3 out of 5 stars
E-book. Kindle Unlimited. 220 pages. Published July 24th 2018
Blurb:
A Gay Paranormal Harem Romance
Sawyer Smith is preparing to take on the world, and with his graduate degree only days away, he’s hoping to convince his gorgeous best friend and neighbor to come along for the ride. There’s only one problem; Draco has a secret, a big scaly secret, and it’s about to change Sawyer’s life forever.
When three mysterious men move into the new mansion across the street, Sawyer is plunged into a fantastical world he never knew existed, one filled with creatures of legend. Discovering the truth about Draco and his role as guardian of The Chosen One is only the tip of the paranormal iceberg.
Being drawn to this strange new world is challenging enough, but then Sawyer finds himself attracted to all The Chosen One’s guardians. Giving into his desire comes with incredible risks. Once the chosen one is found, Sawyer will return to his human life, without the guardians, without Draco.
As danger mounts, Sawyer must choose between guarding his heart from the men he grows closer to by the day, or give in and risk losing it all.
Likes:
- Hot smut.
- Polygamous relationships.
- Good mix of supernatural beings.
- Everyone got POV sections.
- Potential for growth.
- The fight scene.
Dislikes:
- Didn’t really hook me.
- The characters aren’t well fleshed out.
- Not much world building.
- Slow, sporadic plot.
- Too much sex.
- Sawyer just accepted everything with ease.
- The reveal of the chosen one is anticlimactic.
- The reason the chosen one was chosen doesn’t make sense.
- Draco’s name.
- Draco being in almost every sex scene.
- Lack of discussion around sex and kinks.
Are you looking for a book with a fast-paced, engaging plot, with fleshed out characters and good world building? If so, you need to keep looking, because this book doesn’t have any of that. What it does have a lot of is sex. Too much sex. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if this book is 50% sex scenes.
Now, I’m not against smut in my romance book. I actually enjoy it. In moderation. And I get that the sexual and romantic relationships between the five guys in this book was a focal point. Because the blurb is wrong – this isn’t a harem, it’s full-blown polygamy, with all the guys taking turns with each other.
I actually liked the idea of the relationships being polygamous. It’s more equal. And all of the guys but one were versatile. But after the first few sex scenes, which did advance the relationships, all the rest felt like filler. I’m not joking when I say that once the sex starts, it doesn’t stop.
This presents a very big problem. With the sex scenes taking up so much page space, there is naturally less space for more crucial story elements – like character development, world building, and the non-romantic plot.
I know next to nothing about most of the characters. Henry’s backstory was detailed in the previous book, so he gets a pass. Sawyer got a lot of page space, relatively speaking, so I know the basics about him. As for the rest of them, I know their species, elemental affiliation, and dick size.
Then there’s the world building. It didn’t happen. Even when things were being explained to Sawyer, it was brief. I have so many questions. Like why dragons have multiple mates when other species struggle to find even one. Or who the Goddess is. Or when Sawyer found out about the Goddess.
The prophecy about the chosen one does get explained, so I’ll give points for that. Although no one really seems to know who they’re all going to be fighting against. Luckily, the bad guys space out their attacks so the main characters only have to deal with two interruptions. Isn’t that nice? Gives them plenty of time to have more sex.
Those two attacks are basically the sum total of the non-romantic plot for the book. To say it’s thin and sporadic is an understatement. That’s part of why the sex scenes felt like filler. Like the author really wanted to split everything up into five books, but there wasn’t enough plot, so she’s stretching things out as much as possible.
I did like that each of the guys got point of view sections. Sawyer and Draco seemed to get the most, followed by Henry, with Eduard and Andvari getting the least. I also liked that everyone was a different species. It was a good mix, but I am a little worried about the thought of adding another four people into the mix. Nine main characters seems like a lot.
I do wish there had been more discussion about the sex before it started. All the guys are kinky, and while I do think the guys would have stopped if someone had a complaint, the sex could change direction at any moment. From sweet to rough in a flash. Adding in daddy/boy play mid-coitus. I know that having people sit down and talk about what their likes and dislikes are isn’t sexy, but the lack of it, especially in a book filled with so much sex, was glaringly obvious. Only Eduard asked for explicit consent for a specific sex act.
I also thought it was strange that Draco was involved in almost every sex scene. I can’t tell whether the author just liked him better or whether there’s something about dragons that make them extra needy. This goes back to the lack of world building. I know next to nothing about how dragons behave in this world, expect that apparently they give their kids lame names. Seriously, who names a dragon Draco? It’s not just lazy, it’s lame.
My final complaint is about the chosen one. The answer was obvious from the beginning, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t have been a big deal when it was revealed. It was super anticlimactic. And on top of that, the reason the chosen one was chosen is supposedly because they’re “so full of love” which I call bullshit on. None of the characters have much contact with anyone outside of the house, so unless being full of love is a euphemism for semen, it hasn’t been shown. Again going back to the lack of character building.
However, despite all of my complaints, I think the series has potential. I hope the books will continue to get better – and let’s face it, there’s a lot of room for improvement – because the writing is good. I really liked the fight scene. It was tense and detailed and full of emotions. Hopefully things will really start to take off in book two.
Be sure to check out the rest of the series – Sweet Nothings (The Chosen One #0.5), The Trouble with Love (The Chosen One #0.75), Santa Trouble (The Chosen One #0.76)
Love is Love Reviews 