New Release Review and Excerpt: DRAGON KING by Donna Grant (A Dark Kings/1001 Dark Nights novella)

We are thrilled to bring you the Review & Excerpt Tour for Donna Grant’s DRAGON KING! DRAGON KING is a novella in Donna’s Dark Kings Series brought to you by the team at 1001 Dark Nights! Grab your copy today!

About DRAGON KING: A Dark Kings Novella:

A Woman on a Mission

Grace Clark has always done things safe. She’s never colored outside of the law, but she has a book due and has found the perfect spot to break through her writer’s block. Or so she thinks. Right up until Arian suddenly appears and tries to force her away from the mountain. Unaware of the war she just stumbled into, Grace doesn’t just discover the perfect place to write, she finds Arian—the most gorgeous, enticing, mysterious man she’s ever met.

A King with a Purpose

Arian is a Dragon King who has slept away centuries in his cave. Recently woken, he’s about to leave his mountain to join his brethren in a war when he’s alerted that someone has crossed onto Dreagan. He’s ready to fight . . . until he sees the woman. She’s innocent and mortal—and she sets his blood aflame. He recognizes the danger approaching her just as the dragon within him demands he claim her for his own…

Excerpt:

Arian paced the cavern in his mountain in agitation and a wee bit of anxiety. He was shaking off the dragon sleep from the past six hundred years. Not only had it been six centuries since he had been in human form, but there was a war the Dragon Kings were involved in.

Con and the others were waiting for him to join in the war. Every King had been woken to take part. After all the wars they had been involved in, Arian wasn’t happy to be woken to join another.

Because of Ulrik. The banished and disgraced Dragon King hadn’t just made a nuisance of himself, but he somehow managed to get his magic returned.

Which meant the Kings needed to put extra magic into keeping the four silver dragons sleeping undisturbed deep within the mountain. They were Ulrik’s dragons, and he would want to wake them soon.

But it wasn’t just Ulrik that was causing mischief. The Dark Fae were as well. It infuriated Arian that they were once more fighting the Dark. Hadn’t the Fae Wars killed enough Fae and dragons?

Then again, as a Dragon King as old as time itself, they were targets for others who wanted to defeat them.

For Ulrik, he just wanted revenge. Arian hated him for it, but he could understand. Mostly because Arian had briefly joined Ulrik in his quest to rid the realm of humans.

Thoughts of Ulrik were pushed aside as Arian found himself thinking about why he had taken to his mountain. When he came here six hundred years earlier, it was to remain there for many thousands of years.

The Dragon Kings sought their mountains for many reasons. Some were just tired of dealing with mortals, but others had something they wished to forget for a while. Arian was one of the latter.

There were many things he did in his past when the King of Kings, Constantine, asked. Not all of them Arian was proud of. The one that sent him to his mountain still preyed upon him.

He didn’t remember her name, but he remembered her tears. Because of the spell to prevent any of the Dragon Kings from falling in love with mortals, Arian had easily walked away from the female.

Six centuries later, he could still hear her begging him to stay with her, still see the tears coursing down her face. Though he hadn’t felt anything, it bothered him that he had so easily walked away. Because Con had demanded it.

Loyalty—above all else.

The Dragon Kings were his family, and Dreagan his home. There was never any question if he were needed that Arian would do whatever it took to help his brethren in any capacity asked of him.

Review:

“All I know is that I like how I feel when I’m with you. I love how protective you are and that you aren’t afraid to say you’re sorry. I like how you touch me and kiss me. I like how you hold me, but more than anything, I like the possibilities that are before us.”

“We’re in the middle of a war,” he warned.

She shrugged and ran her hands up his chest and over his shoulders to clasp around his neck. “Every couple has their own issues to get through.”

Funny. All those articles I’ve read on getting over writer’s block, not a single one mentioned finding your very own dragon shifter and his mountain to be cured…

The dragon king and the novelist–I like the combination here, though a longer format would have allowed us to get to know them better. The shortness of the novella made everything more rushed than I normally like, but it did give you a taste of the series and Ms. Grant’s writing.

This was my first Donna Grant/Dark Kings story, and it worked fine as a standalone. There is a greater plotline going on in the series as a whole which this story gives you the bare bones of, but really this novella is mainly concerned with its two main characters, one of whom just woke up from a 600-year sleep, so it’s as good a place as any to start. If you just want to get a taste of the author’s writing to see if you want to tackle the series, it’s a great place to start–like many of the 1001 Dark Nights novellas.

Rating: 3 stars / C

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

Amazon eBook ** Amazon Paperback

About Donna Grant:

Donna Grant is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the sizzling Dark King series featuring dragons, immortal Highlanders, and the Fae.

She was born and raised in Texas but loves to travel. Her adventures have taken her throughout the United States as well as to Jamaica, Mexico, and Scotland. Growing up on the Texas/Louisiana border, Donna’s Cajun side of the family taught her the “spicy” side of life while her Texas roots gave her two-steppin’ and bareback riding.

Despite deadlines and voracious reading, Donna still manages to keep up with her two children, four cats, and one long haired Chihuahua.

Website ** Twitter ** Facebook ** Author Goodreads ** DRAGON KING Goodreads

DRAGON KING – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:

August 26^th

Penny for My Thoughts – Review

JB’s Book Obsession – Excerpt

She Hearts Books – Review

Pages Abound – Excerpt

August 27^th

Read Your Writes – Excerpt

Reads All the Books – Review & Excerpt

Booklover4lifeblog – Excerpt