ARC Mini-Review: Dragon Mine

Dragon Mine (The Hidden 0.5)

by Jaime Rush

Blurb:

 His Dragon, her magick, a dark mystery, and hot sparks!

Kirin is summoned home to Miami when his father goes missing--the man who ruined his life, and his relationship with Elle, by being a suspect in her mother's disappearance. When he runs into Elle, sparks fly, especially when he discovers her father is missing, too. Suspecting that their disappearances are linked, they must combine his Dragon power and her magick to find the truth in the darkest shadows. But as their desires flare again, can their burning passion overcome their past—or the danger that the future holds?

Review:

Dragon Mine is the beginning to an all new series by Jamie Rush.  “Things that go bump in the night have always fascinated Jaime Rush. Sometimes those things are human; other times, not so much. Now she has twisted them all together in the Hidden, a trilogy about humans with the essence of gods who walk the knife's edge between the glamour of Miami and a place filled with dark magick and dangerous beauty.” (Goodreads)  I’m a big fan of Jaime rush’s Offspring series so when I heard about this new venture I decided I definitely needed to check it out and was thrilled with this short glimpse into her new world.

The story revolves around once-lovers Kirin and Elle as they are reunited in a quest to find their missing fathers.  Several months earlier Elle broke Kirin’s heart, breaking off their relationship at the behest of her father, who has always disliked their being together.  But Kirin has returned at his sister’s urging because his father has been missing for several days.  When he arrives he discovers that Elle’s father is also missing and there is something seriously dark and disturbing revolving around their small community in Miami.

Now you might think this story is pretty simple, but there is one little detail that sets the human drama on its ear… neither Elle nor Kirin are entirely human.  Instead they are part of the Hidden world that exists within the more normal Mundane world of humans. Kirin is a Dragon, one who shares his soul with a dragon making him a shapeshifter and Elle is a Deuce, a magic wielder.  Though there is not a ton of detail about this part there were some interesting hints at their inner workings and I’m looking forward to learning more about what exactly this Hidden world encompasses. 

As the relationship was already fully rooted, it was more of a reunion for the lovers, just letting us see how deeply they already loved one another than getting to see two people fall in love.  But that didn’t diminish the love story angle any for me. It was great to see them come back together and overcome their problems so they can finally get together and stay that way.   They are both in love, but Elle’s courage was seriously lacking until that point, but seeing how great of a man Kirin is finally forces her to face the truth. Being with Kirin is worth rocking the boat and loving him makes her whole.

I cannot wait for the rest of this series.  This was a great novella to begin things.  There is significant world building and we get to see many of the main characters and even get glimpses of what might be coming in the full length novels to come.  Being a fan of Jaime’s work, I was thoroughly happy with every minute of this read.  Though I would have loved to have the story be longer and maybe starting a few years earlier so we could see the couple falling in love.  But seeing as it was just a tease for the coming series it was a great read.  Full of vivid imagination, emotional growth and challenging battles both physical and magical Dragon Mine is a must read.  I’m looking forward to finding out what happens to Lyra in her story coming in December, Dragon Awakened.

Rating:  3.5 stars

Rose Rating: 

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