Review: An interesting shifter story
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 27, 2014
Embraced by Fire is a fast paced romantic novel filled with suspense and tension that will leave you smiling, gasping, and looking for a dragon shifter of your own.The main characters were well developed and easy to relate to. Ryu was a unique male main character, his insecurities and his past making him both lovable and charming. I enjoyed watching his slowly evolving beliefs in himself and what he wanted in life. It wasn't an immediate turn about the moment he met Kait but happened slowly over the course of the book. Kait was also a nice female main character, nothing spectacular but very believable. I loved her level-headedness and self control (even while she was losing it) throughout the book.The way the author paced the romance was perfect, not so fast you could call it insta-love, but not so slow that I was pulling out my hair waiting for them to do something. The best part about this book was that the author laid a clear line between attraction and love-there was chemistry between the characters from the start and time cultivated that attraction into love.The plot was fairly good, with a few twists that I didn't see coming. I have no real complaints as to the level of action, but their were a few lengthy inner monologues that could have been shortened or simply left out.Now for the bad. My reasons for taking stars away are:1. Although we know that Ryu is a shifter and that some of his teammates are shifters we get little background on shifters as a whole. How many are there? We know there are dragons, panthers, and bears, but are their more? Where are the other shifters in the world? We get little information about the shifter community and it left a major hole in the world building.2. Rachel. Her character was confusing and didn't do anything to advance the plot or enrich the book. I can't decide if I wish she had been more influential or if I wish she hadn't been in the book at all.3. The end of the book is rushed. We never figure out what happens to Derek and the final moments with Kait and Ryu felt incomplete. It was a weak ending to a strong story.4. Victor seemed like a mysterious character that could have had significant impact in the book. In fact, Ryu made a strange discovery about him, but it never went anywhere and I question it's placement in the story.5. We never get to see Ryu as a dragon.6. The scope of this book is limited to Ryu and Kait with secondary characters lacking any substance. I would have loved some secondary characters (members of Ryu' s team in particular) to have been move developed.It was a good book overall and I enjoyed reading it. Not sure if I would recommend this book to any of my reading friends, but if you are into hot guys, dragons, and a mystery, I would suggest giving this book a try.