Release Day Review: Never Dare a Dragon by Ashlyn Chase

Never Dare a Dragon
(Boston Dragons #3)
Ashlyn Chase
Release: August 1, 2017
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ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

Jayce Fierro is part of a legendary Boston firefighting family of phoenix shifters. Hiding his true form makes being in a relationship rather difficult. Meeting the beautiful Lieutenant Kristine Scott of the New York City Fire Department and knowing he can’t have her only makes things worse.

Dragon shifter Kristine can’t stop thinking about fun, flirty Jayce and his teasing smile. A relationship could never work-not with the distance between them, and definitely not with her shifter secret. But when Kristine lands herself in a blaze of trouble and secrets are revealed, Jayce will do whatever it takes to help-whether or not the feisty, stubborn New Yorker wants him to. 

Review:

I picked up this book because I was intrigued by the idea of a dragon and phoenix romance. I've never read one of those before. Then I realized that the previous book in the series featured the same pairing. I don't think I missed much by starting in the middle of the series though - there's lots of recap.

I really enjoyed learning about the dragons' history and mythology, though it doesn't come up until the end of the book. And I loved the Fierro family with its six phoenix brothers. The world includes much more than just dragons and phoenixes though. Other kinds of shifters like werewolves are mentioned, plus Gaia and the muses play a role in the story. I thought all the paranormal creatures were interesting and done a little differently than I'd seen before. I did wish there were better descriptions of their shifted forms though, especially the dragon, but that could be something that I would have already known had I read the previous book.

But I thought the romance plot felt formulaic. In fact, I got the impression that the romance in book two was quite similar to this one. I also thought the language was inconsistent particularly in the sex scenes, but really just involving Jayce and Kristine's relationship in general. It ran the gamut from cheesy and euphemistic to graphic. I wished the author would pick a style and stick with it.

I'm interested in the characters and would be willing to read more in this series but I'm not in a big hurry to do so.

    

3  stars