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Book Review: Dragon Consultant, by Mell Eight

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Last month, I won a $10 gift card from Nine Star Press. I chose to buy the first few books in Mell Eight‘s Supernatural Consultant series. I started with Dragon Consultant.

 

The FAA has been struggling with dragons attacking their planes, and hire Dane, a supernatural consultant, to look into the matter. What Dane finds in the woods is not quite the problem he expected: a group of dragon kits and their sick father.

When he learns the real reason the family was in the woods, his case only grows more dangerous, and while Dane is plenty experienced at watching his own back, taking care of baby dragons and their handsome, distracting father almost makes danger look easy

 

This was very sweet, however, it’s also very shallow with very little in terms of world-building or character and relationship development. The first time one of the characters mentioned wanting the other romantically and thinking perhaps the sentiment was returned, I literally looked around and said, “where did that come from?” They’d barely even spoken. The same is true for characterization. There basically isn’t any. Why does Mercury seem immune to the territorial urges of the rest of the dragons? How is Dane what he is (redacted to avoid a spoiler)? I don’t know, and I don’t know a lot more than I do, even having finished the book.

The kits are adorable and the characters are likable. Plus, I really appreciate that there is very little angst. Both characters say what they mean and the author doesn’t force them to be oblivious to the obvious to drag out the plot. I have the rest of the series, and I’ll finish it, but this was only a middle-of-the-road read for me.

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Book Review of Alien Captive, by Lee Savino & Golden Angel

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I picked up a copy of Lee Savino and Golden Angel’s Alien Captive from Amazon, I think on a free day.

Who knew reading sexy alien abduction stories could get a girl into trouble?

Or that an e-reader could also be the gateway to another galaxy? I definitely didn’t… but here I am anyway, mated to the Tsenturion High Commander just like the unwilling human heroines in my favorite sci-fi romances.

The Commander demands obedience. He intends to claim me, train me, and turn me into his perfect little pleasure trophy.

He doesn’t believe in love. I don’t believe in giving in without a fight.

There’s no amount of discipline or ecstasy that could break me to his will… I hope.

Alien Captive is a hot alien abduction romance, starring one feisty human and the Tsenturion Warrior strong enough to master her.

Utterly ridiculous, but not taking itself too seriously either. Meta enough to make it interesting, as Dawn is well aware that her predicament is predicated on her favorite fictional erotic books (which are just like this one), but that fantasies aren’t necessarily what one wants in reality.

Unfortunately, the book lacks in connection. Several of the important conversations that need to be had either aren’t had or are had with the wrong person. Essentially, Dawn and Gavrill may speak to others, but when together they’re entirely inside their own heads. They don’t have conversations, they just fuck. I couldn’t feel their love grow in the slightest. Further, all that sex got boring. It’s not just that there’s so much of it (I would expect that in an erotic novel). It’s that it’s all basically the same and eventually it felt redundant. Lastly, Dawn’s ‘misunderstanding’ felt forced and artificial. It’s been done better a thousand times before.

The writing is pretty sound though. And I feel like the authors tried to grapple with the fact that the ‘brides’ will be enslaved, even if that word isn’t ever used The reader is supposed to understand they love their situations. I never could quite make the leap, personally. I also thought some of the BDSM tropes felt shoehorned into the plot, honestly.

All in all, not great. But not a horrible version of what it is either.

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Review: Haru to Aiden, by Alexia X.

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Last night I read Haru to Aiden. I see that since I picked the book up in December of 2019, it’s gotten a new cover (several, it seems) and the author, Alexia X., is now going by Alexia Praks. However, I’m going to stick with the cover I have because that means I read an X-authored book for my yearly Author Alphabet Challenge. I would normally call this cheating, except that I honestly didn’t know about the name change until I went to download the cover to write this post. So, I legit thought this was an X-book when I decided to read it. I’m running with it.

Eighteen-year-old Haru Ono has been in love with his stepbrother Aiden Davis since he was in middle school. Trying to keep his feelings under wraps is annoyingly hard when they’re living under the same roof in such close proximity, more so since Aiden is so caring and selflessly showers him with kindness.

Haru knows that family is important to Aiden, who has been shouldering the burden of raising five younger siblings, and it’s best Haru never reveals his feelings to Aiden. Then again, an eighteen-year-old boy with raging hormones can only bottle up so much until everything starts to burst.

I think this book will have a very select and limited audience, but that audience will likely love it. I found myself not hating it, but not loving it either. There was a time I was very into Yaoi (and if you don’t know what that is, probably don’t blindly pick up this book) but maybe I’ve outgrown it. I think being an existing fan of the manga style/genre is probably a prerequisite to enjoying this light novel, which is essentially a Yaoi manga in literary format. And here starts my issue.

I don’t think it works as well as a novel as a visual media. I just don’t. So, there’s that. I also thought the whole thing read like it was written by a 15-year-old fujoshi, especially the sex scenes, which were exceptionally cringy. It was surprisingly well-edited. Not perfect, but not the hot mess you’d expect if Alexia X. really was a 15-year-old otaku.

I did appreciate Haru and Aiden’s struggles, though the plot progression has been lifted from a million other similarly themed manga. Plus, the support of all the other brothers and friends was lovely. I did have to wonder how the two kept it a secret from each other when so many other people seemed to know. All in all, I’m not regretful to have read it (especially since it means I can mark an X-authored book of my yearly author alphabet challenge) but I’m not in any rush to read any more of the series either.

It’s also worth noting, in case anyone uses this as a gateway to further Yaoi that, while this book is very careful to ensure we know Haru is 18 (the Western age of consent), many of the manga written originally for non-western audiences don’t make this consideration. So, the whole genre could be considered super problematic by American standards. Just know that going in, so you’re not shocked.