Romance is in the air and so is dragon fire. Enchanting the Dragon Lord is the third book in the Kingdoms of Lore series and it was freaking fantastic. The story follows the feisty Wylfen princess Brielle who we first met when she was traveling upon the high seas in Enchanting the Fae Prince and Filip's brother, prince Dorin of Balaur. This is an enemies-to-lovers (although he thinks she's the enemy when all she wants is to be his lover) romance as the pair find each other and follow their hearts to find their love.
I love Brielle, she is fantastic and is now added to the long list of the characters that I love in this series. Brielle is a princess who doesn't want to be a princess, she would rather wear a shirt, boots, and pants and explore the mountains for magical artifacts that do her princess duties which is understandable because her father is a magic-hating cruel man who uses his power as king to destroy those he can't understand. However, Brielle is kind, caring, opened-minded, very curious, and has an open heart, how she had a father like King Raoul is beyond me. Brielle loves magical history and is openly curious about it and while her father is determined to break her spirit and get her to do his bidding Brielle is strong and fights back every step of the way. So it's no wonder when she meets an elf-dragon (brand new thing) she lets her spirit guide her into an epic adventure.
We've gotten glimpses of Dorin in the previous books but I had no idea what the elf lord was like until now. Dorin is stubborn, a little gruff, and very serious, isn't open like Filip, and has trouble connecting to people. Admittedly it's not really the best time for him since out of nowhere he became a dragon and is losing himself, he thinks he's cured and is very distressed about the whole situation. I can't really blame him for that but he is sort of a grumpy jerk for most of the story. Brielle helps him out several times, she is kind to him, bright and happy, she tries to help him see that his dragon is a blessing and not a curse but he is just too stuck in the negative to see it. He feels so much responsibility being the heir to his kingdom and he's scared that his people won't accept him and that he's gonna hurt people. Wylfenden has been attacking the magic-folk from all over, they are the aggressors and the one thing he thinks he can do for his people, to secure peace is to take the Wylfen princess a prisoner. Things don't really work out how he plans, Brielle gets under his skin and helps him in ways he never expected. While Brielle never held on to the prejudices of her people Dorin did and I'm glad Brille was able to open his mind and his heart. They had a beautiful HEA or maybe in this series, I should say HFN because I'm sure this isn't the last time we see them.
Each of the books in this series is supposed to have fairytale/story influences kinda like a retelling and for the first two books it was obvious but for Enchanting the Dragon Lord I can't figure it out. For the life of me, I am trying to think of a fairytale with a cursed prince, a rebellious princess and for the life of me, I can't remember one. I could cheat and look in the notes from the previous book but I won't, either way, this story had a fairytale quality. Action and adventure, lovers from two different sides (wait a minute is it kinda an enemies-to-lovers Romeo and Juliet, maybe), magic, dragons, and war. It was an epic tale that was very entertaining and my favorite part, not only are introduced to a new and interesting character (I wonder who the next main female character will be, wink, wink) but the appearances. The gang is back together, all the couples from the previous books are a part of this story as well as my favorite group of fae and elves. Truly I love seeing them again, that they have a part in each other story so that I'm not really saying goodbye to them just yet.
Enchanting the Dragon Lord was awesome, I loved meeting Brielle and Dorin, their story was great and I loved every single minute of it. The story had a few surprises that I didn't see coming and it was great. I'm looking forward to getting to know the next leading character a little better and while I've never read Pride and Prejudices, I certainly know the myth of Hades and Persephone, it's actually one of my favorites so I'm really excited to read the next retelling.