Heat: A Dark Kings Novel

A BABY DRAGON!!!!! Shapeshifting dragons, Dark Fae and an MI5 Agent with a memory altered by magic. Nikolai is a dragon who was orphaned at a young age. He was adopted by Ulrik and raised to be a Dragon King. Dragon Kings apparently sleep a lot. Nikolai is awakened and is tasked with easing tensions with Ulrik and other Dragon Kings. This task includes helping Edith, a MI5 agent retrace her steps she she can remember her past. It turns out Edith has magic of her own that she never knew about. They discover Edith’s magic, Nikolai shifts into dragon form. 3 stars The book was provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

***4 Stars*** Sooooooo, I kinda did a thing I don’t typically do...like ever. I read a book that was apart of a series and I haven’t read the series. *drops head and winces a little, then snaps head back up* Well, I have read something of the series, but it was a novella, so I’m not all too sure it counts, but at least I know something about the world right? Okay, maybe not, but let’s cut this part off for now and get to the nitty gritty. Despite not reading any other novels in the series, my curiosity was peaked by the whole recovery of memories issue with Esther and how a Dragon King could help her retrieve them, so I went against my own OCD and dove in and I really enjoyed their story. It was intriguing, sweet, smexy, filled with intrigue and had me wishing I’d started from the beginning, but also had me wanting to continue with it regardless because of that ending. I had a great time getting to know Nikolai and Esther. Nikolai, for all the big and bad Dragon King that he is, is a quiet sort of soul. He observes more than anything, but has no problem making his opinion known when it’s important, and his magic is really, really cool. Esther, on the outside is calm, cool and collected, but that has more to do with her training and the fact that her mind was scrambled by a Druid. I loved her determination to hunt down the Druid in order to retrieve her memories, but also the fact that she didn’t go off the rails. She was logical in her pursuit and as the fog started to lift, I loved the bright and golden heart it revealed. Their journey to their HEA was an interesting one considering the reason why Esther needed Nikolai’s help with retrieving her memories, there was no where for her to hide, but on the flip side, Nikolai was just as transparent so their mutual attraction built as they got to know each other on an emotionally intimate level. With all that was going on around them, the angst was kept to a minimum and I liked how their relationship evolved at a good pace. As I said in the beginning, I haven’t read any of the other books in the series, so jumping head first into the 12th book in the series was definitely outside my norm. But, I will say that though I didn’t pick up on the little threads of connections between the characters, I never felt lost when it came to the main series arcs. Ms. Grant did a great job of getting the reader caught up with all that was going on without it being a huge information dump and moving things forward. I really liked a lot of the secondary characters and with all that happened throughout the book and that ending, I’m thinking that I’ll be needing to keep an eye out for the next book because things look like they’re going to get even more interesting. ~ Copy provided by the publisher via NetGalley & voluntarily reviewed ~

I'm usually all for a good dragon story, so when I received this one from NetGalley, I was anxious to dive in. That excitement quickly turned to confusion as I read when I kept trying to figure out what I was missing with these characters and their story. To be fair, the info on NetGalley didn't mention a series, let alone that it was book twelve in that series! I did keep at it, but with minimal world building and only snippets of info here and there, I was left with more questions than answers. I can only assume that many of my questions were answered in previous books, but after the struggle to get through this one, I don't feel a pressing need to explore this series any further. As far as the characters are concerned, Nikolai is interesting enough, but Esther became rather tedious with her angst and whining. Had I been familiar with the world of the Dragon Kings, this one may have been more enjoyable, but as it stands, it was just too easy to set aside.