Review: Dragons in Las Vegas!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 22, 2013
Dr. Lucy De Luca is an internationally respected expert in jewel appraisal, but her brother Joey is a gambling addict who frequently falls into crime to support his habit. Unfortunately for Lucy, in addition to Joey being her only family, he is her twin, and she can't stand to let him suffer the consequences of his self-destructive actions. In order to protect his life from a violent mafioso-type to whom Joey owes money, Lucy reluctantly agrees to act as the inside-person on a jewel heist, because she's in Las Vegas on assignment to appraise a king's ransom of jewels. Lucy's appraisal contract is with Alec Gerald, the handsome, charismatic owner of The Crown Jewel, a brand new, utterly magnificent, Las Vegas casino. A public display of the jewels is slated to be a centerpiece of the casino's grand opening, and the mafioso has commanded Lucy to perform underhanded machinations which will open the way for him to steal Alec's jewels.Lucy's mission is even more impossible than she feared because, unbeknownst to her, Alec is the powerful head of an ancient dragon clan. Though he is centuries old, Alec looks like a man in the prime of his life, because he is all but immortal--except for one potentially fatal flaw. In the not-too-distant future, he will lose his power to morph into a dragon, and become nothing but a frail human, unless he locates his destined mate.It is obvious to Alec almost immediately that Lucy is not all she seems and, with great shock, he soon realizes that, though she has no dragon in her at all, she might actually be the salvation he seeks, his intended mate.This is a fast-paced contemporary, paranormal romance with plenty of thrilling adventure. Lucy and Alec are both complexly motivated protagonists, and we are allowed to know each of them from up close and personal as the novel is narrated in their alternating points of view. Lucy and Alec have powerful sexual chemistry, and the progress of their smouldering relationship is highly entertaining.In addition to the two villainous antagonists driving the main conflict of the story, Lucy's ne'er-do-well brother and the mysterious, terrifying mobster, there are multiple well-intentioned antagonists among Alec's dragon clan who oppose his relationship with Lucy because she is human. Each of these secondary characters is sharply and convincingly drawn, but none of them is ever allowed to upstage the two main protagonists.Last but not least, the Las Vegas setting of this delightful story is colorful, exciting and authentic, and the idea of dragons hiding in plain sight in one of the glitziest cities in the world in a jewel-themed casino is a delicious, high concept.All in all, this is a terrific read for fans of adult, paranormal romance, and I am looking forward to further books in this series.I rate this book as follows:Heroine: 5 starsHero: 5 starsSubcharacters: 5 starsRomance Plot: 5 starsFantasy World-Building: 5 starsWriting: 5 starsOverall: 5 starsDisclaimer: A copy of this book was provided to me by the author to make it possible for me to read it so that I could write a review.