Author: Susannah Scott
Publisher: Entangled Covet
Publication Date: June 24, 2013
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
From Goodreads:
Luciana de Luca has a PhD in sass and gemology—and a problem. Her twin brother’s gambling debts have gotten out of hand, and a mob enforcer is blackmailing her to rob the latest, greatest mega-casino on the Strip. Although Lucy has worked her whole life to get away from her family’s grifter past, to save her brother, she dons three-inch heels and a sluts-r-us dress and struts into Alec’s Gerald’s casino, determined to put her long-forgotten thieving ways to the test again.
Alec Gerald, a shape-shifting dragon, has built the Crown Jewel casino to provide sanctuary for his people amongst the flash and awe of Las Vegas. Unfortunately, the sexy little thief trying to steal his largest diamond exhibit turns out to be his mate, and he must woo her before he loses his dragon form forever. But before he can handcuff her to his bed and explain the details of a mating ceremony, an enemy attacks and threatens to destroy his casino, his people, and his newfound mate.
My Thoughts:
Let me start out by saying that this is the first book I think I've ever read with a dragon shifter. And after reading this, I want to read more of them. So after the last shifter book I read and reviewed (Lions, Tigers and Sexy Bears Oh My!) I not only want more bear shifters to read about, but more dragon ones too. *shakes head* I know, I have issues.
Moving on.
The world that the author built here and presents to the reader is intriguing. It revolves around the lore of the dragons and how they came to be, in this book, living in Las Vegas. The backstory and information we're given is well put together and interesting. I wasn't jarred out of the story by info dumps either. It was just enough to give the reader the information that was needed to understand the plot while also leaving me with a feeling that I want to know more, learn more, about this world. (So yeah, you can guess I am hoping for more in this series, maybe about the rest of the dragons we were introduced to, because there was some awesome story potential there!)
The characters themselves, well, let's talk about them. Alec was awesome. He was the leader of the dragons and knows, shortly after meeting Lucy, that she is his mate. Alec wants her and he wants her to come to grips with the fact that he is a dragon.
Well, easier said than done. I mean, come on. What modern girl is just going to be all "oh yeah, you're a dragon? That's cool. Let's mate and have dragon shifter babies or whatever they would be called." Of course she needs time. That's understandable and so I totally agree with her hesitation, to a point.
What wasn't understandable for me was Lucy's continued actions after she finds out about Alec and the depth of his feelings for her. In her blind need to protect her idiot brother (and yes, I said idiot. I'm not being harsh enough in fact because he was that much of an arse) she betrayed Alec. Even if she couldn't be okay with the dragon thing, which give a girl a break not many would be able to handle that, she still should not have done what she did.
And what ticked me off the most was that Alec forgave her. Well wait, that's not accurate. I'm fine that he forgave her because I wanted them to have an HEA. But it was the way it came out, the execution of it, that bothered me. One minute Alec was royally pissed off, and the next he seemed fine and able to trust her again. It all happened so quickly it left me kind of shocked. I had to actually go back and re-read that part to see if there were pages missing. I mean, really?! Lucy did that and he, in a matter of hours, is all, "oh that's okay honey, I trust you with my secret dragon secrets and we can be mates now. You're totally trustworthy." Um, hello?! Excuse me?! Are you serious? Do you, Alec, not remember what she did?!
I mean, seriously. After reading all that and closing in on the resolution, Alec's sudden turn around just did not seem to jive with who Alec had been made out to be throughout the story. I wanted to see Lucy work for his trust, do something to earn it and redeem herself for what she did. I also wanted to see her finally tell her brother (the stupid, jerk who got her into the mess to begin with) to take a hike but instead she was all cool with what had happened. Or seemed to be. This was another moment where my eyes almost bugged out of my head. The whole resolution just made the story fall a bit flat, sadly. And this sucked, cause I was liking it, a lot, up to that point.
Honestly, I think this book would have benefited from being longer in order to accomplish a resolution that worked better and fit with the character development. Yet, and even in spite of my issues with the book, I didn't dislike it. As I said, I like it, it just left me a bit unsatisfied in the end. And it won't stop me from hoping for more books about the dragons or reading future books by this author.
Here are the purchase and info links for the book: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Goodreads
What about you? Have you read any dragon shifter books I should add to my TBR? Did you read Luck of the Dragon? What did you think? Sound off in the comments below!
Good review! Too-easy resolutions really irritate me. Not that I want to wallow in chapter after chapter of conflict and/or recriminations, but I'd like to see a little more realism sometimes. I'm all in favor of forgiveness, but if someone's been badly hurt, that forgiveness doesn't always come quickly or easily, even if the person wants it to. They have to acknowledge and deal with the hurt, too.
ReplyDeleteExactly! I think sometimes author's rush the endings (I know as a writer, I've been guilty of this too!) but really the resolution is often the best part (especially in a romance!). Here the heroine should have really groveled/sacrificed more after what she did.
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