magdalenems's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
missmegreads's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
Warning: the sexual scenes in this book are briefly discussed at the bottom of the review with appropriate language for sexual actions and anatomy.
Overall: A fair-to-middling paranormal romance with a quick pace that doesn't require (or need) too much thought. It wasn't bad. There were bright spots, but not enough that I'd want to revisit this world or the characters.
Characters: Andi, the main protagonist, didn't entirely charm me but I did sympathize. I have a soft spot for characters who are very competent at what they do and are brave because their sense of "this is the right thing to do" won't let them chicken out. Andi's complexities were often explained to the audience in chunks of introspection rather than letting it be organically shown.
As for Damian Blackwood, the love interest, he was quite bland. I liked the dragon inside him more. I would've loved reading things from the dragon's point of view. Imagine being inside a person of another species who's controlling you, just barely, while doing everything you can to make him let you both out of horny jail already.
Damian's friends were background noise. The talking cat, Grimalkin, made me think of old Hanna Barbera cartoons and didn't quite fit in.
Andi's family is mentioned and explored, but all of that information and tension doesn't even amount to a subplot. Literally nothing happens with her brother's bail money or her uncle. It's a shame because this book badly needed the emotional context that would've given Andi.
Worldbuilding: The paranormal/fantasy premise had potential, but wasn't used very well. You could have stripped out the fantasy elements all together and had basically the same book with a bit of tweaking.
The most magical and powerful element, the thing that really makes people powerful and dazzling is good old fashioned money. Wealth is, like, half of Damian's personality. Honestly, the story would've been the same if Damian had been a spy or a mafia boss or something.
Plot/Story: The plot moves quickly and makes sense but ends abruptly on a "tune in for next week's episode!" kind of note that makes it feel as if I just read one giant prologue instead of a complete book.
Plot/Story: The plot moves quickly and makes sense but ends abruptly on a "tune in for next week's episode!" kind of note that makes it feel as if I just read one giant prologue instead of a complete book.
It doesn't pass my "Jesus Grandpa" test. To explain, in the movie The Princess Bride, the young boy who's having the story of the Princess Bride read to him thinks the book has come to an unfair, unsatisfying, pointless end and exclaims, "Jesus, Grandpa, what'd you read me this thing for?"
The plot here is a logical and somewhat interesting series of events but it doesn't amount to a satisfying sum that's greater than it's parts.
Romance: The Andi/Damian relationship didn't do it for me. Their attraction was mostly unearned and their conflict was entirely contrived.
The age old "oh no, my life is too dangerous for you so I'll push you away by being an asshole instead of just kindly but firmly telling you to go" trope needs to be retired. *checks notes*. No, sorry, I misread. It needs to be burned in a fire.
Honestly, I wanted Andi and the dragon to hang. That's not just my inner monsterfucker, either. It would've been cool if she and the dragon could've commiserated over Damian being a pain in the ass.
The Spice: It's definitely habanero or higher.
Some scenes with Andi and Damian were not my cup of tea for two reasons:
1. I don't like when "sex pollen" (or any other magical substance) is responsible for characters having a sexual interaction because it raises my red flags for consent and whether anything after that is genuine.
2. Semen doesn't turn me on. Hearing a guy think about how hot it is to "mark" a cis woman by ejaculating inside of her vagina doesn't do it for me.
However, I must award 100000000 bonus points for showing masturbation in spectacular fashion. We never, ever get to see women taking their pleasure into their own hands and enjoying it without out a hint of shame - especially in this genre.
Inclusivity: An Asian American lead! Yay! We need so many more of those, especially ones like Andi. Even if I didn't fall in love with her as a protagonist, I can't fault the quality of her portrayal.
I wish more of her life and inner self had been shown beforehand, but I know the conventions of the genre don't allow for a deep dive into a character's backstory and inner self. Eventually the fighting and fucking must happen.
I don't expect every book ever to include every single type of marginalized person that exists. It's just not possible or even desirable. That said, here are a few things the book didn't include that are big issues in this genre, so they're worth noting:
- The main characters have perfect bodies
- No one is fat
- No one is explicitly disabled
- No one is explicitly neurodiverse
- No one is explicitly mentally ill
- Everyone is educated and/or indicated to be middle class or above
- Besides the awkward sassy non-binary best friend, everyone is (presumed) cis even though most of them are magical and not from Earth. Why would a dragon and his magic friends be straight or binary?
Other: The actual prose writing gets a bit clumsy from time to time so the pacing and flow of a scene reads like it's buffering. It also has big blocks of introspection and exposition that honestly could've been spread out or shown and not told.
My hugest bone to pick was the portrayal of Eumie - Andi's roommate.
Eumie is a fifty year old non-binary person that Andi halts her entire narration to explain as if Eumie's gender and gender expression are so bizarre and alien that the audience needs to have it laid out in detail. As a non-binary woman I wasn't happy about it.
No one else in this book has their gender or gender identity explained like this. It others Eumie so much. There was no reason not to simply use "they" pronouns and move on.
Especially when Andi's other roommate, Sammy, doesn't get the same treatment. Sammy gets the "she/her" pronouns and the narration move on.
Eumie also fell squarely into the sassy queer/trans best friend trope. They are immediately invested in Andi's love life, clearly there to be comforting, witty and hilariously vulgar without any of the conversation at all referencing them or their life. Andi doesn't even ask Eumie "how was your day?" or "how are you doing?".
When Andi talks with Sammy about her relationship with Damian, Sammy gets to say things like "oh, no, I never have time to date anyone" just to indicate she's a person with her own life and Andi decides not to tell Sammy the truth about Damian because "Sammy had enough on her plate".
It wasn't the worst portrayal of a non-binary character I've ever seen, but it wasn't good.
ebgracie77's review
4.0
A nurse gets called to help a mysterious billionaire with a patient and gets sucked into the paranormal society.
I enjoyed this and I may continue reading the series... but I'm also annoyed with the relationship drama.
He's ashamed of being a dragon... why!? I just can't understand why he would be, but apparently, his dragon is a separate part of him. Frustrating world building choice number 1 for the author. And this leads to the other parts of this story that irritated me.
The heroine is pretty amazing. She takes everything in stride and rolls with the weird happenings.
They go on a date pretty quickly and it goes from "yes, you guys are having a great time together and vibing and he's opening up to her" to "apparently, this dude thinks that he has to be a douche bag to her to warn her off cause he's dangerous".
I hate when "heroes" feel the need to be a jerk rather than just saying "I'm concerned about my ability to have a good relationship with you because I have a dangerous job and a dangerous beast".
There are some interesting tidbits in here that make me wonder about her true past and family situations.
Did it leave me wanting more? I liked it, but the set up to their relationship is so annoying, that I'm not sure if I want to keep going in the series.
I'm always desperate for audiobooks, so maybe I'll give it a little bit longer. We'll see.
I enjoyed this and I may continue reading the series... but I'm also annoyed with the relationship drama.
He's ashamed of being a dragon... why!? I just can't understand why he would be, but apparently, his dragon is a separate part of him. Frustrating world building choice number 1 for the author. And this leads to the other parts of this story that irritated me.
The heroine is pretty amazing. She takes everything in stride and rolls with the weird happenings.
They go on a date pretty quickly and it goes from "yes, you guys are having a great time together and vibing and he's opening up to her" to "apparently, this dude thinks that he has to be a douche bag to her to warn her off cause he's dangerous".
I hate when "heroes" feel the need to be a jerk rather than just saying "I'm concerned about my ability to have a good relationship with you because I have a dangerous job and a dangerous beast".
There are some interesting tidbits in here that make me wonder about her true past and family situations.
Did it leave me wanting more? I liked it, but the set up to their relationship is so annoying, that I'm not sure if I want to keep going in the series.
I'm always desperate for audiobooks, so maybe I'll give it a little bit longer. We'll see.
lexywrites1's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I thought that this book was good
the_vegan_bookworm's review
adventurous
dark
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Blood, Gore, Death, Violence, and Medical content
sanctuary's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
mrs_r's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
I really enjoyed most of this book but it seemed a little dragged out with far too much internal dialogue.
I love the story, the world building and the secondary characters were interesting but I would have liked them involved in the story a lot more. There was just far too much of Andi and Damien's internal dialogue for me.
Andi was a great character, she was strong and not easily shocked which intrigues Damien when he would normally push people away.
I like the ending of the book, it will be interesting to see where their relationship goes next.
I really enjoyed most of this book but it seemed a little dragged out with far too much internal dialogue.
I love the story, the world building and the secondary characters were interesting but I would have liked them involved in the story a lot more. There was just far too much of Andi and Damien's internal dialogue for me.
Andi was a great character, she was strong and not easily shocked which intrigues Damien when he would normally push people away.
I like the ending of the book, it will be interesting to see where their relationship goes next.
tina_moreau's review
5.0
Awesome plot with hot scenes appropriately placed. Damn good paranormal romance right here.
willowb's review
4.0
Dragons are always awesome!
Love these authors and Dragons are usually my favorite paranormal romance to read. I had troubke getting into this story but once I got connected to the characters I really enjoyed it.
Love these authors and Dragons are usually my favorite paranormal romance to read. I had troubke getting into this story but once I got connected to the characters I really enjoyed it.
sublimestars's review
3.0
I was a pretty big fan of the Nightshifted series by Cassie Alexander so when I had the opportunity to read the first in a new series by Cassie and Kara I jumped at the chance.
The premise of the story definitely had my interest - a nurse who takes a job for a mysterious billionaire who happens to be a dragon? That’s new! I’m not big into explicit sex scenes but they were well-written. I loved the strength and humor that the main character, Andi, showed throughout the story... which is why I have such an issue with the way the Andi/Damian story went. The fact that he treated her the way he did and she came back for more - in the same night, no less - just didn’t seem to jive with the her personality.
The story leaves a lot of unanswered questions which makes a reader want to tune in for the rest of the series - but despite my curiosity about certain things (no specifics because hi, spoilers) I’m not sure if I will continue on with this. I liked the idea of the story but have too many issues with the execution... I feel like the steamy scenes detracted from what the story could have been, and that the Unearthly aspects of the story were not fleshed out enough - although I loved Grim!
Thank you to the authors who provided the ARC to review.
The premise of the story definitely had my interest - a nurse who takes a job for a mysterious billionaire who happens to be a dragon? That’s new! I’m not big into explicit sex scenes but they were well-written. I loved the strength and humor that the main character, Andi, showed throughout the story... which is why I have such an issue with the way the Andi/Damian story went. The fact that he treated her the way he did and she came back for more - in the same night, no less - just didn’t seem to jive with the her personality.
The story leaves a lot of unanswered questions which makes a reader want to tune in for the rest of the series - but despite my curiosity about certain things (no specifics because hi, spoilers) I’m not sure if I will continue on with this. I liked the idea of the story but have too many issues with the execution... I feel like the steamy scenes detracted from what the story could have been, and that the Unearthly aspects of the story were not fleshed out enough - although I loved Grim!
Thank you to the authors who provided the ARC to review.