Malinda's Reviews > Bring the Heat

4.5-5 stars

This was a great story and addition to the series. I loved both Aidan and Branwen and really enjoyed their story.

Branwen is part of the Cadwaladr Clan...she's the daughter of Ghleanna and Bram (from Dragon Kin #0.4, Dragon on Top), BFF to Izzy (#6, How to Drive a Dragon Crazy) and sister to Celyn (#7, Light My Fire). Despite all these associations, Branwen can stand on her own and is a dragon warrior with an impressive rank and many soldiers under her command. She excels at fighting and war and only sleeps with a guy to sate her needs and usually just once because she hates it when a guy gets "clingy".

Aidan is one of the Mi-runach, a special band of dragon warriors that answer only to the Queen. Aidan is the son of a dragon royal but except for his youngest sister, Aidan doesn't like his family much. Aidan is one of the few "sensible" members of the Mi-runach and spends a lot of his time talking his buddies out of the trouble they get into because of the impulsive things they do.

This story begins about 3 years after the previous book and Annwyl and her allies have been fighting Zealots that are trying to take over everything in the name of their god. Branwen and Aidan are both with their troops and happen to be in the same area when one of the Mi-runach does something that royally pisses off Branwen and Aidan tries to calm things down before bloodshed takes place. In the middle of the heated discussion, a spell is set off by the Zealots and Branwen, Aidan and 2 other Mi-runach are separated from the rest of the troops. They soon run into Keita and end up being ordered to accompany Keita on a mission, much to Branwen's dismay.

The mission entails going to find Ren, who is Keita's friend and partner in her duties as a "defender of the realm". He disappeared and since he's the youngest (and favorite) son of the Empress of the Eastlands, it's important that they find him alive and well or risk war with the Eastlands. Branwen has always seen Keita as useless and crazy and Keita does pull some crazy stunts on their trip but she also shows that she's got some impressive skills and Branwen eventually has to give Keita some credit as they accomplish their mission. Branwen and Aidan have always been friends and have fought together but it's not until this trip that their friendship turns into something more. Branwen tries to deny their connection but Aidan is persistent, showing patience but pushing until he succeeded in winning her so he and Branwen end the story starting a HEA together.

This was a greatly enjoyable story. I just loved Branwen and Aidan as friends and then as something more. They just worked really well together for me, even if it took Branwen a bit to recognize their deeper connection. Surprisingly, the overlying series storyline (dealing with the Zealots) is mostly wrapped up in this book but with just a tad bit of something at the end to indicate more in the works. I loved the characters and the story was really good with enough humor to have me laughing out loud while being interesting enough to keep me engaged from beginning to end. I'd recommend this story/series. :D

* note - I listened to the audio version of this story and the narrator did a pretty good job except for the mispronunciation of some names (she's STILL pronouncing Dagmar as Dogmar).