Hello everyone!
And boy oh boy is it a good one.
Listen, I've said this before and I'll say it again, but some authors just knock it right out of the park, not to mention right into our hearts.
Retellings, particularly of fairy tales, usually come with warnings or they tend to lack something or other when all is said and done.
But not this one, oh ho ho, no.
This one's pretty much grand from start to finish, with little sprinklets of what-who-where throughout.
Without further ado, let's stop with my rambling, and jump right into the story, shall we?
The story that is NOT ASOIAF related, but is still titled Blood of the Dragon.
Everleigh did her duty to the throne and woke up Prince Silas from his sleeping curse, but then things went sideways and she ran off before he could get any explanation about a dead dragon to her ears, and has now been giving him the cold shoulder, trying to move on with her life after he broke her heart.
Per HER logic, that is.
Silas, meanwhile, is trying to figure out how to get back on her good side when he clocks into the fact that there's another dragon hunt that's just been mounted, so he rushes after the hunters - you know, his former BFF who's mad at him for not being in love with the ex that's engaged to the BFF now (it's convoluted, I know) - nabs a sheep, and lures the dragon away before it can get killed.
Turns out though, that if you're holding a sheep up for a dragon to gobble down, you might get slightly BBQed.
Brought to the castle with a deadly wound, Silas is fading fast and on the verge of death once more when his mother sends for Everleigh to come save his life a second time.
Which, she does, DUH. She loves the guy, even though she's standing in her own way of seeing this.
In the process of saving the prince's life, she also bonds with the current captain of the guards, who explains that he's never seen Silas like he is around Everleigh - and conveniently enough, they both deal with a renegade soldier trying to follow orders directly contradicting that of the Queen herself when they eventually find the dragon that's trying to get back home through the Veil.
Oh yes, the Veil, it's still there - still making Everleigh's head hurt whenever she's close, but still her best guess as to where her mother might have gone, when she disappeared five years ago.
Anyway, through peaceful cooperation, they gain the dragon's blood so she can go back and heal Silas, but of course she hears him murmuring a woman's name - not her own - and once again hikes outta there because OBVIOUSLY he never cared about HER, the chemist.
Listen, I can't with this girl sometimes LOL.
Awake and struggling to recover, as well as dealing with a mother who clings to him so tightly it's impossible to even survive for long, Silas yearns to get the hell back to Everleigh, so that he can at least TALK to her.
Since that's not immediately possible, he just sends Stolly (captain, natch) with a gift of donkey and wagon, for starters, and then eventually drags his sorry carcass over there himself.
Because he's not sleeping well, he can't eat much, and all he wants is to be NEAR her, which he explains to an Everleigh that somehow STILL believes this is all because of the love potion, even though by using dragon's blood, it would have purged everything else out of Silas' body.
Thankfully, however, this gives them the time and opportunity they need to talk and clear the air, which eventually leads to - FINALLY - them confessing they love each other, and that the reason Everleigh's putting on the breaks so hard is because everyone she's ever loved has always left her.
Silas promises not to be that person, and it's actually lucky that he's around when Everleigh gets a gift from one of her patient's "relatives" (quotes will be explained soon enough): a basket of cookies, which turn out to be poisonous.
How do we know?
Kiva, the goat companion, gobbles the lot, and nearly keels over. Silas talks Everleigh through healing her and stays by her side, until Stolly arrives with news that the BFF and the ex have run off with a contingent of soldiers, ostensibly to start a war to regain her kingdom.
Since this has been neither sanctioned nor approved, it could thrust their homeland into a war they don't need or want, so Silas needs to go and deal with it, which Everleigh approves of, as it turns out that it was the ex who brought the poisoned cookies which nearly killed Kiva. Leaving a solider to stay behind with her in case she needs something (and, as it turns out, this soldier just so happens to be not-so-casually involved with Stolly's sister ...) Silas rides out, catches up to his former BFF and ex, and beats him in a duel.
Then it turns out the ex is a schemer of the highest order as she tries (unsuccessfully) to sell the story that she'd been KIDNAPPED, and ooooh how sweeeeet of Silas to have ridden to her rescue!
Also, yeah, she totally spiked those cookies with poison bc jealousy is the new look, apparently.
Returning and placing the two under lock and key, Silas is overjoyed when Everleigh doesn't wait for him to come to her, but instead comes to HIM in the castle - a big step forward for them both, honestly.
Which is needed, since the King and Queen FINALLY open their big mouths and share the secret they'd been hiding for all these years: the Queen comes from a different realm, a realm where dragons roam free, and well, technically, she's not actually the princess.
Everleigh's mother is.
They just swapped identities after the Veil was put in place by the mom (the price for that is Silas' mother losing her memories, by the by), since the realm had fallen to mom's power-hungry uncle, and he'd placed a curse on the princess, that her child would die.
Seeing as apparently the curse didn't use the correct blood-related GPS though, it struck Silas instead of Everleigh, and he was put to sleep only because Everleigh's mom managed to change it just a little, enough to give herself some breathing room to figure things out.
Unfortunately though, it now looks as if she's gone BACK through the Veil, and as Everleigh takes the time to process the news that she's a bona-fide princess (and inconveniently now believes Silas hates her for the curse that should have hit HER instead of HIM), Silas realizes she's going to be headed straight through the Veil herself, and pronto.
To find her mother. To figure herself out. To reclaim her throne (this last probably by accident).
And man oh man, I can't wait to be there for the ride!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Plot: just as tight as in the first book but with the added depth of this being the second installment of the series. I love the expanding knowledge we're getting and how it's all so much more than "she saves the prince".
Wordbuilding: becoming more detailed as we advance further in, with Fae kingdoms added to the mix now. THEIR stuff is mind boggling and I honestly can't WAIT to dive into that!
Main characters: Silas and Everleigh are still a match made in the Seven Heavens. However, at times during this book, she almost veered off into cartoonish with her unwillingness to stop for half a second and listen to Silas. I was worried but, thankfully she toed that line and didn't cross it. She does, however, have a tendency to run when problems arise to try and figure them solo, but I'm confident that with how much personal growth Silas has experienced on his own, we can now move firmly into the portion of their relationship when they become a power couple.
Side characters: I looooove me some Stolly! Ohmygosh and his sister AND Filip? Listen there is SO MUCH to explore here, I hope we get to see some of it.
Magic: I'm thinking more mate-bound than we guess, considering the lineage of our MCs. That aside, we're probably about to really lean into it in book 3 so, hold on to your mortars!
Ending: YO THAT TWIST. I was expecting a pregnancy trope but, this is even better. Now I really need to read the third book.
Overall, I really liked this. It didn't captivate me quite the same as the first book, but I appreciate the added depth of the side characters, and the realistic way this relationship has been approached thus far. Now if only our MCs TALKED instead of ASSUMED, our lives would all be easier LOL. BUT that aside, Silas and Everleigh remain one of my favourite OTPs ever, and I can't wait for the epic showdown coming our way. I'm absolutely eagerly awaiting the conclusion! (Can Stolly also get a HEA too?)
Plot: just as tight as in the first book but with the added depth of this being the second installment of the series. I love the expanding knowledge we're getting and how it's all so much more than "she saves the prince".
Wordbuilding: becoming more detailed as we advance further in, with Fae kingdoms added to the mix now. THEIR stuff is mind boggling and I honestly can't WAIT to dive into that!
Main characters: Silas and Everleigh are still a match made in the Seven Heavens. However, at times during this book, she almost veered off into cartoonish with her unwillingness to stop for half a second and listen to Silas. I was worried but, thankfully she toed that line and didn't cross it. She does, however, have a tendency to run when problems arise to try and figure them solo, but I'm confident that with how much personal growth Silas has experienced on his own, we can now move firmly into the portion of their relationship when they become a power couple.
Side characters: I looooove me some Stolly! Ohmygosh and his sister AND Filip? Listen there is SO MUCH to explore here, I hope we get to see some of it.
Magic: I'm thinking more mate-bound than we guess, considering the lineage of our MCs. That aside, we're probably about to really lean into it in book 3 so, hold on to your mortars!
Ending: YO THAT TWIST. I was expecting a pregnancy trope but, this is even better. Now I really need to read the third book.
Overall, I really liked this. It didn't captivate me quite the same as the first book, but I appreciate the added depth of the side characters, and the realistic way this relationship has been approached thus far. Now if only our MCs TALKED instead of ASSUMED, our lives would all be easier LOL. BUT that aside, Silas and Everleigh remain one of my favourite OTPs ever, and I can't wait for the epic showdown coming our way. I'm absolutely eagerly awaiting the conclusion! (Can Stolly also get a HEA too?)
Pro bonus tip: Blood of the Dragon officially releases tomorrow, April 19! So grab a copy ASAP and come join this magical world where magic meets love. Kiva will be VERY happy to see you there!
xx
*image not mine
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