ARC Review: Dragon of Fire: A Dragon Shifter Gay Romance (Dragon Triplets Book 1) by Minerva Howe

 

Dragon of Fire by Minerva Howe

Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

Content Warnings for book: House fire, human trafficking

Kink: Sex toys, knotting

Dragon of Fire by Minerva Howe introduces us to Dima, a dragon triplet, and the man he rescues from a building fire, Kameron. This is a sweet size-difference romance with a himbo firefighter and his mate.

As for the relationship between Kam and Dima, it was really sweet. Dima was protective and kind, helping Kam every step of the way through recovering from his situation and trauma without being overbearing and recognizing the need for boundaries. It's only when Kam wants to initiate for them to go further do they, and that is where we eventually discover some interesting secrets about Kam. I did struggle with the lack of tension I felt between them, but I think that had to do with the writing style, which I'll touch on later.

I liked the building relationships between the two other triplets and Kam, and how they all came to be a sweet family on the property they live on. I am definitely intrigued by who their mates will be considering their different personalities, and if it will be some of the other men saved from that property fire.

One thing that felt slow for me was the plot itself: We had the big action in the beginning, revelations of what was going on, and then towards the end we get another revelation and brewing for a longer plot line. I do want to see the way that ends up and for what reasons, especially if humans aren't supposed to know about paranormal beings, but the story itself dragged because those were only the two major plot points happening. The rest was domestic fluff, but it was hard to connect to it.

I didn't understand why this was omegaverse - it was hardly brought up, and mpreg isn't possible, so why not just make knotting/slick a shifter or dragon thing? I think the actual words "alpha" and "omega" were both only used once, and usually I liked those elements of what those mean to be explored in the universe if they occur.

Why this is only three stars for me is I struggled with the writing style, and editing issues. Writing style was, it felt very stiff and hard to connect to. Sometimes internal dialogue repeated actual dialogue, or was sort of used as a joke mechanism that didn't flow right. I didn't really feel connected to the characters or their hurts at all, though I realize this is rather low-angst in the scheme of things. The sex scenes absolutely suffered because of this though, I ended up skimming them.

Editing wise, and I don't know if the published version will fix it: at least three times was there a sudden switch from 1st person POV to 3rd person. I am assuming the author accidentally wrote in the wrong POV and the editor didn't catch it. However it really pulled me out of the story because of how noticeable it was.

Overall, this is a short fluffy read if you like omegaverse with no mpreg, dragons, and hurt/comfort. 

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