Blazing The Trail: The Dragon Diaries

by Deborah Cooke

"It's almost Valentine's Day, and Zoë Sorensson's love life is heating up. Cute, loyal, and understanding, wolf shifter Derek is pretty much the perfect guy. He likes Zoë and he knows what it's like to have to keep a secret. Yet Zoë can't help but wish it was rebel rocker Jared asking her to the Valentine's dance instead. But Jared's too busy playing hot and cold with her heart, calling Zoë his "dragon girl" one minute, then taking special interest in her best friend the next. Zoë about ready to breathe fire, especially once she uncovers a new threat that targets her friends. Zoë thought the Mages were defeated, but they're back and have invoked an old spell to give them new power--and they plan to eliminate all shifters on the night of the big dance. Now Zoë must lead an alliance of young shifters to battle the Mages and figure out exactly what--and who--she wants, before it all goes up in smoke..."--

• ISBN10: 0451236823
• ISBN13: 9780451236821
• Publish Date: 5 July 2012 (first published 1 June 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
• Imprint: New American Library
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 312
• Language: English

Reviews

"What if the only way to see the future is to live it?" (Jared Madison)

Blazing the Trail portrays the life of a 16-year-old dragon shapeshifter quite well. There's homework, mean girls, boy issues and school dances, but there are also enemies everywhere, near-death experiences and events that could trigger the end of the world.

Zoe is a likeable and levelheaded heroine, but in Blazing the Trail she's quite gullible and ends up doing some silly things.

The secondary characters are likeable, but they aren't well-developed. Meagan is an awesome best friend. Zoe's dragon friends are cool, but they aren't important characters in Blazing the Trail. I also love Zoe and Sigmund's interactions. While I like Isabelle and Nick together, the sudden shift in their relationship from Winging It to Blazing the Trail is difficult to accept. I also found that Zoe's parents going on vacation was a way to get them out of the picture and it doesn't fit in with the previous books in The Dragon Diaries series.

I don't have strong feelings about who I wanted Zoe to end up with, but I do have negative feelings towards the poorly executed love triangle. Zoe leads Derek on because he seems like the more secure option and they have no chemistry. Jared ignores Zoe and doesn't reply to any of her messages, but Zoe ends up turning into a lovesick fool whenever he's around. On an entirely different note, what the hell was the point of Kohana kissing Zoe? Was it just to create tension between Derek and Zoe?

I enjoy reading about how Zoe's powers progress with every book in The Dragon Diaires series and learning more about the different shifters, especially the Bastians.

The final confrontation scene is anticlimactic, although I have to admit that the car driving scene is hilarious. I also felt like the ending ,where Jared's injuries are healed and Zoe and Jared end up kissing, is cringy and cliche. I like that there's room for future books in The Dragon Diaries series and while the ending is unsatisfying, it's still hopeful.