ARC Review: How to Date a Dragon by Ashlyn Chase

Posted September 3, 2013 by Sophia Rose in Reviews / 0 Comments

Tags: Ashlyn Chase, Flirting With Fangs Trilogy, Paranormal Romance

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

How to Date a Dragon

by Ashlyn Chase

Series: Flirting with Fangs Trilogy,
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca
Released on September 3, 2013
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley

After meeting Drake briefly in the first book, I was eager to read a book with him as the main character. Love dragons!!!! Oh, and I really liked the paranormal world that Ms. Chase created particularly the people and the setting around the bar, Boston Uncommon. The tone of this series is so cute and quirky. So yeah, I was eager to continue with this second installment in the series. Just so you know, it’s probably best that you begin with the first book for the world building and some of the recurring characters to be fully appreciated.

Bliss Russo has made it as a finalist in a greeting card competition, but yikes her building is on fire and all her work is stored on her laptop with no back-ups. She wheedles the hunky firefighter who came to her rescue into going back for her computer. Unfortunately, the damage is done. She now has to re-work her cards, find a place to stay away from her interfering mother and find a temporary job that can help her get back on her feet and concentrate on the competition that will launch her card company if she wins. Enter best friend, Claudia, to the rescue. Claudia gives her a part-time job as a waitress where she manages at the bar, Boston Uncommon, and Claudia arranges for her to share the apartment upstairs above the bar for a more than reasonable rent. Bliss jumps at the chance and meanwhile she starts up a relationship with that delicious fire fighter who rescued her, Drake Cameron.

Drake is a dragon shifter and one of the last of his kind. He wants to honor his mother’s dying wish that he find a female dragon, mate and do his part to continue the race. Moving to Boston to check out the rumor of other dragons there turned out to be a wash, but he doesn’t give up and tries to find a female dragon through an on-line dating service. In the meantime, he can’t get his mind off the feisty human woman who he rescued and got him to do the stupid stunt of going back for her computer that got him suspended. He tries to find her only knowing her first name. That doesn’t prove successful and neither does the one female dragon who answers his dating service post. She’s a psycho and proves more than ever that he’d rather find Bliss. If only he can convince her not to run in terror when she discovers that he’s a dragon.

Soon after Drake and Bliss start dating, Drake learns that the female dragon, Zina, isn’t as done with him as he is with her. Bliss is none too pleased to discover that he left things open with Zina so she wonders if he’s trustworthy, but then when Drake reveals more including his dragon side and that Zina is dangerous she has more to concern herself with.

Okay, I found this book just as fun and quirky as the first one. I liked Drake a lot and was really cheering for him to find his special someone. I found the relationship between Bliss and her mom hilarious. But Bliss’ personality wasn’t to my taste. Her character was well-written and all that, but I just didn’t connect with her because I found her snarkiness and her total absorption in her card competition even to the point of sending Drake back into a fiery building more rude and self-centered than funny. Drake seems to like her bossy, irascible nature so I finally just went with it and enjoyed the story unfold. Drake and Bliss weren’t shy about their lusty attraction and jumped into the passion quickly. Their poor relationship did end up developing, but they had so many interruptions between the vengeful Zina, Bliss’ well-meaning roomie Angie, the interfering gods and Bliss’ family. In the end, I had fun trying to keep up with all the antics.

All in all, it was a fun read that entertained me well. Those who enjoy their paranormal on the lighter side and their romance filled with heat should give this one a try.

My thanks to Sourcebooks and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

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Sophia Rose

I was born and raised near Sacramento, CA. I have read since I was four years old and developed tastes that run the gamut of literature. I went away to college and have a degree in education, a certificate in family history research, and a certificate in social work. I worked for a non-profit agency with low income families for 20 years which included being responsible for the children’s library and promoting/teaching adult literacy. I have lived in Southeast Michigan for the last 18 years and I am currently a book addicted homemaker with a cat and husband who keep me grounded. Recently, I made it a challenge to review each book that I have read as a favor to author friends who said reviews are important. I have done reviews for Good Reads, Amazon, eBay, and Smashwords, but mostly at Goodreads and Amazon.