Review: How to Date Your Dragon by Molly Harper

How to Date Your Dragon
(Mystic Bayou #1)
Molly Harper
Release: July 28, 2018
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Anthropologist Jillian Ramsay's career has taken a turn south. 

Concerned that technology is about to chase mythological creatures out into the open (how long can Sasquatch stay hidden from Google maps?), the League for Interspecies Cooperation is sending Jillian to Louisiana on a fact-finding mission. While the League hopes to hold on to secrecy for a little bit longer, they're preparing for the worst in terms of human reactions. They need a plan, so they look to Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where humans and supernatural residents have been living in harmony for generations. Mermaids and gator shifters swim in the bayou. Spirit bottles light the front porches after twilight. Dragons light the fires under crayfish pots. 

Jillian's first assignment for the League could be her last. Mystic Bayou is wary of outsiders, and she has difficulty getting locals to talk to her. And she can't get the gruff town sheriff, Bael Boone, off of her back or out of her mind. Bael is the finest male specimen she's seen in a long time, even though he might not be human. Soon their flirtation is hotter than a dragon's breath, which Bael just might turn out to be... 

Review:

I just finished binging Molly Harper's Southern Eclectic series - highly recommend BTW - and decided I needed more small town shenanigans. Harper's Mystic Bayou series seemed like an obvious choice. It's been on my radar for a while since it was originally released as an Audible exclusive. The print version came out six months later and has consistently been checked out at my library. This is my first book of the year for both Beat the Backlist and the Library Love challenge.

I'm intrigued by the idea of The League, a secret society that studies supernaturals as well as tries to hide their existence from the public. They also seem to function as a governing body, but I'm not clear on all the details yet. I hope that as the series goes on, we learn more about them.

I loved Zed, Mystic Bayou's gregarious bear shifter mayor. He kind of steals the show from grumpy Sheriff Bael actually. And the town provides all the eccentric characters and Southern food that I was hoping for.

How to Date Your Dragon suffers from a couple typical problems though. The first book in a series tends to take a little longer to get going since it has to introduce the world and all of the characters. This is especially true of paranormal series. Jillian spends the first half of the book meeting people and conducting interviews. On one hand, I think this is brilliant. I often feel like an anthropologist trying to uncover all the details in a new paranormal world, which makes Jillian a perfect stand in for the reader. On the other hand, it leads to a lot of telling, rather than showing. The non-romance plot doesn't really get started until the second half. Since the book was originally written for audio, I wonder if the pace just feels different in the print version.

Also, novellas often seem to have an insta-love plot. At around 200 pages, HTDYD isn't technically a novella but it's short enough to suffer from the same problem. Jillian and Bael go directly from being adversaries to being naked. I would have liked to see them build a friendship or develop their feelings before they got to that point. But the dragon sex is certainly original. Then there's this thing that happens to Jillian at the end that while it's a PNR staple, I'm not a fan. I'll save my rant though, because spoilers.

Despite all that, I enjoyed the characters and I'd like to read more about Mystic Bayou. Book 2 is already out on audio, so there should only be a few months to wait.

Recommended for fans of: Harper's Naked Werewolf series

    

3  stars