Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Healing Fire
AUTHOR: Sean Michael
PUBLISHER: OmniLit / All Romance eBooks, LLC
LENGTH: 154 Pages
BLURB:
What will it take for a dragon prince to defy his father and fly on his own?
Prince Jules, the least favorite of the Dragon King’s children, lives simply, banished to his rooms and the amazing adventures found in his books. He has never left the palace or shifted into his dragon form…he’s never done anything.
Dragon shifter Lem is assigned to Jules as the prince’s new bodyguard, and is determined to keep Jules safe from the Graithen, who killed the prince’s previous guardian. Lem grows to hate how the King hides Jules away, and longs to show him how to fly. His love for Jules also grows but it is forbidden, like so much in Jules’ life.
When the Graithen attack again, though, everything changes
REVIEW:
Having read other books by this author, I had high hopes for this story. The pieces were there. A banished prince, a new bodyguard, blossoming first love. Sounds like a fairytale doesn’t it? Unfortunately, after that was where it started to lose me.
Prince Jules has been imprisoned in his rooms for 200 years! Yes, I said 200 years, by his father the King, who calls him a runt and says he isn’t worthy of ever ruling. The character of Jules is written like a young child, he enjoys telling the stories from his books to his guard, and loves curling up in this lap while doing it. The Graithen, a band of dragons from another land, have been trying to capture Jules for some reason. Their first foray into the castle led to Jules lifelong guardian being killed, and now Lem has been assigned to him.
In a fairly predictable plot, the two fall in love, end up experimenting with sex, and when the Graithen attack again, Lem whisks Jules away like his knight in shining armor. As I said, predictable. We’ve heard that story a lot of times. Yes, this time it is dragon shifters, so that added some difference, which is why I picked up the story in the first place. What I didn’t get was how Jules went from someone who liked to curl up on his guard’s lap and tell the stories from his books, to someone getting it on with the next guard within days? I kind of thought of him as a young teenager equivalent, so it became a little ewwwy. (yes, I know that isn’t a word, but it fit my feeling)
Although the book was well enough written, the story seemed very flat to me. There were nowhere near enough details of the land, the politics, the history, or the characters. I also had a hard time with the 200 year thing. Yes, I know dragons live a long time. But a 200 year old who has never once questioned his life of imprisonment? It just didn’t ring true enough for me. Another issue, it was a book about dragons, with very few actual scenes with dragons. I would have thought there would be more, especially more world building on the dragon shifter culture.
I would have to say that this was an OK book, but it didn’t leave me raving and wanting more. I really never got an image in my mind on the characters, and with the age image I mentioned above it really didn’t work well for me. Not every book is for every reader, so I’ll leave it at that. Others might have a totally different opinion.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
OmniLit / All Romance eBooks, LLC