Absolutely over the moon with this book!
It has everything I personally love in a fantasy romance: Dragons/dragon shifters, understanding and gentle MMCs who will kill for their mates, incredibly adorable possessive characters, emotional recovery after abuse and acceptance despite differences. This just might be my new comfort read/listen.
Zephyr has recently escaped captivity, where he was abused and exploited by his captor and it’s unfortunately everything he has ever known. Gawain is a knight (and the queen’s younger brother) who helps Zephyr by protecting him, nursing him back to health and protecting him again.
I feel that author Sheena Jolie gave us enough worldbuilding to understand the context in which the story takes place, and despite the fact this is a novella they were able to do that extremely concisely. There’s enough lore for it to be satisfying enough to sate some curiosity you might have regarding worldbuilding and that, to me personally, is a great accomplishment.
I’m actually quite impressed by how much Sheena Jolie was able to tell in 150 pages (4 hrs and 13 mins if you’re listening to Joel Leslie’s wonderful narration) and I’m immensely satisfied.
They have the happy ending they both deserve and it’s just very wholesome and sweet and a balm to the soul.
Joel Leslie’s narration is top tier, he’s one of the GOATs when it comes to fantasy narration/performance. His accents are brilliant (I actually thought he was British until very recently lol), the way he changes his tone of voice to match each and every single character is masterful and he’s incredibly emotive. You won’t get a flat, monotone narration from him, that’s for sure! 17/10 no notes.
Highly recommend this book if you’re into paranormal romance that feature dragon MMCs.