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Playing With Fire
"We are the Annunaki, but you know us as dragon."
Playing With Fire blends history with fiction, creating an epic tale through one family’s path to forgiveness and one race’s desire to choose unity over extinction.
Adopted by Dominic, the head of the North American DragonKind Council, Lea Conti is told on her eighteenth birthday that she will take his place once he resigns. Even though she's the first Dragon in a thousand years who can control her fire, she's not ready for the responsibility such a title would bring and her life spirals out of control. She goes against direct orders, lies to everyone who has ever cared about her and does the unthinkable by falling in love with a human.
To be the dragon the world needs she’ll have to get it together and figure out who the hell she is before it's too late. Stuck between two worlds, she will make her choice, but fate doesn’t always allow us to have the final say. In fact, sometimes fate doesn’t listen to what we have to say at all.
Playing With Fire blends history with fiction, creating an epic tale through one family’s path to forgiveness and one race’s desire to choose unity over extinction.
Adopted by Dominic, the head of the North American DragonKind Council, Lea Conti is told on her eighteenth birthday that she will take his place once he resigns. Even though she's the first Dragon in a thousand years who can control her fire, she's not ready for the responsibility such a title would bring and her life spirals out of control. She goes against direct orders, lies to everyone who has ever cared about her and does the unthinkable by falling in love with a human.
To be the dragon the world needs she’ll have to get it together and figure out who the hell she is before it's too late. Stuck between two worlds, she will make her choice, but fate doesn’t always allow us to have the final say. In fact, sometimes fate doesn’t listen to what we have to say at all.
- GenresFantasy
Paperback
First published December 16, 2013
295 people want to read
About the author
Christy Wulff
5 books54 followersChristy Wulff (formerly Trujillo) was born in a small town in Northeast Florida near the Saint Marys River. As an only child, her love for reading was born from necessity and blossomed into a love for the written word.
Wulff has published six novels including the multi-cultural Maldito Series and an adult romance under the pen name, Lee Ralaine. She currently resides in Jacksonville, FL with her son, very supportive husband, two black cats who seem to be very lucky and a spunky blue-eyed kitten who is truly the baby of the family.
Wulff has published six novels including the multi-cultural Maldito Series and an adult romance under the pen name, Lee Ralaine. She currently resides in Jacksonville, FL with her son, very supportive husband, two black cats who seem to be very lucky and a spunky blue-eyed kitten who is truly the baby of the family.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 15, 2014
Review Posted on Reading Lark 1/14/14: http://readinglark.blogspot.com/2014/...
I've read Trujillo's work before and enjoyed her take on vampires. I was excited to see that she was starting a new series that focused on dragon lore. I haven't read many dragon books; Sophie Jordan's dragon series has been on my TBR list for ages, but something always pushes it further down the list. I decided to give Trujillo's book a read to see if dragons caught my interest.
With all Indie authors, I always open their novels with a slight bit of trepidation. Indies have potential to be diamonds in the rough or poorly written/edited tales. Playing With Fire falls somewhere in between these two extremes. There is a vast amount of potential here, but I feel like the story hovered along the precipice of awesome, but never fully took the plunge. I do feel like Trujillo has a vast amount of creativity to offer readers. I would just like to see her writing become a bit more streamlined and refined. Each novel improves in this respect so I am excited to continue this series.
I'm one of those people who likes the good news first. So, let me explain what I enjoyed about reading this one before I share some of my complaints. I liked the dragon lore a lot. Again, I have no points of comparison, but I felt like Trujillo strived to create a world that was all her own. I also found the idea of Siamese twins in this world to be fascinating. They aren't conjoined physical, but rather mentally and emotionally. I liked how that reliance played out for the characters and served as both a gift and a hinderance. In addition to the lore aspects, I enjoyed the main character, Lea. She's a complex girl who is seeking answers about her past while kicking some major dragon tail. I liked that Lea was both strong and weak at the same time. In addition, I was a huge fan of the Savannah setting. Lastly, I love the cover. This one fits the work perfectly.
In spite of these strengths, I still feel like the writing needs some work. The text was littered with editing issues, but none of them distracted me from the reading. My biggest complaint is the narration style. I'm a proponent of the show me, don't tell me way of thinking. I want an author to create vivid images and teach me about the society in their novel through strong scenes. I don't want a character to give me an info dump. Furthermore, I hate it when characters talk directly to the reader. This is a pet peeve of mine and may not irk other readers. I feel like a lot of the potential lurking within Playing with Fire was overshadowed by Lea's constant talking.
Overall, I think this novel will appeal to paranormal readers who are looking to sink their teeth into something different. Trujillo has interesting ideas, strong characters, and a sharp wit. I'm intrigued to see how Trujillo will continue to hone her craft as she writes more in the future.
One Last Gripe: I was annoyed that the concept of dragon stones was confusing at first. Lea talked to me about everything else - why did she need to wait several chapters to explain this?
My Favorite Thing About This Book: the dragon lore
First Sentence: In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.
Favorite Character: Lea
Least Favorite Character: I didn't form an intense dislike for anyone.
I've read Trujillo's work before and enjoyed her take on vampires. I was excited to see that she was starting a new series that focused on dragon lore. I haven't read many dragon books; Sophie Jordan's dragon series has been on my TBR list for ages, but something always pushes it further down the list. I decided to give Trujillo's book a read to see if dragons caught my interest.
With all Indie authors, I always open their novels with a slight bit of trepidation. Indies have potential to be diamonds in the rough or poorly written/edited tales. Playing With Fire falls somewhere in between these two extremes. There is a vast amount of potential here, but I feel like the story hovered along the precipice of awesome, but never fully took the plunge. I do feel like Trujillo has a vast amount of creativity to offer readers. I would just like to see her writing become a bit more streamlined and refined. Each novel improves in this respect so I am excited to continue this series.
I'm one of those people who likes the good news first. So, let me explain what I enjoyed about reading this one before I share some of my complaints. I liked the dragon lore a lot. Again, I have no points of comparison, but I felt like Trujillo strived to create a world that was all her own. I also found the idea of Siamese twins in this world to be fascinating. They aren't conjoined physical, but rather mentally and emotionally. I liked how that reliance played out for the characters and served as both a gift and a hinderance. In addition to the lore aspects, I enjoyed the main character, Lea. She's a complex girl who is seeking answers about her past while kicking some major dragon tail. I liked that Lea was both strong and weak at the same time. In addition, I was a huge fan of the Savannah setting. Lastly, I love the cover. This one fits the work perfectly.
In spite of these strengths, I still feel like the writing needs some work. The text was littered with editing issues, but none of them distracted me from the reading. My biggest complaint is the narration style. I'm a proponent of the show me, don't tell me way of thinking. I want an author to create vivid images and teach me about the society in their novel through strong scenes. I don't want a character to give me an info dump. Furthermore, I hate it when characters talk directly to the reader. This is a pet peeve of mine and may not irk other readers. I feel like a lot of the potential lurking within Playing with Fire was overshadowed by Lea's constant talking.
Overall, I think this novel will appeal to paranormal readers who are looking to sink their teeth into something different. Trujillo has interesting ideas, strong characters, and a sharp wit. I'm intrigued to see how Trujillo will continue to hone her craft as she writes more in the future.
One Last Gripe: I was annoyed that the concept of dragon stones was confusing at first. Lea talked to me about everything else - why did she need to wait several chapters to explain this?
My Favorite Thing About This Book: the dragon lore
First Sentence: In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.
Favorite Character: Lea
Least Favorite Character: I didn't form an intense dislike for anyone.
March 17, 2013
First book in print. Yay. =)
February 12, 2014
Disclaimer: I received this book from author, through the Making Connections group, in exchange for an honest review.
Playing With Fire is a book that has potential. Unfortunately, I think there is still quite a bit of polishing that needs to be done before it can live up to it. While the plot and world of this book were interesting, I think there were a lot of things getting in the way of me really enjoying this novel.
To be honest, this book just needs content editing. Almost all of the problems I encountered could have been fixed if a second pair of eyes stopped and questioned what was happening. There were confusing scene changes, unclear actions, too much description of unimportant things and not enough description of the things that mattered. There were moments of creativity (I really enjoyed the section with e-mails), but you almost get lost under everything else.
The characters are sort of hit and miss for me. I think Lea, Tig and Tinsley develop and grow on you, but I wasn't sure I liked Philip; he seems really flat and Lea's confusion about him just made his actions even more unclear. The conversations and relationships at the restaurant Lea worked at felt really empty and unrealistic to me, and there were times where character just appeared I felt like I was supposed to know them, but had no idea where they were mentioned. Brandon almost felt more real than Philip which seemed odd to me. I liked Dom, though, and Lea's relationship with him was nice as it developed.
The dialog is another problem area. Sometimes conversations just feel too young for the age the characters are. When Tinsley and Lea talk there are times it doesn't feel necessary for me to hear it. (If we just saw something happen, we don't need the dialog describing it). The narration gets overdone as well, so it feels like there are neon signs everywhere yelling "bad things about to happen", "this is important", "I'm about to do something stupid.". Then Lea talks directly to the audience sometimes, and it just feels weird and out of place. Some people might not mind that, but I found it distracting.
The plot, as I mentioned, was interesting, and that is really the thing that kept me reading. I liked this new take on dragon, and the new lore that was developed was creative. There is enough of a mystery the reader can guess what will happen in the next book, and the story is paced decently so you don't loose anyone along the way. The plot is the gem in the rough here. While I am critical about some of the writing elements, the story itself was really nice. I would read the sequel just to see what happened. Overall this book is really promising, but it did feel like a project that jumped out of the gate a little too soon.
Playing With Fire is a book that has potential. Unfortunately, I think there is still quite a bit of polishing that needs to be done before it can live up to it. While the plot and world of this book were interesting, I think there were a lot of things getting in the way of me really enjoying this novel.
To be honest, this book just needs content editing. Almost all of the problems I encountered could have been fixed if a second pair of eyes stopped and questioned what was happening. There were confusing scene changes, unclear actions, too much description of unimportant things and not enough description of the things that mattered. There were moments of creativity (I really enjoyed the section with e-mails), but you almost get lost under everything else.
The characters are sort of hit and miss for me. I think Lea, Tig and Tinsley develop and grow on you, but I wasn't sure I liked Philip; he seems really flat and Lea's confusion about him just made his actions even more unclear. The conversations and relationships at the restaurant Lea worked at felt really empty and unrealistic to me, and there were times where character just appeared I felt like I was supposed to know them, but had no idea where they were mentioned. Brandon almost felt more real than Philip which seemed odd to me. I liked Dom, though, and Lea's relationship with him was nice as it developed.
The dialog is another problem area. Sometimes conversations just feel too young for the age the characters are. When Tinsley and Lea talk there are times it doesn't feel necessary for me to hear it. (If we just saw something happen, we don't need the dialog describing it). The narration gets overdone as well, so it feels like there are neon signs everywhere yelling "bad things about to happen", "this is important", "I'm about to do something stupid.". Then Lea talks directly to the audience sometimes, and it just feels weird and out of place. Some people might not mind that, but I found it distracting.
The plot, as I mentioned, was interesting, and that is really the thing that kept me reading. I liked this new take on dragon, and the new lore that was developed was creative. There is enough of a mystery the reader can guess what will happen in the next book, and the story is paced decently so you don't loose anyone along the way. The plot is the gem in the rough here. While I am critical about some of the writing elements, the story itself was really nice. I would read the sequel just to see what happened. Overall this book is really promising, but it did feel like a project that jumped out of the gate a little too soon.
February 7, 2014
In this New Adult paranormal tale, we are introduced to a race of creatures called Annunaki. Trujillo creates an intricate storyline and history, as well as a fast-paced adventure that draws you in and makes you believe in this magical race of beings, who may look human but are actually dragons.
Lea is nineteen, full of teen angst and some sort of burden that weighs heavily on her mind.The story is told in first person POV that breaks the fourth wall with the narrator making asides about her commentary in the way Sookie Stackhouse talks to the reader in the Charlaine Harris’s southern vampire series. I personally enjoyed every bit of her snarky voice. The story circles around, giving us bits and pieces of both Annunaki lore and Lea's history as the novel unfolds not in a logical progression but in fits and starts which is frustrating at times but also adds to the mystery.
This was my first human/Dragon story, and I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I was disappointed in the editing, as there were more than a handful of instances of wrong words (i.e. diapered instead of disappeared), the kind of errors that spellcheck just can't root out. Barreling toward the end, I realized the author didn’t have nearly enough pages to wrap up all the threads… and now I have to wait to find out what happens to our band of heroes. I hate waiting. But I enjoyed my introduction to this world of dragons and look forward to reading more.
Lea is nineteen, full of teen angst and some sort of burden that weighs heavily on her mind.The story is told in first person POV that breaks the fourth wall with the narrator making asides about her commentary in the way Sookie Stackhouse talks to the reader in the Charlaine Harris’s southern vampire series. I personally enjoyed every bit of her snarky voice. The story circles around, giving us bits and pieces of both Annunaki lore and Lea's history as the novel unfolds not in a logical progression but in fits and starts which is frustrating at times but also adds to the mystery.
This was my first human/Dragon story, and I really enjoyed it quite a bit. I was disappointed in the editing, as there were more than a handful of instances of wrong words (i.e. diapered instead of disappeared), the kind of errors that spellcheck just can't root out. Barreling toward the end, I realized the author didn’t have nearly enough pages to wrap up all the threads… and now I have to wait to find out what happens to our band of heroes. I hate waiting. But I enjoyed my introduction to this world of dragons and look forward to reading more.
February 2, 2014
There are dragons among us and after you read this book, you'll believe it also. Lea is a very special dragon with unique skills. She rebels against the strictures placed upon her but mostly because she senses not everyone is being honest with her. She has the coolest, funniest, most loyal duo of friends a girl could have. The book moves quickly with action and suspense driving every chapter until an ending that left me biting my nails. The cliffhanger ending left one character in grave danger. Can't wait for the next one.
January 25, 2014
I was given a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. I don't think I've ever read a better Dragon book, it was simply awesome. Story line was great and I totally love Lea. The twists and turns were awesome. I cannot wait to read what happens next.
August 13, 2017
re-read
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews