Flame by Donna Grant

Flame was a good, quick read. It had good characterizations and an interesting plot. However, what I was unaware of when I downloaded it was that it was smack dab in the middle of a series. So… that default made it a tad confusing.

All-in-all the premise, and the pieces that I’d missed out on from the earlier story was enthralling. Enough that one day when I have a lot of time on my hands (there’s over 11 books!) I will be going back to read the series I think. The pulling in of multiple worlds, portals, dark and light fae, mages, and dragon-shifters was unique in a way I’d not seen before.

I also appreciated how even though there is a mate-attraction in the book, and the romance does get hot and heavy pretty early on, the characters aren’t completely off-putting. While there are some hard alpha moments, they aren’t alpha-holes which I find can be very common in the shifter worlds. Though I will admit there was one part where I was very not impressed with the main love interest. The stubborn streak that appears to run through them might get a touch grating. Nonetheless, I appreciated the nuances of characters, and how each character was fully fleshed out and yes in some case redeemable.

Finally, even picking up the book without realizing it was in the middle of the series I was able to learn the characters, learn the story, and enjoy it all. I know I was missing on subplots, and darn it those were some of the characters I seemed to like most, but it just makes me want to go read the rest! I don’t know if I can keep all of the slight misgivings I have without reading the rest of them. But it was exactly what I needed, it allowed me to escape into a fast paced story that flew by quickly.

Thank you to Netgalley, Donna Grant, and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review.

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