“It was as if someone had drained all the color from his world and he was walking around in shades of gray waiting for his personal rainbow 🌈 to bounce back into his life.”
Given the three in a row formula romance, I would not have continued on to this book, except that
I purchased the series together during a stacked sale. This book yet again features a masculine grump finding love with an exuberant pixie who’s new to the MM bottom and top thing. Only this time, *gasp*😱, the twist is that the mage is the solid, stodgy one and the dragon is the bundle of peppermints and dandelions.
“May I lick this dragon?”
Other than the tweak, the romance is the same low angst, maximum heart eyes 😍 formula as before. There’s still the danger scene bringing Ravi and Soro together, so that the grump can take care of the little “woman” with instant acceptance and adoration of all the quirks that make the sweet thing sweet.
I find the sugar daddy style romance a little cloying and the several sex scene off putting.
Ravi, however, is endearing and Soro was a great match for him.
“Is that a rain drop?”
I feel like the author duo is writing standard MF romance and just substituting a feminine M for the female role … and then overcompensating by piling on endless refrains about how it’s okay to be gay, and isn’t it sooo adorable and scrumdiddlyumptious that the dragon world is a pansexual utopia.
If the series cares that much about diversity, I would have preferred a MM couple featuring two manly men, or a FF dragon duo, or a MF pair where they’re both scrawny geeks.
“I think I screwed the pooch.”
Thankfully, the fantasy side of things takes flight with a huge change for dragon kind right at the start. That was my second favorite scene in the book. Also, the series finally moves forward on the Jaeggi plot. There’s even one Jaeggi given a name … and lines. The last two hours are great, with action and tons of dragons, and a funny attempted violation of a prisoner scene (I know! What?! That was my favorite scene for the sheer uniqueness).
The series movement and better fantasy elements ensured I didn’t OD on the romantic glitter bombs and the hyperbolic accents that are like psychedelic ear wigs (especially Mr. Leslie’s Asian accents: erase, erase, … record keeps repeating). This book is like a unicorn 🦄 drink … or a Twinkie: every now and then I’m in the mood for all that sugar, but I kinda regret consuming them.