Dragon Forge by J.C. Owens

J.C. Owens - Dragon Forge CoverTitle: Dragon Forge

Author: J. C. Owens

Genre: Fantasy

Length: Novel (224pgs)

Publisher: Etopia Press (March 24, 2017)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 3.75 Hearts

Blurb: The dragons are dying. Now a talented blacksmith and a betrayed prince must find a way to save them…while saving each other.

Bren, a blacksmith in a small town, longs to escape his drunken, abusive father. His world is turned upside down when legendary dragon riders arrive and discover Bren is a chosen one. He’s taken to the great mountain fortress to imprint one of the new hatchlings by none other than Kyralian, the dragon prince. After the hatching goes terribly wrong, Bren struggles to recover by losing himself in his metalwork, taking on apprentices, and ignoring all dragons. But he soon realizes that Kyralian, seemingly so powerful, is in real trouble. The prince and his male dragon are treated like property, mated as a prize at the end of a yearly chase. Bren will do anything to keep the prince and his dragon safe…even if it costs him everything.

Kyralian is desperate to save the dragons of his colony. He’s searching for answers to the failing dragon lines, but the ruling council only wants to use his dragon for breeding. He can’t defy them because he’s bound by duty and his love for his people. Yet he’s never felt more alone, more caged by his obligations to the colony. Now his growing feelings for the blacksmith have endangered both their freedom and their lives. The prince’s dragon is the last male in the fortress, his value beyond price, and there are enemies who will do anything to make the prince submit…

ISBN: 978-1-944138-89-9

Product Link: http://www.etopiapress.com/dragon-forge/

Reviewer: Shorty 

Review: I have no idea what to write in this review. I’m emotionally drained from all the ups (which were few) to the downs. I loved Bren. He was kind, sweet and determined to help Ky despite Ky being what I consider aloof a lot.

I realize that both characters have been through traumatic events. One even going through physical abuse and rape most of his life. But the way Ky just seemed to distance himself from Bren but expected him to still be there pissed me off to no end.

As a result of Ky’s actions I ended up not liking him at all. Bren was always there for Ky no matter what. I did feel bad for both but at the same time felt Ky really offered nothing to the relationship expect depression and misery.

It was an o.k. read. Warning Emotional, physical, mental abuse as well as rape (which was off page but you still know).

Dominion of the Eth by J. C. Owens

Title: Dominion of the Eth

Series: Wings 02

Author: J.C. Owens

Genre: Fantasy

Length: Novel Plus (317pgs)

Publisher: Etopia Press (7th October 2011)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: The collar would stay, for Rylis would never free Tamrin…

Childhood memories of the Eth did no justice to what Rylis Tanyan would encounter in the depths of the Teeathun forest. But what he had treasured before had betrayed him, and now he must fight to escape the confines of the forest and his feelings for Tamrin, the Eth whom he’d loved long ago…

Purchase Link: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-dominionoftheeth-610323-143.html

Warning: Some scenes of Dubious consent/rape.

Review: Commander Rylis Tanyan met an Eth long ago, and now, many years later, he is called to a village on the edges of the Melan kingdom and the Teeathun forest to sort out the problems they are having with the Eth. But, he is surprised by what he finds and ends up captured by the very Eth he once briefly met, and he will repay the betrayal with one of his own.

This is a very good novel where we meet Rylis Tanyan (Wings) again and gives us his story in all it’s mixed up glory. Rylis met an Eth when he was very young and that encounter has always stuck with him. When he is called in to a small village to find out why the Eth are now attacking it, he is shocked at his discovery. But, that is nothing to the betrayal he feels when he is captured by the very Eth, Tamrin, he met in his youth. When Rylis is released, he takes Tamrin with him, positive that he knows what is best for Tamrin. But, his love is tainted.

Well, I have never read a story where I have such mixed feelings for a character to this extent before. Rylis Tanyan seemed like such a compassionate person at first, but then later as the book progressed I saw the man I recognised from Wings and oh my god what a selfish self-centered man. The only thing that redeemed him was that he finally realized what he was doing, rectified it and then spent thirty years beating himself up about it. That isn’t to say that Tamrin was an innocent in all this, he could have easily put a stop to it, but didn’t as he was carrying his own guilt… this story is the perfect example of two wrongs not making a right.

This story is of tangled love. Just what do you do for the one you love? Take control, take what you want in the name of love and decide what is best for someone? Or do you give the person you love complete control? Take everything they do to you in the name of love and what they say as a show of their love for you? These two characters both mess up in what they think love is and it comes out in an emotion filled twisted love story where they both nearly lose what means the most to them. This story is filled with angst, abuse, dubious consent/rape and two beings that confuse what love really is.

I have to recommend this to those who love fantasy, angst, a twisted love story, dubious consent, regret, realizations and a very happy ending.