Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Dragons of the Bayou #1

Fire Breathing Beast

Rate this book
Sky Broussard has spent the last nine years of her life fighting for custody and raising her nephews. Between trying to make ends meet as a waitress at the Bon Temps Café, and keeping an eye on two troublesome teens, she’s had zero time for indulgences like romance.

No worries, she hasn’t been interested in the opposite sex for a long time. Not until she meets the snarling, growling, hotter-that-an-inferno hunk who caught her nephews trespassing on his swampland deep in the Louisiana bayou.

Too bad he’s off his rocker. Seriously. He thinks he’s a dragon, calls her his mate, follows her home, and refuses to leave her side. She really should put a stop to the insanity. She really should. Except, her libido is running on overdrive and, who knows, he might be her chance to finally lose her V-card.

This is the first book of Candace Ayers' latest series, Dragons of the Bayou. This book introduces the series, the setting, and a few of the characters thereby priming the stage for subsequent shifter romances set in the swamplands of the deep south.

This is a hot and spicy, super steamy paranormal dragon shifter fantasy romance with an HEA and no cliffhangers. Fans of Zoe Chant, Terry Bolryder, Harmony Raines and Ruby Dixon may like this dragon shapeshifter series.

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 11, 2018

3896 people are currently reading
927 people want to read

About the author

Candace Ayers

286 books534 followers

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
1,423 (35%)
4 stars
1,193 (29%)
3 stars
1,003 (25%)
2 stars
291 (7%)
1 star
98 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 299 reviews
Profile Image for Angie.
1,395 reviews234 followers
October 24, 2020
"What do you know about heaven, dragon?"
"I know it intimately, mate. The taste, the feel, the sensation of you squeezing me as you come.... You are my heaven."

4.5 stars!

I've been in this weird pseudo-slump lately after my push through all of my ARCs this month, so I've retreated into my comfort genre of shifter romance novellas. I know that I can trust C. Ayers to deliver a sexy but worthy story every time, so I started her next series DRAGONS OF THE BAYOU. This story was so freaking sexy and steamy, complete with a j/p alpha dragon shifter who finds his mate in a human female. Sky is struggling to stay afloat in her daily life with her waitressing job and caring for her nephews when she meets Beast. Despite the strong pull she feels for Beast (yes, that's his name), she is determined to maintain her hold on a "normal" life, while Beast is determined to keep his mate forever. If you're looking for a short and sexy novella, I highly recommend anything C. Ayers has written ♡
Profile Image for AWB.
843 reviews12 followers
November 1, 2018
I hate when books specify that the h has to be a virgin for the H... especially when we get to read about his previous sex with the submissive castle whores of his past. Super fun times.

Other than that super irksome quality- which really only took up a VERY SMALL portion of this book- but still irritated the shit out of me- this story was okay.

I liked the side drama with the nephews (even though the younger one needed his ass whooped).

I liked the verse.

I even liked the side characters we were introduced to.

I didn’t much like the H. He was pretty much an asshole. Gruff, demanding to the point of being demeaning, and kinda worthless. I mean, what was his purpose? He lived in the swamp. Angrily. And that’s it. No bad guys to fight, no dramatic ah-ha winning moment. Just a grumpy dragon sitting on his riches, being all judgey. Boring.

The h was okay. She stood her ground when necessary. But very much thought with her vagina. Who needs to deal with your problems when ya can push them until later and get some dick now, right? Meh.

I kinda want to read the next book, and see if it’s just the characters that annoyed me with this one- and maybe the next will be better? I dunno. I’m gonna read some reviews first I guess.
Profile Image for Romanticamente Fantasy.
7,976 reviews235 followers
May 24, 2019
Elena81 - per RFS
.
Come vi sentireste ad essere reclamate dal fuori di testa del villaggio? Da un uomo che si definisce un drago e che vive in un castello circondato dalle paludi?

Questo è quello che succede a Sky Broussard, una giovane e bella ventinovenne che passa le sue giornate divisa tra il suo lavoro come cameriera e a crescere i suoi nipoti adolescenti Nick e Casey, specializzati nel cacciarsi nei guai e far preoccupare la zia.

Una sera Sky riceve una telefonata dai ragazzi, che le chiedono di andare a prenderli nel castello oltre la palude. Il proprietario li ha beccati nella sua proprietà ed è molto contrariato.

Nel momento in cui raggiunge il punto indicato dai nipoti, Sky fa la conoscenza del padrone di casa, un uomo alto e possente e senza dubbio molto sexy, il signor Bestia.

Eh si, avete capito bene! Quest’uomo si chiama Bestia. Ma non è tutto, lui proviene dal vecchio mondo ed è un uomo-drago in attesa della sua compagna di vita.

E chi poteva mai essere la prescelta? Ovviamente la nostra Sky! Ma lei poverina non ne vuole proprio sapere, non ha mai avuto tempo per le relazioni amorose e non è molto convinta di questa situazione, nonostante senta una certa attrazione verso questo strambo uomo, non ha assolutamente voglia di abbandonare la sua casa e la sua quotidianità per trasferirsi nel suo castello…

In questo romanzo si percepisce un mix di sentimenti, alcuni contrastanti.

• La tristezza di Nick e Casey, perché vorrebbero il ritorno dei loro genitori ed avere così una famiglia “normale”, lo sconforto di Sky perché non si sente in grado di provvedere e crescere i suoi nipoti come meriterebbero. Lo smarrimento di Bestia, che non riesce a capire perché la sua amata non si voglia lasciare andare e non voglia accettare il fatto che loro siano destinati ad una vita insieme.

• Ah già dimenticavo! Tra le pagine di questo libro troverete anche momenti molto divertenti e delle scene decisamente bollenti. D’altronde, con un drago sputa fuoco, direi che siano decisamente inevitabili.

È un libro leggero da divorare tutto d’un fiato, con una storia coinvolgente che vi consiglio di leggere al più presto.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for beth m.
873 reviews
August 10, 2019
Fire breathing disappointment

This book deserves one star or less but because I stopped reading and didn’t give it my fullest effort, I gave it two stars. In hindsight, it’s probably for the best. This book was awful. Struggling Aunt trying to raise two teenage boys meets man who can turn into a dragon. My first problem with this book: The kids have a lot of attitude and get away with everything! They never seem to get the reprimand they deserve or punished. It just highlights the weakness of the main female character, there’s no follow through with her. My second issue is the wording with the book. It’s just so stilted mixed with what I assume the author thinks are clever and witty remarks. It downgrades the book. Then the male sounds a bit of a robot. Idk I got to chapter 8 and couldn’t choke through the rest of the book. This book was an interesting thought that just didn’t translate to paper.
Profile Image for Stephanie.
769 reviews1,085 followers
May 28, 2021
In a book that feels like True Blood meets Puff the Magic Dragon (the only dragon reference I could think of that wasn't Game of Thrones), Sky and Beast (yes, his name is literally beast) are... mates who are quite opposite. Beast is a centuries old dragon banished from his home world and living in a castle hidden in a swamp. Sky is a poor 29 year old virgin waitress with custody of her two teenage nephews with no knowledge of dragons or shifters.

Besides the complete lack of relationship development I also didn't feel like we knew Beast at all as a character, because he constantly talked about how he was mates with Sky but didn't fill her in on what it meant, never talked about dragon customs, and didn't seem to have a personality besides large and strong. Also the secondary characters of Sky's nephews were super one dimensional.
Profile Image for Marie.
582 reviews11 followers
August 27, 2019
De temps en temps, j'ai besoin d'une lecture sans prise de tête et ce type de romance paranormale est parfait pour ça ! J'ai d'ailleurs été plutôt agréablement surprise, le monde est un peu plus travaillé que ce à quoi je m'attendais. Bref, une petite histoire sympa qui se lit très rapidement, mais loin d'être extraordinaire ^^ !
Profile Image for H.M.S..
Author 7 books64 followers
July 13, 2025
This was a nice story. For some reason, I've recently been drawn to dragon shifter romances and I want to read more. I've read a couple of shifter romances before but haven't yet delved too deeply into them. Nice to try something new.

Sky and Beast (Yeah. Beast - she really should have come up with a nickname for him) were the fated couple. There wasn't much in terms of his background except that he wallowed away in a swamp castle. I liked her story - trying to make ends meet while taking care of her two nephews whose parents weren't otherwise capable. Then Beast comes in and claims they're mates and expects her to blindly accept everything he demands without question. I wish there were a chapter or two that would have better explained everything without both of them instantly thinking, ok - turn everything upside down because you have money and can fly.

I want to read more books like this and I'll probably move onto the next one in this series because I'm intrigued by the dragons. I'm interested in learning more of a backstory.

All that said, this was a quick read that offered up a good escape on a hot day!
86 reviews
September 18, 2018
Started good but then crashed for me

Generally I enjoy this writer a lot, and I did enjoy a lot about this story. Sky was a strong and interesting character. She wasn’t perfect but was 100% in it. Beast was interesting and initially really funny.
There was also a lot that I didn’t like about it. There was little world building, like how they ended up on earth and what they were like as a species.
The fact that Sky was a virgin would usually bug me me, but it didn’t here. What did was the story line that all dragon mates were virgins, yet they had place whores??? So all the female mates are virgins but apparently that left a limited mate pool, what with the palace whores???? Uugghh, why oh why was that part of the limited world building because frankly it was just lame 😒. It really brought down my opinion of Beast and even more so with the way he spoke about it.
In the end it was hard for me to finish this one with that and the poor world building so it’s only 2 stars IMHO.
Profile Image for Ana.
2,038 reviews6 followers
September 14, 2018
Taming a Beast in the Bayous.....

What do you do when you meet Beast of hunk of meat in the swamps of Louisiana??? Why drool some and try to take a bite without being bitten yourself!

Sky is trying her best to raise her 2 nephews, but they insist on being contrary and take her boat to try and catch sight of the monster they keep hearing about in the swamps.. When she goes to the rescue she is more than a little shocked by the Beast that awaits her with her 2 contrite nephews. He is gorgeous to say the least, but man is this guy bossy! He wants to keep her, but will Sky be able to tame the wild Beast?

Beast is a very bossy, grumpy and bored dragon shifter that spends his days just hanging out in the bayous. But his grumpiness is about to take a dive when he gets a look at Sky....Will he be able to change his ancient ways in order to keep what he never thought to find especially in a human........his mate.

I love stories that take plays in the bayous especially shifters....This looks like it's going to be one wild series, love it! Some sweaty hot passion too, so get out those hoses.
Profile Image for Charlotte.
2,121 reviews80 followers
October 13, 2018
For adult readers
This reads pretty much the same as many PNRs. It's good story with a couple of troubled kids thrown in, it feels like the trouble Casey gets in is thrown in there for no reason. It's good story and worth the read, it's just ordinary.
Profile Image for Machian5.
241 reviews9 followers
June 5, 2019
così e così; una scrittura (o traduzione) piuttosto semplice
Profile Image for Cheryl.
2,090 reviews58 followers
March 2, 2025
Needed more of something

It felt like the relationship was truly based off the bedroom. It needed more of the love between them. It just wasn't there.
Profile Image for 🦉Maggie Whitworth.
3,254 reviews113 followers
January 15, 2020
❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋💋

A pretty good Dragon Shifter adventure, steamy romance that hits the spot.

Enjoyable read and great intro to the next dragon characters book .
Profile Image for Debby (Alwaysbooking).
710 reviews
January 1, 2021
A band of brother dragons trying to beat a time clock and find their mates. It was an interesting bunch of dragons for sure. Each one had their hang ups being in this time period and not wanting to evolve. I don’t understand quite how they couldn’t have evolved after all this time, but I think they were just squeaking by enough. I couldn’t say I had a favorite dragon out of the bunch I liked Armando, but not so much his mate. It seemed to be a theme for me if I liked the dragon I wasn’t fond of the mate. Remy had a really nice introduction to his mate.

These stories were short almost novella sized I would say and they were fun to get lost into for a while. I’m always game for a shifter story, I do wish they were longer, so we could’ve dived headfirst into the dragon world a little more. They mention other shifters a lot in these books and I realized the author has wrote other shifter stories, I might go and check those out. I wasn’t a fan of the women always having to be “virginal” mates I realize that’s a dragon mate thing, but it was a little much for me. There were some funny parts in these books and some more serious parts and again I just wished the books were a little bit longer

Like she read my mind, she lightly touched my forearm. “I’m going to run to the restroom, if you’ll let me out.”

I jumped into action, leaping out of the booth, pausing when were standing side by side. She was slender, and tall for a woman, but still much shorter than me. I fought the beast within that was telling me to lift her into my arms and run out with her. I had listend to some of what Cezar and preached to us about mating rituals in this world, so I knew I had to… what was the phrase he used? Ah,yes, play it cool.

“I”ll be right back.”

I watched her derriere sway as she crossed the bar and then turned back to Remy and Armand.

“Mine. She is my mate! What do I do now, for fire’s sake?”
Profile Image for Emily.
108 reviews2 followers
August 26, 2019
Perfectly short, sexy, and to the point!

I want more! What a wild ride this was! I'm shocked! Staggered! Insanely turned on! Dragons and forever mates?! More more more!
Profile Image for Phyllis.
123 reviews
September 24, 2018
Fire Breathing Beast is the first book in the new series Dragons of the Bayou. In this book we meet human, Sky, dragon shifter Beast & we're given an introduction to his clan & their back story.

Sky is struggling. She's raising her brother's teenage boys & barely making ends meet with her waitressing job. Between having too little time to keep up with two boys who seem to find trouble everywhere & working as much as she can to keep a roof over their heads, Sky has no time for a personal life. She's determined that she can do this alone, though. She's an independent woman that can make it on her own or at least she hopes so. Then the boys find a little more trouble than they can handle while sneaking off into the bayou at night. A night when everything changes for Sky & her boys.

Beast's mother must have known what he would grow up to be. He's a fierce dragon warrior that's always in control & a real beast with an attitude to match. He & his fellow dragon shifters were driven off their world & have ended up on Earth. While the others in his clan have spent their years here trying to learn about the humans & fit in to society, Beast feels he doesn't need any of that. He's happy by himself in his castle in the bayou well away from meddling humans. Then some boys find their way to his land & Beast is not happy. He knows how to deal with intruders, but these are young males & he'll let them go when their aunt comes to get them. Little does he know that his whole world will turn upside down when she gets there.

I had some trouble connecting to the main characters. Beast is a shifter from a completely different world & has an attitude that's a little off-putting for me. His tantrums seemed a bit much at times, but he eventually started to grow on me. Sky is human, but I just didn't understand some of her reactions to things, they just seemed off somehow. And while I wish there had been a little more to both Sky & Beast's histories, I can see why we were only given a peek. Things in this series need to unfold at their own pace. I was unsure what rating to give this, but I gave it 4 stars because this series looks very promising to me & I'm looking forward to the second book. All in all, this new series is worth a peek.
Profile Image for cher.
551 reviews3 followers
June 19, 2024
I didn't like it. The beginning was very good and I felt that the protagonist Sky was part of a living world with all the everyday activity that happened in the cafeteria. But since Sky found the beast, the story started to go wrong.

I have the impression that was a shorter story, but the author extended it to make more money. but she didn't know how to do it. the scenes of the beast watching Sky in the cafeteria feel like useless filler scenes. the repeated scenes of Sky saying they wouldn't work together, too.

So, at the same time that story seemed fast, it also seemed like it would never end. I was already so tired of reading it. I didn't read the last 2 chapters, I just skimmed them.

other things bothered me too. I didn't like Casey hitting her. He is almost 15 years old and 1.80, even though he has a thin teenage body, he is much stronger than her. I didn't like that he was never punished for hitting her, or running away, or trespassing on private property. Sky said was going to give them a big scolding, but that scolding never happened. quite the contrary, they were rewarded for their bad behavior.

Sky also doubts that Casey is responsible for all the shenanigans and that he is being influenced by his older brother, Nick. What does not make sense. I thought both brothers were behaving disrespectfully, but only one of them acts like that. It doesn't look like she lives with these kids.

Even the author could have dedicated more chapters to their relationship. one day they don't even respond to her "I love you" and the next, yes. all because they flew on a dragon. and what does this have to do with her? In my head, this would only make the desire not to live with the aunt increase. She is also super worried about her nephews, but lets them stay at a stranger's house.

Now the romance, which isn't much better. As I said, Sky refused Beast many times. If she doesn't want him, just leaves. and as I also said, it seemed like the author was just repeating useless filler scenes. the hot wasn't very good either. They didn't have much chemistry and except for her scent which might be attractive to a dragon, I can't think of a single reason why Beast fell in love. sky is nasty.

I'm used to mmcs like beast. so I wasn't as alarmed as she was. I even thought she was complaining with her mouth full. all he wanted was for her to leave that job, that broken-down shack, and accept his damn money. what a problem. She didn't seem like a real person, because her way of thinking doesn't make sense. he sunk her stove and she was "ok, it happens". and where will you cook? She didn't even tell him to pay for it. If she's poor, that's a normal concern.

But I'm not to stay here writing forever, despite there being many other things I didn't like, I'll finish by talking about what really made me give up.

beast said that all mates have to be virgins. but apparently only females. males like him can fuck castle prostitutes. it makes no sense. this would greatly reduce the number of females eligible to become mates. only if in your old world there were more than 3 females for every male. but something tell me it's not that.

Apart from all the disgusting part, it's clear that the author didn't think much before writing this book. God, I should write a book too.

-------------------------//--------------------------

PT-BR

não gostei muito. o início foi muito bom e senti que a protagonista sky fazia parte de um mundo vivo com toda a atividade corriqueira que acontecia na lanchonete. mas desde que a sky encontrou o beast, a história começou a desandar.

tenho a impressão que essa era uma história bem mais curta, mas a autora estendeu para fazer mais dinheiro. mas ela não soube como fazer. as cenas do beast vigiando a sky na lanchonete sinto que são cenas extras e inúteis de preenchimento. as repetidas cenas da sky dizendo que eles não funcionariam, também.

então, ao mesmo tempo que a história parecia rápida, também parecia que não acabava nunca. talvez da metade em diante eu já estava tão cansada dessa leitura. tanto que não li os últimos 2 capítulos, apenas passei os olhos por cima.

outras coisas me incomodaram também. não gostei que casey batesse nela. ele tem quase 15 anos e 1,80, mesmo tendo um corpo magro de adolescente, ele é bem mais forte que ela. não gostei que ele nunca foi punido por bater nela, ou fugir, ou invadir propriedade privada. sky disse que iria dar uma grande bronca neles, mas essa bronca nunca aconteceu. muito pelo contrário, eles foram recompensados pelo mal comportamento.

sky também duvida que casey seja o responsável por todas as traquinagens e que ele esteja sendo influenciado pelo irmão mais velho, nick. o que não faz sentido. pensei que os dois irmãos se comportavam de forma desrespeitosa, mas apenas um deles age assim. não parece que ela convive com esses garotos.

inclusive a autora poderia ter dedicado mais capítulos para a relação deles. num dia eles nem respondem seu "eu te amo" e no outro, sim. tudo porque voaram num dragão. e o que isso tem a ver com ela? na minha cabeça, isso só faria com que o desejo de não viver com a tia aumentasse. ela também é super preocupada com os sobrinhos, mas deixa que eles ficassem na casa de um desconhecido.

agora o romance, que não é muito melhor. como disse, sky recusou beast muitas vezes. se ela não o que, apenas vá embora. e como também disse, parecia que a autora só estava repetindo cenas de preenchimento inútil. o hot também não foi muito bom. eles não tinham muita química e exceto pelo cheiro dela que pode ser atraente para um dragão, não consigo pensar em um único motivo pelo qual beast se apaixonou. sky é desagradável.

e eu estou acostumada com mmcs como beast. então não fiquei tão alarmada quanto ela. até achei que ela estava reclamando com a boca cheia. tudo que ele queria era que ela largasse aquele emprego de fome, aquele casebre aos pedaços e aceitasse seu maldito dinheiro. que problemão. ela não parecia uma pessoa de verdade, porque seu jeito de pensar não faz sentido. ele afundou seu fogão e ela estava "ok, acontece". e onde você vai cozinhar? ela nem falou pra ele pagar por isso. se ela é tão pobre assim, essa é uma preocupação normal.

mas para não ficar aqui escrevendo para sempre, apesar de ter muitas outras coisas que não gostei, vou finalizar falando do que realmente me fez desistir desse livro.

beast disse que todas as companheiras tem que ser virgens. mas pelo visto só as fêmeas. os machos como ele podem foder prostitutas do castelo. isso não faz sentido. isso reduziria muito a quantidade de fêmeas elegíveis para se tornarem companheiras. só se em seu antigo mundo existisse mais de 3 fêmeas para cada macho. mas algo que diz que não é isso.

fora toda a parte nojenta, fica claro que a autora não pensou muito antes de escrever esse livro. deus, eu deveria escrever um livro também.
Profile Image for Sabrina (Soter) Sally.
2,166 reviews70 followers
June 4, 2019
"Mi batteva forte il cuore e quando i miei occhi incrociarono quelli di Bestia, il mio mondo cambiò. Per un momento sentii con tutta me stessa tutte le folli cose che mi aveva detto. Compagna. Drago. Ero destinata a lui. Eravamo fatti l’uno per l’altro"

Prima di tutto lasciatemi dire che un protagonista drago super-sexy ha bisogno di un nome vero, perché ogni volta che leggevo "Bestia" mi veniva da ridere XD Comunque a parte ciò questa breve storia segue lo schema che tanto mi è caro nei romanzi paranormal, con un protagonista mutaforma possessivo, testardo e bollente (e LEGGERMENTE fuori dal mondo moderno XD) e una ragazza testarda, inesperta ma dalla lingua biforcuta decisamente capace di tenere testa anche ad un drago sputafuoco! Mi è piaciuto il fatto che, nonostante la brevità, nel romanzo si affrontino temi importanti oltre la storia d'amore, come la questione familiare di Sky, con i suoi nipoti adolescenti allo sbaraglio mentre lei cerca di fargli da madre e da padre, o il difficile adattarsi di Bestia e dei suoi amici alla vita moderna e alle relazioni con gli umani....la stessa storia d'amore, seppur iniziata con il classico colpo di fulmine (almeno per Bestia XD) e gli ormoni impazziti, procedendo si scontra con la realtà e la voglia di normalità di Sky e tutto diventa più riflessivo in un certo senso....anche se ovviamente il lieto fine è d'obbligo ;D
Profile Image for Christy deSade.
473 reviews11 followers
December 25, 2018
Boring

This was one of the most boring books I've read in a very long time. There was no substance, no character development, no world building and no real plot. This was a nothing book....a book about nothing made up of nothing much. I've added this author to my "Never Again " list.
Profile Image for Carol Dawn.
Author 42 books349 followers
March 3, 2019
Well then

While this book was fun to read it did leave me feeling a little lost. I love super possessive males. Our hero didn't disappoint. However, the ending of this book was lacking. It didn't feel finished. When I turned the page and it said, the end, I was very surprised and a bit disappointed. That being said, I'm jumping straight into book two. I hope it's a bit better.
103 reviews
June 18, 2024
DNF - 6% Not for me. It's never a good sign when I start reading all the bad reviews to see if my annoyance with a book is justified.
Profile Image for Journey with Rosie.
305 reviews3 followers
October 12, 2023
I honestly had fun with this book, it made me laugh out loud several times. The first two chapters totally hooked me in, I was excited for a silly dragon romance.

But there are SO many issues that I couldn't overlook, which brought my rating down.

Some spoilers ahead.

I went into this book blind, so I didn't realize it was about "fated mates" so that's a my bad. I think this trope can be done well, but for the most part it can feel very instalove and this book definitely felt that way.

Beast the dragon is extreme possessive and controlling. He impedes on Sky's work place, almost gets her fired, tries to get her to quit her job, immediately wants to take over her entire life. I mean, some of the things that Beast did felt like a horror movie to me. The whole "we will be together forever... you can never leave... you will never be rid of me..." after only 2 days of knowing each other, felt like the start to an SVU episode or like fatal attraction. I know it's fantasy, but to me consent is sexy, and he did not value her consent or boundaries at all, and even though she was hesitant about it, in the end she is fine with it because... he's hot?

He doesn't tell her that being together will activate their mating bond, binding them together forever. Meaning she will literally live forever with him. When she finds out she's like "you didn't tell me?? I mean... I guess that's fine..." This man literally altered her entire life after knowing her for a few days and she barely bats an eye at it.

To the author's credit, Beast's possessiveness is not painted like a good thing. Eventually Sky leaves him because of it, which I liked. But after a day she decides to give him another chance. Beast swears that he will change, and we are supposed to believe that he is able to uproot hundreds of years of conditioning because he loves her so much, and they will live happily ever after.

The whole story took place in under a week, they had passionate sex then fought over and over, so it felt like the cycle of abuse to me.

Sky is a virgin, and according to Beast any dragon's mate must be a virgin despite the fact that he has confessed to being with castle prostitutes. This whole thing felt icky to me.

I did have fun, but I was more laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation towards the end. I wasn't rooting for them, I wanted to get Sky help to be honest, like call the domestic abuse hotline or something.
Profile Image for Reading by Deb.
1,175 reviews33 followers
October 19, 2021
This book is from both Sky and Beast's POV and Teena Scott does an amazing job as both the female and male voices of this story!

I loved her transitioning into Beast. Not only does she give him an old-world accent and tone of speech, but she keeps in male character for whole chapters. Throughout the book, Teena speaks both male and female parts and doesn't miss a beat transitioning back and forth.

If you haven't heard Teena Scott, I highly recommend her as she truly brought this story to life!



Book Review:

Sky is a waitress and luckily her boss is pretty lenient with her nephews, Nick and Casey, hanging out in the back after school. She became their guardian after her brother was sent to prison and at times she thought she would be there right beside him after she killed her teenage nephews who were determined to drive her crazy.

As she takes the order from a customer, she notices Nick's shoes sticking out the office door, but her heart freezes as she notices that they are at a weird angle. Sure enough when she goes to the office her nephew's shoes are there - without her nephew wearing them. She is livid that they would do this again and she still has a few hours before going to find them. Hopefully, they don't get into too much trouble before then.

When she gets a call from her nephews telling her they are in trouble and need her to pick them up she is relieved and anxious at the same time. And then furious when she finds out that they took the boat into the bayou. After getting directions she discreetly, although she did get caught, borrows her neighbor's boat and heads deep into the bayou. She's never been this far in because NO ONE goes this far in. She is so grounding those boys.

All she can imagine are creepy men like you see in horror movies, but as she gets closer to her destination she is surprised to find herself in a lake...and is that a castle? Maybe they aren't so creepy after all. When a tall gorgeous man answers the door her fears fall away.

Until he introduces himself as Beast and tells her that she is his mate and he is a dragon!

I loved this book. It is very well written and the characters are very relatable. Despite Beast being a dragon, this story is very realistic and the storyline kept my attention from beginning to end. I listened to this book in audio format and highly recommend it!
Profile Image for Romance Reads Reviewed by K.
385 reviews15 followers
October 10, 2021
Fire Breathing Beast is the first book in the Dragons of the Bayou series by Candace Ayers. Teena Scott narrated the audiobook.
It is a dragon shifter fantasy romance, told in the first person.

There are steamy books where the story has the upper hand, and there are steamy books where the steam has the upper hand, while the storyline isn't super important. Fire Breathing Dragon belongs in the second category.
The hero, Beast, didn't have much character progress. He just agreed with whatever the heroine, Sky, said to keep her by his side, but it didn't feel like he learned anything from the situation.
Sky felt real, she was struggling, and the author really showed this.
Now the sex scenes were good! There were many of them, well built and scorching hot.

For once, the kids get portrayed realistically. Both kids' behavior is how most kids in real life would react in that situation. My issue was with how it didn't get solved in the end. They hugged it out, but there were no plans to take steps to solve anything in the future.

The storyline of this book wasn't great, but the steaminess made up for that. I still enjoyed listening to the story and was able to escape from this world.

Fire Breathing Beast was my first time listening to a book narrated by Teena Scott, but it won't be my last. She has a pleasant voice to listen to. She has a voice for each character, and she is consistent in them, but her male voices surprised me most of all. The first time I heard Beast's pov, I paused the story to check if I wasn't wrong in thinking Teena Scott was the sole narrator of this audiobook. Her male voice sounds so realistic, she gave life to this ancient dragon shifter.
Teena Scott made this audiobook so much better. If I gave stars for narration, she would get 10!

This is for you for people who want to escape and listen to something light-hearted and entertaining.
Lovers from Ruby Dixon's Ice Planet Barbarians will love this audiobook.

I received an ALC from this book, but I'm voluntarily leaving this honest review.
Profile Image for Stephanie Blatz.
477 reviews1 follower
June 3, 2024
fun read

Enjoyed this story and Beasts overbearing bossiness and the way he bulldozed into Sky’s life. She was not as much of a fan of his brutish ways and I failed to see why she fought so had to hang onto returning to her previous life of struggling alone with her two troubled teen nephews, in a sad little house with her menial job as a waitress. Her life was going absolutely nowhere and she was rapidly losing ground with her nephews. One night when the boys steal her boat to search for the monster in the swamp, they run into Beast. A grumpy dragon shifter who delights in terrifying the boys and forces them to call Sky to retrieve them. Beast realizes she is his fated mate immediately and tells her so and commences in following her around like a growly possessive puppy. After their initial scare, the boys love Beast (and his brother Caezar who takes them under his wing too) Beast attempts to woo Sky, with varying degrees of success. In his defense he is (possibly) 1000’s of years old and from a different world. His ways are gruff, dominant, bossy and a bit outdated. That aside though, he has a lot to offer her and her boys, but she fights way too hard to get back to her previously unhappy, stressed and lonely life. Eventually Beast realizes he needs to be more flexible and Sky realizes she’s being an idiot and they work it out. But geeze I wanted to smack Ske upside the head almost the whole time.
1,240 reviews10 followers
September 12, 2018
Fire Breathing Beast is the first book in the Dragons of the Bayou series, and brand new series by Ms. Ayers. Sky is busy trying to give her nephews a normal life and working as a waitress, but that’s all disrupted when her nephews stumble upon a dragon. Beast has lived in this world and never expected to find a human mate, but when he sees Sky, he knows she’s meant for him. But while their attraction is there and their connection growing, can Sky and Beast find middle ground to find their happily ever after?

I had so much fun reading this book! It was full of misunderstandings, teenage angst, dragons, new world building, and true mates finding their way together! Sky was wonderful, sometimes feeling like her world is falling apart, but willing to do anything for those she loves! I loved that she was able to let go and relax around Beast. Dominant, sexy, and growly are ways I’d describe Beast, but while he may be a little set in his ways, he’s willing to learn new tricks for his mate. They definitely had their fair share of issues to overcome, but I really enjoyed their connection and the ending was great! I like that Ms. Ayers left certain aspects open for the future books to answer, but I never felt like I was missing something when it came to reading this book! Loved this book and I look forward to reading more from this series!
Profile Image for Sydnee.
172 reviews
November 23, 2019
Entertaining

Tl;dr review:
Nonexistent plot, shallow characters, and sex that was present but meh, because it was, like the rest of the story, rushed and not thoroughly developed. Male lead was like a caricature, but Female lead was funny. Overall, it was entertaining in a fun, cheesy way, but nothing about it was particularly compelling or panty-melting.

The Plot:
There is no external plot outside of Sky’s internal indecision. There isn’t really a great conflict, things develop a bit too quickly, and the whole thing is little like a fan boat—just skimming across the top of the water.

The characters:
Sky is funny. Her narration is entertaining. Beast isn’t terribly likeable. He seemed a little ridiculous, like a caricature of the character the author wanted him to be. That alone made him less than attractive to me as well. The nephews are a bit unbelievable. Their antics are plausible, but I think their reaction about their aunt with a dragon at the end is a little off.

The sex:
Meh. MxF. Rushed. Detailed but not enough. Like the rest of the book, the sex seemed to skim the surface, and quickly at that. Things seemed rushed, and I didn’t really buy in like I wanted to.
Profile Image for Justine.
62 reviews48 followers
April 9, 2019
There was smoke, but no fire

(I'm not going to assume you can't read the teaser summary from the publisher to find out the plot basics...)
I'd hoped this Dragon shifter series set in steamy Louisiana would have flavor, spice & bite. Instead, the main characters are very 2 dimensional, somewhat stereotypical overwhelmed heroine & overbearing hero. I found the repeated "but it's not normal" complaining from the leading lady to be tiresome after the first few chapters. And the several hundred year old Dragon shifter who has lived on earth for nearly a century should know more about humans, how they relate & what to expect. It became clear his ignorance was more plot point than even character creation. The other dragons aren't really introduced so much as referenced; the bayou town isn't fleshed out as the setting for this new series; & the teenager nephews have very stereotypical behavior issues that don't count as individualism & character quirks. As a plus, though, it is a quick read & a couple of the coupling scenes are well done. I wasn't motivated to try the second book, sadly.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 299 reviews

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.