Heart of the Dragon - Gena Showalter

Heart of the Dragon by Gena Showalter
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Form: Book

Searching for her missing brother, Grace Carlyle never dreamed she would discover a secret world populated by mythological monsters - or find herself facing a sword-wielding being whos looks put mortal men to shame.

But there he was, Darius en Kragin, one of a race of shape-shifting warriors bound to guard the gates of Atlantis, and kill all travelers who strayed within its borders.

Now Grace's life was in his hands, and Darius had to choose between his centuries-old vow and the woman who had slipped beneath his defenses and stolen the heart of Atlantis's fiercest dragon.

...source, back over of book...

I was slightly disappointed with this book. I'm really not sure why that is. I love The Lords of the Underworld series, and perhaps I'm still caught up in that series that I'm having a hard time getting into this one? But really, the entire story seemed a little weak. I just can't put my finger on why. There was everything a romance lover AND a paranormal lover would want. Dark, big, bad, beautiful. It bothered me that Darius just kept jumping back and forth - "she will be mine,"..."I can't do this..." But I think the worst part was all this build up, all this getting ready for battle - and the battle itself was not that great in detail or dramatic, but then when he rescues Grace, it just seems to end abruptly. And somehow Darius has jumped from "NO HUMAN can pass through the mist..." to "hey, it's all cool...bring your entire family! Got any friends for my brothers here?" Yeah, it just was too abrupt and too much.

This is not my favorite Gena Showalter book, but I don't want to be all down and out and hard on her. She's putting out multiple books a year - many of which I like. And it is more than I can say for some of my other favorite authors ...cough couch - Stephenie Meyer, Karen Marie Moning - cough-cough.... I have the other books of the Atlantis series, I'll be picking up another one shortly...and I'm sure you all will hear about it!