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For Nolwenn witch Talaith, a bad day begins with being dragged from bed by an angry mob intent on her crispy end and culminates in rescue by-wait for it-a silver-maned dragon. Existence as a hated outcast is nothing new for a woman with such powerful secrets. The dragon, though? A tad unusual. This one has a human form to die for, and knows it. According to dragon law, Talaith is now his property, for pleasure... or otherwise. But if Lord Arrogance thinks she's the kind of damsel to acquiesce without a word, he's in for a surprise... Is the woman never silent? Briec the Mighty knew the moment he laid eyes on Talaith that she would be his, but he'd counted on tongue-lashings of an altogether different sort. It's embarrassing, really, that it isn't this outspoken female's magicks that have the realm's greatest dragon in her thrall. No, Briec has been spellbound by something altogether different, and if he doesn't tread carefully, what he doesn't know about human women could well be the undoing of his entire race.… (more)
User reviews
This is the story of Briec the Mighty and Talaith, a witch tied to a bad goddess. Talaith isn't exactly a typical heroine. She's mouthy, bad-tempered, and a trained assassin. She's also being blackmailed by a nasty goddess who took her baby daughter to force Talaith to do her bidding. When Talaith's is rescued from a witch burning by a dragon, she's pretty sure the only reason is that maybe this dragon likes his meals rare rather than well done! But as she spends time with Briec in his human form, it becomes more and more difficult for her to resist him. If only she were free to be happy with Briec...but she has a daughter to find...and a goddess to outwit.
Briec isn't sure what it is about the puny human that he likes. It's certainly not her pleasant personality, nor the fact that she keeps trying to run away! He was sure that after he saved her she would drop to her knees and gladly 'service' him in gratitude...after all he IS Briec the Mighty!
These two will have you in stitches with all their insults and bickering. I was even more thrilled to find out that Laurentston has more books in this series upcoming with the next due out in September of 2009. I'm having a hard time deciding which character's story I want next!
Amazingly, she is not that afraid of him but is definitely ready to go up against him any way possible. In this hysterically humorous book, Briec and Talaith rub each other all the wrong ways (and some of the right ways as well) while trying to establish just who is in charge. His brothers are no help at all, constantly commenting "She is going to make his life hell" at every turn. They're right!
They irritate the hell out of each other. Hourly. The arguments make them want each other all the more but neither will make the first move. Talaith begins to like Briec more and more - and hates him for that as well.
Then - disaster strikes. Talaith's mother, Haldane - a horrid witch in her own right - calls upon Talaith do to that for which she has been trained. Kill Annwyl the Blood Queen and Haldane will keep her daughter safe from Hamish who wants to bed her at 16. Problem? Annywl is married to Fearghus, Briec's brother, NOT a dragon to be tampered with. (See Dragon Actually)
Follow along as Talaith may have met her match Briec, his brothers and in Annwyl. Will she finally see her daughter? Will you laugh yourself out of your chair as you read this book? I hope this is not the last we see of the House of Gwalchmai fab Gwyar Dragons because these books are wonderful!
Its so funny.... I don't know how a story about annoying dragons, war, a witch in a bond to a scheming goddess and more blood and beheading can be so funny. Sure, its an adult fantasy aka paranormal romance with too many insults and sex and stuff but its
Its truly infectious. I never seen dragon royalties being written this way. Its like Skyrim with a lot of "arrow in the knee" jokes. And I adore Skyrim, who isn't?
Its so funny.... I don't know how a story about annoying dragons, war, a witch in a bond to a scheming goddess and more blood and beheading can be so funny. Sure, its an adult fantasy aka paranormal romance with too many insults and sex and stuff but its
Its truly infectious. I never seen dragon royalties being written this way. Its like Skyrim with a lot of "arrow in the knee" jokes. And I adore Skyrim, who isn't?
3 Stars
Synopsis
Rescued by a dragon after nearly being burned at the stake, Talaith finds herself in debt to Briec the Mighty who sees her as his property and will stop at nothing the have her. Unfortunately for Briec, Talaith has other plans and as no intention of submitting to the
Review
The world building is weak and vague and although the plot has potential with secret assassins and interfering Gods, it ends up lacking substance.
Talaith's sarcasm and Briec's ego provide excellent banter and some laugh out loud moments. However, their constant sniping and snapping becomes tedious after a while and a relationship based on bickering is not the healthiest. Moreover, the sex scenes do not contribute to the romance and feel more like filler than anything else.
The secondary characters are the real highlight. The dynamic between the dragon siblings is hilarious and the updates in Annwyl and Fearghus's relationship are great. It is just unfortunate that Morfyd and Brasties's budding romance remains underdeveloped though.
On a final note, if there is such a thing as excessively kick-ass heroines, then this series has them. Annwyl, Morfyd, Talaith and now Izzy have an overabundance of estrogen and while it is kinda cool having such powerful women, it is also a little difficult to entirely accept.
In sum, I was considering giving the rest of the series a miss until the intriguing epilogue. It seems that Gwenvael has meet his match, which should be very entertaining.
With the exception of the male love interest, I liked the characters and was glad to see how the new queen was getting along. I just never warmed up
I'm sure I would have enjoyed this much more if I could have warmed up to the male lead in the paranormal romance.
I only had a few hiccups with this book..Hot, graphic scenes between the sheets and other places between several characters got a bit too much at times. It seemed like the story was stopped dead for their sex scenes a few times. I missed the world details the back ground was vague and disappointing.
I still gave it 4 stars, the characters had me laughing and cheering for them. It was a good story and I would have liked more work put into it.
Briec is an arrogant dragon who is rather full of himself and doesn’t think that any female would ever reject him. Yet that’s exactly what Talaith does at their first meeting, which leaves him both perplexed and intrigued. Briec has never really understood what his brothers see in human women, but Talaith leaves him beginning to understand why they like human females so much. Not to be deterred, he returns to the village to continue his pursuit, only to find her in the process of being hanged. He steps in to rescue her and then carries her off to his den. By dragon law, her life now belongs to him, but she doesn’t really see it that way. At first, Briec thinks he’ll just have his fun with Talaith, and when he tires of her, he’ll move on. But the more time he spends with her, the more he thinks he’ll be keeping her for quite some time to come, as life with her would certainly never be boring. Then Talaith disappears, leaving him feeling like his chest is caving in, something he’s never felt before in his long life. When Briec is reunited with her at Garbhan Isle and discovers the truth of why she left, he’s more than happy to forgive her to have her back in his life. But when Arzhela comes to exact her revenge, he may be faced with losing Talaith all over again. Briec is arrogant with a capital “A” and doesn’t really know the right things to say or do with a female. Occasionally he figures it out on his own, but more often than not, his brothers are whispering suggestions in his ear. He actually enjoys arguing with Talaith, which just gets them both hot and bothered. He’s also a clueless alpha male when it comes to emotions. When he actually starts feeling things for Talaith, he turns a bit whiny, which was rather funny. Overall, he was pretty amusing and he didn’t really push any major buttons for me. However, I didn’t fall for him in quite the same way as I did for his brother Fearghus.
Talaith is a Nolwenn witch who comes from a desert kingdom far from Garbhan Isle and the surrounding countries. Years ago, she displeased her mother by falling in love with and bearing the child of a young soldier who was later killed in battle. As a result, her child was taken from her and placed with Lord Hamish. Talaith was taken to his kingdom as well and married off to a commoner there. In order to get her daughter back, she was tasked with becoming a deadly assassin and the time has come for her to be called upon to perform the task which Arzhela, the goddess the Nolwenn witches serve, has demanded. Unfortunately her mission has been thrown off track by nearly being hanged and then rescued and carried off by an infuriating dragon. Although very attracted to his human form, Talaith has no intention of making things easy on him. However, after being cooped up in his brother’s den for days on end, she can’t help succumbing to his charms. A part of her would love to just stay with Briec forever, but when Arzhela finds her and demands payment, threatening Talaith’s daughter if she doesn’t comply, she has no other choice but to leave him. Talaith decides on a risky course of action that she hopes will protect her daughter while allowing her to not take a life, which earns her the support of Annwyl who takes Talaith and her daughter back to her kingdom where she’s reunited with Briec. But Arzhela isn’t finished with her, and this time, Talaith may have to give her life in order to save her child. Talaith is a pretty prickly female, which I’m coming to recognize seems to be par for the course in this series. She’s obviously a strong woman to be a trained assassin who can take out grown men while barely breaking a sweat, although she’s not nearly as bloodthirsty as Annwyl.;-) I suppose Briec needed someone like this to keep his huge ego in check, though, and she does have a softer side that I could relate to.
In About a Dragon, there are also a number of significant supporting characters, some of whom have their own books in the series. We get to see a fair bit of Fearghus and Annwyl (Dragon Actually) and there are some very important developments in their lives. Briec’s younger brother, Gwenvael, becomes the hero of the next full-length book, What a Dragon Should Know. The epilogue in which he meets his future mate makes it seem like they’ll have an interesting story. Briec’s younger sister, Keita, appears a few times, and she’ll become the heroine of the fourth book, Last Dragon Standing. Briec’s baby brother, Eibhear, features prominently, and right now, he’s quite possibly my favorite of the brothers. The author very much teases a pairing between him and Talaith’s daughter, Izzy, so I was happy to learn that they do indeed get their own story in the sixth book, How to Drive a Dragon Crazy. Then last, but certainly not least, Briec’s older sister, Morfyd, continues to be Annwyl’s battle mage, and I was thrilled to see that her relationship with Annwyl’s second-in-command, Brastias, continues to take steps forward in this book. At this point, I’m guessing that their story is going to be told as a secondary romance throughout the series rather than them getting a book of their own.
Overall, I enjoyed About a Dragon. This entire series has a more lighthearted feel to it for paranormal romance with lots of humor sprinkled throughout. I waffled on how to rate it, though. I almost gave it 4.5 stars because I did like it quite a bit, but when I started comparing the story and the characters to the previous stories I’d read in the series, I felt like it was ever-so-slightly less good. Me not falling quite as hard for Briec as I did for Fearghus and their father, Bercelak, in their stories played a part in my decision, too. I also felt like the moment when Talaith defeats her enemy was a little too quick and anticlimactic when I was expecting a little harder battle. One other issue I had is that I was slightly off-put by Briec claiming Talaith without her full consent, although I acknowledge that he didn’t entirely have control of himself at the time given that the gods were messing with them. Then much like with the first two stories of the series, there were a number of editing issues such as incorrect words, incorrect verb conjugations, etc., as well as a serious overabundance of eye rolling. Otherwise, though, I found About a Dragon to be a fun, entertaining story, and that epilogue with Gwenvael has left me looking forward to continuing with the series soon.
Briec the Mighty is a
Talaith's day begins with a good old fashioned witch burning and ends with a rescue by a dragon. A dragon who thinks she should be super thankful for saving her life, so thankful that she'll go along with her subsequent kidnapping to his den where she will live until he's "done with her." With such a charming offer, how could she possibly resist?
There are a lot of similarities between the first book and this one - some I liked, others I didn't. The snarky banter was fantastic. I loved the return of the dragon clan and Annwyl. The further expansion of the world building to include gods and goddesses was an interesting angle. I enjoyed the introduction of Izzy
I liked Talaith a lot to begin with but found that as the story progressed she became too similar to Annwyl. Slowly growing more bloodthirsty and mean and while I liked that in Annwyl - I would've liked to see the story go somewhere different. Something with the magic elements perhaps. Instead it turned down the familiar path with Talaith being
Overall this was a good read. It was funny, fast paced and had a steamy romance and interesting characters. 4 stars.
Family Tree: Ailean and Shalin are the parents of fifteen children including including Hew, Adain, Cai, Rhys, Baudwin (named after Shalin's father), Ghleanna (#0.4: Dragon on Top), Maelona, Caerwyn, Addolgar (#0.2: A Tale of Two Dragons) and Bercelak (Chains and Flames found at the back of #1: Dragon Actually).
Bercelak falls in love with Rhiannon - a white dragon who is the daughter of Addiena. Rhiannon and Bercelek have Fearghus (#1: Dragon Actually), Morfyd, Keita (#4: Last Dragon Standing), Eibhear (#6: How to Drive a Dragon Crazy), Briec (#2: About a Dragon) and Gwenvael (#3: What a Dragon Should Know).
This series continues to amuse.