*I received an ecopy of this book from the publisher. This has not influenced my review.*

I was hesitant about this book because it sounded good, but I never read series out of order. Each book is, I think, about a different story with different characters though (except this one and the next, which do share a couple characters), and the general consensus was that you could easily read this one without having read the previous books. Now that I’ve read it, I can say that there might’ve been more to the world that I didn’t know about or something, but I absolutely was not confused in any way, nor did I feel like I was missing any information. So if you’re concerned about jumping into the series at Book 5 like I was, don’t be. Just go for it.

As for the book itself, it was great! It felt longer than it was, and I mean that in a good way. There were two romantic couples in the story instead of one, plus the four dragon-owner bonds, plus a non-romance plot, but nothing felt rushed or underdeveloped. And all of it was interesting and kept my attention.

As I’ve seen many other reviewers for this book mention, there was a kind of grey area when it came to the humans sleeping with the dragons. Fortunately, I happen to think gray areas are the best areas when it comes to books. But yes, it was a little strange because, although they had a human form, the dragons were still more dragon than human (and more cat than dragon sometimes). They didn’t like being in human form, they mostly communicated like Tarzan with growls and two word sentences, they liked to curl up on the floor with each other or with their head in their masters’ laps, etc. And the relationship among the main characters and their dragons is one that I can’t find any comparable real life relationship for. It wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the same as human friendship, but it was sexual, and there was definitely love and care and protectiveness in there. Almost like a pet, but there was more depth/comprehension since they could communicate, and obviously sex. It was something new, and I think either you can accept this unique bond as part of the world, or not. Considering I was already accepting the premise of dragons, I didn’t find it particularly difficult.

Speaking of the dragons, this was definitely a unique portrayal. A bit dark, but interesting. Also, they each have a fixation on some sort of food, for example, strawberries or mint, and I can’t help but think, I’m obsessed with pomegranates… *whispers* Maybe I’m a dragon…

Another thing, there were quite a few sex scenes *MILD SPOILER* (including one M/M/M/M) *END SPOILER*, but Megan Derr knows how to write them, and they never broke the flow of the story, so I didn’t mind.

Last but not least, all the main characters were likeable, and I sympathized with their struggles and wanted them all to have a happy ending.

So overall, the dragons and the dragon-owner bonds were interesting, the characters were likeable, the romances were sweet, and I really enjoyed this book!