Well, it isn't going to be a lovely, detailed review, but I'm just going to say this because frankly, I don't even want to stop reading long enough foWell, it isn't going to be a lovely, detailed review, but I'm just going to say this because frankly, I don't even want to stop reading long enough for a real review: when I finished this book a few minutes ago, I immediately went to Amazon and purchased the series outright. I had been reading it using my KU membership, but I love it so utterly that it must be mine now.
This makes it one of only 4 series that I've purchased outright from Kindle Unlimited, because they were firm favorites that I knew I'd read again and again and my possessive heart requires that I own the precious so it can be mine forever. That list is: this series, the Magical Midlife series by K. F. Breene, the Jacky Leon series by Kristen Banet, and the Firebird Chronicles series by T. A. White.
I love these books. Like, I stayed up until nearly 4am last night because I couldn't put them down, levels of love. So if you and I have similar tastes, give them a whirl....more
This is just not my cup of tea at all. Basically, the FMC seems to have some kind of magic hoo-ha that brings all the boys to the yard - likeDNF @ 27%
This is just not my cup of tea at all. Basically, the FMC seems to have some kind of magic hoo-ha that brings all the boys to the yard - like, as in, that seems to be her superpower - and I'm not even marginally interested.
That plus the weird drama ... mystery guy buys you a magic bracelet (that seems to unlock your hoo-ha magic) and mentions a brief sum up of your life story while dropping an unlimited credit card on your table, along with a mysterious business card that has only a phone number, as he dashes dramatically out the door while offering you a job. He loosely implies that it is prostitution (as in, she skeptically asked if it was prostitution, and he hesitated ... and she said "you hesitated!" and he acknowledged that it is complicated).
And she is mesmerized by the whole thing enough that she's going to go with it, despite her common sense occasionally bubbling up and reminding her that she's going to be a human trafficking victim.
And in the meantime, men are inexplicably drawn to her, and her body fires with heat, and she has sex with a crappy ex.
Man, I just loved this. Utterly loved it. I'm a fan of Kathryn Moon, so I was excited to jump right in to this new series, and I was not disappointed.Man, I just loved this. Utterly loved it. I'm a fan of Kathryn Moon, so I was excited to jump right in to this new series, and I was not disappointed.
This is a sweet omegaverse series - alphas, betas, omegas, knots, ruts, heats. No RH - I think this might have been the first omegaverse I've read that was not RH, honestly. So that was a fun change.
The book is overall extremely sweet and delicious, with lots of steam and low drama. No drama with the couple, really ... just a lovely unfolding of their relationship. Some drama with the douches in town, but it's really a sidebar. This book is about this couple and them finding themselves, their hearts, their lives together ... and digging up truths that were buried in history, likely due to some patriarchal bullshit.
Because it's not a great thing to be an omega dragonkin in this world. They're outnumbered by betas, and so they are treated like prized possessions. They're essentially auctioned off at a selection ceremony every 10 years. Women have no power, no right to refuse. They're broodmares, and birthing dragonkin is extremely difficult, with mothers frequently not surviving (especially if the child is male, and thus born with wings). The betas that have power in the village generally don't care about the women at all - they have a duty to bear children, and that's that. They're expected to die in the doing, and everyone accepts this as how things are.
Alright, the rest of this is going in a spoiler tag --
(view spoiler)[But it turns out they're not supposed to be that way. In the Alpha's library, Mairwen comes across accounts of mates - omegas who were bitten by their alphas in a claiming, and something in that claiming changes them. They get stronger, they live the long lifespan of their mates (apparently male dragonkin live like 3 times as long as women), and they hardly ever die in childbirth. They also go into heat more often, rather than the once-every-10-years rut, so mated pairs have more children overall. And the best part - they transform, gaining wings of their own, and the ability to shift into a full dragon. Though that part doesn't always happen - the claiming bite alone doesn't confer it. It seems that political claimings don't result in the dragon transformation. Only true claimings do - it sounds, from the context in the book, that that is when the dragon and the human sides both wish to mate the omega. Like, that claiming seems to share some of the essence, the magic unlocking the dragon within the omega dragonkin.
Mairwen finds that mating was banned a long time ago, and someone made a diligent attempt to erase it from history in what I can only assume was a feat of patriarchal bullshit. It meant women were pushed down from being equals - partners, mates, with strength of their own through the dragon magic - into being possessions. I hope we get some detail on how and why that happened. I have to assume, honestly, that it was because someone wanted to erase mated pairs battling together - how much harder would it be to overthrow an alpha if he had a mate that could also shift into dragon form and spit fire? If only true claiming - i.e., utter selfless love - creates that ability, I'd imagine most egomaniacal douchebags are incapable (because they don't love anyone as much as they love themselves), and they'd want to limit the ability of anyone else to form a pair so they can hold on to power. (hide spoiler)]
I'm super excited to see how this plays out across the rest of the series. The author says the next dragon alpha featured with be Torian, a friend of the MMC in this book. I can't wait!...more
This book might be fine for other people, but it pushed all my buttons. I just cannot stand a supposed badass FMC that has a spine made of weDNF @ 24%
This book might be fine for other people, but it pushed all my buttons. I just cannot stand a supposed badass FMC that has a spine made of wet toilet paper.
Do these people own her? Is she a slave? The author makes no attempt at explaining why she has to do what they say when she knows - and gives it to the reader clearly in her narrative - that they are corrupt fucking liars.
QUIT YOUR FUCKING JOB! Tell them to eat shit, and quit!
Don't give me a badass that bends to the whims of douchebags, authors, unless you're going to give me a goddamn compelling reason why she has to. Honestly, the implication is that they own her - there is a throwaway line where she says she was finishing up school when they showed up, told her her parents are dead, and she had to come with them. And she says that was when she became an agent. So, like, she's a slave, or what? Because she also, in her narrative, expresses that she likes her job and is proud that she's good at it because they're the good guys. So how do these two sentiments fit together?
I have no idea, and the author doesn't care to tell us, so I'm out....more
**spoiler alert** So, I'm being generous with 3 stars here, but I have to say this book pretty much pissed me off. (EDIT: I just couldn't live with th**spoiler alert** So, I'm being generous with 3 stars here, but I have to say this book pretty much pissed me off. (EDIT: I just couldn't live with that rating. Reduced to 2 stars.)
For folks who can't stand OM/OW bullshit, like me, this book walks a really irritating line. On the one hand, I can be a little understanding because of the context, which is this: the king's magic, and therefore his life, is tied to his bloodline. His magic wanes as the bloodline wanes, and this king is the last of his bloodline so his magic is currently fading. For a dragon, losing his magic means dying. Even worse, his magic sustains all the dragon-folk in his realm - folks who have some distant dragon blood, and maybe a little bit of a gift (like, can create fireballs) - so when it wanes, not only does he die, all the people with even a touch of dragon blood die.
Unfortunately, that context was a little hand-wavy for me, because we're told there was originally a second line of dragons, and their magic didn't work that way - didn't need heirs to have power, their people didn't die if the ruler waned - and so like, all these people who have a distant dragon ancestor ... which bloodline? How do you know they'll all just keel over? So it was a little hand-wavy, and a lot contrived. But sure, let's go with that.
So king has been desperately trying to have an heir, and his last queen had 4 dead babies, and died herself during the last childbirth. It is incredibly difficult for a non-dragon to have a dragon baby, basically - they just can't carry all that magic. So he's looking for the most powerful women in the realm, in the hopes that they'll be strong enough in magic to deliver a dragon baby. So we've got this "competition" - another contrived thing, and I'll be honest, I avoid these kinds of tropes like the plague generally - that's not really a competition. Like, they're just testing for who has the strongest magic. Why did they bring hundreds of women back to the castle when the sniffers could tell magic levels right from the start? I have no fucking idea. I guess because it is more dramatic.
Well, the FMC is actually a lost descendent of the second dragon line. She didn't know - all the usual tropes, parents adopted her and kept it a secret, blah blah - until she got scooped up for the magic competition. But rather than be happy about a magically powerful woman, there's serious debate about killing her because her great-great-great grandma warred with this king's fam and tried to kill them. Dumb.
I liked the FMC on most levels, because she was a tough chick from a poor village who learned to hunt to keep her family fed after her dad died when she was 9. Think Katniss, and you've basically got it. She reacted like any normal person would to the idea of competing to be the magic womb for the king, and not really having any choice about it. One other good thing is that all the other female characters - literally all - were cool. They varied widely, some were super girly, others were pragmatic, but they were NOT backstabby. The girls became friends. I appreciated that, because it is rare...disgustingly rare. So the book got points for that.
The problem with the FMC is that she panted after the king even though he was a bit of a douche. And then when her background was revealed, he debated killing her but ended up making her swear fealty instead (really shitty, imo, because give me an equal partnership or fuck right off). And also, decided to marry a less-powerful woman because his advisors felt that was a safer choice than the FMC - they weren't sure how the two dragon lines would combine, in terms of power. So he did, because the MMC king is a spineless twat. But he still liked the FMC so he told her she could join his royal guards - he wanted to keep her around, under his thumb - but then also told the other soldiers to not touch her, because she was his backup plan.
That made me so fucking mad, y'all. I don't really want you, but I might be stuck with you, so you aren't allowed to find someone to make a family with. Are you fucking kidding me? The FMC is mad for about 2 seconds, and then she decides she feels bad for him with the whole magic waning thing. And that's when I started to like her less.
Anyway, things with the chosen one go to shit and he is forced to go with backup plan. To be fair, he says he always wanted her ... but I don't believe it. You don't debate killing someone you always wanted. You don't decide to marry someone else because you're not sure about the kid thing. Dude, you're not sure about the kid thing with ANYONE, because previous queen couldn't give you babies and died trying ... so let's not pretend this other choice is a sure bet. Even the doctor says she's not - he says this girl might be barely more powerful than the previous queen. So him not being sure about babies with FMC is a dumb excuse.
Then things get even more dumb when the shady advisor finds one record from 1000 years ago where there was a deformed baby born to a couple that were each from a different dragon line. Oh, well, that's a fact then, amirite? One single fucking record of a deformed baby must mean that there is no chance! Never mind that this is medieval-ish fantasy and so birth issues were common. If one single bad birth means babies are impossible, then this king should throw in the towel given his previous non-dragon wife had FOUR DEAD BABIES. But he decides this one record means they can never have kids, but he still loves FMC so he says he'll just fuck a couple mistresses that were runners-up in the magic womb competition. She's upset about it, but agrees it is the best thing, they have to do their duty.
This whole thing was bullshit, y'all. If they had TRIED, I'd be more sympathetic. But they didn't even try.
But they hate the whole mistress thing - she's upset about it, he's upset about it - and when he goes to fuck someone else he just can't do it (eyeroll). Comes back to her, says he wants her to be a mother, he wants to be the father of her children. Cut to 9 months later, she's popping out healthy twin baby girls. The kingdom is saved. The end.
It was just so fucking much drama that was so fucking unnecessary. And it undercut the romance, at least to me, because I just didn't believe he loved her. And I was furious that she was so spineless with him. I wanted to punch them both, honestly.
But for those who care about these kind of things, he never does the deed with another woman. Does that make it okay? Not to me. But maybe it will to other people.
Not sure if I'll read on to meet the next couple, because I don't know that this author and I have the same definition of romance....more
**spoiler alert** Well, if I'm honest, there's a lot I didn't like about this.
Firstly, the dragons. I'm going to be frank: the dragons make me feel li**spoiler alert** Well, if I'm honest, there's a lot I didn't like about this.
Firstly, the dragons. I'm going to be frank: the dragons make me feel like I want to be Team Anti-Crea. Aside from Emory, they are all utterly horrible and need to be knocked out of power. The only other dragon we've met who seems to maybe not be an asshole is Tobias, sad guard of the hoard, but we interacted with him for all of 2 min so I'm going to go ahead and assume if we got more with him, we'd find out he's a complete bag of shit, just like every other dragon who isn't Emory.
And so I don't WANT Emory and Jinx to rule them. Fuck them. They deserve to sit in their castle drinking tea while it is blown up around them. (I can't even believe that scene ... self-absorbed, entitled assholes.) They - and their stupid, pretentious bullshit - deserve to be utterly ruined by the rest of Other society. So the inevitable end of this book was irritating to me. Fuck the dragons. They are so evil and self-absorbed they didn't even notice that one of them had become a literal demon. Probably didn't change his behavior much, to be honest - they're all murderous, elitist assholes, so I can't imagine a demon possession would cause noticeably different behavior.
Wipe them out, imo.
Speaking of people to wipe out: the Connection. It is time for that to end. They have proven to be so corrupt that they are cartoon villains. It is nonsensical to believe that anyone in Other society would put up with this - you're talking about super powerful magical beings. The Connection isn't filled with the most powerful, it is filled with corrupt, fragile magical humans who are so scared of the other magical beings that they are bullies trying to assert power. Time to end that whole thing.
Another thing: I could do without the FMC being captured and tortured TWICE. Once was bad enough, and frankly a bit out of character for this series which has generally been pretty happy, clean, light reading. Twice? With increasing brutality? Why? And furthermore, if you're going to do that, you have GOT to dial up the consequences. See my earlier point about the Connection. This was a sanctioned activity, these fuckers had badges. It isn't enough to just smash the Anti-Crea, you have to smash the Connection into fucking shards. They've overstepped to the point of being fucking evil stormtroopers. It's time to crush that organization and put something better in its place ... like a council of representatives from each species, or something, with EQUAL voting power and a law enforcement force with inter-species teams.
It feels like the world of this series is super full of problems, and the leads play whack-a-mole to handle the problem but never ever address the core issues.
Also, I don't know if there was a big gap in writing between the Glimmer arc and the Court arc, but Jinx and Emory changed dramatically between them and not in a good way. Emory suddenly had no moral compass - his people could do whatever they wanted because it's tradition, even if he doesn't like it. Look, fucker: are you the ruler or not? Yes? Then you're responsible for all the bullshit you allow. And then you have Jinx, who suddenly had no spine. In the Glimmer books she was didn't allow anyone to treat her badly, standing up to the Connection and getting shit done. Watching her just turn into this submissive vacuum who sucks up all the shit the dragons throw at her...it was gross. Even worse was characters lecturing her to be the bigger person and not antagonize them. What? What? She's being shit on by them constantly and you're going to give her stink-eye for not being polite? Fuck you too, then. This dynamic made me deeply dislike several characters that I know we're supposed to like (i.e., no, I wasn't that sad when Mike died - hooray for being free from his condescending chastising bullshit, and his glares).
I hope the series continues, because it is better than this. But only if Jinx goes back to the take-no-shit unflappable person I loved in the Glimmer arc.
Last note: stop giving her more powers. It's becoming silly now. She could probably take down the entire Connection all by herself given that she has like 10 abilities while everyone else just has one. It's getting a bit too Mary Sue for me, and I like a little Mary Sue (I like OP FMCs, sue me)....more
**spoiler alert** This one actually pissed me off A LOT, which is why it earned placement on my "book full of stupid assholes" shelf.
Jinx and Emory se**spoiler alert** This one actually pissed me off A LOT, which is why it earned placement on my "book full of stupid assholes" shelf.
Jinx and Emory seem to have had a personality transplant. Emory was mostly absent, but when he was present he sat around with his thumb up his ass while his court/council did HORRIBLE, ILLEGAL THINGS. Yeah yeah, fucking challenges. That doesn't give them the right to kidnap people from other species.
The fact that Jinx doesn't get pissed about it - oh no, she moans martyr-style about how the fucking asshole dragons kidnapping and endangering people is allllllll herrrrrr fauuuuulllllt, but she doesn't beat the absolute shit out of them - pissed me off.
She even made a direct connection between Hes being kidnapped by Mrs. H (book 1) and now Hes being kidnapped by the fucking dragons. She was all "poor Hes always being kidnapped and put in danger" but didn't take that to it's conclusion. Bitch, you KILLED Mrs. H - who was a friend - for what she did. And she wasn't trying to actually kill Hes. These fucking dragons, though, expected you all to die in that tower, with the phoenix gleefully murdering you all. KILL THEM. Grow a fucking spine and kill them! Or at the very fucking least, go back there, spit in their fucking faces, tell them they are evil fucking scum and you're now Team Connection and will do your best to get creatures caged, since they've demonstrated that they are fucking monstrous. Fuck them and their challenges. Fuck Emory for allowing this shit. I don't give a single flying fuck about their traditions and their bullshit. They all deserve to be chopped into little bits and scattered in the ocean. They certainly don't deserve Jinx. She should flip them two flying middle fingers and peace the fuck out.
But she doesn't, because the awesome Jinx with the strong moral core is completely absent here. She whines a bit about it, but doesn't DO anything. She doesn't even really say anything. She just meekly goes along with all the bullshit. Why? Is that who you want to be? Fucking gross.
Separately, it seems like the Lucy spin-off is supposed to come before this second part of the series (I guess the first 4 books were one part, then the Lucy books, and then the back 3 books with Jinx). So who knows, maybe she really did get a personality transplant between books 4 and 5. We'll see. I'm pausing here and flipping over to Lucy....more
This was a light, fun read - dragon PNR, basically. It was pretty straightforward, and honestly feels more like it was setting up this series than a dThis was a light, fun read - dragon PNR, basically. It was pretty straightforward, and honestly feels more like it was setting up this series than a deep dive into these characters. Not that I didn't enjoy the couple, but it was a pretty surface-level interaction with them.
Still, this was exactly what I wanted right now, and I enjoyed it....more
I can't even believe I'm saying this, but it got even worse.
Or rather, Katie got worse. She kept all the asinine problems from book 2, but alDNF @ 54%
I can't even believe I'm saying this, but it got even worse.
Or rather, Katie got worse. She kept all the asinine problems from book 2, but also suddenly became a liar - constantly lying to Jackson. It was too much, because she has overreacted in full batshit asshole mode multiple times in this series at even a hint that someone may have been less than truthful with her. She screeches at them that it counts even if it was a lie by omission, or in the case of her aunt, just straight up not realizing that Katie didn't know a thing ... Katie is all NEVER DO IT AGAIN.
And now she's a lying asshole. And still really dumb. So she's lying about really dumb stuff, stuff that will obviously come out. And oh, also shrieking at people for not wanting to just immediately tell her all the things.
Oh, and ... as an extra shit-cherry on top of this shit sundae, she keeps injuring Sugar. Seriously injuring her twice so far in this book. Sugar needs an award for not running this bitch over with her Eldorado.
I can't even anymore. Katie is a weak, whiny, hypocritical, spectacularly stupid asshole and a terrible friend. There is literally nothing redeeming about her.
There were flaws with the first book, for sure, but in general I liked that Katie was smart. A doormat, but smart. Well, Well, that was disappointing.
There were flaws with the first book, for sure, but in general I liked that Katie was smart. A doormat, but smart. Well, in this book she remained a doormat - seriously, the fact that there aren't a lot of dead witches at the end of this book ASTOUNDS me - and also took a swan dive off the top of Mt. TSTL.
She was horrible to everyone around her, made terrible decisions about everything from her personal shit to the overall plot shit, and really just entirely became The Worst. And again, to repeat what I said in my book 1 review: she is a motherfucking dragon! I expect badassery!
But there is not a single badass thing about Katie. She's a stupid asshole who, in the end, always needs someone else to save her.
I am starting book 3 because I already bought it, but I honestly don't expect to finish it....more
I think my problem is that dude! This chick is a DRAGON! That's badass! She should be badass!
And she isI wanted to like it more than I did, honestly.
I think my problem is that dude! This chick is a DRAGON! That's badass! She should be badass!
And she isn't.
I mean, at the end of the day, Katie allows everyone to push her around. Everyone. From the douchebag biker bro with his sexist shit, to the entitled elitist douchebags who supposedly run this town but don't actually DO anything. Seriously, this entire situation is their responsibility, their fuckup, and yet somehow they put the whole thing on Katie to fix.
And she just accepts it all.
It's tiresome. If I'm going to read a book about a motherfucking DRAGON, I want her to take no shit. If people want her help, they need to ASK, not demand or act as if she's their damn pet.
I'm reading onward, but I'm pretty lukewarm at the moment....more
These are cute books - fun, fast reads. They are a series of 5 shorts - about 100 pages each - that are This review is for the whole series of shorts.
These are cute books - fun, fast reads. They are a series of 5 shorts - about 100 pages each - that are basically brain candy. There isn't a lot of world-building, or a lot of drama. Things fall together pretty smoothly, with minimal conflict, because there's not a lot of pages available to work things out.
All together, they make a nice story - light and fun and sexy, and just what I wanted right now.
I think this could have been a lot of fun, but everything happens so fast that there isn't a single bit of weight to it. We mee**spoiler alert** Meh.
I think this could have been a lot of fun, but everything happens so fast that there isn't a single bit of weight to it. We meet the abusive ex, for like a page, and that's done. He never shows back up in her life, and she has no trauma. I mean, NONE - she meets, fucks, and is engaged with the new dude in the span of literally one month (seriously, the book says "I know it has only been a month but...").
We meet the witches, and they are handled immediately. I'd be shocked if that whole thing took up more than 5% of this book.
They break up because she wants a little time/independence ... and that lasts literally less than a day.
He talks about winning back her heart, when he's known her for like 2 weeks, no one talked about love and how can you even think that, you've had sex once, buddy, with this chick you've known a week.
I don't know, it was just laughable. It was all laughable because it was so sped through that nothing meant anything.
Well, I should have quit this one partway through.
I was looking for some fluff to read as a break, and I do like Roxie Ray in terms of fluff. But I haWell, I should have quit this one partway through.
I was looking for some fluff to read as a break, and I do like Roxie Ray in terms of fluff. But I hadn't picked this one up because it's rare that I like a second-chance romance. For it to work for me, I have to feel like the wronged party isn't spineless, but rather, has the self-respect to demand better. I have to feel like the party who committed the wrong learned their fucking lesson and would do things differently if they could do it over. I have to feel like the FMC has some fucking agency, and isn't just a fucking weathervane tilting in whatever wind the male lead blows ... oh he doesn't want me? Okay, it's off. Oh, he does? Okay, it's back on. Fuck that. And most of all, I have to feel like the couple has learned and grown and changed enough that they are partners and equals, and will tackle any future problems together.
That's rarely the case, and it was definitely NOT the case here.
(view spoiler)[Anthony was an entitled dick who made no attempt to contact her for 18 years. He ignored her messages until she stopped trying. He had a little initial leeway because his alpha - his douchebag father - ordered him to leave her, and I can understand that. But in his narrative chapters, even he laments that he never tried to contact her. Not when he was in school, not when he was after school, not when he was an adult and had the full right to make his own choices. His father says, at one point, that he felt a little guilty about the order ... but thought that if his son really had a problem with it, his son would have brought it up again. But dickhead son NEVER DID. IN EIGHTEEN YEARS.
I have a real problem with that. It undercuts the entire fated mate thing for him to not fight for her. I'd like for you to imagine any fated mate pair in any other book you love. I'd like to imagine them being ordered apart ... and NEITHER OF THEM FIGHTING FOR THE OTHER. It wouldn't happen. It makes it clear that he didn't really give a fuck. Nor did he hate his parents for the order - he lives with them now, and loves them. Dude, how can you not loathe them for robbing you of your choice, and your mate??
But now he's back in town eighteen years later and he decided that he's going to have her. And like an utterly spineless doormat, she easily rolls whatever direction his wind blows. Even though he doesn't explain anything. Even though his dad treats her like shit ... for no reason, since she's done nothing wrong. And she decides that's okay, she'll just have to prove herself to him. Like a spineless pathetic dumbass who has no self-respect, she doesn't demand that she be treated as she deserves. Oh no. She'll bend over backwards to make everyone like her instead.
And then as if to spit in the face of my final demand for second-chance romances, douchebag daddy tells him about a potential problem (and yeah, there's a trustworthy source) with mating a human. Does he talk to her about it? Oh no, he doesn't. He just puts her at arms length for no reason she can understand, and tries to figure out how to handle the problem himself - her input is not welcome, and he is just going to decide how he wants to handle HER situation. He's even debating mind-wiping her with the clan witch. And when his whole "keep the info to myself" plan backfires because the catty bitch in the clan throws the info into Skye's face ... he just doubles-down, explains the situation, and admits mind-wiping her was a possibility. Admits to her that he was considering it and may still be. And then leaves to try and solve the problem. No discussion with her, no working as a team. She has no agency, not even in her own life and choices. He literally does not care at all what she thinks, she gets no say on any of this. He will decide how to handle everything, and she doesn't even get to know the details. Never mind that the entire situation is ABOUT HER. (hide spoiler)]
Everything about this book was disgusting to me. Fucking weak-willed pathetic women who let a guy dictate their entire life. I wonder if she asks him before she wipes her own ass, too....more
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