Mini-Review: The Dragon Stirs by Lynda Aicher

Title: The Dragon Stirs
Author: Lynda Aicher
Series: Energen #1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Release Date: 02/07/12
Reviewed by: Sara
Summary:

The energy might bind them, but their love could save us all...

When Shifter Airiana Draco volunteers to scout the enemy’s compound, her family thinks it's to prove herself. In truth, she wants answers. Plagued with doubt and a secret shame, she hungers to learn more about the Energens, the people who have opposed the Shifters since the beginning of time. But getting captured wasn't in her plans.

Energen Loukianos Aeros has always wondered about his exiled older brother who was accused of aiding their mortal enemy, the Shifters, long before Louk was born. Now, the answers Louk seeks are within his grasp when he stumbles upon a beautiful enemy spy right outside his door.

Forced together by the energy, Airiana and Louk are unprepared for the sudden attraction as they struggle to gain the answers they seek. As the danger builds and their lives are threatened, they must learn to trust the energy and each other. But are they strong enough to challenge all they were raised to believe or will the pressure cause them to turn on the one truth they can’t deny?

The time is coming when earth will be changed forever. The dragon is rising and with the joining of The Two, he stirs.

Warning: Mix two opposing forces with some elemental powers, add in a little shove from the energy and you get earth-shattering sex, one angry dragon, a world that is altered forever.

Mini-Review: I really liked the idea of the energy in this novel, along with the Shifters and the Energen. The feud between the two made for a lot of tension. I just wish there could've been more details included about the energy that surrounded everything that happened. There were a few times in which I was wondering if I missed a prologue. The pace of the novel was great, I read it in an afternoon. I also really enjoyed the alternating points of view between Airiana and Louk. It gave me a good look into both the Shifters and the Energen. I really enjoyed the main couple, Airiana and Louk, but I wish some of the other characters could've had slightly larger parts. The cover model's hand looks a bit like claws at a first glance. And the dragon in the background is faint enough that I didn't notice it at first.

Plot: 3.5 Stars
Pace: 4 Stars
Characters: 3.5 Stars
Cover: 3.5 Stars
Overall: 3.5 Stars

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

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.