Sandy M’s review of Naked Dragon (Works Like Magick, Book 1) by Annette Blair
Paranormal Romance published by Berkley 5 Jan 10

I’ve been a fan of Annette Blair’s since her first witch trilogy, and I loved every one of those books through two series. Her humor is her mainstay, something you know will be in every story and will keep you entertained throughout the read, as well as her imagination that gives you charming characters in various storylines, all of which are wrapped in magic. You cannot go wrong with an Annette Blair book.

What I love most about this book is not only Bastian himself, sexy, naked dragon that he is, but when we first meet him, he’s just come back to the human realm, once again a man after being a dragon for so many years. He has to reabsorb things that he knew as a Roman warrior.  So it’s his innocence, or, as McKenna is told, his literal-ness, that makes him so endearing. Ms. Blair’s humor helps him along; I found myself laughing out loud a number of times at his responses to situations.  Bastian’s the first of his brothers to make it back via the magic of the Goddess of Hope, so all are relying on him to defeat the Sorceress of Chaos and to pave the way for the others to follow. If he fails, all is lost.

McKenna is a direct descendant of Ciarra, a Salem witch who survived the witch trials.  Alas, McKenna has no magic and that’s why she’s in need of a handyman, pronto. She’s running against the clock to turn her rundown familial Victorian home into a bed and breakfast.  She refuses to be the one to lose it after so many centuries. She has a developer who’s hot for the land and won’t leave her be, constantly making her offers. So she turns to her cousin, Vivica Quinlann, who does possess magic and owns the Works Like Magic Employment Agency. Vivica has taken Bastian in when he arrives and now has the perfect place for him – McKenna’s jack-of-all-trades.

When these two come together, the fun starts and never lets up. Bastian loves the internet. He looks up every little thing he doesn’t understand anymore, and that’s a lot. He also speed reads, so his learning curve is quite high. Some things are still the same that he remembers from before, like the attraction to a beautiful woman. But then there are other things that confound him a little, his man lance being one. And that’s where most of my laughter came from. Bastian and his man lance are something else, first humorous and then sexy and erotic as all get-out.

Of course, there are serious moments to be had. McKenna has just lost her mother. Bastian is able to see all of McKenna’s past ancestors on the Greylock property, something McKenna has to learn to believe in on her own. The evil coming at them from both the human and the magic side is very real and they have to work together to conquer all. We don’t get to see Bastian’s dragon until the very end of the book when he can no longer control his inner beast as McKenna physically has to fight her rotten developer. Those scenes that come after when McKenna learns Bastian still lives are the best in the book. Ms. Blair can pull at the heart strings as well as she can hit the funny bone.

Secondary characters are just as wonderfully written as the hero and heroine. I especially love Dewcup, a miniature fairy who gets into trouble every time she turns around, and also Steve and Lizzie, McKenna’s friends, and their children. Scenes with these characters go from hilarious to heart wrenching.

This is a terrific start for Ms. Blair’s new series. Her writing is still invitingly fresh, especially the banter between characters no matter who they are. Her take on magic is just as fresh and very different from most of what’s out there to read nowadays. As her fans have learned from her previous series, each coming book will be a delight, will stand on its own, but will remain true and consistent to the essence of the series.

Isn’t it time you learned that too?

Grade: A+

Summary:

In Salem, human magick has thinned the veil between the planes to a permeable mist, forming a portal into the city, allowing time travelers and chameleons of the universe to enter there.

Bastian Dragonelli, once a Roman warrior turned dragon, is the first of his legion to be returned to earth, a man. So his brothers can also be saved and sent to earth, Bastian must reclaim the magick of Andra, Goddess of Hope, who sacrificed hers to transform him. He must seek his heart mate and make her quest his own. But the dark, powerful Killian, Sorceress of Chaos, who turned his legion into dragons and skewed his transition back into a man, is hot on his heels.

McKenna Greylock, the last non-magickal descendant of Ciarra, a witch who survived Salem’s hanging times, needs a jack-of-all-trades to help turn her dilapidated Victorian into a bed and breakfast so she doesn’t lose her home and her family’s centuries-old legacy.

Enter McKenna’s cousin, Vivica Quinlan, Ciarra’s most magickal descendent, owner of the Works Like Magick Employment Agency. Vivica has a gift for matching human employers with magickal employees. Like Ciarra before her, Vivica knows when magickal supernatural ancients are about to arrive. She greets them and acclimates them to life, and to making a living, in Salem.

Besides Killian’s threatening presence, Bastian’s life is also complicated by McKenna, his guardian dragon, a troublemaking fairy, and a case of culture shock. Bastian also has a problem with his man lance. It won’t behave at all the way he remembered it should.  Not at all…

Read an excerpt.