Feel
The Burn (Dragon Kin #8)
by G.A. Aiken
Read: 30th
November – 5th December 2015
Format: Kindle
My
Goodreads Rating: 4 Stars
...So
what’s this book about?
This is the eighth novel in G.A. Aiken’s popular Dragon Kin series. It is a paranormal
romance story based in a world of dragon shape-shifters, although I would be
just as happy to place it in the fantasy and/or epic genre too.
The official blurb says:
War makes strange bedfellows.
I, Gaius Domitus, one-eyed rebel dragon king of the Provinces, know that better than most, since I have to fight off half my ungrateful family on a regular basis to keep law and order here in my lands. But I never expected to have to consort with a barbarian human woman.
Kachka is beautiful, if you like them fierce—and of course I do. But she keeps complaining about how spoiled and decadent I am, and how a feared Daughter of the Steppes has no time for foolish dragons. I think she likes my eye patch, though. It is quite dashing. With death always at our tails, we take our passion like we take our allies. As they say, love the barbarian you’re with…
I was lucky enough to be given an e-copy of this book for free
from the publisher (Kensington
Books) via Netgally.com in
exchange for a fair review.
Thank you.
...So,
what did I like about it?
This is the second book that I’ve read written by Ms Aiken and
I must say that I find her writing style very easy to read and although I
haven’t read enough of her Dragon Kin
Series to know (or remember the many relationships
of) the multitude of “families” that feature in this book, I was once again
pleasantly surprised at how quickly I was submerged into the world.
I loved the fact that the background story and the quest/adventure
that our main characters were on was almost more significant in this tale than the
romance between Kachka and Gaius. So often in paranormal romance stories the
authors forget that we (the reader)
want to be gripped by the whole experience; an engaging narrative that’s more
than just X meets Y and they fall in love – bam
- the end.
I enjoy a story more if the lead female character is
intelligent, resilient and has a good sense of humour and I wasn’t disappointed
here. Kachka was all of these and more. In fact, I liked the way that Kachka, Gaius
and all of the characters in this story were written, none of them were flat
2-dimensional creations, they all felt very real
for me, I loved the way that Kachka’s team grew and evolved along their journey,
all of which meant that I engaged with their story.
Oh, and like most Brits I
do love a bit of banter – this story has plenty of it! I found myself COL
(Chuckling Out Loud) throughout.
...So, ummm, was there anything I disliked
about it?
Not really, no.
This book only missed out on a 5 star review from me because of
the confusing amount of family relationships. There seem to be a lot of
aunties, uncles, cousins, etc which as a new reader to this series, I found
daunting and at times confusing. Perhaps Ms Aiken could create a Family Tree
that could be printed at the beginning of the book. However, by the time I was less than halfway through,
I stopped worrying about my lack of background knowledge and just “went with it”.
I, personally, prefer the order in which the books were written because I tease or hint about the romances of the older dragons during the full-length novels. Then in the anthos, some of the humor payoff comes out of having read those novels first.
...So, basically what I’m saying is...
This is a highly entertaining, well
written and engaging novel. It is first-rate paranormal romance story,
passionate, funny and thrilling with an attention-grabbing background adventure
to boot that fans of this genre will enjoy. The Dragon Kin series is already a firm favourite with many and I will
be seeking out the earlier books in this series to read for myself too!
So, have I sparked an interested for FEEL THE BURN in you?
Just click on any of the links below and check out the book yourself.
