Dragon Actually by G.A. Aiken is the brilliant start to a brilliant series. I am pretty new to the world of shifters, having only read a few wolf shifters, and at one point a dinosaur shifter, but that’s a review for another day. So dragon shifters were a new concept for me to read. But this did not disappoint. Fearghus the Destroyer and Annwyl the Bloody make a perfect pair.
SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK
Annwyl was on the run from her brother, she is cornered and mortally wounded outside of Fearghus’ cave. But instead of killing her, along with the other men, he saves her, and calls upon his sister to heal Annwyl. As a dragon, the two get along fabulously. The normally indifferent dragon who found more joy being by him self than with others, somehow found himself enamored with the bloody woman who could kill a man in a fit of rage.
Learning who she is and what she, and her rebel army are trying to achieve, Fearghus decides to train Annwyl to control her rage instead of letting the rage control her. Shifting to a human, he uses this form in order to train Annwyl, while also getting closer to her.
Torn between her feelings for the man who is teaching her, and the dragon she gets closer to each night, Annwyl is unsure who to choose. Should she choose the handsome knight who her body yearns for even as they train together, or the dragon, who she enjoys conversing with?
END SPOILERS
I won’t give away the ending, but I was perfect. The banter between Annwyl and Fearghus, in both human and dragon form, is funny and made me smile with each interaction. The chemistry between the two you could feel from their first conversation.
I am so glad that I decided to read this book. And to step into a genre I didn’t know a lot about.
This book is definitely for adults, as it does have a fair share of spicy scenes in it. But those scenes are deliciously well written, and fit in well into the plot.
I give this book a 9/10
And a 7/10 on the spicy meter
But that’s not all! Imagine my confusion when I realized that, while the story of Fearghus and Annwyl was done (for now) there was another book within this book. The second book in Dragon Actually is Chains and Flams. This book is actually the prequel to Dragon Actually. It is about Fearghus’ parents, the Dragon Queen Rhiannon and her mate Bercelak the Mighty.
AGAIN SPOILERS AHEAD
Before Rhiannon became Queen of the dragons, her mother, Queen Addiena ruled. Afraid of her daughters power, she pushed Rhiannon away and kept her from her true strength. After coming back from the war against the lightning dragons, Addiena sees an opportunity to mate her daughter off the Bercelak, a low-born dragon.
Unwilling to mate with Bercelak, Rhiannon attempts to fly to her own cave, away from to Royal castle. But before she can finish her journey, Queen Addiena casts a spell of her that causes her to be stuck in her human form. While Addiena was hopping the fall from the sky would kill her, she also made her land right outside of Bercelak’s cave, in case it didn’t.
And I dead, the fall did not kill her, but Rhiannon was unable to change back into a dragon due to the spell.
Stuck with Bercelak for the time being, she can’t help but find there were many traits she found desirable within him. As the two grew closer, Rhiannon eventually found a to break the spell keeping her human. Kill the one who had cast it.
SPOILERS END
This was, again, another fantastic read. A great enemies to lovers in a short little story. You could feel Rhiannon’s emotional struggle thoughout he book, and also, where her children get their personalities from. The action scenes were well written as well the the banter between the Bercelak and Rhiannon. It was a great peak into what happened before Fearghus and Annwyl.
I give this book an 8/10
And a 6/10 on the spicy meter
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