Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon by Kerrelyn Sparks 5 ✭

Title:	Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon
Author:	Kerrelyn Sparks
Publisher:	St. Martin's Paperback
Series:	The Embraced
Genre:	Romance, Fantasy, Gothic
Publish Date:	March 27, 2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Pages:	435
Ages:	18 +

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

Got an ARC for a Kerrelyn Sparks book. So excited!!! Thank you publishers & NetGalley.

I truly loved this book. I wish that I had gotten to it sooner. Kerrelyn Sparks continues her Embraced series with the same humorous and hot magical fantasy theme here. I reviewed the prior book, So I Married a Sorcerer, and I am up to date on the current events in the series. I don't think it would be hard to pick this up if you haven't read any of the other books. It picks up and rolls with it. It isn't a high fantasy novel, so if fantasy isn't your thing, I would still pick this up if you are a historical person. It has a little of that feel to it. Don't get me wrong, there are dragons, and Gwennore is an elf.

Gwennore is an elf and the countries her "sisters" rule overlook down on her. The Elves are seen as violent creatures. So when her two married sisters try to play matchmaker with the three single sisters, it leaves Gwennore feeling desperately lonely. All the men sneer at her and make fun of her appearance. She is constantly being talked about through the whole book. They're calling her names, constantly saying she is going to kill everyone. So Gwen is constantly doubting her self-worth. She has mastered all the languages, she is extremely loving to her adopted family, she even has a good sense of humor that you only see with Silas.

Silas reminds me of my husband. No seriously!!! He really has that same rotten but funny humor. He makes you smile when you want to be mad. When you're serious he knows just the way to frustrate you but make you happy. Silas is much like a teenage boy too. He is from one of the three cursed clans. So women would adore them from afar, but never risk actually dating them. They fear the curse that makes them go mad or lose any children they would bear. 

I loved their relationship. I love the development of the story, the world, and where it is going. I am excited to see what the deal with the elves is. Damn... I don't want to say anything because I don't want to spoil anything. I will say you don't see much of the elves. You only hear them being mentioned. So it really has piqued my interest. I think Sorcha gets her book next, and I think we get to see the elves. The only thing that bothered me truly, was that I could not wrap my mind around how to pronounce Gwennore. So every time I would read her name, my mind would stutter. It would take me out of the rhythm of reading, and take me out of the book world for a minute. 

You should skip the free preview below and just get the book. 

In my opinion, I will be continuing this series 100%.

Dragonfire by Donna Grant 5 ✭

Title:	Dragonfire
Author:	Donna Grant
Publisher:	St. Martin's Paperbacks
Series:	Dark Kings
Genre:	Romance, Paranormal Fantasy, Shifter
Publish Date:	October 30, 2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Pages:	400
Ages:	18+

Rating: ✭✭✭✭✭

I was lucky to receive an ARC of Dragonfire from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion. 

Dragonfire begins with a girl talking to her grandmother about her mom taking her away from her gypsy family. They have gifts and the family has been hiding a secret. For generations, the story of why they're on the run is passed down. There was a dragon king who had a magnificent battle sword. But one of the gypsies saw that he would use that sword to kill all the people in the village. So six families took waited and stole the sword from him, and split up. Always on the run. That is just the prologue too. 

That was right before Sabina and her family to leave the caravan because townspeople were after them and murdered her father. Her grandmother had the "Sight" and could see the future. It was a gift that was passed down through the family lines. Both Sabina and her brother have the Sight. Now Sabina and her half-brother live alone in the country. The rest of the gypsy family have moved on. Sabina and her brother Camlo also have the Sight. Camlo can communicate with animals and is gifted with wood. But even though he has grown to the size of a man, he has kept the mind of a child. Camlo is an important character in the story, and I just adored him. Sabina was a strong character too. She has to change within the book. Her fears end up being used against her, and there is a little twist/reveal. I like her, I want more of her and Roman. I honestly wished the book didn't end. 

Roman is a whole lotta hunk. The book starts with V and Roman going to Romania where V, aka Vlad, use to rule to search for his sword. Well, that's where Sabina and Camlo are at, so the obviously run into each other. This part made me adore Camlo because of his childlike excitement of knowing who the Dragon Kings are. As it continues we see more Druid and Fae involvement and that they need to search Roman's homeland, Iceland. This is where it gets all Indiana Jones with magic. Maybe not quite Indie, but it's the best example I could think of at the moment.

We get like one scene with Con and Rhi development. It isn't enough. It's just enough to tease. Whenever they get their book it better be 600 pages and amazing. I am glad there isn't too much bouncing around to other side plots in the world. This really focuses on Roman, V, Sabina, Camlo. I think V's sword is such an important part of the world that you need to focus on them and the challenges that they face. 

I loved this book. It was hot and it was serious. Fire & Ice indeed. If you decided to just pick this up off a shelf you wouldn't be too lost. There are minor references to previous books and if you haven't read them it will trip you up for like a couple pages but it's easy to move on. Like I said this focuses on a select few rather than everyone in the world. This series is really vast and I love it. I want to soak in it and just enjoy this massive world that Donna Grant has created. 

Please, do yourself a favor, check out Donna Grant's Dragonfire. Read a Free sample below without leaving the page. 

Dark Alpha's Hunger by Donna Grant 4 ✭

Title:	Dark Alpha's Hunger
Author:	Donna Grant
Publisher:	St. Martin's Paperbacks
Series:	Reapers
Genre:	Romance, Gothic, Paranormal
Publish Date:	August 7, 2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Pages:	158
Ages:	18+

Rating: ✭✭✭✭

Dark Alpha's Hunger is another super short novel by Donna Grant that you can easily eat up in a day. I feel like the story here is better than my last read. This had angst, desire, passion, a quirky female main and it added a bunch of new characters to the ever growing world. I foresee more Reaper novels in the future for sure. This novel doesn't talk much about the current events in previous books, but it all fairness Eoghan has been in some terrible dark dimension. So if you were writing true to the characters feelings, yea he isn't going to be filling you in on the current state of the fight with Bran. So this book really deviates from where it felt like the story arc was going. I enjoyed this book because it was short and well written. I think that the events from this book will impact other story arcs within the world. It would be easy to do. I don't want to reveal anything, but I feel like there are a couple characters that when their books hit, fans are gonna go apeshit.

Moving on. So from what few books I have read, it seems like fae halflings have a specific power that makes them unique and one of a kind. Thea has a gift with music. She was abandoned at an orphanage as a baby and grew there her whole life. She hasn't thought about who her parents might be in a long time. So when she plays music, it just comes to her naturally, straight from her soul. She also was drawn to locations. There were childhood stones that drew her to them, and she still went to them as an adult. You know those stones in Outlander that the chick goes back in time from, yea those. So as an adult, she goes back to some stones in this one location and starts playing her violin. The music feels like its being pulled from her by the stones. Then she sees a hand reaching from her out of the dark entrance to the stones. This hand becomes a body as she helps pull him out, and reveals Eoghan. He heard her enchanting music and followed it out of that nightmare realm he was stuck in.

I feel like this book deserves its higher rating. I really liked this novel, it really pulls me into the world while it is expanding. I love falling in love, which I've said before. I think if I hadn't received a free ARC, I would buy it. I am really looking forward to whenever Cael gets his book. And Rhi, I want Rhi to have a book.

If you would like to check out the beginning of Dark Alpha's Hunger, you can read below without leaving the page. 

Dark Alpha's Night by Donna Grant 3 ✭

Title:	Dark Alpha's Night
Author:	Donna Grant
Publisher:	St. Martin's Paperback
Series:	Reapers
Genre:	Romance, Gothic
Publish Date:	March 6, 2018
Sold by:	Macmillan
Pages:	158
Ages:	18 +

 Rating: ✭✭✭
I want to start off with an apology. I was lucky enough to get many ARC's this year. With buying our first home, getting my daughter started with pre-k, and getting adjusted to the new routines has set me back so bad with my books. I feel disappointed in myself especially when I see that I have gotten 4 total ARC's for this series. The last one I got was released last month on the 30th. To the publishers who gave me the books, I am so sorry for the delay. With that, I have decided to knock out all of my Donna Grant books in a row. Are you guys ready? I don't think putting all three books left into one post will be a good idea. I will continue my same format for each book.

I have read a book by Donna Grant before and I really enjoyed it. I like the author, so when I had an opportunity for other ARC books by her, um... hell yeah. After a little bit, I realized that this is a HUGE world, and all the different series that Donna Grant has written are connected. I love the big series. I am really wishing I got to this at the start. So I looked up the reading order for myself just so see it visually and it is easy to find on the author's website. Another author that has a huger series that I got 20 + books deep into like that is Sherrilyn Kenyon. So Donna Grant is on the list of author's that I will scoop up because dedication to a series like that makes me happy. 

Picking up a book when it's in the middle of the series is risky. You don't know if you're going to be missing out on a bunch of backstories for the characters you're reading about. You don't know if there are attributes to the characters that were mentioned before. I know I have said similarly before since this isn't my first starting somewhere other than the start. However, I have at least read a book from the world that this book belongs too. So I'm not totally lost. If you wanted to pick this up without reading the previous books, I think you would be fine. This isn't Donna Grant's first rodeo connecting readers to previous books. Dark Alpha's Night is thankfully one of those where chapter one gives you a quick breakdown of the world from Daire, one of the main characters, POV. So you get a feel for his personality and what the first four books involved. Who has coupled up in the previous books, and who have they been fighting? It really only gets into the Reapers series previous info, but there is mention to the other series that are connected. The Reaper's are working to defeat Bran, a former Reaper, in their series. Bran is trying to kill Death for revenge. There is a rule that since Reapers are the fae executioners, another fae can't know about them. The consequence is the fae who knows about the Reapers is killed. Now Bran has a special sort of rage since most of the Reapers are now paired up with someone. Each booth Bran finds a sort of loophole to siphon Death's power from her, and he is close to killing her in this book. Bran discovers a new loophole which leads him to Ettie and her two sisters. They are his descendants from his time before he was a Reaper.

Ettie is the bland sister out of the three. She is pretty but not as astounding as the other two. Each sister has a gifted characteristic that they get from their half fae lineage. Carrie has like a chef power, lol. Jamie is brilliant with mechanical things. Ettie doesn't know what her quality is till later. The only thing she knows that sets her apart is she's a better fighter. Her father told them about the fae and told them to train and prepare. Which is what he was told. So her good fighting in her mind is just from her dedication. Daire was sort of boring to me. He seemed bland, and that isn't bad because these two seemed more like a normal person you would meet on the street. Not overly brooding, or any of those typical steamy romance guys. I appreciate that every now and then when it's done right. 

It looks like this is a six book series for the Reapers alone, not the whole world. That's how many it looks like so far from a quick goodreads.com check. All the books are decently priced at $3.99. It was on sale at the beginning of October so I would keep your eye out for another sale too. I would recommend this Author and her series from what I have read so far. Dark Alpha's Night was a good story, steamy, and quick enough to get through. I can't wait to continue the series from here. 

Read below for a short free preview of Dark Alpha's Night, without leaving the page. 

The Royal Dragoneers Review by M.R. Mathias 4 ✭

Ok, I want to start off by saying I do read fantasy books but usually, they're under the romance category first. This book was great even though it was a fantasy first and foremost. The Royal Dragoneers has duh, dragons, action, and a little bit of romance too. The characters were interesting to read about.

Royal Dragoneers completely had my attention all they way to the end of the book. I was about to imagine the story like I was watching some cool high-end movie. The four main characters are trying to warn the king of the war that is on the way, and they have these trolls and orcs to deal with. It's a pretty intense emotional rollercoaster. I had to force myself to take my time reading this one because I felt like it was a special read that I didn't want to rush through. I am very glad that I did that.

I am considering picking up the next book in the series soon. For now, the trilogy is going on my "want to check out" list. You should try The Royal Dragoneers if you enjoy reading fantasy books. 

I picked up the Kindle version for a really good price too.
The Royal Dragoneer's $0.99 for Kindle Now!