Youlton is an ice wizard that is dedicated to helping people, even when they fear and hate what he is. He is the last of his kind, and the only one that can repair the shield that protects his small corner of the world. When asked to repair it, he is told that he will receive payment for his services in healing the breech. His servants find that healing the shield nearly kills him, and instead of the payment that was promised, the village elder gives them a key. While his helpers are furious, Youlton is unconscious and the village elder promised that the key will heal his frail body so they have no choice but to take it. What Youlton finds when he wakes up is beyond his wildest dreams, and does more for him that merely heal his body.
Garyn is a dragon that has been held prisoner for longer than he cares to remember. He can shape shift into human form, male or female, as well as his dragon form, but he can't leave his prison. When the wizard shows up in his prison, he can't believe his luck. Youlton's people were the one's who imprisoned him. Garyn decides to do everything in his power to use Youlton to escape. In order to accomplish this, Garyn decides that he has to seduce Youlton to make him fall in love with him and free him. Unfortunately, the more time he spends with Youlton, the more he finds himself falling into the very trap that he has set for his prey.
Stephanie is a multi published multi award-winning wife and mother of two whose unparalleled imagination causes her no end of trouble. From sex shifting shape-shifting dragons to under sea worlds, up to sexually confused elemental fey and homo erotic mysteries, all the way to pastel challenged urban sprites, Stephanie has done it all, and hopes to do more. Stephanie is co-founder of the charitable organization Write 4 Hope, Co Creator of the Japanese Culture and Anime Convention Mikomicon, Home-school Mom, English Tutor, an Orator on her favorite subject of writing and world building, a sometimes teacher when you feed her enough coffee and donuts, an anime nut, a costumer, and a frequent guest of various sci-fi and writing cons where she can be found leading panel discussions or researching more and varied legends and theories to improve her writing skills.
Stephanie is known for her love of the outrageous, strong female characters, believable worlds, male characters filled with depth, and interracial that make the reader sit up and take notice.
Do not be fooled. This is not M/M. It's het porn with one bland M/M interlude.
I'm pretty sure that, even though it says the dragon dude's hermaphroditic and whatever and the dude starts off as a dude, the dude actually prefers to be a dudette, as she spends most of her time as a she and seems to want more het sex than gay sex.
It's erotica. It has a plot that I would have loved for this book to actually be about, but it's erotica. Non-romantic het erotica.
It actually gets painful to read, right around the time when they keep insisting they're mortal enemies, will never love each other, and especially when dragon-girl throws out there that maybe she can one day learn to love the MC, her mortal enemy.
There were some grammar things that made me wince. I believe they were comma splices, but I was too busy being irritated by the plot - or rather, marked ignoring of the plot for the sake of het sex - to really notice.
The very ending is stupid.
"The End Or perhaps just the beginning..."
DEAR GOD, NO. PLEASE DO NOT REPRODUCE. DO NOT SPAWN MORE HET EROTICA SEX THAT YOU'RE TRYING TO MASQUERADE AS M/M. ESPECIALLY SINCE IT'S RATHER NON-ROMANTIC EROTICAOF THE HET VARIETY.
If you'd like to actually write about the plot, that would be nice. Just please, keep any interactions between the characters as minimal as possible. In fact. Don't have any interaction between them at all. Cut out anything that might even be construed as interaction between them.
Dragons and magic in one story, with the added feature of a sex-shifting dragon and the promise of some enemy-to-lover sparkles, had me wanting to read this book from the moment I spied the blurb. And let me tell you, this tale is definitely imaginative, different, and not your average romance. While Garyn is a dragon shifter, who also happens to be able to shift between the male and female gender, Youltan starts out thinking he is straight, only to learn that not all is as it seems with him either. If you’re up for an adventure not just of the magical and fighting-the-evil-enemy kind, but also of the explore-the-characters’-sexual-orientation kind, then you should give this book a go.
Youltan is a young Ice Mage, the last of his kind, and not much liked by the ordinary people he helps. There is a mystery around why they need to be protected, and it’s definitely an interesting one when it gets revealed toward the end of the story. As usual with the best stories, at least for me, not all is as it seems, and the final solution is neither easy nor does it even seem possible. Youltan has fought prejudice all his life, and yet he has always selflessly done what was asked of him. But when he almost dies and is brought to Garyn in a last-ditch effort to save him, he ends up in a situation he likes less than his “normal” life.
Garyn is a dragon shifter, but an enslaved one. He is determined to free himself –sooner or later – no matter the cost. Only when he discovers that Youltan is not at all who he expected an Ice Mage to be, Garyn’s determination is put to the test. So are his morals and his honor. Both his and Youltan’s idea of who the enemy is and what they are after are severely put to the test, and what follows once they figure out the details is a battle of wills and wits that had me wondering if either of them would survive.
If you like mysteries and secrets, if the idea of a sex shifter who also happens to be a dragon sounds interesting, and if you’re looking for a different read that is as suspenseful as it is fun, then you will probably like this short novella.
NOTE: This book was provided by Changeling Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Garyn is an imprisoned dragon shifter who has been captive for a thousand years. With the ability to switch from male to female, will he/she use this ability to somehow find a way to escape? He/she is given that very option when an Ice Mage named Youltan appears, thin, undernourished, and magically drained almost enough to kill him. Perhaps the mage can somehow provide an escape if the dragon can gain his trust. Will Youltan be fooled by the dragon? Or will they learn more about each other that may change their expectations and focus? Is it enough to give them both hope?