Review: Gimme A Dragon of My Own!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2013
I picked this book up for three reasons:Hot man with sexy dragon tattooGreat blurbI heard that it had won the prestigious 2012 Golden Heart from RWA in the paranormal romance category.After reading it, I thoroughly get why it won the Golden Heart. The first fifty, or even one hundred pages were spectacular. The book as a whole was great! Unfortunately, there was a minor problem toward the end that knocked my appreciation of this book from 5 stars to 4.First, Dragons is set in a future Earth, after World War III and a genetic experiment that was supposed to be tossed but instead first bred dragons. The dragons have pretty much taken over, and a select few humans are able to speak the dragon language (Dragon-Speakers, of which Myrna is one). Her typical day is pretty much like the blurb says, dealing with puking dragons and disputes over improperly eaten sheep and cows. Not glamorous, but it pays the bills, right?She used to be in a better job, but thanks to Trian ended up getting a demotion. Well, he roars back into her life as DRACIM (the organization that helps coordinate human/dragon peace) tries to find out what the Chinese dragon Hing-puo is up to.There's definitely heat between Trian and Myrna from the first time they step onto the page, even as they've got definite issues between them. It grows as she tries to figure out if she can trust him again, and she learns the truth as to why he stole the paperwork he stole from her. The Chinese war-lord made for a great villain with a fascinating secret of his own.The world building is second to none. I felt the entire set-up as to how dragons came into existence was incredibly plausible (fantastical, but at least plausible, although of course I have my doubts as to whether anyone would survive World War III. Heh.My only gripe was how absolutely obvious one of the villains. I IDd him the second he revealed one minor detail about his background. His motives were very cliche. I can see why Myrna didn't figure it out immediately, but her gullibility later on when she's told something by this villain, without any semblance of corroboration from anyone, just left me with my jaw hanging open.There's a rich cast of secondary characters and I sincerely hope there will be more books set in this world. I know I'll snap them up to read as soon as I possibly can. This book totally, COMPLETELY deserved the Golden Heart.Thank you, Ms. Christensen, and thank you Carina Press, for offering me the chance to read this book.