Bring the Heat (Dragon Kin #9) by G.A. Aiken – Dual Review
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Description:
HE SAYS . . .
I, Aidan the Divine, am . . . well, divine. My name was given to me by the Dragon Queen herself! I’m a delight! Cheerful. Charming. And a mighty warrior who is extremely handsome, with a very large and well-hidden hoard of gold. I am also royal-born, despite the fact that most in my family are horrendous beings who don’t deserve to live. And yet, Branwen the Awful—a low-born, no less—either tells me to shut up or, worse, ignores me completely.
SHE SAYS . . .
I’ll admit, I ignore Aidan the Divine because it annoys him. A lot. But we have so much to do right now, I can’t worry about why he keeps staring at me, or why he always sits so close, or why he keeps looking at me like he’s thinking about kissing me. We have our nations to save and no time for such bloody foolishness . . . no matter how good Aidan looks or how long his spiked tail is. Because if we’re going to win this war before it destroys everything we love, we’ll have to face our enemies together, side by side and without distractions. But if we make it out alive, who knows what the future will hold . . .
Sandy’s Review
BRING THE HEAT is the ninth full-length installment in G.A.Aiken’s adult DRAGON KIN fantasy romance series focusing on a group of Southland dragon shifters and their mates. This is Aidan the Divine, and Branwen, the Awful’s story line. BRING THE HEAT can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from previous story lines is revealed where necessary although I recommend reading the series in order for history, cohesion and character back stories. There is an ongoing threat against Queen Annwyl and the ‘abominations’-the powerful offspring of the dragon and human matings.
Told from several third person points of view including Aidan and Branwen BRING THE HEAT focuses on the upcoming war threatening Queen Annwyl the Bloody, and the children known as the ‘abominations’. A rather larger group of dragon-haters known as the Zealots has targeted the human Queen in an attempt to destroy that which they fear-the unknown. When several dragons, and the Queen go missing from the most recent battle, Branwen the Awful is charged with protecting her cousin and royal offspring, Keita the Viper, as she prepares to do battle with a potential threat of a different kind. Enter Aidan the Divine, a dragon warrior and member of the Queen’s most terrifying army known as the Mi-runach who is tasked with escorting Branwen and Keita on a journey towards another possible war. What ensues is the building relationship between Branwen and Aidan, and the inevitable battle between the dragons, the gods, the witches and the demons.
BRING THE HEAT is a story line that follows several converging paths with a large ensemble cast of secondary and supporting characters including many of the previous story line couples and characters, as well as their growing families of gifted offspring. Talwyn, Talan and Rhiannwen, otherwise known as the ‘abominations’ continue to slowly come into their powers but it is Gwenvael and Dagmar’s hatchlings that may be a bigger surprise going towards the future. With the introduction of more extended kin, cousins and family, as well as the growing number of ‘hybrid’ offspring, I suspect many more story lines focusing on the Dragon Kin and threats to their less than idyllic family dynamics.
G.A.Aiken uses humor, sarcasm, playful banter, and witty one on one repartee between the characters as she takes the reader on a journey into the fantastic. Her world building is colorful, energetic and vast-you can feel the emotional highs and lows, the anxiety and excitement as the war kicks into high gear, threatening everyone and everything in its’ path. There is plenty of bloodshed and violence wrapped in a comforting blanket of family, kinship and ….fun! If you haven’t read G.A.Aiken’s DRAGON KIN, what are you waiting for? And, for even more fun, check out her Pack, Pride and new Honey Badger shifter series written under the pen name Shelly Laurenston !!
Barb’s Review:
Bring the Heat by G.A. Aiken is the 9th book in her fantastic Dragon Kin series. I could not wait to start this book, and made sure not to be interrupted. If you read G.A. Aiken/Shelly Laurenston, you will understand what I mean. No one writes wildly fun, crazy, exciting & stories about Dragons/Wolves better than Laurenston/Aiken, as despite all of the crazy insanity and violence, she has us laughing all the way. I love Shelly Laurenston/G.A. Aiken. So I dare anyone to interrupt me when I read her books, as I want to savior every single moment, even reread certain parts immediately. Now to my review. 🙂
Bring the Heat is an exciting continuation and climax of the ongoing war with the Zealots and the evil villains, Chramnesind & Vateria that have been part of the main background storyline for the last few books. Brannie (Branwen the Awful) and Aidan (the Divine) are our couple in this book, and as usual with Aiken’s heroes, they were a hilarious and awesome duo that despite Aidan’s feelings for Brannie, she was determined to not see him other than as a friend. Aidan’s two sidekicks (Mi-runach) played a big part (wild & crazy) in this book, as did Kachka and her two Daughters of the Steppes cohorts. Beside Brannie, Aidan, the other main character in Bring the Heat was definitely, Keita (the viper), who just about stole the show. However, the best part is we get to see all, and I mean all of our favorites from the previous stories; Annwyl, Izzy, Dagmar, Rhiannon, Talith, Fearghus, Gwenvael, Bercelak, Eibhear, Morfyd,
With the bloody war in full force, and the Zealots given powers by the evil god Chramnesind to eliminate the dragons & human hybrids; the Dragon Queen’s armies and those helping are suffering terrible losses and Annwyl is missing. Brannie and Aidan managed to free themselves from the rubble and are eventually sent on a separate mission to help Keita, much to their dismay. It was pretty funny at Brannie’s reaction that Keita was indeed the dangerous protector of the throne, not the annoying fop she thought she was. I really enjoyed seeing Keita use her powerful skills to kill the enemies, as we got to see more of what she can do. I also continue to adore the crazy insane Annwyl, who despite being human, seems to be able to defeat her enemies, even demons with her powerful rages.
This was an amazing and pulse pounding adventure for all to survive the Zealot onslaught, pull together to stop the evil god, find Annwyl, and win this horrible war. The romance between Brannie and Aiden was fun, but at the same time, as much as I liked them, I didn’t feel the overall bonding that I did with the previous couples.
This is a hard review because it is difficult to explain the world, dragons, the humans, abominations, etc, and why we are laughing all the way within all this violence. Of course, I am loving every moment. I will say this over and over, I love Shelly Laurenston (aka Aiken), as she can do what no author can do…make me laugh through so much of the book, and keep me intensely engrossed in the story. If you have not read the Dragon Kin series, you are missing a fantastic ride, written by a fantastic author, G.A. Aiken (aka Shelly Laurenston)
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