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Wednesday, September 25, 2013

ARC Mini-Review: Red Hot Dragon

Red Hot Dragon (Dragon Heat #2)

by Lolita Lopez

Blurb:

Griffin Cadogan is shocked to see Avani Monroe, sworn enemy of his dragon family, walk into his gym. With his mating phase soon approaching, Griffin is curious as to why she has to come enemy territory knowing the risks. Not only does she surprise Griffin and his cousin, Mad, by coming to enemy territory, but what she wants is borderline insane-Griffin must help her have a baby.
After her mother's line was annihilated by the Knights, Avani accepted her duty to ensure the continuation of their unique dragon breed. She's searched the dragon registries and Griffin is the most likely candidate for her crazy plan. Working up the courage to approach a man who considers her an enemy wasn't easy but she manages to calmly lay out her carefully orchestrated plan.
But Griffin isn't about to agree to her harsh terms. If she wants him to father her child, he intends to play an active role in his offspring's life, not simply walk away as she requires. Shocked by her instant attraction to him, she agrees to his terms. Once together, they realize their connection is about more than creating a child, but that happiness is short-lived when Mad suddenly disappears. Knowing the dragon slayers are behind it, Griffin must risk it all to save the ones he loves.

Review:

The second book in the Dragon Heat series was a good read, but I was a bit disappointed.  Reading the blurb for this story I had a great expectation for a wonderful story, but I wasn’t as thrilled with the way the romance unfolded and how the couple came together.  While there were some interesting action moments and certainly plenty of sexy scenes between Griffin and Avani, I found the emotion of the romance to be a bit lackingor perhaps superficial is the best way to describe it.  I will continue this series because the premise is engaging and the stories are well written, but I continue to hope for something a bit longer, allowing for the deeper emotions to develop.
The story revolves around Avani's life-changing decision to continue her species by seeking out a genetic match to father a child with her.  She has no desire for a mate or partner and presents the entire situation to Griffin as a business arrangement.  Though he initially resists the idea, his own desire for family leads him to accept her proposal with a few caveats—he will not give up rights to their baby.  With some of the issues unresolved, they sequester themselves in Avani's underground lair and let the mating heat they are both experiencing led where it may.  Only as they spend more time together, both of them begin to question their determination to remain apart and decide to give their relationship a chance beyond slaking their lust and accomplishing their goal.
When Avani and Griffin come together it is definitely erotic and heated.  The passion between them is nothing to dismiss and they certainly go at each other with a lusty determination.  There are certainly moments that I needed a cold drink just to allow me to keep reading, but I didn’t feel much of an emotional connection between them, until suddenly there it was.  There didn’t seem to be much of a development of their love; they just went from an intense attraction to each other to being in love and deciding to mate for life. I would have liked a bit more time for love to grow or at least allowing us to experience that growth as there was a large time gap in the story, but overall they were sexy enough for me to accept the sudden changes.
In the end, this story was a short, hot read to fill a cool fall evening.  With all the action of dragon battles, sexiness of two dragons in heat, and the happy ending I look for, Red Hot Dragon was a well written and heated erotic novella.   Griffin and Avani were interesting characters with depth and intelligence, perfectly matched and able to come together in love once they stopped letting old fears hold them back. Though the emotional connection was a bit abrupt for my preference, I can see that the couple was meant to be and the love was certainly there in the end.  Overall I can say this was a good read and well worth getting lost in for a few hours.   It was also interesting to get to see some of the characters I loved in the previous story in the series and learn more about them.  I am looking forward to finding out what will come next in the Dragon Heat Series. 

Rating: 3 stars

Rose Rating:  

*eARC provided by publisher (via netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided. 



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