Claiming the Dragon King (The Elite Guards, #2)

by Amelia Hutchins

[stacey_is_sassy]

The Dragon made me do it…

***4.5 Stars***

My heart was pumping in excitement…the tears were pouring from my eyes with devastation…I squirmed from the heat jumping off the pages…my mind was overwhelmed with anger, grief, frustration and fear. THIS IS WHY I READ PARANORMAL ROMANCE!!! I absolutely LOVED Claiming the Dragon King. I was sucked in from the first page to the last. It wasn’t the easiest of journeys to forever kind of love, but it was what I have come to expect in an Amelia Hutchins story.

Now, some truths…I DNF’d my last Amelia Hutchins story. I didn’t write a review, I actually wiped it clean from Goodreads. So, going from my very bad memory, I remember being frustrated, angry and very squinty-eyed…for some reason or another. This made me hesitant to buy another from this author. BUT…DRAGONS!! I am a sucker for dragons. It’s like they call to me. I mean seriously, they growl, they're muscley, they can fly and they are bossy. How’s a paranormal romance lover supposed to deny herself? Well, I sat there with my finger hovering over the “Buy now with 1-Click” button. Do I take a risk? Will I love her dragons? Am I going to be frustrated, angry and squinty-eyed?

I took the risk, loved her dragons and was frustrated, angry and squinty-eyed…in a good way. Well, maybe not a good way, more in a way that left me on a great reading high. Because in true Amelia Hutchins fashion we have to hate our heroes before we love them. We also have to see our heroines grow into the strong, determined and fierce women they were always meant to be.

Some readers would question how you could love a book where hate, humiliation and abuse are used to make the heroine suffer. Sure, all of these things make me uncomfortable, but I manage to somehow be patient to see the whole picture unfold. Yes, Blane should never have left Ciara defenceless and open to abuse. The people throwing the stones felt justified and blamed Ciara for her family’s atrocities. Blane was struggling with his own hate and need for revenge against Ciara. And, some of it was justified…if you didn’t have the whole picture.

I ran the gamut of emotions when it came to this read. I loved it and I hated it. I liked her and disliked him. I admired her strength to persevere while I also struggled that she persevered too long, to get hurt even more. But, this is a paranormal romance. The rules, people and worlds are different. What we would judge as abhorrent here, is everyday living there. I’m not expected to accept these horrors as OK here, so I find it hard to judge by my own rules. Claiming the Dragon King is a very trigger happy book. This is my way of saying that people who are sensitive to physical and verbal abuse should steer clear. Readers who loved the Fae Chronicles in the first few books, will find this very similar.

I found myself at a bit of a quandary when it came to rating Claiming the Dragon King. I went in expecting the worst and was pleasantly/horrifically/excitedly surprised. The storyline is fantastic but again I find myself frustrated at the finished product we are presented with and pay for. She writes a disclaimer at the front accepting that there are mistakes in her work and we’re all human and it happens. But, she uses an editing/proofing service that should be held accountable. One or two mistakes I have no problems with but there were a lot that should have been picked up by a decent proof-reader.

So, my problem with rating Claiming the Dragon King is that I loved the journey but struggled with the execution. The story left me on a high but deep down I know it wasn’t perfect. How do I rate it down when I was left satisfied? I guess, Goodreads helps with this one. My rating will show 5 stars, but I’m giving it 4.5 stars. It was almost perfect…for me.