 2008
Form: Paperback
Series: A Novel of the Silver Dragons #2
Amazon: Buy
Adlibris: Buy


Book #1 Playing with Fire ended with May taken away from Gabriel to be the demon lord Magoth's consort for her insolense to disobey his direct order to get the Phylactery, a dragon source of power, to him.

Now Gabriel has the Phylactery and May is in Abbadon ( read Hell ) where Magoth is trying to leer and lure her into ignitiate her consorthood as she ducks and dodges his advances while trying to find how she could return to Gabriel, her Mate.

Before long she's back on the top side in her dragon's arms, but it comes with a price one that she doesn't willingly take on.

Her twin has hooked up with Gabriel's enemy Kostya which causes friction between the two women, and it doesn't help that May has to go make peace with god her twin has upset, and that due to unfortunate insident she has to make try make good with being more dragon than she ever excepted or wanted, and noticing just how much Gabriel likes her new dragon traits. But it isn't a given that she wasn't to be anything other than her doppelganger self.

As always Katie MacAlister's dragon novels are entertaining, hot and full of great one liners and a fast pace plot with plenty of Alpha Male Dragons with yummy possessive tendensies and healthy libidos!

Fun read! Not quite as good as Book #1 but very close! Oh - and do read Playing with Fire first, this is direct continuation of the first book.

Rating : 

Started Reading : 10th of Aug. 2011
Finished Reading : 14th of Aug. 2011

REVIEW - PLAYING WITH FIRE - SILVER DRAGONS BOOK#1

Author: Katie MacAlister
Pages: 352 pages
Publisher: Signet
Published: May, 2008
Form: Paperback
Series: A Novel of the Silver Dragons #1
Amazon: Buy
Adlibris: Buy

May is cat burglar my profession and doppelganger by none-birth, has hundred years of practice sneaking into houses and vaults to steal what her master, the demon lord Magoth, commands. After few unfortunate events she finds herself on the footsteps of Aisling Grey and her Dragon wyvern Drake. This isn't too bad but it turns out the Silver Dragon Sept Wyvern Gabriel is also there and by accident they discover May is in fact a Wyvern Mate, a rarity on its own, but even more rare as Silver Dragons a cursed to not have mates.

Gabriel has the normal dragon traits; highly possessive, volatile when provoked and fiercely protective, and once he has May in his hands he's not about to let her go for any treasure in the world. But as it seems May isn't that into the idea of being a Wyvern Mate which kind of boggles the Dragon mind, but no matter he'll turn her around - after all you aren't much a dragon if you can't get what you desire.

"You taste of the cool water that hides deep in a stream. You taste of the night air, soft and scented and mysterious. The taste of you drives me wild. I want to be with you, be inside you, shout to the world that you are mine at the same time I want to keep you hidden where you will exist only for me. You make me feel invincible, little bird." 

May being a demon lord's minion hinders the two would-be-lovers until something gives. After all how long can a girl resist a gorgeous, steaming hot, totally committed dragon?

In the Katie MacAlister style this book is a hoot! Fun, witty, hot as hell and has you loving the male lead with vigor, I mean who doesn't love an alpha male bad boy. ;)

Rating :

Started Reading : 8th of Aug. 2011
Finished reading : 9th of Aug. 2011

IN MY MAILBOX #3

Finally, I've been waiting for this book for over a week now!

The Black Dagger Brotherhood Insider's Guide, with it's own Zsadist, Bella and Nalla Novella Father Mine. :)

Plus the brother's "interviews" by J.R. Ward. ;)

Can't wait to know all there is to know about the drop dead gorgeous Brotherhood.

But that is not all, I also got the Silver Dragon Trilogy!

Oh I've been wanting to sink my teeth into Gabriel...'s story for a while now, after how much fun Drake was in the Aisling Grey Series.

I'm already almost through with Playing With Fire, we'll see if I can start up Up In Smoke today. ;)

REVIEW - HOLY SMOKES - BOOK 4 OF AISLING GREY, GUARDIAN NOVELS

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Signet ( November 6, 2007 )
ISBN-10: 0451222547

I have to say at the top here this isn't as good as the 3 books on the Aisling Grey, Guardian Series, "You Slay Me", "Fire Me Up" and "Light My Fire".

But it is a must read if you have read the first three.

Aisling and Drake are getting married, but keep getting interrupted, alot.

Ofcourse there is also the facts of having been proscribed for using her evil powers, being a Prince of Abaddon to take care off.

She also finds herself pregnant.

Now the thing is, this could have been a great plot, but the story is distant, loose and frantically going all over the place in a way that makes you skip pages.

I absolutely loved Aisling's character in the first three books, she was a bit cooky but in a nice way - in this book she's more rambling and distracted.

Drake, one of my favourite male leads in paranormal romance genre is missing in this book, he comes as goes and doesn't really have a role.

I wanted more from this book. But atleast I have my imagination and the last three books to fall on.

Like I said before, if you aren't a fan of Aisling, no real need to read this. I'm sorry to say.

Rating:

+ ☆ ☆ ★ ★ ★

Started Book : 10th of June 2011
Finished Book : 1st of July 2011