3.5 out of 5 stars
E-book. Kindle Unlimited. 162 pages. Published January 28th 2021
Blurb:
Cillian Roarke is the world’s sweetest dragon. He’s a great boss, a good person, and he spends his days making honey-glazed caramel treats in the shape of bunnies for his bakery, Honey Bunny. Still, the highlight of every day is watching the adorable college student who’s Much Too Young For Him stuff his face full of Cillian’s sweet buns.
Finnick West is a college student who dreams of baked goods, much to the consternation of his figure-skating partner. She’s not offended by the temptation, but by Finnick’s continuing failure to ask out the cute baker. With pressure from all sides, Finn knows it’s time to take something for himself, if only he can catch Hot Baker’s eye.
While the two of them work up the nerve to ask each other out, an assassination attempt reveals forces working to not only stop their interspecies romance in its tracks, but destroy everything and everyone they love.
A Dragon’s Fortune is part of the Magic Emporium Series. Each book stands alone, but each one features an appearance by Marden’s Magic Emporium, a shop that can appear anywhere, but only once and only when someone’s in dire need. This book contains dragons, ice skating, a whole bunch of sugar, and a guaranteed HEA.
Likes:
- Cute and fluffy.
- Cillian and Finn are both nice guys.
- Low smut worked for the story.
- Enough world building for a standalone.
- Everything going on with Oisín.
- The non-romantic plot was good.
Dislikes:
- The plot is a little slow.
- Finn was a pushover.
- Wallace was too pushy.
- Cillian didn’t have any friends other than his brother.
- Overall low impact.
- Finn’s confrontation with the bad guy was unsatisfying.
I was in the mood for something light and fluffy, and I knew this book would fit the bill. The blurb makes it clear that Cillian and Finn both like each other, but are having trouble connecting. So I knew that the romance between them wouldn’t be full of angst.
There were things that got in the way of the romance going smoothly of course. And I actually liked that. The non-romantic plot points were interesting, and added to the world building. Oisín was an interesting character, and the glimpses of his life showed a lot about how supernatural beings were treated by humans. For a standalone book, I was happy with the world building.
Both Finn and Cillian were nice guys and easy to like. This book is low smut, but it worked for them. I especially liked that they were both fine with going slow.
Unfortunately, despite all the things I liked about the book, I couldn’t help feeling like it was slow. Cillian and Finn dance around their attraction for a long time. Then, when they finally know each other’s feelings, things come up that cause them to retreat. It always felt like outside influences moved the plot and the relationship forward. Cillian and Finn both felt passive.
I also felt like Finn was a pushover. He’s a people pleaser, and has trouble saying no or standing up for himself. Wallace didn’t help. She’s supposed to be Finn’s best friend, but more often than not she just seemed pushy and fed up with Finn’s inaction. Finn did get a little better at the end of the book. I loved how he was fully prepared to defend Cillian. I just wish his confrontation with the bad guy had a more satisfying ending.
Some books leave me with a big impact, whether from the characters, the romance, or the plot. Sadly, this book isn’t one of those. It was a fun read, but I’m glad it’s not my first experience with Sam Burns and W.M. Fawkes, since I’ve read better from them.
Love is Love Reviews 