#BookReview – “The Rogue King” by Abigail Owen

Blurb

Kasia Amon is a master at hiding. Who—and what—she is makes her a mark for the entire supernatural world. Especially dragon shifters. To them, she’s treasure to be taken and claimed. A golden ticket to their highest throne. But she can’t stop bursting into flames, and there’s a sexy dragon shifter in town hunting for her…

As a rogue dragon, Brand Astarot has spent his life in the dark, shunned by his own kind, concealing his true identity. Only his dangerous reputation ensures his survival. Delivering a phoenix to the feared Blood King will bring him one step closer to the revenge he’s waited centuries to take. No way is he letting the feisty beauty get away.

But when Kasia sparks a white-hot need in him that’s impossible to ignore, Brand begins to form a new plan: claim her for himself…and take back his birthright.

Review

In the book one of the Inferno Rising series, Kasia Amon cannot control her new phoenix powers, so she goes to a health clinic that’s for supernatural creatures. After a dragon shifter finds her, she steals a hot rod muscle car in order to escape him, only to realize too late she’d stolen the shifter’s prized car.

Brand Astarot is a rogue dragon shifter and ruthless mercenary. He’s obsessed with revenge, and for good reason—Uther, the King of the Gold Dragon Clan, murdered his family centuries earlier. At the behest of Ladon, the Blue Dragon king, Brand has been searching everywhere for a woman with strange fire abilities, and he lucks out when he meets Kasia. He needs her in order to secure Ladon’s help against Uther, but falling in love with her was never part of his plans.

Brand was hard, closed-off, and doesn’t let anything get in his way, at least until he develops a conscience. Kasia is snarky and brave, but a bit naive compared to the hard life she’s led by always being on the run with her mother and sisters. The H/h had great chemistry, and I loved how she pushed his buttons and drove him crazy.

As for the secondary characters… Maul, Kasia’s pet hellhound, was adorable and so protective. Fallon, Ladon, and a few others first showed up in The Mate, the prequel in the Fire’s Edge series, and returned in this book, but I wish Maddie, Fallon’s mate, would’ve made an appearance, too. Ladon played a much bigger role than he has previously, which showed his friendship with Brand and how he’s ruling his clan.

Even though I liked the story, my attention kept straying. Sometimes a character would speak in the same paragraph where another character would think or do something. Tighter pacing, less description in some areas, and more detail in others would’ve helped me focus. That stated, some readers may not care or pick up on things like that. Everyone is different.

For new readers thinking about delving into Ms. Owen’s dragon shifter books: just know the Fire’s Edge series deals with the dragons in the Americas, and Inferno Rising series deals with the dragons in Europe and Asia. The timeline for these series are mostly side by side, so they overlap. I can only imagine a big showdown that will unite both series in the books to come. I’m definitely looking forward to that.

4 Stars

— I’d love to know what you think of the book or my review. Please comment below.

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