dragon brides series

When I am in a reading slump I like to find

short and fun books that I can read in one sitting.

and well, this is what I did this month :>

I bougth on Kindle this series called 'Dragon

brides' which as you can guess from the title,

are romance stories with shape-shifters.

There are 4 books in this series and each one

of them   follows different couples.   Now, the

author basically says you can read them in any

order you want, but I think they make more

sense in the original arrangement.

The first two books, as well as the last, are

somewhere between 250-300 pages, while the

third one is shorter, around 150 pages.

Now onto what they are actually about:

         1. Blood Feud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The story follows Sofia, a princess who is

given as 'sacrifice' to the dragon that is

terrorizing the kingdom. As Sofia's grandfather

slayed the last dragon, maybe the past is bound

to repeat itself. But what information has been

lost since then?

A quote I personally liked fromv the book, as

Sofia describes herself: "Most would say her

value was in her beauty and her breeding, but

she knew her true talent was making men

despise her."

         2. Black Heart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The second book follows another princess,

Mara, as she flees from her arranged marriage

right into the arms, or better said claws, of a

dragon.

By chance (or maybe not?) the mighty beast

drops her at Baron Gannon's doorsteps, where

she seeks refugee from both the dragon and

her family.

While the baron has lost all hopes for a wife,

Mara is a breath of fresh air in his dark mansion.

         3. Birthright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Viggo abandoned his birthright to live a simple

and quiet life, mostly in his dragon form.

When Eleanor, a servant girl, flees her life, she

takes the bold decision to offer herself as bride

to the mighty dragon living in the Wilds.

But appearances are not what they seem.

Viggo is not just a dragon, and Eleanor is not

a simple maid.

         4. Midnight Ruin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Eoin is one of Gannon's brothers, and Elsie, a

loyal servant on the Baron's estate and in love

with Eoin for the past 10 years. but is it really

unrequited   love?

Now that you have some context,                                 let's get to the review

no spoilers in the following section

These books are fast paced, and personally I

have read each one in a single sitting (except

the last one). While the women are meant to

be sassy and clever, they can also be quite

dim and clueless.

The writing could have definitely been better

in certain cases. I found the overall story

intriguing, but there were plenty of scenes

where not enough details were given, or the

action moved too fast and too soon.

I liked the first two books, but the third one

felt hasty!! and the fourth book bored me too

much to even get to the middle of it.

         Would I recommed them?

Possibly the first two to anyone looking to

try something new.

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the following is a more in depth review for

each book, and will contain spoilers.

:speech_balloon: spoilers :bangbang:

         1. Blood Feud (Sofia and Burne) . . . . . . . . . . .

From the beginning of the book it has been

made clear that Sofia isn't liked, that she was

bullied as a child and that the civilians hate her

(for unknown reasons - I mean, cwhat could

a girl have done to receive that much hate?)

and even though it's a patriarchy, she somehow

threatens her younger brother's claim to the

throne. Either way, I found it unrealistic when

out of nowhere, as she is to be given as a bride

to the dragon, people start a rebellion in her

name. It felt inconsistent and I didn't see the

logic behind everything.

Now I did like Burne as a character and I love

dragons! so you could say I read the whole

book just to see more of him :>

While Sofia seems foolish or naive, I found him

sweet and caring. He actually had some depth

to him as he progressed and tried to be better

for his mate.

Overall, I did enjoy the book and I found the

whole plot interesting.

         2. Black Heart (Mara and Gannon) . . . . . . . . .

Mara is bullied by her dad and stepmother,

the king and queen of Dunhill. So no surprise

when she bolts with the first occasion.

I can say I like her show of character and

strength. She starts as a docile princess, and

we can see through vher inner monologue how

deeply affected she is by her atepmother's

punishments. By the end of the book, she

learnes to stand up for herself and chooses

her own path.

Gannon is still hang over his first love, which

he though was his mate who betrayed him.

So when Mara shows up, he has a lot to deal

with. I found it funny and adorable how he is

shown sleeping in front of her door for weeks,

but yet he can't believe Mara is his mate.

I have a better impression of the second book

of this series than the first 🤣

         3. Birthright (Eleanor and Viggo) . . . . . . . . . .

God, where should I start with this book?

The story had a good beginning. The poor girl,

despised by her grandmother and toyed with

by the Prince, wants to escape her life.

Knowing there is a dragon in the wild, she takes

the bold decision to seek him to either become

his bride, or his food. That whole interaction

was quite amusing to see :))

As the dragon turns out to be a man, he does

somehow accept her proposal and they go

onto learning more about each other and

slowly falling in love.

Where I think all went downhill is when

Eleanor turned out to be a lost princess.

First, I don't think it was needed and it could

have been great if she was a commoner.

Second, it might have been more intriguing if

the conflict revolved around Viggo, since he is

so against his family during the whole story.

But okay, she is a princess.

When she didn't look anything like her so

called parents, she should have started

asking. herself some questions. I understand

there can be children who take more after a

grandmother or an uncle, but considering the

tension between her 'mother' and 'father', there

should have been more to their reunion. But

the story moved on too quickly over everything.

The plot and characters definitely had more

potential :/

         4. Midnight Ruin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After the third book which lacked in details

and had events occur just for the sake of it....

This one felt a bit boring and I honesty didn't

have the patience for it.

I thought there were too many descriptive

paragraphs and just left it there :/

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Wow! Finally done 🤣

When you are in a reading slump, how do

you deal with it? Any kind of books that you

prefer in that period?

Gonna finish 'The lives of Saints' from Leigh

Bardugo this week and then I'll look for my

next read.

This was all for my blog!

Thank you for sticking till the end :D