The Dragon of New Orleans (Treasure of Paragon, #1)

by Genevieve Jack

[glowstars]

It's been a while since I've read something that would fall under the banner of mass-market paranormal romance, but an ad for The Dragon of New Orleans kept popping up in my Facebook feed, and the alpha nature of said dragon was appealing.

I'd forgotten that this type of story lacks the steam of my usual dark and/or kinky romance reads, which was somewhat disappointing. Can you take away rating stars based on lack of steam? The story was inventive, fast-paced, and interesting, so maybe I shouldn't mark it down for steam. What a conundrum!

I think what really took away that fourth star was the lack of intensity throughout the majority of the novel. It started off really strong in the first chapter, describing the effects of Raven's illness. From then onward it felt like the author never really pushed hard or deep enough. Gabriel wasn't quite as alpha as you'd expect a royal dragon to be; despite a little initial protest, Raven accepted being swept along by events and putting up with sub-par explanations.

If I'm honest, I probably won't carry on with this series unless the next one pops up as a freebie. It just wasn't enough to get me to part with my pennies.