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Dawn of Flames by Tessa Hale
Series: Dragons of Ember Hollow #3
Publication date: July 19th, 2024
Pages: 262
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Synopsis:
Ripped from my mates. Taken by an evil who has it out for us all. And it's all I can do to hold on, just hoping that they will find me before it's too late.
Because I'm in the clutches of someone who only wants one thing... power. Power that only I can give them. And I'm a second away from breaking.
But my captor is revealing secrets. Ones that have the potential to bring my world crumbling down. And now just mine but the entire dragon species', too.
Now, we're racing against the clock to keep those secrets buried and me safe. But our enemies are circling. And sometimes the deadliest are the ones you least expect...
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Review:
I am emboldened to say that the final book in the trilogy was slightly better than the second. Let me explain, I feel like a lot of the plot was fleshed out a lot more. The connections were more fundamental and structured within the various dynamics. Even with Maddox still being a pain in the ass, the bonds were flourishing. Hayden was coming into her own and learning who she was and how she fit within her new life. I was emotionally invested in her captivity and the fact that she took it all so stoically. Before that instance she usually was the damsel in distress that the other dragons would swoop in and save at the last minute. This time she was left on her own for weeks to suffer through it and come out a stronger person. It gave Hayden a lot more depth than she had before for me. I suddenly was rooting for her.
The medley of villains in the book was a little overwhelming. I feel that if the story had stuck with the Corbett family instead of interjecting this Counsel and the corrupt members of it, then it would have been a much more concise book. There were many avenues where they could flesh out the antagonists and breathe more life into the push and pull of their struggles. It would have been nice, even if unnecessary, to see the inner workings of the Corbett clan a bit more. It seemed like they were more a mosquito than much else. They just kind of showed up, did something to stir up the hornets nest, then retreated only to rinse and repeat. There is the capability of giving villains a back story and some foundation without having the reader's favor sway.
I feel like as much as they built up Hayden's first heat it was really tame and lackluster. It almost felt as if the author grew tired of writing the smutty scenes and just decided to fade-to-black most of the parts that would have made it seem as intense as they had illuded to it being. There were a lot of instances in the book where I wanted the author to go deeper but she remained at surface level. It took a lot of the appeal away from the book which would have likely given it at the minimum a 4 star review.
I am intrigued enough by the world the author is writing that I may read the spinoff series featuring Wren somewhere down the line. I will say that this series was not bad. I have read bad series before and this was not one of them. I just wanted more from it. I wanted to lose myself in the characters and their lives but I was unable to achieve that. I would say that my standards can be a little high and I can be a bit more critical than the average reader so I urge others to give it a shot for themselves and feel free to let me know if you catch anything I may have missed.
I feel like as much as they built up Hayden's first heat it was really tame and lackluster. It almost felt as if the author grew tired of writing the smutty scenes and just decided to fade-to-black most of the parts that would have made it seem as intense as they had illuded to it being. There were a lot of instances in the book where I wanted the author to go deeper but she remained at surface level. It took a lot of the appeal away from the book which would have likely given it at the minimum a 4 star review.
I am intrigued enough by the world the author is writing that I may read the spinoff series featuring Wren somewhere down the line. I will say that this series was not bad. I have read bad series before and this was not one of them. I just wanted more from it. I wanted to lose myself in the characters and their lives but I was unable to achieve that. I would say that my standards can be a little high and I can be a bit more critical than the average reader so I urge others to give it a shot for themselves and feel free to let me know if you catch anything I may have missed.
