They were forbidden to love each other because he was promised to another but their hearts couldn’t resist. When discovered, she was made an example of. The king’s wizard cast a spell transforming Dawnrae into a beast no man, woman, or child had ever seen. She was the first, her children would be born these beasts. The love of her life killed before her eyes, she is without love. Really seeing … her for the first time, the wizard casts a new spell. If she finds true love, the spell will be broken. But there is a war between man and beast. Will she survive? Will she have a second chance at love?
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A heart-wrenching tale of love, loss, and second chances.
I started reading this story in eBook format and quickly decided to switch to the audio book. The reason was because the story is extremely detailed and I couldn’t follow what was going on very well. (That’s on me though. My brain naturally skims over the heavily descriptive parts in stories. But I listened to the rest of the story on audible and was able to follow it better that way.)
About the audio first: I thought the narrator did a wonderful job. Her voice suited the story well and brought it to life beautifully, I think.
Now to the story itself. From reading the blurb, I was immediately intrigued by the concept of the story. Fantasy is forever my genre of choice, so I thought this would be a quick and light read.
It was far from that. It was an emotional journey, full of highs, lows, and sweet moments, as well as heartbreaking ones.
It wasn’t a long book, but there was a lot of story told in such a short length of pages.
The way it was written was very “tell” not “show.” I felt many times as if I was listening to an old Grimm Brothers-esque type fairytale.
Because it was a shorter book, a lot of things happened fast, while others were focused on with immense detail.
Dawnrae’s and William’s romance was both tender and tragic. They loved each other against all odds, only to be torn apart by duty, loyalty, and even death.
Dawnrae was such a tortured character. My heart broke for her and I hoped as the story continued that it would have a happy conclusion.
That brings me to the ending.
That. Ending.
I did not see it coming.
***Spoilers***
Harrison turning out to be William and breaking Dawnrae’s curse was so sweet! I was so happy to see them reunited after everything that happened to them, and to see them get their happily ever after, after all.
The story wasn’t perfect, though. (At least to me.) There were a few things throughout that I had qualms about.
It wasn’t shown but mentioned and then implied a few times, but Dawnrae and William had been intimate at one point. There was also a scene shown where the two swam together naked in the river. It was mentioned they had done that a few times before.
Pretty much everyone knew about Dawnrae and William being intimate, and when it’s discussed by a family member to Dawnrae, it’s dismissed as acceptable because they were in love, which I understand considering the story and the characters, but it seemed odd to me because of the type of time period and setting of the story.
Dawnrae and Adela, who was William’s betrothed, were at odds throughout the whole beginning of the story. It was so bad that it reached the point where Adela cursed herself to become a dragon so she could kill Dawnrae, after Dawnrae herself had been cursed. They had a short battle and then quickly forgave each other for everything. Then Adela was allowed to be part of the clan of dragons and she and Dawnrae became so close of friends that they considered each other as sisters.
It seemed to happen kind of fast for me. Maybe I missed something.
As the story went on, Dawnrae had been facing her trials as a dragon for years. The loss of so many of her children got to her so bad that when she would lay anymore eggs, she roasted them before they ever got the chance to hatch. It… made me like her less as a character.
There was also this whole weird thing about Dawnrae praying to William for healing, prosperity, forgiveness, and many other things. That made me a little uncomfortable.
***End of spoilers***
Overall, it was a fine story. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys tragic romances, original fantasies, and stories about dragons.