August 23, 2010

Summary from author’s website:

In Salem, human magick has thinned the veil between the planes to a permeable mist, forming a portal into the city, allowing time travelers and chameleons of the universe to enter there.

Bastian Dragonelli, once a Roman warrior turned dragon, is the first of his legion to be returned to earth, a man. So his brothers can also be saved and sent to earth, Bastian must reclaim the magick of Andra, Goddess of Hope, who sacrificed hers to transform him. He must seek his heart mate and make her quest his own. But the dark, powerful Killian, Sorceress of Chaos, who turned his legion into dragons and skewed his transition back into a man, is hot on his heels.

McKenna Greylock, the last non-magickal descendant of Ciarra, a witch who survived Salem's hanging times, needs a jack-of-all-trades to help turn her dilapidated Victorian into a bed and breakfast so she doesn't lose her home and her family's centuries-old legacy.

Enter McKenna's cousin, Vivica Quinlan, Ciarra's most magickal descendent, owner of the Works Like Magick Employment Agency. Vivica has a gift for matching human employers with magickal employees. Like Ciarra before her, Vivica knows when magickal supernatural ancients are about to arrive. She greets them and acclimates them to life, and to making a living, in Salem.

Besides Killian's threatening presence, Bastian's life is also complicated by McKenna, his guardian dragon, a troublemaking fairy, and a case of culture shock. Bastian also has a problem with his man lance. It won't behave at all the way he remembered it should. Not at all...





Title: Naked Dragon
Author: Annette Blair
Series: Works Like Magick Series, book 1
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Year of release: 2010, January 5
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Source: Bought at The Book Depository
First line: In a body that seemed too small to contain him, Bastian tumbled endlessly through bouts of darkness and spirals of light, hailstorms and lightning, surcease and fright.
Memorable Scenes:
- The horse ride > the point where McKenna started to feel attracted to Bastian
- The two lake scenes > first one was an important scene for both plot and romance as a lot becomes clear to McKenna. Second one was just plain hot!
- Bastian’s PMS scene > funny, brilliant and cute!



Quick & Dirty-review:


Ingredients:
- A dragon sent to Earth to find his heart mate in order to fulfill his destiny and save his brothers
- A cranky but loving house-owner in desperate need of a handyman and love
- A pesky and creepy property developer who has nothing but evil in mind
- Magical creatures that are colorful in more ways than just to the eye: a Goddess of Hope, A Crone of Chaos, a faery pixie, a guardian dragon
- A wonderful and sensuous romance filled with laugh-out-loud, pee-your-pants humor

Hero: Bastian Dragonelli, was turned from Roman warrior to Dragon to human handy man. He’s a true alpha dragon. He’s bold, protective and fearless. But he’s also caring, impetuous and endeared me with his unfamiliarity with earthly things.

Heroine: McKenna Greylock is a descendant of a famous witch in Salem but she has not inherited any magick. She is obstinate, tenacious, a little bit bossy and difficult and sometimes short-tempered and challenging. But she has a heart of gold.

Plot: There were a few plots and they flowed into one, connecting together in a fast-paced and thrilling ending. There’s the story line of McKenna needing to open her B&B as soon as possible so she won’t loose the house and land to an evil property developer, there’s the task of finding his heart mate for Bastian, in order to save his brothers from eternal destruction by an evil sorceress and of course there’s the romance between Bastian and McKenna. The plots were all clear and well written and fit into each other seamlessly.

Writing: What caught my attention throughout the book was the humor. I laughed so hard and so many times I lost count. It was everywhere: in the dialogues, in the plot, in the characters. The most funny parts were those where Bastian’s unfamiliarity with earthly things were displayed, the way he described everyday things like cars (“colorful noisemaking machines with stink powder coming out of their hind ends”), thin women (“bony females who needed feeding and badly”), breasts (“dragon-hardening globes”) or fried eggs (“food with big yellow eyes”).
After first 100 pages humor was toned down a bit as Bastian got more knowledgeable and familiar with the earthly terms and things and the story and pace seemed to fizzle out a bit but luckily the last 100+ pages were up to par again.

Likes:
- The humor which I found refreshing as with paranormal the norm seems to be dark and gritty at the moment
- The romance that was touching and hot

Dislikes:
- Very, very short chapters, average chapters: 5 pages and sometimes there were chapter breaks in the middle of scenes.
- Like other people's reading pet peeves can be babies or children, mine is ghosts. I dislike them in stories and there are plenty if them in NAKED DRAGON.

Verdict:
I thoroughly enjoyed NAKED DRAGON. The book caught me by surprise with its great humor that made it laugh-out-loud funny without going over the top. It’s also a lovely and touching romance that was fast-paced but never felt rushed. I don’t know why I left this treasure of a book on the shelves for so long and I can’t wait for Bastian’s brothers to get their books as this one has really left me wanting more.

Favorite Quotes:

“Your eyes are violet,” she said.
They’re dragon-elli eyes. Dragonelli. All my brothers have eyes this color.”
It’s in the genes, then?”
No, that is my man lance in my jeans. I am sorry if it distracts you. It is a bit out of control today.”

“McKenna?” her friend said. “You’re not answering me. I repeat. Have you seen him naked?”
“Little bit.”
“Yes!” Lizzie screamed. ”I’ll bet he’s hung.”
“LizBeth!”
“Well, he wasn’t hiding a cocktail frank under that blanket.”

"I could get used to playing the royal in the bedroom.”
“I will adore you, my queen, with every inch of my body, and I have many inches.” His rough voice promised heaven while his look turned her into a useless puddle of need.







5 comments:

Penelope said...

Hi Pearl! So glad you liked the book....I thought it was adorable, too. Had a great mix of humor, tender emotions, lust and charm.

If you like mysteries, I highly recommend Annette's mystery series...there isn't any sex, but they are fun and sexy stories. (There are a lot of ghosts, however...just to warn you! But the ghosts are cool...hee hee!)

Sarah said...

I've seen mixed reviews of this one which put me off reading it (I've got it in my TBR pile) but I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think I'm going to have to move it up the list after reading your review - hopefully I'll enjoy it too :o)

Sophia (FV) said...

Woo look that cover! I think this is one I'd like too! Nice review.

Leontine said...

OMG, this is soooo going on my wishlist...I mean: "breasts (“dragon-hardening globes”)" hi-la-rious! and the first quote, I'm already grinning here!! You know I love my PNR dark and gritty but this...oh yes, the humor in this book is definitely worth reading!

Twimom227 said...

Hmmm.... This one sounds pretty good! And with humor! Thanks!

Nice to meet you!

My Photo
Pearl
Netherlands
39, married to my real life romance hero, addicted to TV shows, reading romance novels and Twitter. I'm a chronic (e)book hoarder and my absolute favorite genres within romance fiction are contemporary romance and romantic suspense, but I don't shy away from historical, paranormal or erotic romance either. Even the occasional (urban) fantasy romance, futuristic and sci fi romance may make it to my Mount TBR. This is my corner of the world wide web where I let you know what books I'm hoarding, reading and reviewing.
View my complete profile

Search This Blog

Reviews by Author


Reviews by Rating

Fellow Bloggers

Powered by Blogger.

GR Reading Challenge

2011 Reading Challenge

Pearl has read 10 books toward her goal of 50 books.
hide

On My TBR Shelf

  • Unforgivable - Laura Griffin
  • Snapped - Laura Griffin
  • Darkness at Dawn - Elizabeth Jennings
  • Sizzle and Burn - Alexis Grant
  • No Mercy - Lori Armstrong
  • Animal Magnetism - Jill Shalvis
  • Crazy for Love - Victoria Dahl
  • Kink - Saskia Walker/Sasha White
  • So Sensitive - Anne Rainey
  • Dark Taste of Rapture - Gena Showalter
  • The Darkest Secret - Gena Showalter
  • Vampire in Atlantis - Alyssa Day
  • Vampire Dragon - Annette Blair
  • Captive Spirit - Anna Windsor
  • Chosen by Blood - Virna DePaul
  • Rebel - Zoe Archer
  • Stranger - Zoe Archer
  • A Taste of Desire - Beverley Kendall
  • Mistress by Midnight - Maggie Robinson
  • To Desire a Devil - Elizabeth Hoyt
  • To Tame a Dangerous Lord - Nicole Jordan

Digital TBR Next

  • Driven - Jayne Rylon (reread)
  • Shifting Gears - Jayne Rylon
  • Beg Me - Shiloh Walker
  • Tempt Me - Shiloh Walker
  • Jazz Baby - Lorelie Brown
  • Playboy Prankster - Pamela Britton
  • Just Like That - Erin Nicholas
  • Sweet Inspiration - Penny Watson
  • Breathe - Donna Alward
  • My Gigolo - Molly Burkhart
  • Scent of Persuason - Nikki Duncan

Grab My Button!

Followers

Visits

You're from...

The ROOB Posse

Leontine's Book Realm


Marissa's Romance Retreat




Realms On Our Bookshelves


Blog Archive