I’ve actually managed to keep up with all of the books in this series … unusually for me I know  🙂  The latest one before this was Wicked Dark Dragon (if you want to check out what I thought of the series).

*****

Renegade Dragon

Dragon Heat Book #4

by Lolita Lopez

Release Date: October 4, 2016

Forever Yours eBook

Blurb:

NOTHING IS HOTTER THAN DRAGON’S FIRE

When her best friend disappears, bio-engineering student Eris Jones embarks on the quest of her life. Her search leads to a secluded estate where she experiences visions of a powerful, winged creature who’s transformed into a tall, dangerously sexy man at her touch. But the feel of his rock-hard abs and lean, sinewy arms tells Eris this is no dream . . . it’s real.

Niko Drakon is dangerous and he knows it. When the call to mate is too strong, he has no choice but to lock himself away in his basement saferoom. Otherwise, people get hurt. The moment Eris walks into his home, nothing can keep him from claiming her.  However, she could also be the key to bringing down the dragons’ greatest enemy, which leaves Niko with a devastating choice: keep Eris for himself or lose her to the cause he’s served for most of his life . . .

Buy the Book:

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2bmFpCO

Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/2bG1r1n

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2bpSQPu

iBooks: http://apple.co/2bMZBhf

Add Renegade Dragon to your shelf on Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2blYi5Z

*****

Excerpt:

My woman.

It was a primitive thought and one Nico should be ashamed for thinking…but he wasn’t. He didn’t even know her name, but he knew that she was his. After all the years of secretly hoping that someday his mate might cross his path, he didn’t dare believe his luck that she was so beautiful. If anything could tempt him to forsake his vows to the Brotherhood, it was this staggeringly pretty woman. The thought of having his own mate, of sharing the same happiness his friends had found, sent hope burning through him like wildfire.

Despite the rain soaking them from head to toe, he caught the sweet, earthen scent of female dragon blood mixed in with all that human.

She is my mate.

But she had stolen and eaten one of his family’s treasured apples, and that meant she had earned a swift death for her theft. Unless, of course, he argued that as his mate she was his family and therefore had every right to one of the apples that was under his—their—guard. He was the head of the Drakon tribe. It would be his decision that stood on this matter.

He carried his delicious-smelling mate down to the second cell he kept in his well-fortified basement. After destroying the first one, he might need the chains and the door of the second to keep his frightened little dragon hybrid in place. If she refused to touch him, he would quickly revert back to his beastly form and scare the hell out of her.

He barred the door behind them but remembered the way she had so easily picked the locks on his home. He placed his palm against the metal and silently whispered a warding spell before drawing the necessary symbols with his fingers. She wouldn’t be getting out of here without him.

Safely tucked away with his mate, he carried her to the back wall of the cell and grasped one of the long chains and cuffs. Carefully, he set her down and quickly wrapped the cuff around both of their wrists. She let loose a gasp and jerked hard enough that he actually lost his balance. She kicked out her leg, but he dodged at the last second. His hand shot out to protect her pretty head from slamming into the stone wall.

“Stop!” The word came out harsher than he had intended. Her eyes widened at his rough tone. He hated seeing fear on her face, but he loved that the light in the cell allowed him to see her real eye color. The greyish blue irises staring back at him were astonishingly beautiful against her rich brown skin. “Please,” she said with a little sob that tore at his heart.

Gently, he rubbed her arm. “You’ll only hurt yourself if you insist on jerking on these chains. We have to stay this way tonight.”

“I’m your prisoner?”

You’re my mate. But he didn’t say that. “Yes. Unless you want to see the winged version of me again, you had better keep your hand on me at all times, understand?”

She swallowed nervously and squirmed but didn’t try to tug away from him. “What are you?”

His eyebrow arched. “You know.”

She shook her head. “I don’t.”

“Yes, you do.” He touched her cheek and silently rejoiced when she didn’t flinch or pull away from him. The spicy scent of arousal drifting from her skin made his mouth water, but it wasn’t even close to the potency of a mating heat. If she had very diluted dragon blood, she might need him to make love to her before a full mating heat would take effect.

Wanting her to name him, he tapped her chin. “Say it. Tell me what I am.”

She lifted her anxious, disbelieving gaze to his face. A spark of determination brightened her unusual eyes. “Dragon. You’re a dragon.”

*****

Review:

I’m going to take a moment to remind everyone, just in case you can’t figure it out, that this IS a paranormal romance.  There are some unnatural themes, insta-love, death-defying moments, magic, yadda yadda.  And you have to be OK with that to enjoy it … I see a lot of people getting annoyed or making fun of these kinds of stories, but that just means they aren’t for you.  Know what kind of book it is going in and enjoy the ride, darn it!

~Mini-rant over~

Like with Wicked Dark Dragon, you really need to have read the rest of the series to truly understand what is going on (but they run about $2 each if you are interested).  Unlike WDD, though, this one scrimped a bit on the action.  I think, like its hero, it is a more mental story – with Eris and Nico getting to know each other (very quickly, back to that insta-love thing, which only works because of the mystical connection they share) and then setting up some future plot lines.  There is some fighting and danger at the end but it is a very quick read so it doesn’t cover a lot of pages.  It’s more about the woo woo of their world, bringing Eris in, giving Nico a mate (finally) and working toward the future.

One of the things I appreciate is the free rein that fantasy authors have to create a world that works for them and their characters.  Lopez does a good job of coming up with the fantastical but keeping it in check.  It doesn’t get too outrageous or seem to come out of nowhere.  She does a good job of explaining new things as they come up and how it all fits together.

To be truly enjoyed by a distinct audience, Renegade Dragon isn’t very long but does well at continuing what the previous books started and nicely sets up what comes next.

*****

Author Info:

While browsing bookstore shelves as a teenager, Lo discovered the erotic writings of Anaïs Nin and A.N. Roquelaure. Certain her mother would not approve, Lo smuggled the books home and squirreled them away in the most likely of places:  under her bed. Late at night, she delved into the sensual worlds both writers created.

As a co-ed studying biochemistry and genetics at Texas A&M University, Lo dabbled in creating naughty tales to entertain her friends. Study for a midterm or pen a deliciously dirty story to delight her small band of fans? Not surprisingly, Lo is now on an extended sabbatical from college.

Luckily, Lo stumbled onto the world of erotic romance publishers. She realized there were other readers and writers who loved and craved breathtaking romance with the spiciest of love scenes. She took a chance and submitted her first novella. The rest is history.

Lo lives in Texas with her husband, daughter and big blubbering Great Dane with mommy issues.

Social Media Links:

www.lolitalopez.com

www.twitter.com/lowriter

www.facebook.com/writerlolitalopez

*****