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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Book Review: How to Date a Dragon by Ashlyn Chase

How to Date a Dragon (Flirting with Fangs Trilogy #2)
by Ashlyn Chase

Let the Sparks Fly

Bliss Russo thought nothing exciting ever happened in her life. Until her building caught on fire and she had to be carried out of the flames in the arms of a gorgeous fireman. Sure, her apartment is now in shambles and she'll have to start her huge work project completely from scratch. But at least her love life is finally looking up...if only she can find her red-hot rescuer again.

Dragon shapeshifter Drake Cameron is the last of his clan, and the loneliness is starting to claw at him. He's met only one woman who might be able to stand the shock of his true nature. After all, she barely batted an eyelash when her home burned down. And feeling her curves against him was just as hot as the inferno. Just when he thinks he'll never track her down, she walks into his firehouse—with no idea what she's about to get herself into...


I wanted to love How to Date a Dragon, I really did. It had humor, romance and of course dragons, but for me, it missed the mark.

Drake Cameron is one of the few surviving dragons left in the modern world, a fact that weighs heavily on him from time to time. As a firefighter (Ironic, I know), he's pretty much immune to fire, but that doesn't mean he wants to go back into a burning apartment complex just to retrieve a woman's laptop. No matter that he thinks she's gorgeous, if he comes out unscathed then someone's bound to notice, not to mention he has this little habit of partially shifting at inopportune moments.

Bliss Russo (Yeah, I wasn't too crazy about the name, it was just ripe for bad puns) is trying to win a competition so that she can get her greeting card business going and get out of her parents' house, which she finds herself back in after her apartment building burns down. When she finds out the hunky fireman who rescued her got in trouble for going back in for her laptop she naturally sends him one of her signature "snarky" cards as a thank you. Then it's a "we don't even know each other's full names and can't find one another" type thing until Drake finally spots Bliss in a crowd and asks her out.

Don't get me wrong, How to Date a Dragon isn't a bad book, it just wasn't a spectacular one either. The book took a little too long to really get going and then all of a sudden events were just flying by faster than I could keep up with sometimes. The lack of consistency in the pace was a bit disconcerting.

Bliss as a character was lacking something to make her a great heroine. She was likable, don't get me wrong, she has her moments of being cool, but she's not as clever with her jokes and sarcasm as she'd like to think. At times her jokes fell flat and her sarcasm made her seem less intelligent than she is. She does rank high in courage though which is a great thing if she's going to date a dragon who happens to have a psycho female dragon on his case. That and her will to be independent of her parents kept Bliss from becoming a dull character and believe me, with a mother like hers, Bliss needs all the Brownie points she can get! Bliss' job was something new (She creates snarky greeting cards) and different from the norm and I do appreciate a heroine who goes against the norm in any way.

Drake was the better character of the two, a mighty dragon who wasn't overbearing or annoyingly cocky was a nice change. His moments of insecurity made me like him, but he wasn't so insecure that he became a wimp. There was nice balance of humble and confident in him that made him memorable to me. His self depricating humor wasn't over done, and while he was described as a very attractive male, thankfully author Ashlyn Chase refrained from using the word "god" to describe him, thereby not making Drake out to be the most drop dead gorgeous man that none of the upcoming heroes in the series could even begin to match. Because really, once a hero's looks are described as "god-like" then that doesn't leave any room for future heroes to shine.

The storyline was fairly decent, it wasn't a total fail, but I could have done without a lot of the characters who appeared sporatically and without any real use.

As far as dragon shifter romances go, How to Date a Dragon was an okay read. It didn't have me glued to my Kindle but it didn't make me walk away in frustration either. I suggest sampling this book first to see if it's to your liking before you purchase it. If the opportunity arose, I would consider giving the next book in the series a go to see if it can save the series.

Average Customer Review on amazon: 4.2
goodreads average rating: 3.37


3 Sheep




Guest Reviewer: Adria
Adria's Romance Reviews Among Wildlings
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About the Author: 
Ashlyn Chase has been a registered nurse for 20 years. During those years, she wrote articles for professional journals and a thesis, but eventually, thank goodness, discovered the joy and freedom of writing fiction.

Ashlyn considers herself lucky. Her degree in behavioral sciences is a combination of psychology and sociology, so she has worked with and studied people most of her life. She never has to write out exhaustive character sketches to understand her characters or predict how they will behave.  That doesn't mean they don't surprise her. Sometimes they take her on grand unexpected journeys. For her, it gives "character driven novels" a whole new meaning.
Ashlyn has learned to go with the flow. To enjoy the journey is not only one of her writing goals, but also a challenge in life so she tries to follow where the story takes her. As such, she has lived in 17 different places over the years. At last, she's all settled down and comfy in New England.

2 comments:

  1. I love her books. She's one of my favorites.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for the review. I read the first two books of her other series, and they just didn't do it for me. I will try this one though, cause I can't resist a dragon.

    ReplyDelete