Sky Purington

Terribly boring.

I skimmed. I saw. I conquered. And I was left with nothing but a forgettable read.

Isabella was annoying and Malcolm fell head over heels too quick and fast for my tastes. I expected a slow steady built-up to their fake marriage arrangement that eventually led to love but obviously that didn’t happen. It became more apparent as the story progressed that I had no connection with the characters, relationship nor storyline and can safely conclude that this is more so a it’s not you, it’s me type of read. I am a little surprised I even finished it truthfully and is highly doubtful that I will read from this author again.

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Unfortunately, I had a really hard time following this book.

Since this was labelled as the first book in its series, I naturally thought it would be a good place to start. After reading some of the other reviews, it seems like this is actually a spin-off of one (or more?) series that feature Emily, Sven, and the time-travelling Norse world they're in. If you're interested in this book, definitely try one of the other series first because otherwise, you'll be pretty lost.

The elements of the lore were really interesting to me, like how Emily and Sven can travel through time. Emily is from the 21st century but travels back to the 10th century. There was something about her reincarnated family that I didn't quite understand and that was pretty important to the book (at least, I think?).

Maybe I just didn't read carefully enough, or I missed some important context clues, but I felt like I was thrown into a new world without much in the way of an orientation. There's just so much lore and world-building, it's difficult for a new reader to this world to be able to follow along.

Also, this book is listed on Amazon as a dragon shifter romance, but I personally felt that it was more of a dragon shifter fantasy with a side of romance, since the romantic bit feels secondary to the plot about the prophecy. The romance may be an HEA, but the fantasy plot is left a bit open-ended and will likely continue in future books.

The heat level of the book was noted as "flaming hot" on Amazon, but I think that's a bit of an overstatement. There are multiple steamy scenes but it isn't particularly spicy or detailed - just "hot" on the steam level is probably a better indicator.

Fans of the series that this one spins off from will probably enjoy this more than me. I just don't think it's set up well for newer readers.

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