Tag Archives: Dragons

Branded by Flames

Book Review of Branded by Flames (Dragon Soul #1), by Sean Michael

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Branded by FlamesI received a copy of Sean Michael‘s Branded by Flames from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
For years, dragon-shifter-slash-firefighter Jake has been searching for his mate, but he’s beginning to tire of the search. Maybe soul mates are only for the lucky few. 

Then he meets Shae. 

A former navy welder, Shae is handsome, talented, into power play and rough sex, and covered in dragon tattoos. All of this suits the shape-shifting dragon just fine—until he finds out that Shae literally has Jake’s family crest already tattooed on him. A coincidence? Or something more… 

Jake must convince Shae to trust him as a man and as a Dom before the heat between them burns out of control. Becoming a dragon’s mate is not without danger, and Shae will need Jake’s guidance—and love—if he’s going to make it through alive. 

Review:
This has dragon shifters. Dragon shifters! I should have loved it. But I’m afraid I just didn’t. The book is too long by half and it’s all sex. I mean ALL SEX.

I understand that it is erotica, not romance. (Though, I didn’t realize that when I requested it from Netgalley.) So, it’s fine that the focus is on sex not relationships, but it is not enough to carry such a long book. I got so tired of sex scenes. You wouldn’t expect them to bore a person, but when it’s just the same thing on repeat, that’s what it is, boring. I literally fell asleep at one point!

And it was painfully repetitive. I mean, there are only so many ways to describe two men having sex. The word ass is used 168 times and cock 202 times, in the novel. Now, the book is 216 pages long. That means that once you take out the front and back matter, it’s basically once per page. So, you can estimate how much non-sex plot there is. Hint: essentially none. It might have worked for 75-100 pages, because Shae and Jake are likable, but not 200.

It also uses one of my personal pet peeves. I hate the whole ‘boy’ thing in BDSM books. Totally personal, that; probably doesn’t annoy others like it does me. But it’s nails on a chalk board, as far as I’m concerned. Maybe it’s because I’m from the American South and, while there is definitely a traditional power play involved in the term, it’s not one I find sexy in the least. In fact, I always unconsciously read it with an unnatural emphasis that rips me right out of a narrative. I just really hate it.

I also disliked that Shae started the book as a somewhat butch, tattooed, pierced, ex-Navy welder and as soon as Jake showed up, he turned into a rather camp ‘queen.’ Either would be fine, but the personality shift was jarring.

Outside of these irritants the writing is fine and there is some humor in the book. Plus, I rather enjoyed Jake’s uncertainties, though I also thought they didn’t match the rest of his character. I appreciated that Shae was supposed to be almost 40. It’s so rare to find older romantic leads. And, of course, the whole this is about dragons, which is always a plus for me.

In the end, I think this may just be a case of a poor pairing between a reader and book.

Under the Dragons Spell

Book Review of Under the Dragon’s Spell (Fires of Fate #1), by Ann-Katrin Byrde

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Under the Dragon's SpellI picked up Anne-Katrin Byrde‘s Under the Dragon’s Spell as an Amazon Freebie.

Description from Goodreads:
Coming from a broken home, Adrian’s biggest dream in life has always been to find a loving partner and start a family of his own. But when his boyfriend kicks him out, it’s starting to look like that’s never going to happen. Worse yet, he has to move in with his brother to keep from living on the street, and the prevalent bias against men with the ability to carry children keeps him from finding a job of his own. 

He’s about ready to give up hope when he finds a job offer in the newspaper searching for someone to produce an heir for a rich dragon shifter. Having a baby with a stranger, even if he’s enigmatic and hot as hell, is not his definition of happiness, but when he finds himself falling for the dragon, he starts to hope again. 

If only it wasn’t for the competition…

Review:
This is one of those books that if taken on its own is a pretty poor showing, but if viewed within the confines of the Omegaverse, with all the pre-established tropes and expectations, isn’t too bad. It seems to conform with the expected rules, even if those rules don’t always make a lot of sense.

Outside that, the writing was ok. The editing was ok. The plotting was ok, etc. All ok, not exceptional by any means, but not wholly bad either. I thought there were some holes and the characters were not true to the personality established for them. But generally, if you’re in to the Omegaverse in a big way, you’ll really like this. If not, you’ll probably think it a lack-luster read. I kind of did.

Magic Eclipse

Book Review of Magic Eclipse (Dragon Born Shadow World #1), by Ella Summers

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Magic EclipseI picked up a copy of Ella Summers‘ Magic Eclipse from Amazon, when it was free. It was still free at the time of posting.

Description from Goodreads:
They were lovers. Now they’re enemies. 

A magic shock wave cuts across the world—fracturing reality, leaving only a dark Shadow World in its place. 

Former monster-hunting mercenary mage Sera Dering is fighting for her right to exist. Labeled as an abomination, she’s caught in a supernatural war that has been raging for centuries between her kind and the Magic Council’s Crusaders. But when people from both sides begin to go missing, Sera has to team up with Kai Drachenburg, the Crusaders’ commander. She soon discovers that the mysterious fog rolling across San Francisco is only half as dangerous as the sexy, powerful dragon-shifting mage who brings out memories in her of a forgotten world. 

As the commander of the Crusaders’ North American army and a member of one of the world’s oldest magic dynasties, it is Kai’s sworn duty to hate Sera. But as they work together to fight the magic fog plaguing the city, he finds himself drawn to her in ways he cannot understand. Their new alliance is tested, however, when they begin to realize that someone close to them is behind the dark spell—and that the fog is more than it seems.

Review:
Oh man, this book made me angry on several fronts. I mean, it’s an ok, if stripped down, read but it’s problematic too. My main issue is that it’s very clearly labeled book one. But a little investigation shows that it is actually book one of a series that is actually a sequel to a four book series, making this book five. And I went and did that investigating because I very early on felt I was missing something, so yes, you definitely feel the lack of those previous four books. It’s readable, but not overly enjoyable for the characters to talk about people and events you don’t know about and for the world to not be explained and the history to be a blank. It’s not even small things either. The whole plot here is that the characters have forgotten their lives, meaning forgotten the events of the previous four books, and they are fighting to get them back. So, ya know, important stuff.

Then there is this note on Dragon born Serifina’s GR page, that’s the series this is apparently a sequel to.

The Dragon Born Serafina, Dragon Born Alexandria sister series and Naomi’s story Dragon Born Awakening can be read independently or together. The Dragon Born Serafina continues with Dragon Born Shadow World

Suggested reading order:
Mercenary Magic (Dragon Born Serafina, Book 1)
Magic Edge (Dragon Born Alexandria, Book 1)
Magic Games (Dragon Born Serafina, Book 2)
Magic Nights (Dragon Born Serafina, Book 3)
Blood Magic (Dragon Born Alexandria, Book 2)
Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria, Book 3)
Fairy Magic (Dragon Born Awakening, Book 1)

It starts out ok, with the separate or together bit, but then confuses me with it’s suggested order. So, does that mean I should read seven books before getting to this one? Or is that establishing a pattern, rather than an actual list? Because each of those series is four books long. So, do I need to have read all 12? Come on authors/publishers. I hate this stuff. If a book is a sequel label it as such. This is obviously not a book one of anything! I mean, we’re even told that: “The Dragon Born Serafina continues with Dragon Born Shadow World.” Continues with…. Not a new series then. Not a book one!

As for the story itself? It’s got some humor. But it’s basically the main characters running around and reacting to things. There is almost no development of plot or characters. We’re told repeatedly that they’re at war, but they call each other, have meetings and are on a first name basis. So, not much of a war then? I never felt the tension that was supposed to exist. The ending came about very quickly and it concluded on a cliffhanger, with nothing looking anything like a conclusion. So, I basically started in the middle of a series and ended on one too. What fun! <–sarcasm

Look, this isn’t the first time I’ve complained about this. In a real sense, it’s the publishing industry’s apparent insistence on making this normal enough for it to happen to me repeatedly that makes encountering it again so problematic for. I even wrote a whole blog post about it, earlier this year. This a hot point issue for me, as a reader. I cannot express how much I hate it.

Lastly, because I’m not feeling particular charitable toward this book at the moment, I need to address that cover. Is it just me or is it particularly focused on breasts? I don’t know, something about that picture seems over-exaggerated and unnatural.

Edit: I’ve decided to add links when I get flack for my reviews. Apparently someone thought this one was “illogical and silly.”