Dragon Storm was another Katie MacAlister hit that left me breathless!

At first I wasn't sure that I wanted to see Constantine get his own book, but clearly I was wrong. Katie hit a home run with this book!

Was it as good as Aisling's series or Ysolde's series? Not by my standards, but it was a fun, typical Katie MacAlister ride that left me wanting the next book! And good thing the next book is already out!

I didn't see anything wrong with this novel other than it felt a little long. It lacked a large amount of suspenseful plot that the other books have. It still follows the same plot that has been building with all the past novels, but it didn't add much to it. I would have loved the large story arc to add some playful twist and turns in this book, but it lacked that.

Overall, I loved it! Lots of romance, a few steamy scenes, and some of my favorite past Dragons and Mates were in this book!

Five out of five stars! I loved it! ( )

Constantine of Norka, who is the leader of the now defunct Silver Dragons, was killed and resurrected by the love of his life, Ysolde who was stolen from him by Baltic who formed the Light Dragons after the fall of the Black Dragons who were reformed under Kostya, Constantine's godson. Since Constantine had no sept, Baltic accepted him into the Light Dragons. Constantine can fade in and out of this world and the Otherworld since he is a spirit. Because of this Ysolde asks him to go to Abaddon (hell to humans) and take a special token from the demon lord of Abaddon, Asmodeus in order to break the curse put on the dragons. When he arrives there he finds Bee Dakar, the Charmer hired to break the curse locked up in a cell after being caught for doing the same thing he is there to do. He refuses to let her out as he believes she is safer in the cell since he cannot protect her. As a spirit, it takes a lot of energy to do certain things such as breath fire or fight in corporal form. When he makes it to Asmodeus's room he finds Gary the head in a cage who is a knocker or a spirit that warns people in mines by knocking on the wall when a collapse in eminent. Gary tells Constantine what to take.

On the way out Constantine releases Bee and tries to make an escape but they are both caught and Gary told Asmodeus that he took something so Constantine, who has had a bete noir placed on him that keeps him in corporal form, gives over the finger he took, but keeps the other object he took. Amid the chaos that soon ensues, Bee, Gary, and Constantine make a run for the gate and escape Abaddon. When Bee tries to undo the curse on Constantine it blows up, which means the artifact was the wrong one. That's when they find out that the demon lord with whom they needed to get an object from was the one before Asmodeus: Bael. Constantine is withholding information about Bael from Bee and from the other dragons.

While they are making plans to find Bael to get an object, Bael is making plans to gather magic objects in order to take over the Otherworld and Abaddon and then kill off the dragons and take over the world. So the dragons are going to have to get together to stop Bael from getting these objects while also trying to break the curse that keeps them from being able to talk to each other and makes them want to fight each other.

Constantine is a wonderful character. He has an inflatable sheep and enjoys sex toys that he keeps trying to get Bee to try with some success. When he stays in Paris he stays in a brothel because it is free of magic and the service is great. He is so kind to Gary and gets him a hamster ball to rest in and a Tonka truck to be placed on with a remote so he can move about on his own. He's a bit of a romantic and while at first he's still stuck on Ysolde that's more of an idyllic love that isn't real. What he feels for Bee, however, is real. The two of them together are a fun couple to read about and this book was a really enjoyable read.

Quotes
I like base motives. They can be oodles of fun.

-Katie MacAlister (Dragon Storm p 52)

“Do not think about what you will by doing,” Constantine said. “Just do it.” “You sound like a horrible mutation of Yoda.” I grumbled.
-Katie MacAlister (Dragon Storm p 70)

“Was that supposed to be a kiss?” he asked when she pulled back. The self-satisfied look on her face faded to one of annoyance. “It was very much a kiss, yes. It was supposed to be a comforting gesture since you are obviously distressed about something, but now I take it back. Oafs like you don’t deserve comforting!” “I am a wyvern, not an oaf. And wyverns enjoy being kissed, but only when it’s done properly.” Bee opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, clearly outraged, “My kiss was just fine!” “It wasn’t. It was a mere pressing of the lips. There was no passion, no heat, no teasing of the mouth, no whispered promises of pleasure, no hint of the sweet joy that lies within. And then there was the way you leaned forward to do it, ensuring that no other part of your body touched mine. A kiss is more involved---“ “Criminy beans, don’t you ever shut up?” “I assumed you wished to know what elements of your kiss were lacking—“
--Katie MacAlister (Dragon Storm p 111-12)

Sometimes you have to make your own fate rather than waiting for others to do it for you.
-Katie MacAlister (Dragon Storm p 119)

Somehow, I never thought this day would end up with me hunting a demon lord with an ex-dragon and a head in a hamster ball.
-Katie MacAlister (Dragon Storm p 162)

“I’m falling in love with you, you irritating, annoying, incredibly wonderful man. And if you think you’re going to get rid of me once the situation with your father is over, you’d just better think again.” He stopped writhing, lifting his head up to glare at me. “You’re stopping?” I pinched his hip. “Dammit, I just told you I loved you! Is that all you’re going to say? You’re supposed to react to my statement! Appropriately, I might add.” “You did not say that you were in love with me; you said you were falling in love with me. There is an important difference. Tell me when you are fully in love with me, and then I will react appropriately.”
-Katie MacAlister (Dragon Storm p 281) ( )

As a ghost, sort of existing between the two worlds, the hero lives to annoy the mate of the woman he's vowed to love forever. But inside he's grown listless and feels adrift from other dragons. Then he's asked to travel into hell to retrieve a talisman that will end the curse handing over the dragon kind. When he arrives in hell, h finds the heroine in prison. She had the same idea, to secret into the demon lords quarters and steal the talisman. But she got caught and becomes infuriated when he first declines her demands to free her. Then the hero overhears the guards talking about killing her, so he reluctantly returns and breaks her loose. Together they barely make it out of hell alive but they do succeed and with the talisman. Problem is, the demon lord they targeted isn't actually the demon lord who cast the spell. No, that demon lord is the mother of all demon lords and the hero's estranged evil father who murdered his wife and tried desperately to murder his son. Up until the point of discovering the hero's secret, the heroine thought his to be sexy yes, but rather shallow and without any true substance. Then is all changes. She sees within him vulnerability and goes from vowing to never again become involved with a dragon to starting an affair with one. Also, she finds herself standing up for and protesting against the manner in which other dragons treat him. When they find the correct talisman and succeed in ending the curse, they are overjoyed. The heroine has single handily saved the entire dragon race from extinction. But it's not that easy and their problems aren't over. There's still the manner of the evil demon lord being free to walk about causing havoc as well as the relationship issues to be sorted out between the hero and heroine-mainly concerning whether or not she is his true mate. I found this book to be exhausting. Very one note and without much in the way of emotional or storyline layers. It was a cookie cutter romance, very much like all the other book in the series. I don't know why I enter into these books expecting anything fantastic because I'm always sorely disappointed. Once again I found myself reading a basic, no substance and intensely annoying book with one dimensional characters who talk way too much about absolutely nothing at all and for far too long. It's almost like the author is just using filer to try to make a story that could realistically be about 150 pages into a full length book. That peppered with horribly awkward conversations about sex toy and such made this book particularly cringe worthy. It just didn't do anything for me, sad to say and as such I think it's best I take a break from this author for a while. Maybe some space will do us good. ( )

Dragon Storm by Katie MacAlister
Book #2: Dragon Falls Series
Source: Purchase
My Rating: 5/5 stars
My Review:

There is certainly no sophomore slump here as Dragon Storm comes screaming into the series with a ton of fun and some new characters.

For centuries, Constantine has lived as an outcast. He is thought to have been the ruin of many, many dragons and now lives predominately as a spirit though he can manifest into a solid form. Like most dragons, Constantine is handsome beyond measure but he is also, unlike most dragons, exceptionally kind, thoughtful, caring, and the bearer of a twisted sense of humor. According to Constantine, his one true mate, Ysolde is mated to Baltic and though Constantine has accepted the reality of the situation, he isn’t at all happy about it. In order to assuage his anger, Constantine finds new and improved ways to aggravate Baltic and awards himself points for particular reactions. Oh, and he likes to invest in sex toys and leave some lying about the house 

Because of his status among other dragons, Constantine rarely concerns himself with their affairs. However, a chance to redeem himself wouldn’t be ignored so when he is asked to go into the underworld to retrieve an item of great importance, Constantine agrees to go. Constantine has no intention of lingering in the underworld but finds his task hampered at every turn. The first hampering is Bee, a fiercely frustrating Charmer (her job, not her personality) who is, incidentally working on the same problem as Constantine. The second hampering comes in the way of a disembodied knocker by the name of Gary (Gareth, but nobody calls him that!) and the final hampering comes in the form of the crown prince of Abadon who has no intention of allowing Constantine, Bee, Gary, or his possessions to leave his realm. Against his better judgement (and thanks to the chains!) Constantine helps Bee and Gary out of Hell and back into the real world.

Once back in the real world, Bee and Constantine determine their first course of action should be to reverse the curse that has plagued dragonkin for more than two years. If the curse can be reversed, and Bee is certain of her abilities, then each of the dragon septs can once again talk to one another and again focus on the larger issues facing them all. First on the list, banishing Bael’s sorry, evil ass back to Hell. As I have come to expect in my Katie Mac reads, Dragon Storm is full of characters past and Constantine and Bee are most assuredly visited by the other dragons and their mates. Aisling and Drake, Ysolde and Baltic, and Aiofe and Kostya all make appearances and work with Constantine and Bee to solve a lot of problems. Thrown into the mix is the budding relationship between Constantine and Bee and how the two of them cannot only be together but also care for Gary.

The Bottom Line: I was less than impressed with the first read in this series but found myself pleasantly surprised by Dragon Storm. This read has all the things I love in Katie Mac books: feisty dragons, JIM and GARY for serious comic relief, the appearance of older characters, and the continuation of a good and somewhat unresolved plot line. Couple all of this with a new, fun couple like Constantin and Bee and Dragon Storm becomes all kinds of awesome. My only complaint about this read Aiofe, I still really dislike her and that doesn’t seem to be ending any time soon. On the bright side, Aiofe plays only a small role in this read so I didn’t let her dampen my feelings about the book as a whole. By books’ end, some of the issues are resolved but dragonkin and the world still face the challenge and threat that is Bael. On to book three, Dragon Soul. ( )

These dragon books seriously crack me up. [a:Katie MacAlister|28550|Katie MacAlister|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1214249622p2/28550.jpg] comes up with some great one-liners, and her dragons are super dragony! This is the first book of the Dragon Septs World that I have not listened to in audio, so I wasn't sure how it would go. I have been a bit spoiled by Tavia Gilbert narrating this series b/c she does such an excellent job with accents and delivering the aforementioned one-liners. But I still found myself cracking up and highlighting like crazy across the ebook.

I was a little nervous about this book when I saw that it was about Bee. Having committed her sister, Aoife, to a looney bin in the prior book, she did not engender good feelings. So I started off the book not liking her, but she grew on me like a fungus by the end. I didn't quite connect to her all the way, but she was good with Constantine and she didn't run off half-cocked all the time so she didn't get on my nerves. But I wouldn't hesitate to trip her and get to Constantine if it came down to it.

Now, Constantine on the other hand - love love love love love! I always love the dragons in this series, though I don't remember Constantine from the previous books. In my defense, I did read them several years ago and my memory isn't what it used to be. So if Constantine was a baddy in previous books, I think I am glad I don't remember because I loved him so much here. He was totally oversexed, way too into adult toys, but a genuinely nice guy/dragon.

The story arc from the first book is continuing, the dragons and mates are out to break the curse put upon all dragonkin two years prior. This brings them up against some powerful demons, one of which has some interesting connections to our hero. We get a new secondary character in this book as well, Gary, who is a disembodied head and provides comedic relief similar to Effrijim, our lovable newfie demon.

Favorite quotes from this story:

...I am now very much with the times. I have a mobile phone. I listen to podcasts. I twat.

I am quite conversant with internet memes and social phrases. I Twatter. I read the Wikipodium. I am as hip as they come.

I will punch you in the gooch.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars / 3 flames. ( )