Author: Bec McMaster

Review: Heart of Fire by Bec McMaster

Posted June 28, 2021 by Holly in Reviews | 0 Comments

Review: Heart of Fire by Bec McMasterReviewer: Holly
Heart of Fire by Bec McMaster
Series: Legends of the Storm #1
Publisher: Lochaber Press
Publication Date: April 8, 2020
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: Alternating Third Person
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Content Warning: View Spoiler »
Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal Romance
Pages: 278
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Reading Challenges: Holly's 2021 Goodreads Challenge
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

The old eddas speak of dreki--fabled creatures who haunt the depths of Iceland's volcanoes and steal away fair maidens.

Freyja wants none of such myths. Dreki seducing young ladies? Ha. They probably eat such foolish girls. But when the local dreki steals her last ram--costing her any chance of feeding her ill father through the winter--Freyja intends to confront the fearsome myth.

Sentenced to a life of exile from his clan, Rurik is fascinated by the furious woman who comes to claim her ram. She reeks of mysterious magic and challenges him at every step. He intends to claim the passionate firebrand, but to do so he must take mortal form. It's the only time the dreki are vulnerable, and with a dragon-hunter arriving on the shores of Iceland, he can barely afford the risk--but lonely Freyja, with her elf-cursed eyes and pragmatic soul, tempts him in ways he's never felt before. Is she the key to reclaiming his heritage? Or will she be his downfall?

The Legends of the Storm series:- Fantasy Romance- Historical Fantasy- Paranormal Romance- Fated Mates- Shifter romance

At the time of this writing, this novel is free for Kindle users. I did not check other platforms.

Heart of Fire by Bec McMaster is the first book in the Legends of the Storm fantasy romance series. This came up as a suggested read in Kindle. I decided to give it a try since my friend recently read another book by Bec McMaster and enjoyed it. I really love that it’s sent in Iceland in the early 1800s.

Freyja lives on a small farm with her father, who is blind and in poor health. Because of rumors circulating in the local village – rumors spread by the local landowner’s son, who wants her for his mistress – no one will trade with her and she and her father are on the brink of starvation. For 30 years, the villagers have paid a weekly tithe to the Dreki (dragon) who lives under the volcano that sits above the village. They leave an animal once a week and in exchange, he leaves their village alone. When Rurik, the Dreki, steals her one and only ram, that’s the last straw for Freyja. She marches up the volcano to demand he return it.

Rurik has been exiled from his clan. He’s been alone under the volcano for far too long. When Freyja marches in demanding he return her ram, he’s both amused and intrigued. Since the villagers stopped paying the tithe, the ram was fair game, but she’s a puzzle he can’t wait to solve. He hasn’t been tempted to take on human flesh in ages, but Freyja is too much to resist. He’s determined to have her, and if that means changing shapes then so be it. The timing couldn’t be worse, however, since a dragon hunter with vengeance in his heart just landed on the shores of Iceland, and Rurik is his intended target.

I really enjoyed the mythology and the setting. Freyja frustrated me a bit, and I thought it dragged some in the middle, but overall it was a well-done fantasy novel. I loved Rurik. Dragons are one of my favorite shapeshifters, and he was everything I love in a dragon. I liked how Freyja challenged him and puzzled him all at once. I also loved his attempts to woo her.

Freyja has hidden her entire life, because she has powers her mother told her must be kept secret at all costs. Still, she isn’t without protection, so she has strong self-confidence, which I loved. I really connected with her early on in the novel, but as it wore on she began to frustrate me the way she constantly pulled back from Rurik. I understood why she wanted to pull back, but her constant hot and cold started to wear on me.

Still, I enjoyed their romance and watching them figure each other out. Rurik’s persistence and thoughtfulness were sweet, and I really did enjoy how independent Freyja was.

I also enjoyed the way the dragon hunter and his backstory were incorporated, as well as the hints of the Dreki court politics we saw. Based on the way things ended I believe the story of the court politics will carry over into future books and I’m here for it.

Although the heroine occasionally frustrated me and parts of the novel were slow, overall this was a really lovely fantasy romance. I loved the world and characters. I’m looking forward to continuing the series.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Legends of the Storm

four-stars


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Guest Review: Shadowbound by Bec McMaster

Posted June 26, 2017 by Jen in Reviews | 2 Comments

Guest Review: Shadowbound by Bec McMasterReviewer: Jen
Shadowbound by Bec McMaster
Series: Dark Arts #1

Publication Date: May 8th 2016
Genres: Fantasy
Pages: 377
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

When a powerful relic goes missing from a secret society that dabbles in the occult, Miss Ianthe Martin is charged with finding it at all costs. She needs help, but all clues point to someone on the inside being the thief. The only sorcerer she knows that can't possibly be involved, is the very man she saw locked in Bedlam a year ago...

The mad, bad, dangerous Earl of Rathbourne.

When the seductive Miss Martin appears in his Bedlam cell, Rathbourne fears he's finally lost his mind. The devilish sorceress played a hand in his incarceration, and now she comes asking for help? Perhaps she should begin by begging for mercy...

But Ianthe's offer of freedom is one he can't refuse, although he has a clause of his own to add. She may bind him with her power–the only way to still the demons haunting him–but for every day spent under her command, the nights will be his... to wreak delicious revenge on her willing flesh.

Shadowbound is the first book in a new series from McMaster, but instead of steampunk London, this time we have a magical London. I love historical magical series about fighting a world-ending evil, so while this particular book had some faults, I am still 100% here for the series.

At the start of the book, Lucien, the Earl of Rathbourne, is locked away in Bedlam. To say he’s a physical and mental mess would be an understatement, and the time in Bedlam has taken it’s toll. For various reasons, Ianthe needs his help, though, so she goes to get him out. He has vowed revenge against her because she was the one who captured him, but he knows she’s his only ticket out of Bedlam, so he agrees to be magically bound to her temporarily. The pair have to find out who stole a magical artifact that just might lead to the end of the world. You know, NBD.

I enjoyed both Lucien and Ianthe as characters. If you like broody, damaged heroes, Lucien will tick those boxes for you. It’s not my favorite trope, but I liked that Lucien a) has legitimate reasons to be damaged and b) develops some self awareness and realizes that others have had some bad shit in their lives too. (But if you like damaged heroes, just WAIT till you get a load of future uber-damaged hero Sebastian. We meet him and his heroine Cleo in this book, and their story is heartbreaking already.) Ianthe is perhaps a little less memorable, but still fun to read about. She’s magically powerful and very, very capable. She has a lot of secrets, and you can see the stress of juggling them all wears on her, but she is determined to keep them to protect those she cares about.

This book is sexy, but the sexy premise felt forced to me. As part of his agreement to magically serve Ianthe and get out of Bedlam, Lucien basically demands sex. I get that he didn’t have a lot of bargaining power, but the way he decides to get his revenge is by…giving her really good orgasms? You show her, Lucien! The book also then has to go out of its way to stress that Lucien would not really have forced Ianthe and that she was totally on board, so I guess it was just some elaborate bluff on his part? To me the premise felt like it was supposed to add some kind of dark edginess, but instead it was just unnecessary. Ianthe was into Lucien and didn’t need the artificial set up to have sexual tension. I also didn’t love that Ianthe held onto her secrets so long. I understand her motivations and don’t necessarily think she was wrong, but the problem was it created an imbalance in her relationship with Lucien. She actually never chooses to tell him her secrets until her hand is forced near the end, and then it’s all action until the conclusion. I needed to see more genuine trust build between the two.

Because this is a first book in a very complicated world, it suffers from a lot of info dump. There are tons of names, places, and rules that get thrown at you. The magical system isn’t really explained, which is ok because it clearly makes sense to the characters, but I did want to know just a little more about how the magical world relates to the “real” world of historical London (magic users don’t seem particularly trusted by the normals, but they all live together).

Despite my issues with this book, I loved the world and the premise of the series. Book 2 is out already and I’ll definitely be picking it up.

Grade: 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars


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