Paranormal Romance published by KR Press 30 Jun 20
Since I began reading Katie Reus a few years ago, it’s been her romantic suspense that has hooked me so I keep reading. So with the start of a new paranormal series – especially with dragons – I was excited to get going, hoping because she’s publishing them herself, it won’t be so long between books. I mean, it’s dragons!
However, I have to say I’m a tad disappointed in this first book, even though I love the hero, Lachlan, a Scottish dragon shifter. He’s been in hibernation for centuries after he lost his mate, awakening only recently. Star is more of a mystery throughout the book – she’s a shifter, but you never find out what she truly is until closer to the end of the story. She and her sister are the only two of their kind left.
As the story begins, Star and her clan of what I’ll call misfits – tigers and other cats and the like – are getting ready to rescue her sister, Aurora, who was kidnapped by another ancient dragon a year before. Star is the distraction – she’s a world-famous singer – so her team can do their thing on the rescue, before anyone knows what’s happening. Star is also part of a pre-concert auction, in which someone bids $1 million for her time. That’s Lachlan. a Scottish dragon shifter millionaire. Thus is their first meeting, one that doesn’t go all that well because of Star’s preoccupation. But they meet again when the rescue team needs help at the airport when Aurora is finally safe.
Lachlan knows Star is his mate. He’s determined to stick around to make sure she knows it too, despite being in another alpha’s territory. Right after the rescue, the world is basically blown to bits when other shifters want their existence known to humans. New Orleans is where they landed and fit in nicely with King, alpha of the city, and his clan. Lachlan receives permission from King to claim his mate, but it takes Star a bit to warm up to Lachlan, mostly because she’s alpha of her clan and has a lot on her mind. But there is a pull the darned dragon has on her. I love Lachlan’s slow and easy courting of her, so the woman shouldn’t have taken so long to do her turnaround!
So all of this sounds good. I’m not sure why it doesn’t work for me like all those romantic suspense stories do. Maybe because the intensity is not as deep and on edge. There are some good shifter fights and all that goes with it, but they just didn’t hook me like the other books did. I did like the revelation of Star’s and Aurora’s shifters, though it could have been a bit more emotional. There are a lot of people to get to know throughout this book, and I found myself getting a bit irritated with some of them – just too many to remember all at once. I really liked the tease of King and Aurora, and I was thinking their book might be next, because they do intrigue me. But they aren’t next, not even third. Not sure I’m going to like waiting for that.
So, yes, I will be reading the next several books in the series, all with a hopeful heart I will see/feel something more at that time.
Grade: C+
Summary:
Even as he fights for their future…
With the world still rebuilding after massive dragon attacks, famous singer Star isn’t willing to rely on a stranger to protect her family—though dragon shifter Lachlan is difficult to resist. Something about him is strangely familiar, but she doesn’t understand why. He’s already helped Star rescue her sister from a recent abduction, but trust doesn’t come easy when his kind has nearly hunted her race to extinction. When her sister’s kidnapper launches another violent attack, Star has no choice but to accept Lachlan’s aid. But no matter that he’s stepped up to protect her, she’ll never allow the ancient Scottish dragon into her heart.
They’re bound by the past.
Lachlan lost the woman he was meant to mate millennia ago. Unable to live in a world without her, his pain drove him to hibernation. He never thought he would move on—until Star. He’s well aware the feisty shifter is his new destiny, so if tailing her to New Orleans is what he has to do to be near her, then so be it. When Star is attacked, Lachlan resolves to protect her at all costs. And he won’t have to do it alone. It will take Lachlan, his clansmen, and Star’s misfit band of friends to rain fiery vengeance down upon their enemy if she and her sister are to ever be truly free. Only then can he claim her and discover the shocking truth that lies buried in their past.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
