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Hidden Mate of the Drakemount Dragons: A Dragon Shifter Reverse Harem Academy Romance
Three alpha dragons. One fated bond. And a secret that could get all four of them killed.
Nobody at Drakemount Academy notices Syrana Ashwell — the scholarship girl who shelves books after midnight and keeps her head down. Good. Because the night she first shifted, her scales came in violet, and she's hidden it ever since.
Only one kind of dragon burns violet. The Duskkin. A bloodline the world says is extinct, and the Council kills on sight.
Then a scroll names her for what she is — and three of the academy's most dangerous alphas catch her scent. The healer who shouldn't want her. The cold heir who can't stop watching her. The warrior who's already decided she's his. The pull is mutual, undeniable, and it wants all three of them sinking their Mark into her skin.
A fated mating bond to three dragons is the only thing strong enough to protect a Duskkin. It's also impossible to hide. Every time they touch her, every time the bond flares hotter, she's one breath from being discovered — and the commander who just stalked through the gates already knows exactly what she is.
She can stay invisible and stay untouched. Or she can let three dragons claim her, mark her, and burn — and gamble that the bond saves her before the Council does.
There is no third door.
A why-choose dragon-shifter academy romance — fated mates, three possessive alphas, a hidden heroine, and a bond that runs scorching hot. Book one of the Drakemount Dragons saga.
Perfect for fans of Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti's Zodiac Academy and the dragon-rider heat of Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing.
Book one of The Drakemount Academy Series.
Nobody at Drakemount Academy notices Syrana Ashwell — the scholarship girl who shelves books after midnight and keeps her head down. Good. Because the night she first shifted, her scales came in violet, and she's hidden it ever since.
Only one kind of dragon burns violet. The Duskkin. A bloodline the world says is extinct, and the Council kills on sight.
Then a scroll names her for what she is — and three of the academy's most dangerous alphas catch her scent. The healer who shouldn't want her. The cold heir who can't stop watching her. The warrior who's already decided she's his. The pull is mutual, undeniable, and it wants all three of them sinking their Mark into her skin.
A fated mating bond to three dragons is the only thing strong enough to protect a Duskkin. It's also impossible to hide. Every time they touch her, every time the bond flares hotter, she's one breath from being discovered — and the commander who just stalked through the gates already knows exactly what she is.
She can stay invisible and stay untouched. Or she can let three dragons claim her, mark her, and burn — and gamble that the bond saves her before the Council does.
There is no third door.
A why-choose dragon-shifter academy romance — fated mates, three possessive alphas, a hidden heroine, and a bond that runs scorching hot. Book one of the Drakemount Dragons saga.
Perfect for fans of Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti's Zodiac Academy and the dragon-rider heat of Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing.
Book one of The Drakemount Academy Series.
230 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 30, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
July 28, 2026
Missing pieces
This book made me question it's description as the first book in a series. It was missing so much world building and character development that I was sure it had to be a third book- or part of a spinoff. Turns out, the book is just missing pieces. Things like the difference between First and Third Spire, which, until near the end when the FMC mentions time spent training, could've been social class or proficiency or tournament ranking- how were readers supposed to know? Things like the FMC referring to her dragon as "She" without indicating how anyone else referred to theirs-did everyone else have no split between human and dragon, were everyone else's dragons so separate that they have their own names, was she the only one with a split personality/soul/consciousness while everyone else was a single mind/self who could shift forms? Things like how the governance works, at all, or how many countries there are or language or anything! Things like bonds and mating and relationships in their culture never being explained. Things like the society's structure (beyond the fact that there's a council) being completely missing. I wasn't a huge fan of the oblique references to things in order to heighten the mystery, that were later revealed-but that's simply a style choice that I don't care for rather than a flaw.
All in all, it was a frustrating read since I like academy books, I like RH books, I like dragon books and I really wanted to like this book-but I didn't, sadly. Maybe after an editor spends some quality time with this book and a red pen (followed be a decent rewrite) I'd like it, but for now, I can't recommend it to anyone.
This book made me question it's description as the first book in a series. It was missing so much world building and character development that I was sure it had to be a third book- or part of a spinoff. Turns out, the book is just missing pieces. Things like the difference between First and Third Spire, which, until near the end when the FMC mentions time spent training, could've been social class or proficiency or tournament ranking- how were readers supposed to know? Things like the FMC referring to her dragon as "She" without indicating how anyone else referred to theirs-did everyone else have no split between human and dragon, were everyone else's dragons so separate that they have their own names, was she the only one with a split personality/soul/consciousness while everyone else was a single mind/self who could shift forms? Things like how the governance works, at all, or how many countries there are or language or anything! Things like bonds and mating and relationships in their culture never being explained. Things like the society's structure (beyond the fact that there's a council) being completely missing. I wasn't a huge fan of the oblique references to things in order to heighten the mystery, that were later revealed-but that's simply a style choice that I don't care for rather than a flaw.
All in all, it was a frustrating read since I like academy books, I like RH books, I like dragon books and I really wanted to like this book-but I didn't, sadly. Maybe after an editor spends some quality time with this book and a red pen (followed be a decent rewrite) I'd like it, but for now, I can't recommend it to anyone.
September 2, 2026
AI was used for this one
The story has no heart, the characters are well ... there, through one of those church windows....
The plot seemed to die a silent death about half way. See I remember reading a similar story about the "Ash realm" a few years ago. The tunnels the hiding... At least that plot went somewhere. This was a whole massive build-up to???? What we already knew, so yeah...
I can't recommend this one.
The story has no heart, the characters are well ... there, through one of those church windows....
The plot seemed to die a silent death about half way. See I remember reading a similar story about the "Ash realm" a few years ago. The tunnels the hiding... At least that plot went somewhere. This was a whole massive build-up to???? What we already knew, so yeah...
I can't recommend this one.
August 9, 2026
I suspect AI
I listen to enough of those AI Reddit shorts on YouTube to have clocked the writing style immediately. And, having skimmed the other reviews, I think others are sensing that. AI doesn’t know how to write human emotion and this book certainly lacks emotional depth and suspension.
I listen to enough of those AI Reddit shorts on YouTube to have clocked the writing style immediately. And, having skimmed the other reviews, I think others are sensing that. AI doesn’t know how to write human emotion and this book certainly lacks emotional depth and suspension.
June 20, 2026
Just...
.....awful !!!
The writing is terrible. The storyline is non-existent. No backstory whatsoever ! Nothing explained. This needs beta readers and a editor so bad it's not fun.
Avoid this book and author !!!!!
jrwii
.....awful !!!
The writing is terrible. The storyline is non-existent. No backstory whatsoever ! Nothing explained. This needs beta readers and a editor so bad it's not fun.
Avoid this book and author !!!!!
jrwii
September 1, 2026
37% of the way through and nothing has happened
Reads as if AI written
DNF
Reads as if AI written
DNF
July 14, 2026
I have nothing nice to say.
Did Not Finish
July 16, 2026Just not in the right headspace, will try again much later
September 19, 2026
DNF at 59%
I don't understand this book. It's like there's a huge chunk of it missing. Nothing makes sense.
At page 117 : "Instructor Callav, a square-jawed Tidekin woman with cropped blue-black hair..."
But at page 127 : " Callav is telling Vaela what he saw."
And that's just one little thing. There's no context, no explanation, time passes with no saying of it.
Can't believe I made it this far.
I don't understand this book. It's like there's a huge chunk of it missing. Nothing makes sense.
At page 117 : "Instructor Callav, a square-jawed Tidekin woman with cropped blue-black hair..."
But at page 127 : " Callav is telling Vaela what he saw."
And that's just one little thing. There's no context, no explanation, time passes with no saying of it.
Can't believe I made it this far.
June 12, 2026
Drakemount Academy, book one
Just because I wasn't in the mood for this doesn't make it a bad book. It's beautifully written and correctly edited. It doesn't fit the normal reverse harem pnr genre simply due to its quality. The writing is gothic, almost archaic in style. The drama is painfully drawn out. Many pretty words are used to tell simple things. So, kudos to the author for the product. I prefer my entertainment to be faster paced and easier to read which says more about me than the book.
Just because I wasn't in the mood for this doesn't make it a bad book. It's beautifully written and correctly edited. It doesn't fit the normal reverse harem pnr genre simply due to its quality. The writing is gothic, almost archaic in style. The drama is painfully drawn out. Many pretty words are used to tell simple things. So, kudos to the author for the product. I prefer my entertainment to be faster paced and easier to read which says more about me than the book.
August 14, 2026
Definitely strong AI on this. Boring overly detailed scene descriptions and metaphor use. And why does it like the words “specific way” and “precise” so much? No emotion or interaction was written with any depth.
August 26, 2026
DNF @35% This is terrible. How does an author say so much and yet nothing at all is happening? Nobody has a personality. NOBODY!
Everyone is a weird robot who does nothing and says nothing.
It’s like Film Noir put into a RH fantasy book.
Weird fucking book.
Everyone is a weird robot who does nothing and says nothing.
It’s like Film Noir put into a RH fantasy book.
Weird fucking book.
Did Not Finish
July 22, 2026Reads like AI helped.
October 14, 2026
there’s so much potential, it just didn’t translate well
For some reason, the scope of the entire book seemed so much more interesting than what is actually written. There is so much that is unexplained. There are so many scenes that are missing. There are so many connecting links that are missing we’re never given a proper connecting chapter and granted a lot of writers do that but very significant milestones were just taken out. FMC seems like a spectator in our own life like she does nothing she just exist. She has no feelings of her own. She’s just narrating the obvious of a meat bond, but never actually putting her opinion or point of you the only time I think she said something was in that one chapter where she said I want all of us together and that is about it which makes sense and so obvious because that is where the crux of the book lies but still I felt like she was watching a reading the same book. I am reading with no significance of the fact that she’s the one who’s bonded to three dragons and also there is no significance to what these three different types of dragons from three different walks of life like what it means we only got a bear touch of a personality for Lennox’s father, but all the characters seem very flat and one toned, which was not what I was expecting cause this has so much potential. I just feel it wasn’t explored very try well in terms of writing
For some reason, the scope of the entire book seemed so much more interesting than what is actually written. There is so much that is unexplained. There are so many scenes that are missing. There are so many connecting links that are missing we’re never given a proper connecting chapter and granted a lot of writers do that but very significant milestones were just taken out. FMC seems like a spectator in our own life like she does nothing she just exist. She has no feelings of her own. She’s just narrating the obvious of a meat bond, but never actually putting her opinion or point of you the only time I think she said something was in that one chapter where she said I want all of us together and that is about it which makes sense and so obvious because that is where the crux of the book lies but still I felt like she was watching a reading the same book. I am reading with no significance of the fact that she’s the one who’s bonded to three dragons and also there is no significance to what these three different types of dragons from three different walks of life like what it means we only got a bear touch of a personality for Lennox’s father, but all the characters seem very flat and one toned, which was not what I was expecting cause this has so much potential. I just feel it wasn’t explored very try well in terms of writing
August 28, 2026
The premise is good, but the writing seems incomplete. Often I felt unsure of the situation or emotions of the characters as the writing seemed extremely surface level. One moment two near strangers are arguing, the next they are kissing. It was confusing.
Weirdly enough, it was more confusing because the wording and style used were more sophisticated. Very little slang or internal monologues that were relatable, making the book almost clinical. It was hard to picture the character and story because of this.
Relationships felt severely underdeveloped, and the bond is barely built upon. It felt very fast and unexplained. Their entire situation feels obscured, like you don’t know what’s happening because the way it’s written uses poetic language without painting the actual picture.
I don’t know if this makes sense, but I’m so bothered by the style of this book that it’s put me off reading further for now.
Weirdly enough, it was more confusing because the wording and style used were more sophisticated. Very little slang or internal monologues that were relatable, making the book almost clinical. It was hard to picture the character and story because of this.
Relationships felt severely underdeveloped, and the bond is barely built upon. It felt very fast and unexplained. Their entire situation feels obscured, like you don’t know what’s happening because the way it’s written uses poetic language without painting the actual picture.
I don’t know if this makes sense, but I’m so bothered by the style of this book that it’s put me off reading further for now.
August 7, 2026
awful
The writing is awful. The author uses the same sentence pattern over and over trying to write pretty prose, but it comes off self indulgent. I looked up how many times they say a statement then “the way” x, y, z happens. It happens over 136. Times in a 230 page book. Im halfway through and its just bloat writing.
The characters are flat and boring. They are trying to force tension and mystery, but it isn’t working well at all.
That all said. The author came up with a cool book idea they just really need to rethink how they wrote it. It’s an annoying read and the book falls flat.
The writing is awful. The author uses the same sentence pattern over and over trying to write pretty prose, but it comes off self indulgent. I looked up how many times they say a statement then “the way” x, y, z happens. It happens over 136. Times in a 230 page book. Im halfway through and its just bloat writing.
The characters are flat and boring. They are trying to force tension and mystery, but it isn’t working well at all.
That all said. The author came up with a cool book idea they just really need to rethink how they wrote it. It’s an annoying read and the book falls flat.
August 23, 2026
Meh
It had promise! Once I realized how fast this book was going through the situations she faced, I decided to look at the next book in the series, and realized it’s a standalone. My interest immediately dropped. I thought this book would have made a great series if things were sorta spaced out with the appropriate bonding through challenges. I honestly felt the end really didn’t have much an effect like a climax should, which is why I rated it 3 stars. It will probably continue in a small version in the next instalment of the series with a new fmc but I would have rather read it from this fmc point of view.
It had promise! Once I realized how fast this book was going through the situations she faced, I decided to look at the next book in the series, and realized it’s a standalone. My interest immediately dropped. I thought this book would have made a great series if things were sorta spaced out with the appropriate bonding through challenges. I honestly felt the end really didn’t have much an effect like a climax should, which is why I rated it 3 stars. It will probably continue in a small version in the next instalment of the series with a new fmc but I would have rather read it from this fmc point of view.
September 11, 2026
I forgot to write this book review, so now it’s like a week after I finished and now I can barely remember it. That’s not to say it’s a bad book, just not a standout in this genre.
The main character has no defining characteristics. She’s just fine. There’s a few good moments of development between her and the male love interests, but there’s pretty much no side characters or important plot points. Nothing is explored past a surface level of good and bad.
We get the occasional lore dump and romance, but that’s about all this book has to offer.
Not bad, but not a series I will return to.
The main character has no defining characteristics. She’s just fine. There’s a few good moments of development between her and the male love interests, but there’s pretty much no side characters or important plot points. Nothing is explored past a surface level of good and bad.
We get the occasional lore dump and romance, but that’s about all this book has to offer.
Not bad, but not a series I will return to.
September 23, 2026
My goodness, AI at it’s finest (not). I was suspicious as soon as I started reading. Whats with this language? I asked myself, seems like someone mashing up all kinds of styles. The further I went, the more my suspicious mind went into overdrive. The characters are flat, one note wonders. The dialogue is so stilted, the reading starts going that way as well. The story itself is good, but the execution is poor, as expected when written by AI. The other ‘tell’ is the authors name. Can we get any phonier than Nyx Rae? Also, there is no author into, just a statement: ‘author of 8 books.’ Yeah, no, not continuing with this series or ‘author’.
July 22, 2026
Book 1 (of 3 interconnected standalones). DNF at 65%. This confused the heck out of me. I liked the premise but it felt like huge chunks of the story were missing. Like the author had written a 500 page book then culled half of it randomly. The FMC is the central character but we're told next to nothing about her. This had potential (I did stick with it for a long while, after all) but it's disappointingly fallen short.
August 16, 2026
Surprisingly good
This one peeled itself own layer by layer and was surprisingly yummy underneath it all. There are still many things to unravel within this tale... why the council tried to eradicate the 7th type of dragon being primary... what was it about violet scales that caused such fear and loathing that they tried not only to eradicate but to bury an indication that it had ever existed...
This one peeled itself own layer by layer and was surprisingly yummy underneath it all. There are still many things to unravel within this tale... why the council tried to eradicate the 7th type of dragon being primary... what was it about violet scales that caused such fear and loathing that they tried not only to eradicate but to bury an indication that it had ever existed...
September 9, 2026
everything , EVERYTHING was described way to much
The story line was good. Liked the characters. But what is up with describing every little thing. I guess I’m just not a fan of the writing style. Nothing against the author or the book. But I didn’t care for everything to be described so poetically and frequently. EVERYTHING
The story line was good. Liked the characters. But what is up with describing every little thing. I guess I’m just not a fan of the writing style. Nothing against the author or the book. But I didn’t care for everything to be described so poetically and frequently. EVERYTHING
August 6, 2026
Wayyyyyy too many metaphors that were unnecessary. Felt like someone trying to turn the book into prose more than carrying a storyline. Too many plot holes and half the time had no idea what was going on. No thanks. I’m done. DNF’d at 33%
Did Not Finish
August 12, 2026Read a quarter of this book before DNFing.
Don’t get me wrong, this book is beautifully lyrical in its writing with enough mystery to keep a reader engaged. Personally, the pace is too slow for me but the FMC is interesting.
Don’t get me wrong, this book is beautifully lyrical in its writing with enough mystery to keep a reader engaged. Personally, the pace is too slow for me but the FMC is interesting.
September 28, 2026
Slow, so very slow. And the characters have no emotional depth to them. I don't understand why they were sent to a tower in a blizzard and did nothing for a few days. Everything felt strained and unspoken.
August 16, 2026
Made it 26% in hoping it would get better and it just never did
Did Not Finish
August 16, 2026Limp and underdeveloped
August 21, 2026
There is no world and no character depth. There isn’t anything to even build on.
September 18, 2026
DNR - no character development
September 21, 2026
Totally AI nonsense.
Did Not Finish
October 24, 2026Found that the story made little to no sense. Whole sentences were descriptive, they were descriptive with no purpose or substance… likely ai? 🤷♀️ literally put me to sleep. DNF
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews