This is a great debut novel written by Hannah Pennington, fast paced and intense with a lot of emotional moments. You can find it on Amazon here. This review contains some spoilers. Check out my review on Goodreads/Amazon for no spoilers.
Some nit-picks/content concerns:
I found it weird with the love interest entering the female MCs room to let her know he forgave her. I was just thinking how unless it were my husband I would not want a man coming into my bedroom because what if I was immodest? Plus if anyone else saw him enter and leave I feel like that could be a cause of scandal. I can’t recall exactly though. If it was a shared room then that’s less of a problem I guess but still made me not so sure. I think I would’ve preferred him just to try and talk to her through the wall and leave it at that instead of coming in and tucking her in.
Clean romance overall but for those who may be more sensitive/want to know, there is a hug described for a paragraph and there is a scene with Elken picking up Melanie to carry her, and an almost-kiss.
I feel like the relationship with the butcher guy was too rushed to care. Melanie chooses not to get close and cuts him off because of her secret, and it’s an emotional scene, but I didn’t really care as a reader because I didn’t really feel any connection not even toward friendship. I would’ve liked to see some more conversations, maybe her sitting alone at lunch and feeling awkward and him choosing to sit next to her, things like that instead of just him being clearly infatuated with her looks and polite, semi-superficial conversations.
I felt the beginning dragged in parts. I didn't find the beginning scene too hooking, but it could've just been my mood then. I am a very picky reader to be fair. But once we entered the new world it got very intense and exciting, and it was hard to put the book down.
Things I loved:
Jason was my favourite character. He was hilarious and very well fleshed out. I enjoyed his comical nature. He also just seemed very teenagey and I feel like the YA readers will love him. I hope that once he grows up a bit more that maybe a romance between him and the dragon-girl he saved will come to be. I felt like that would've made a great romance.
Melanie was easy to care for and her romance in the new fantasy world was very emotion-evoking and believable. There was also a lot of selflessness portrayed which was great and romance was smut free thankfully, appropriate for YA readers.
I loved the dragon and also seeing from his POV.
I found a lot of things very creative and well thought out. Great world building.
The “all is lost” moment toward the end was so intense! It was very much an all is lost time and was hard to stop reading at that point. I was really sad about the ending regarding Elken. I really hope he somehow magically shows up again in book two.