“I took one look at you and realized I had a type.”
The very last thing the book does is thank the listener for tuning in to this “grumpy dragon romance,” which honestly should have appeared in the book summary, because it’s very on-point. Alric is a 500 year old dragon king who’s overburdened with responsibility and closed-off with body insecurity due to his scars. Along comes young, geeky Korean Cameron to be the Belle to his Beast… but adorably gay.
“I finally understand what Belle felt: I would totally marry you for your book collection.”
Yep, this MM urban fantasy story is very “out” about parallels to that storyline. Add in the exaggerated accents, Dungeons & Dragons references, and OMG squees as fellow dragons, mages, and family members all ship Cam-Ric (or Al-Meron?), and 95% of this book felt very Saturday morning cartoonish.
“Ride your dragon hard, little mage.”
Then, bam! At the 8 hr mark this veers sharply into popcorn p😜rn with the first of four graphic MM get-togethers. Yes, before this point, there are occasional F bombs, kisses, and teenage flirting, but until the smut-bomb went off, I thought of this as fit for high school. Nope. This went from an MM Beauty and the Beast to The Bridgertons… but with dragon lords.
And yet, as awkweird as this was, with its beyond cringe Korean grandma accent and the abundance of fingers coated in magical salve, I was charmed by the romance and the supporting characters. I think I ended up liking this in the same way I like regency romance… where I overlook writing flaws for the feel good fun and HEA. There’s only enough urban fantasy story to support the romance, so if you’re looking for adventure, action, or mystery, look elsewhere; this is a rom-com pure and simple.
Other urban fantasy MM series that worked better for me:
📍Tales from Verania- “cheesy Dx and candlesticks” Shrek-like comedy- funnier, mouthier, and smuttier
📍Demon Magic duology by Alice Winter- I Iaughed, I ugly cried, I melted during the naughty nooky
📍Tarot Sequence – starting with The Last Sun – my favorite, gritty MM / UF series.
This one is a five star, all the feels, cuts deep kind of listen.