Although I have well over a dozen books that I’m supposed to be reading for my 2020 resolution, the next book in the Embraced series was released, so I’m playing catch-up on all of them and re-reading the first three, so I remember who these women are, who their men are, and how they’re all connected in this particular world. You’d think, given my love of dragons, that I’d be excited to read this one again, but the reality is that due to a lot of little factors, I was pretty neutral about it. Although I had forgotten most of the story, which I guess was…kind of a good thing? (Does any author really want that though?)
Eight Simple Rules for Dating a Dragon (2018)
Written by: Kerrelyn Sparks
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Pages: 435 pages (Mass Market Paperback)
Series: The Embraced #3
Publisher: St. Martin’s
The Premise:
Gwennore is an Elf able to track down the cause of a certain illness and heal it — a valuable asset to her people. But when she is thrust into the realm of the dragons, she discovers a haunted place of power, passion, and magic — one that is plagued by an ancient curse. When she meets the smoldering General Silas Dravenko, Gwen knows she’s entered a whole new world of trouble. She’s been raised never to trust a dragon. So why does making a deal with the devil feel so good?
Silas has no way of saving the royal family he’s served for years. But when a beautiful, innocent elf comes bursting into his world, Silas is awakened to desire in a way he’s never felt before. But how can he trust a sworn enemy. . . and how can he live without her?
No spoilers
Discussion: I feel like I would have enjoyed this story a lot more if it weren’t for dozens of little things that nagged at me. Gwennore is pretty great, I’ll start with that, and when a dragon swoops down to kidnap Luciana’s daughter, she grabs right onto him and gets carried into the sky — only to eventually fall off and get caught by another dragon. Gwennore already gets points for gutsiness. As it turns out, the dragon carrying her isn’t cool with kidnapping children, and the two have a nice conversation on the way to Norveshka, land of dragons, where Gwennore will be able to look after the princess until they’re both released.
And then she decides to name the dragon Puff.
Ok, can we not? That immediately rips me out of the story because now all I can think about is the children’s song, “Puff the Magic Dragon” and I do not want to be thinking of kids’ songs while reading a romance fantasy book. The title is already a play on 8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter, something I could do without, but now we’re stuck with Gwennore calling a dragon Puff the entire book. This is not a good way to start.
I’d also like to take a moment and point out that I have NO idea how large these Norveshka dragons are supposed to be. In my brain when a dragon appears on-page, he’s big. Maybe not Smaug-sized, but still rather large. Yet in the previous book, someone ties a dragon skull to a horse and the horse has no problem carrying it. That means the skull can’t be all that large, otherwise the size would topple the horse or at least make it difficult for the horse to travel. This brings the size of the dragons down considerably, yet in this book, they’re able to carry humans in their hands like dolls. So, how big are these frickin’ dragons? There has never been any frame of reference to go by. They’re hard to kill, but apparently it has been done before, but I have no idea how. Finally, I just picked a size in my brain and went with it, but it’s not something I feel I should have been wrestling with.
Moving on.
Silas, when he strolls onto the pages, is pretty sexy. He sounds more my style than the previous two gentlemen, though I don’t have any reason why since they’re all hunky dudes that are generals or captains in some way — basically in charge of armies of their respective countries. Maybe it’s because Norveshka is full of dragons and that makes it more badass than the other countries. It could also be that Silas can turn into a dragon, something I am not opposed to. Naturally, the two are immediately attracted to one another, which is interesting on Silas’s part given that the elves along their borders attack like assholes for no reason. But he realizes she’s obviously not from Woodwyn, and since she tried to save Luciana’s daughter, a move that could have easily gotten her killed, he has respect for her. Plus he can hear her thoughts, so he knows for a fact that she, too, is attracted to him. Score.
The two have some fun banter, and when Silas discovers Gwennore’s gift, he comes up with a good reason for her to stick around. The annoying thing is that even after Silas lets Gwennore know he can hear her thoughts, she continues to try to act like she isn’t interested in him, despite constantly badgering him about keeping secrets. The hypocrisy annoyed me. Just admit that you like him but don’t think you should be together because of the whole elf-hating issue, plus you miss your sisters. She does bring that up from time to time, but mostly just pretends she’s not into him when it’s already been made explicitly clear by her thoughts that she’s lying. I don’t appreciate it. Not when Silas openly tells her he’s very into her, which is a refreshing move considering the past two guys have been too busy with their issues to do that for the bulk of the book. Silas is cheeky and uses the court gossip to pretend he and Gwennore are a couple…
And then he calls her snookums. (No…) And bunnykins. (Please stop…) And refers to dating as a modern word for courtship. I’m going to go with a reason to sneak the word in the book due to the title. It feels weird, and I’m not into it. And somehow “cute” is named as a modern word as well. Yet somehow the term “cheesy” isn’t. This world’s language is frustrating and its use takes me out of the story far more than it should.
Gwennore does have a good rapport with the other women she comes into contact with, and they make for an entertaining team while they try to figure out the source of the curse that lingers in the royal family as well as upon the people of the land. I liked her as a person, and she wasn’t quite as scandalized when Silas put moves on her. Though if she were, I wouldn’t blame her — like the other women, she was raised on an island in a convent, so she’s not exactly accustomed to men, much less one man constantly trying to get cozy with her in every way possible.
Their eventual hook up is under strange circumstances. Someone important passes away, and yet Silas has absolutely no reaction to it. Maybe he’s been expecting it, but he’s so focused on Gwennore that he doesn’t even stop to consider what this death means to others that he knows. The fact that he never acknowledges it feels weird. On the flip side, Silas is more thorough and accommodating for Gwennore than Leo or Rupert were with their ladies. Gwennore is also bolder, so they make for a nice pair.
I do have an issue considering the Chameleon (we all knew he’d be back) and his abilities, given that he does something he shouldn’t — especially after Brody specifically mentions changing into a creature doesn’t mean he will have that creature’s abilities. The Chameleon proves this very fact himself — and then turns right around and disputes it. The rules for the world and some of its inhabitants get fuzzy for the simple reasons of plot. We may be in a fantasy world, but that doesn’t mean things can’t still — and should — have rules.
In Conclusion: While it’s an entertaining read in general, it would have been far better if not for the myriad of little things that both take you out of the story and lead to confusion. Perhaps it annoyed me more because I’ve read all three books in one go so far, so I notice them more (I’ve done that before with Stephanie Plum books and Fear Street books and eventually you want to throw them all across the room). I like Silas and Gwen, but I didn’t want to sit there and be frustrated while at the same time trying to be into their romance together. It just doesn’t work that way. I hope the next book doesn’t do this (as much).
AND STOP CALLING HIM PUFF.
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