by Erica Lucke Dean

The prologue in this one gets right into action. A historical backdrop with the conflicts from the time of Charles II is established. A woman is pregnant and fears that her child will be deemed the son of a traitor. Her husband is missing, perhaps captured. In desperation, despite the dangers involved, she turns to a local witch.

When we start the story proper, it is modern day. In many ways it reads like a typical YA Romance story about a girl about to start college. The father died, the family moved, and she's going to live at home while attending a small campus. She meets a few local girls, one of which takes an instant disliking to her and is really bitchy. So far ticking all the boxes, including spotting a cute guy.

However, there's a mystery to the cute guy. It takes quite a while to get back to the historic part of the story or for the time travel element to come out, but when it does the title makes perfect sense and the concept is actually rather intriguing and original. The writing is also good so although I'm not really into college settings, it kept my attention.

The second part of the story really drew me in and got very exciting, but then it stopped on a cliffhanger ending. I presume another book is planned as some of the salient points were never explained, like how the time travel aspect works, though there was a good opportunity. Also, a few inconsistencies in the characters began to emerge so though the writing itself is very good, the plotting left a lot of holes and the ending was far too abrupt.

Susan Illene shows the readers who is on top of the food chain when Dragons enter our world:

Bailey had just graduated from college and was looking forward to traveling home, but her life is about to change forever. While leaving town from home a massive earthquake erupts and releases Dragons into the world. Bailey is just trying to survive but when trying to save others she becomes the target and is about to become BBQ. But the unthinkable happens, she does not burn in the flames, she is a Dragon Slayer. With the help of a shape shifting Dragon named Aidan she is starting to learn how to harness her knew skills. But Aidan has his own plans for forming a relationship with a Dragon Slayer, he can only hope that she is ready when he needs her.

I was thinking that this was the first apocalyptic series that featured dragons, but i actually started (and admittedly never finished but I still recommend it, hmmmm I need to get back to that series) J. A. Pitts Black Blade Blue series several years ago and if you like regular women becoming extraordinary and dragons make sure to check out that series as well. Illene starts the book off with a bang with a massive earthquake that seems to occur throughout the whole country and then BAM dragons appear out of nowhere and start eating/capturing people. These are not your friendly dragons, which I appreciative, let them be the fire breathing, human eating monsters they were meant to be. Well not all the Dragons are this way, some of them are shape shifters and have a human and dragon form. This is where we get the two points of view; Bailey the human who becomes a dragon slayer and Aidan the shape shifter who does not eat humans and sees them more as a tool than anything else.

The two points of view are really interesting as we have Bailey showing what has happened to her town and people now and how they are struggling to survive now that Dragons rule the world and how much things have changed and what has been sacrificed. Then Aidan's point of view is one that is more medieval in description with him and his siblings vying for the role to rule their clan once their father dies.

I liked Bailey as a main character, she is strong, willing to help others and surprisingly trusting of those that she should not be. She has some pretty cool powers, and being burned by dragon fire is high among them. I equate her powers similar to that of a Slayer's not just in the extra strength but also that she comes into them under a high amount of stress and danger.

There is an attempt of a romance here but the characters do their best to ignore their possible feelings with each other, but you can tell things are going to flourish later. At least the Dragon Aidan has a human form and I don't have to stop reading this series due to some sort of weird bestiality of a human with an actual dragon; Just not my cup of tea.

This was a good start to a series, and I am fan with the use of dragons which is not something that we see too much of these days in more mainstream books. I look forward to continuing on with this series and seeing where Illene takes it.

Enjoy!!!

     

Wendy Oprander might be a wolf shifter, but that doesn’t mean she be killed so when dragon shifter Logan Caspian finds out that she is investigating the same dangerous case he is working on, he’s quick to suggest she drop the story, which doesn’t go over very well. Wendy is struggling to figure out who to trust as everyone she talks to seems to be lying and having the super-hot Logan hovering over her isn’t helping one bit, but when someone tries to kill her, she has to decide if she is willing to risk it all for her dream job or chance losing the man she wants more than air itself.

This romance is sweet, full of passion and suspense as the strong, vibrant characters try to reach a happily ever after where the heroine isn’t sure about mating much being sure that Logan is the one. The chemistry sizzles with heat from every pages and the emotions flow throughout, but this romance has some more, a hero and heroine that is determined to get what they want, which keeps things quite interesting with some fun, some sweet, some intense, some exasperating and some heated moments.

The plot is fast paced and full of thrilling suspense and exhilarating excitement especially the closer this couple gets to accepting their mating and the closer they get to unraveling the dangerous case they are working on. With lots of twists and turns and quite a few possible bad guys to choose from, this case is a deadly one to be sure, which keeps readers glued to the pages of this passionate, sweet, suspenseful and sexy romance.