Rating: 2🌈

A DNF at 44%

I read the books out of order which was a very good idea because otherwise I’d never have read the far superior Deven and the Dragon. This isn’t that lovely adult fairy tale.

Instead of finding someone as sympathetic and honest as Fioric, his cousin apparently, the reader finds this dragon knight bully, Corin. He’s so unpleasant to read, that even at 30%, the reader is wondering when he’s going to stop wallowing in his pitiful self imposed martyrdom and get over himself.

Why has he hidden himself away? Because his sworn bride cheated on him. In public. Granted that’s humiliating. But does he go on about how he loves or loved her? No. It’s all about her beauty and his ruined status. So immediately, the reader isn’t exactly falling down on his side. It gets immeasurably worse when the bride’s wonderful, wounded younger brother arrives and, you guessed it, gets bullied,, and in scenes close to sexual assault, mistreated incredibly badly.

I’m caught wondering where the fairy tale charm and lovely characterizations that were the hallmarks of the first book went. Not here.

The one nice aspect of the story (and any rating) is Aster, the younger brother of the bride who has cheated on Corin publicly before their wedding. He’s run away from a horrible arranged marriage, hoping that the one being he’s crushed on for years will take him in and understand his situation.

That’s a lovely element. Too bad it’s paired up with a thug in dragon form. One who swings between meanly berating someone so desperately in need of saving so much so that even as a reader I’m absolutely appalled, then wanting to have revenge sex with him (consensual or not) then thinking maybe Aster’s not so bad, when the poor guy is weeping in despair.

All in the storyline space of 24 hours. They then actually have drunken sex with no attempt at a relationship.

I checked how far I’d continued into the book. 44 percent.

I tried. Honestly. But there’s nothing to like about Corin for me. And I find these days that I’m not going to continue on reading storylines that have little to engage me or characters that I can’t connect with. Like this one.

I’m so happy I skipped to the second book because if I’d started here I’d have never picked it up. There’s a lesson there somewhere.

What is fabulous? That cover. Both covers. Rich and eye catching.

No recommendations.

Beautiful Beasts:

✓ Corin and the Courtier #1

✓ Deven and the Dragon #2

Buy Link :

Book 1 of 2: Beautiful Beasts

Blurb:

Most people run from beasts, not to them…

Aster didn’t put much thought into his escape. All he knew when he ran up that mountain—straight into the lair of a grumpy dragon knight with a huge grudge against his family—was that he couldn’t submit to an arranged marriage. It never occurred to him that a snowstorm would strand him there. Or that he’d give in to years of longing and beg for the monster’s forbidden touch. But it happened. All of it…

Corin wasn’t trying to be a hero—especially not Aster’s hero. He couldn’t very well let him die, though. So he protected him. Which might have been considered noble…if he hadn’t also fallen into bed with him. Over and over again. But the cost of keeping Aster is far more than Corin’s willing to pay. Corin will eventually be forced to let him go—even if it destroys him.

When Aster’s problems follow him up the mountain—literally—he realizes running is no longer an option. The only question now is whether Corin will fight for him, or burn their potential happily ever after to the ground…

This spicy, steamy, M/M paranormal fantasy romance features a pair of star-crossed opposites, a little forced proximity (with only one bed), some silliness involving a lack of pants at unexpected moments, and plenty of dirty talk.

This series does not contain mpreg. There’s a brief occurrence of self-destructive ideation in this book, but no action is taken. HEA guaranteed!