Book Review: Cursed Angel (Dragon's Gift: The Storm #3)

 

Cursed Angel

Veronica Douglas and Linsey Hall

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

This is the third book in the Storm series, part of the Dragon's Gift universe. It follows the adventures of Neve, a half-djinn, and Damien, a fallen angel/FireHeart. Their powers are confusing and poorly defined and the reasoning behind holding back on their romance? Even more so. Matthias, basically the only character who was not introduced as a clear protagonist, is the villain and he's set to capture enough djinn to take over the world. Not only does Neve have to stop him but she has to resist the possibility of being trapped into granting his wishes for all of eternity. 

Again, this is part of a greater universe so maybe I'm just missing out on the magical components because I haven't read all of the other installments. But there are a lot of things that I just didn't follow. It wasn't even following more like understand the relevance of. It's like, it wasn't a bad story or anything and it was mildly entertaining it just wasn't something that I was super involved in the whole time I was reading it. 

I've finished reading the series so I felt bad rating it much lower than three, it was interesting enough for me to make it to the end and not hate them all. But it also could have been a lot more interesting. 

Book Review: Dark Storm (Dragon's Gift: The Storm #2)

 

Dark Storm

Veronica Douglas and Linsey Hall

Overall: 3/5

Plot and themes: 3/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3/5

Attention-grabbing: 3/5

I am once again way behind on reviews so I read this a couple weeks and I'm just going to provide a brief overview. Neve risked her life to capture a powerful djinn, only for him to be stolen less than a week later. The skill set of the thief leads her back to Damien Malek's doorstep. When she determines he's not at fault, they team up to find the thief and save the world.

It's fine albeit very convenient. We've switched it up and added Damien's POV to the mix and he seems as though he has... obsessive tendencies. The entire secret mystery leading up to his big reveal is annoying too because like get over it why do we have to hear him talk about how broken he is and how nothing between him and Neve would ever work. I would much rather get the tragic backstory about why he's broken. 

I've already read the other two books at this point so my review is obviously a little biased but yeah it's an addicting kind of thing to read so you'll probably get to the end though I'm not really recommending it.

 

Book Review: Shadow Wings (Darkest Drae #2)

Shadow Wings

Raye Wagner and Kelly St. Clare

3/5

Ryn is trying to figure out her powers, she's a never before seen combination of Phaetyn and Drae and not everyone is happy about that. She's trying to reconcile her old life with her new one and she's having a pretty difficult time. She journeys to the Phaetyn land and discovers a whole new side of the world all while the psychotic emperor threatens her existence. 

Ryn was getting a little whiny for me. Tyrrik really didn't do that much to her and she was just kind of mad and confused and back and forth about it the whole time. I don't know if I really approve of their relationship but all the rejections and such were kind of shallow and weird. It just occupied such a huge portion of the book for no reason. 

Basically the same feelings I had during the first book, it has decent world building but a lot of weird dialogue. I'll finish the series off just because it's interesting enough as kind of empty reading. I don't know if I love it but I like it well enough.

Book Review: Longbourn (Jane Austen's Dragons #2)

Longbourn

Maria Grace

3/5

There was a lot of back and forth in this book. Should Elizabeth marry Mr. Collins? Is Mr. Darcy nice and does he like Elizabeth or is he just desperate for her help? I don't know, the first one felt a lot stronger than this. But I still loved the universe and the fact that there were dragons.

I think that the weirdest part of this whole story, the part that threw me most off, was Mr. Collin's stealing Darcy's most infamous proclamations of love. That's a central part of his character arc and having it stolen by someone so gross really took away from the story for me. Not to say that it made it a bad read or anything, it just felt weird and a little cheap to steal something like that so word for word. 

I'm still going on in the series cause I like a lot of things about it. I hope that we move a little bit more towards romance between Darcy and Elizabeth, though the misunderstandings that are so intrinsic to the story line have been somewhat lacking to this point. I'm still looking forward to seeing where it goes though.

Book Review: Fireborne (The Aurelian Cycle #1)

Fireborne
Rosaria Munda
5/5

I'd like to say, before actually reviewing, I love dragons so much and I'm kind of biased towards loving anything with dragons. That being said, this book provides a unique twist on dragons, I saw the author saying that she had been influenced by the events of the French Revolution and she really created a beautiful blend.

Annie and Lee grew up together, I mean after both of their families were destroyed by the events of a revolution, and now they are competing for the leader of the new, citizen-led dragon fleet. They both  have tragic pasts, both of them watched the demise of their families- Annie by the fire of the dragonlord who was supposed to protect them, and Lee, being the son of a dragonlord, as the consequence of their revolution. Now they have a Divergent-style testing system where every citizen is supposed to get an equal chance, with those permitted to be chosen by a dragon at the very top.

There are a lot of political issues here. I love books that examine the intricacies of a post-revolution society, and it was especially interesting because dragons were involved. There were huge questions of morality and characters who were just trying to do the right thing. I think it was great too because even the characters who were mean, I couldn't really hate them because I feel like we were provided a little of everyone's perspective despite it being in the voices of Annie and Lee.

Lee was great and all, but Annie really surprised me because she was just an amazing character. She had issues with public speaking and she pushed through them. She doubted herself, but she didn't wallow in it or allow it to overcome her. She was also intensely loyal and I loved that. There were points when she questioned her loyalty, in a natural way, but she persisted and stood up for what was right. I love that she was so smart and so special but depicted in a way where she came across as average, there was a great mix of extraordinary and ordinary.

I would recommend this book for anyone who loves political drama, and of course, anyone who loves dragons. I do hope that the dragons get some more page-time in the next book in the series, but I'm ok with where it was in this one. I'm so excited to see how things pan out and can't wait for the next one.