Liv Rider

Protector Dragon is the first book in the ‘Lewiston Dragons’ series. It stars Joel, a human and barista, and Thomas Rollins, a dragon shifter and Keeper of the Peace. This is told in third person from Joel and Thomas’s povs.



First the cover. I don’t think it matches the characters that closely. The blond is likely Thomas and isn’t that bad, but Joel is far to muscled for the book character in my opinion.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author. I was looking for a paranormal shifter story without mpreg, something that was a bit on the lighter side and I found this one. It was actually fluffier than I expected, and it kept getting fluffier the further I read. If you’re looking for that kind of read this is probably for you. The blurb does a good job of describing the basic plot, so I won’t go into that.

I had planned on giving this story a higher rating than I am going to give it, but it kind of fell apart at the end during the climactic rescue scene. There were some inconsistencies that need clearing up. It’s mentioned that after Thomas shifts out of dragon form he’s wearing lose t-shirt and pants because they fit better when he shifts. All I could think of was, either Thomas is a tiny dragon barely larger than human size, or that there is this dragon with a teeny tiny t-shirt and pants on, and how could anyone find a dragon that looked like that, ferocious? So that was a failure in description on providing powerful imagery and consistency in shifting. Later Thomas explains the reason for the lose clothing, but he doesn’t explain if it vanishes with magic and returns with magic, so we never know what happens to the clothes. I of course, had to ruminate on this and thought that shoving their clothes in a bag, and then have the dragon carry the bag in their claws when they fly, would work better. Because mini clothes on a dragon would look weird, but that’s just me.

Second inconsistency was the time of day when Thomas flew into town. He wanted to go over immediately at night. The other Keeper, Douglas, asked what he was going to do at night until morning? Well, I would imagine wait at Douglas’s home. Instead, Douglas said Thomas should arrive early morning. This totally didn’t make sense, it’s lighter for Thomas to be spotted. Later after the rescue, it’s pointed out that Thomas should leave at night so he isn’t spotted. There is the huge inconsistency from what was said before and what was said later. I don’t understand why things like this slide by. It just strikes me as sloppy writing, or betas/editors/ proofers who don’t know what they are doing, or if the writer is told, the writer doesn’t want to take advice.

Another big inconsistency, was during the rescue. Thomas as a dragon could literally crush or burn the house down like his dragon wanted to do. In fact, Thomas threatened to wreck the inside of the house if they didn’t bring Joel out, if he had to search for Joel. So, Thomas even in human form, is pretty strong. Then why did the author write him as weak and nervous wondering if the father would let Joel go when they were standing on the front porch? Thomas has been portrayed as a powerful dragon throughout the whole book, but suddenly he’s weak and anguishing if he’ll ever get Joel back. Why was he letting the father, a wolf shifter, have so much power over what was going to happen? All Thomas had to do was demand and force the father to give Joel back, either in dragon form or in human form and he’d get Joel back. It’s like Thomas had a complete personality switch. For this reason, and the other reasons, I have to knock down the star rating. I don’t know if the author had betas, or editors, or proofers, but they should have told the author about these obvious inconsistencies, because they really stand out and weaken the plot. There are also grammar mistakes that should have been picked up by betas and anyone else who checked over this story.

Character wise, I liked Joel and Thomas. This is an instant lust, finding your mate, story. The relationship moves along quite fast, but that’s expected on Thomas’s part because of the dragon. Luckily or unluckily for Thomas, Joel knows about shifters. Unfortunately, his experience is bad. So that’s the conflict for the couple in this book, as well as the kidnapping by Joel’s family. I can believe in Joel and Thomas as a couple. I enjoyed when the dragon spoke up, giving its thoughts on a situation or demanding Thomas do something.

Even though this book was fluffier than I expected, it hit the spot in what I was searching to read. I’ve already started the second book in the series dealing with Parker, another dragon and Keeper of the Peace. I wish the inconsistencies hadn’t been so bad because I have to lower the star ratings for that. In the end, I give Protector Dragon, 3 Stars.

… (meer)

Halloween Dragon is the second book in the ‘Lewiston Dragons’ series. This story stars Parker Blackburn, Alpha dragon shifter and Keeper of the Peace, and Cameron, human and Halloween fanatic. This is told in third person from both Parker and Cameron’s povs.



First the cover. It fits the fall theme, but the cover model doesn’t remind me of Parker. Mostly because Parker is more uptight and wears suits and ties, he doesn’t walk around in a relaxed mode like the cover model. I also got the impression he was slimmer; the cover model is not.

The book is well suited for reading in the fall or around Halloween because Halloween is a central theme of this story. The blurb does a good job of explaining the plot so I won’t go into it much. Part of the conflict comes from Parker having to learn how to deal with a mate, since he’s pretty much been a loner and he likes to control people and how issues are handled in the council. The other conflict is an outside source who wants to buy the farm where the Halloween festival is held every year and how that problem is solved.

As to the characters, Joel and Thomas make a reappearance, and they are very much in love. Mitchell, the other dragon shifter and Keeper of the Peace in the same district as Thomas and Parker, also returns. Now on to the main characters. Parker came across like I expected him to when he first showed up in book one. He’s anxious, controlling, and likes to run a tight-ship. He’s also not very good at delegating or interacting with others. When he meets Cameron, his mate, we see another side of Parker, someone who really wants to take care of his mate. This could be just because Cameron is his mate, but Parker is willing to make many changes in himself in order to stay with Cameron and keep him happy. This is where I had a problem with Parker and Cameron. The author wrote the relationship where Parker is the one making all the sacrifices in changing who he was, while Cameron stayed the same. He remained impulsive, quick to anger, still jumped to conclusions, and overly obsessed with Halloween. I got the impression that Cameron was in his early twenties just by reading his behavior, how he reacted, and his fixation on Halloween and horror movies. Color me very surprised when Parker mentioned that Cameron was in his early thirties! I have no idea why the author wrote him that old. I think it would have been much better if his age was younger because it would explain much of his behavior. Instead, the way the author wrote him, made Cameron come across as very immature. Cameron expected Parker to accept his horror obsession and wanted Parker to indulge in it with him. Parker did to an extent because he loved Cameron. I didn’t see any indication that Cameron did the same for Parker with his life. Cameron was a good influence on Parker in that Parker took a step back from his duties as Keeper of the Peace and learned to enjoy activities other than work. Parker learned to delegate, and to socialize a little. I’m not sure Cameron learned anything at all. Maybe he didn’t fly off the handle as quickly if Parker was present? Barely. They did seem suited to each other though in that they were both very obsessed with whatever they focused on. Cameron was forceful, and was the only kind of person who’d be able to dislodge Parker from his rut. Despite their differences, they had enough in common to be believable as a couple, and I think that was mostly due to Parker willing to change for Cameron, because Cameron really didn’t change at all.

The sex scenes aren't the smoothest or sexiest I've read, however what I did like, is that the author incorporates playfulness and fun chatter between the two men throughout the scenes. This is something the author also did in the first book. I think it's good because so many sex scenes in other stories I've read are serious and don't contain any playful moments except before or after the act.

There are still many grammar mistakes and some questionable continuity issues. I think the author needs to either find better betas, or another editor.

Overall, this story is a good read for Halloween. I did like it slightly better than the first book because the plot seemed more realistic and had more people interaction compared to the first one. I liked Parker despite his uptight behavior, but I didn’t like Cameron, who was immature for his age, and didn’t grow in the story. I give Halloween Dragon, 4 Stars.

… (meer)

I liked the inversion of the fake boyfriend trope used here. Chris, Shaun's best friend, is a great wing-man for all that he's pretending to be his boyfriend. Mitchell turns out to be understanding once he knows the situation with Shaun's past and present lies. Though mistakes are made by just about everyone in this story - from Emily including people who keep insisting on Shaun's guilt over a stolen car in her wedding to Shaun lying about his boyfriend and work situation, everything works out in the end.… (meer)