In a world where humans have been forced to live below-ground for centuries as a war with Dragons rages on, 20 year-old Seda is forced to make a choice that will uncover old lies and open up new worlds.Captured and taken into her enemy’s home, she finds herself falling deeper and deeper under the spell of an enigmatic and charming Dragon warrior. Dederic challenges her, tempts her and leaves her … leaves her longing for what is possible.
As her feelings shift from icy contempt to blazing desire, Seda must find a way to heal the broken divide between their two worlds and save what matters most before it’s too late.
Author’s Note: This is a medium-burn romance intended for readers 18+. This story contains strong language, sex, and violence.
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I don’t regularly read fantasy, so when given the opportunity to read a book about dragon shifters, I was definitely curious. While the first chapter started at a great place in the storyline, jumping right into the action, it took me a little while to figure out this world the story was being set in- names, setting, etc. This is a big task for any fantasy story to do in a short period of time without information dumping, and I managed to catch up, and Jillian James avoid the info dumping so we both ended up winning. Once the story settled itself the dragons’ castle, I found myself really enjoying it, and this was where I started putting pieces together and catching up to the story. I really liked how James wrote about the dragon shifters, and found myself growing to love them and their city as much as Seda found herself growing to love both as well. Caught up in Seda’s story, I was happy living in this fantastical world of barbaric humans and genuine dragons. A pretty good win for someone who doesn’t read fantasy very often. Five-stars for a Song of Smoke.
Love. Love! LOVE! This book. Fantasy usually isn’t my genre, but Jillian dragged me along and had me begging for more. I devoured this book in a day, eager to read the next in the series. (Please tell me Odin gets his own book!!!)
Angst. Female empowerment. Mystery. Love. Challenging assumptions. This book has it all. I adored it and can’t wait until I get to read what comes next!
The first book in The King’s Series a well written story that held my interest throughout. i want to read the next book in this series. This is Seda and Dragon warrior. Dederic’s story. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
All the feels!
A princess sold in marriage to a horrible man? Check.
Dungeon escape? Check.
Hot dragon shifter who just happens to the Dragon King’s right-hand man? Check.
Seda and Dedric together are pure awesomeness. I can’t wait to start reading Whisper of Water!
This book was filled with heat and humor. Gripped me from the first page and I had a hard time putting it down. This will be one I revisit to read. Seda was brave and kind while Dederic was hot and noble. Their first meeting had me laughing out loud and I found myself talking to the characters ( a tell-tale sign I’m fully invested and the writer has done their job). My only disappointment was not having another as I wanted to know more about this world and even the secondary characters which were so well done too. Highly recommend and I will look for more from this author.
Ooh, I quite enjoyed this! Fantasy romance is quickly becoming a favourite genre for me.
Such vivid detail throughout the story; it really made it come to life in my mind. I adored getting to know all the characters, especially Dederic and Odin – I hope we get to see a little bit more of him at some point.
Seda is unhappy with her life. An uncaring father who treats her as a possession, a betrothed she cannot stand; she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. But on the eve of her wedding, a gift is bestowed upon her, and she makes a decision that will change her life.
A tale of deception and realisation, of love and hope, and also understanding. I loved watching Seda grow throughout, and even more so that Dederic encouraged her. Seeing the polar opposites between that of the human world and the Dragons was eye opening – we still have a long way to go.
I look forward to seeing what this author brings out next.
I really enjoyed reading Song of Smoke. I found the story well written and the characters enjoyable. Kept my interest throughout the book. I recommend reading.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I was surprised by how much I really liked this book. I have never read a dragon shifter romance before so I was sure what to expect, but within a few pages I was hooked! I read it in 2 days and thought about it another days after. Dederic had my heart a flutter and I thought he was so romantic. It was a delightful romance and I look forward to the next one in the series.
Seda and Dederic have a perilous journey to their HEA in this moving story. Seda is human and gifted a female dragon as a wedding gift from her odious suitor. She frees her and they escape together and end up in the dragon prides beautiful land. Dederic is the captain of the guards for the dragons and second in command to their king. Their journey was exciting and intriguing and the characters were lovable and some were hateful. I enjoyed reading.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Seda is about to be forced to a marry a man that is vicious and abusive. Her father and others are equally so to her and all others.
They have no problem forcing women to do what they want, locking them up for no reason. Seda is introduced to a women dragon shifter that her future
has given to her on the eve of her wedding. Seda knows that it will not end well for either of them. So she decides that she will have to break the woman out and run for their
lives.
They are able to make it close to Elia home territory. That is when Seda sees the dragon, Dederic in the air and landing. She is in awe and very scared from all the she heard about them. Then another
dragon shows up.
They will not let her leave, they take her to their compound, their home, with no choice she has to go. She fears they will treat her horrible and lock her up. But she is treaed with respect. The king
however will not let her leave once he hears her story. He does fear for her saftey and that of his people.
Seda slowly makes friends and opens her heart to these wonderful people. She has learned some very important information in regards to the humans and dragons. With they way they treat her, she wants better
her and everyone. She wants peace. She is drawn to Dederic everytime she sees him, even though others seem to want her affections.
Will Seda open heart all the way to these strangers? What is going on with Dederic? Will the her father and others find her? There is alot going in this book, I hope there are others set in this world
This book has something for everyone, romance, fast paced actions, humor. The book slows at points, but a good read.
I received this book as ARC from Booksprout, this is honest review and opinion.
“Song of Smoke”
This book made me think of having hot chocolate in front of a fire: total contentment.
• World-building: Humans live in a post-apocalyptic underground system to avoid the dragons outside. The dragon shifters live in a network of castle escarpments, I think. The world is described just enough to support the story and no more, but it feels real, as if the dust outside seeps into your lungs while reading.
• Plot: Despite all the rumors about the enemy, Seda helps a dragon female escape from the dungeons of her town underground, and through her journey discovers the sun and stars, friends, and a lover. Near the end she does something dumb, but the ending is finished. There is a complete story arc and HEA without that cliff-hangry feeling.
• Characters: I felt like I was living in a crowded room of friends, not cardboard cutouts nor strangers.
• Theme: I admit, there is some “Woman Power.” Seda comes from a town that treats women as second-class citizens, and then she escapes to a place where women are treated as equals or special. But my favorite theme is the anti-racism, or epiphany that one’s enemies might have feelings or ethics similar to yours. There must be a term for this, but that enlightenment builds as the tension builds throughout the story.
• Romance: for the hopeless romantic in me. The “dates” were not boring. The attraction was sweet, but not sickeningly sweet.
Note that it has:
• Single POV (which I prefer)
• Adult, Rated R (S?) for Sexy. Has some violence.
• Surprise Twist.
I loved the whole story world that the author built. Her colorful descriptions and the characters that she created really pulled me into the book’s setting where humans and dragon kind are at war with each other and treachery lurks around every corner.
Song of Smoke begins with Seda, the human daughter of the high king of Illburn, being sold into marriage to a cruel warlord. Seda’s compassion and empathy are constantly landing her on the wrong side of her cold, heartless father and the rest of the male dominated, human court. Women have no higher ranking than cattle and are treated abominably in the underground world where humans have been forced to dwell since the beginning of the war with the dragons. When Seda’s soft heart leads her to aid in a dragon’s escape from her father’s dungeon, she becomes entangled in the world of dragons and quickly learns that all the horrid tales she had heard about man’s enemy were lies.
In the home of a dragon pride she experiences a better way of life and her magical gift flourishes under the tutelage of the very handsome shifter, Dederic. If I ever run across a dragon shifter man, I hope he looks just like Dederic because *swoon* – he’s so sexy!
There were a few typos and grammar errors but nothing that detracted from the story. All in all, this was a great fantasy romance read that kept me engaged from start to finish.
Song of Smoke was actually quite a pleasant read for what it was. It wasn’t perfect or top ten of the best books I’ve read, being a bit hasty and lacking some needed depth. However it certainly had its own unique charm and a very intriguing and original plot.
I was sold from the get go with the whole arranged marriage/purchase to a savage, the underground way of life, threat of dragons and the miserable treatment of women. The book was practically made for complexity, struggles and drama and I could really feel all of that in the beginning. The main character, Seda, was very easy to feel for being in the horrible life and situation she was. And the escape from all of that to an unknown world had me on the edge of my seat with her meeting the Dragons for the first time and being taken prisoner.
Seda’s and Dederic’s first meeting was great. Her believing that dragons were the enemy and Dederic being suspicious of her, yet curious and amused. They clashed as well as being drawn to each other and it was interesting seeing how she interacted with both human him and dragon him, as well as learning how the shape shifting worked. Their strained first meeting had my toes curling and excitedly waiting to see how the romance would play out.
However from there the story kind of mellowed out as she settled with a life amongst dragons. Yes, a relationship between her and Dederic was developing and she started to learn for herself that the dragons weren’t the enemy and she actually was treated much more fairly by them than her fellow humans. This though, was shown by a day by boring day life with shores and meals together with the dragons which left little room for that thrill and drama previously seen in the story. It also didn’t help that the characters lacked personalities and characterization making the developing relationship between the main characters seem slow and somewhat dull. That previous spark between them was missing and even as much the story tried to convince me that they had this great chemistry I just couldn’t fully feel it.
While I still enjoyed the journey, that complexity the story hinted with at the beginning was nowhere to be seen. In fact I felt like the story was a bit too simple and rushed to give any sort of time to have a more deeply developed struggle and romance as well was complex personalities. It also annoyed me that Seda became this character that everyone wanted or liked when she didn’t have any visible personality traits to back that up. Still, I did enjoy the romance between her an Dederic (even if I found it lacking a bit) and the world of dragons and the conflict with humans enough to be interested in reading the next book in the series.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.