Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things by Martina McAtee

I don’t know where to start with this book, there was so much going on in a fantastic way. The storyline was a bit of a slow starter but once it got fired up I couldn’t put it down, I bought the second book as soon as I’d finished the first and imagine how gutted I was to find out that book three isn’t out yet. It was fast paced, easy to read  and stole a piece of my heart. I FLOVE Ember and Mace. And don’t even get me started on Rhys and Kai.The sexual chemistry is sizzling up in that little supernatural town.

Seventeen year old Ember is a little socially awkward, with an alcoholic father and no mother she tends to prefer the company of the dead. She spends her time wandering around the cemetery or working part time in the morgue. After her father dies her life is thrown into a tailspin as everything she thought she knew about herself turns out to be a lie.

After an odd encounter with a gorgeous boy at her father’s funeral, two people who claim to be family sent to ‘rescue her’ and a strange sensation taking over her body Ember learns that she was born into a powerful family. A magical family. Not knowing who to trust Ember must learn to navigate her new life, her adoptive family and gain control over her powers – which seem to be growing at an alarming rate.

McAtee has so many supernatural creatures crammed into her books, witches, banshees, werewolves, reapers etc. that it really is supernatural heaven. This combined with the YA aspects, made a hugely delicious read that proved impossible to put down. She gives the tropes and storylines such depth, they are interwoven in a complex web that could potentially be all tangled and messy but McAtee handles it with precision and I wanted to know more about everyone and everything.

 

Scarificed to the Dragon by Jessie Donovan

Jessie Donovan’s book, Sacrificed to the Dragon is the first in her  Stonefire British Dragons series. The book centres on Melanie, a human who wants to learn more about dragons, but also needs their help. Britain, in the novel, is divided by 5 dragon clans, with an uneasy alliance between humans and dragons, but the dragon population is dwindling. Dragons are renowned for their healing blood and offer a scheme where you can sign up to be a mate to a dragon in the hopes of reproducing, for a vial of this blood. The contract is for 6 months and in this time you must live with the clan and have no access to the outside world. If a baby is conceived then it stays with the clan, the mother can stay too, if she survives the birth. Melanie is a compatible mate and is quickly accepted. But it’s not going to be an easy six months for her as her paired dragon, Tristan, hates humans. His mother was killed by dragon hunters and his sister tortured and now Tristan hates them too.

I liked the chemistry between Melanie and Tristan, they had some great banter and sarcastic comments to each other. Melanie is very independant, sassy and brave. I loved how she won over the clan leader, his sister and the other dragons. The sex scenes were well written and very steamy. I also liked how Tristan’s dragon kept interjecting and had this one track mind in regards to ‘his woman’. Seeing Tristan wrestle with his inner dragon was entertaining, especially when it disagreed with him.

I’ve given this four stars + because although I enjoyed it and certain parts made me laugh, it was very predictable and some pieces were a little repetitive. I also found Tristan a little frustrating as he flipped between being nice to her and pushing her away, in the beginning it happened a lot. He also went quickly from hating her to admiring her, which is what I wanted ultimately as the reader, but it felt rather quick. Luckily the inner thoughts of Tristan and his dragon balanced some of this out as it allows us to understand why he feels the way he does.