Review: Dark Embers by Tessa Adams

Title: Dark Embers
Author: Tessa Adams
Series: Dragon's Heat #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: 07/06/10
Reviewed by: Christen
But the Book:

Summary:

A new erotic paranormal series, starring dragon shapeshifters, kicks off with a very sexy debut...

Prince Dylan MacLeod is one of the last pure-blood dragon shape-shifters -- and ruler of a dying race, the Dragonstar clan. It falls to him to protect his people and their ancient magic. But he has one important duty: to provide an heir...

Like all dragons, Dylan, who has a dark, rampant sexual appetite, can only procreate with his destined mate -- for whom he's searched for the last five hundred years. But his quest is delayed when a disease sweeps through the Dragonstars, and Dylan must venture to the human world to find a cure. He tracks down bio-chemist Phoebe Quillum, never imagining the beautiful scientist would be the mate he's been seeking. But even with the fate of the clan on their shoulders, Phoebe and Dylan are overcome by their sexual desire.

Their passion turns to something truer, but when Phoebe is kidnapped by Dylan's oldest enemy, he must risk everything for his love and his clan...

Plot: 2.5 Stars
This was my first dragon read, and it wasn't bad. But I think it definitely could have been better. Never, not once, could I picture in my mind what these dragons actually looked like. I kept waiting for the big information drop, where the reader and the human character gets the inside scoop on dragons and what it's like to be this dragon in particular, but I didn't get that. The human character did at some point off stage, but it would have been helpful to the reader as well. Also, I would have liked a little more explaination about both of the character's pasts, Dylan's in particular. A couple of things happen in order for Dylan to be king, but they are only mentioned in Dylan's mental monologues, which comes across a bit biased. Just an explaination from a secondary character would have been nice.

Pace: 2 Stars
In the summary, it tells you that Phoebe and Dylan are destined mates. Guess when they figured that out? The last page. When could they have figured it out? On page 85. All he had to do was look at his arm, he would have noticed that his tattoo had changed. I don't understand how anyone can go almost three months without looking at your arm. That was very frustrating. Besides that, all of the action was packed into the last fifty pages, which means my attention wandered a bit through the first 300 pages or so.

Characters: 3 Stars
Both Dylan and Phoebe were good characters. They had pasts, they had attitudes, and they had their hang-ups. They were believeable characters. The author spent a lot of time introducting them to the reader and added new layers to each character, just like you would if you were getting to know them. The secondary characters, however, weren't as well done. The few secondary characters that actually had lines were pretty much just that, lines. They were never explained and hardly introduced, just thrown in to help the story progress.

Cover: 3 Stars
The cover model is okay, but he kinda needed a shirt. The tattoo, although pertinent to the story, looked completely fake. The dragon belt buckle was an interesting way to tie in the dragon shifter aspect of the story. Without the belt buckle, the cover didn't really say paranormal. The city in the background helps you place that this is happening in or near the desert. But as far as I could tell, they were never in a city. I really liked the colors chosen for the color, especially the purple at the top.

Overall: 2.5 Stars

Disclosure: I bought this novel for my own reading pleasure.