Rating: 4🌈
It’s that cover! Couldn’t resist. So while I wasn’t really buying into some of the themes the authors (K.M. Neuhold and Mia Monroe are Mika Nix) created in book one, I went on and picked up the second novel in the series, Smoulder.
Turns out, it’s missing most but not all of the elements I had issues with and I found this entertaining and a fast, enjoyable read.
For starters, this dragon brother’s character is one that I really found interesting and more nuanced. Whereas Nico was all hot headed , action without thought, Hemingway is almost his opposite. A collector of antiquities, gems, and, most importantly, books, Hemingway is a thoughtful and layered personality.
Dempsey Ryan, Drake Security’s newest client and Hemingway’s future mate here is a terrific character in his own right. In his early forties and a collector of rare and unusual items, especially books and jewels, his personality and interests are crafted by the authors to mesh well with Hemingway’s so their chemistry and instant attraction to each other makes sense on multiple levels.
The readers just like them together and we just get it. The strongest part of this story is the romantic relationship, with Hemingway’s attitude towards and attempts at wooing Dempsey.
The mystery that has Dempsey needing protection is probably the weakest part of the narrative. It builds backwards, filling in facts just when the reader is asking questions about where that aspect of the story came about. It feels hurriedly filled in instead of part of a plot. And the ending was anticlimactic for all the events and drama building up to it. While it was a nice surprise and added a new powerful character to the group, it wasn’t the ending that fit the storyline that lead up to it.
Smoulder finishes with a wedding, a new start for a couple I throughly loved, and a hint as to who’s going to be next in line for their mate and novel.
As much as I enjoyed this I’ll be heading into the next episode to see how it all goes down.
I’m recommending this book and romance.
Drake Security:
✓ Hot Head #1
✓ Smoulder #2
Buy Link:
Smolder (Drake Security Book 2)
Description:
I was hired to protect him, but will our smoldering attraction ignite into love?
When my hot headed brother found his fated mate, a deep, aching desire opened up inside of me for my own. Everyone knows dragons are covetous, jealous… possessive. I am all of these things, but never more so than when I set my eyes on Dempsey for the first time.
Beautiful. Awkward. Sweet. Shy. Perfect. My dragon wants to wrap himself around him the moment he bumps into me outside of his antique shop. Dempsey, however, is not as keen on that idea as my inner beast is.
He hired Drake Security for protection, and he needs it even more than he realized. Unfortunately, we specialize in brute strength and burning sh*t to the ground, and the problem Dempsey has is way out of our league.
Is he my fated mate or am I just so desperate for one that I’m falling for him too fast? Either way, I’ll move heaven and hell to protect him, even if the forces that are after him are unlike anything I’ve dealt with before.
I’ve spent thousands of years hoarding books and storing their words close to my heart. Will the love stories that live inside my soul be enough to woo him? Is it too much to hope that fate has chosen him for me?
**** Smolder is book 2 in the Drake Security series and has a reluctant fated mate, dragon shifters, book swooning, ancient mysteries, and magic. Each book can be read on its own, but is so much better if read in order. The series is all dragons, NO MPREG.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 