Dragon Lovers

Four woman who love shape shifters

Date of Review:  September 7, 2007
Hardcover, Softcover, EReader, MobiPocket, MSReader
No Illustrations


One of the main points of both Science Fiction and Fantasy is that certain characters have the ability to shape shift from human to something else. Or perhaps vice a versa. Why shouldn't the character, while in their human form, experience love, lust, hate, and the full basket of emotions which make us human? A different main point of fantasy is that dragons are both older than all of mankind, wiser, and masters of true magic.  Amoung those has to be the ability to shape shift into human form.  When that happens then aren't they also subject to the first conjecture?  These four authors have taken this question and answered with their own visions... all from the recieiving side of that basketful of emotions.

Synopsis: 

Ceremonial expectations clash between cultures in The Dragon and the Virgin Princess by Jo Beverley.  Just what is truely expected of the sacrifical virgin princess  and what role is the dragon rider supposed to play when events get out of hand? Marraige might be a good solution, provided they can survive each other on the trip home.

Everyone knows a True Knight always stands for the lady in distress.  Even when it is other knights trying to have their forceful way with her.  But exactly who rescues whom when it turns out the victim is no lady, its the dragon? Mary Jo Putney brings us the humorous tale of The Dragon and the Dark Knight.

It is 1650. In Japan, the shoganate wars are starting, and the Jesuits control all shipping access to and from the Island nation. The accidental deaths of travelling doctors from Holland is not even noticed, nor should the suicide of their daughter Anna.  So why had the King of Dragons taken an interest in saving her?  or was it Samuri Arita who was taking an interest in saving her?  Karen Haraugh weaves a tale of love blinding both people to the truth even when it is sticking out like a sore thumb, in Anna and the King of Dragons.

Dragons don't have feathers, right? Dragons don't live in New Mexico either. So why has Penny been choosen to be the guardian of a dragon with feathers that lives in New Mexico? And just why is it that she feels like its open mating season when ever her art teacher's son, Joaqin is around fixing odds and ends at her house?  Barbara Samuel weaves a magical tale in Dragon Feathers, about love, worship, and a mating season coming a bit later than expected.

Impression: 

This is one of those books where if you enjoy fantasy, romance, and or dragons ... you will devour in under 2 hours.  Each author uses the shorter novella length to good strength, showing her ability to create warm loving beleivable characters.  Age is of no consequence, action abounds, and for a breif change, it is not always the male  -- in this case dragon -- who falls in love, but the heroine.  

Of course it can not be a romance if only one side feels this bonding, but true to form, not only do the Dragons win the hearts of the damsels and knights, but convinces them that the Dragon Way is right and proper.

Succinctly put, these are suberbly crafted masterpieces of fiction, and regardless of the genre, any avid reader will love the great stories included here.

RATING:  10 Campfires

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Citations:

Link to Fictionwise, Cover art

Author / editors / anthologists:

Jo Beverley, Mary Jo Putney, Karen Harbaugh, & Barbara Samuel

Title & length: 

Dragon Lovers:  Passion takes wing
 

Publishing House & date:

Penguine -- Signet Eclipse (USA), Inc
375 Hudson St.
NYC, NY 10014, USA  
NO WEBSITE
March 2007

ISBN & LCCC :

ISBN:         10:  0-451-22039-0
ISBN:         13:  978-0-451-22039-4

Comparable publications:

Jo Beverley:

  • Lord of my Heart
  • To Rescue a Rouge
  • Forbidden Magic
  • Three Heroes
  • Winter Fire

Barbara Samuel:

  • No Place Like Home

Mary Jo Putney:

  • The Marriage Spell
  • A Distant Magic
  • Stolen Magic
  • The Bartered Bride
  • The Wild Child

Targeted readership:

Aimed at older teens and mature adults.  Classical romantic fantasy with only mild sexual inudendo. Safe for anyone over the age of 16.

1 Flames for sexual content.

1 Campfire Rating

Author's credentials:

(Curteousy of Penguin)

Jo Beverley is widely regarded as one of the most talented romance writers today. She is a five-time winner of Romance Writers of America’s cherished RITA Award and one of only a handful of members of the RWA Hall of Fame. She has also twice received the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award. Born in England, she has two grown sons and lives with her hus­band in Victoria, British Columbia, just a ferry ride away from Seattle. You can visit her Web site at www.jobev.com.


Mary Jo Putney graduated from Syracuse University with degrees in eighteenth-century literature and industrial design. A New York Times bestselling author, she has won numerous awards for her writing, includ­ing two Romance Writers of America RITA Awards, four consecutive Golden Leaf awards for Best Historical Romance, and the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award for Historical Romance. She was the keynote speaker at the 2000 National Romance Writers of America Conference. Ms. Putney lives in Baltimore, Maryland. Visit her Web site at www.mary joputney.com.


Karen Harbaugh is an award—winning author and RITA finalist who has published eleven fantasy/romance novels and three novellas, with more forthcoming. She graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in English, and has also had various other occupations such as quality assur­ance analyst, technical writer, legal word processor, and whatever other job might add to her store of msicellaneous knowledge and get her out of the house from time to time. She is happily married to a software engineer and has a college-aged son. When she is not writing stories, she does volunteer work, knits, cooks, spins yarn, gardens, watches reruns of BuJfr the Vampire Slayer, and occasionally finds time to annoy her cat, Newman. Visit her Web site at http://www.sff.net/people/KarenH.


A passionate hiker and traveler, Barbara Samuel likes nothing better than setting off at dawn for a trip—anywhere! Her favorite places so far include the Tasman Sea off the coast of New Zealand, the pungent streets of New York City, and the top of her beloved Pikes Peak. Between books, she’s currently planning trips to India and China, and a long rest in the damp and misty United Kingdom. Barbara has won five RITA awards from the Romance Writers of America. You can explore her columns on rambling around France and Scotland, working the Pikes Peak Marathon at 12,000 feet, and many topics about the writing life at www.barbarasamuel.com. She loves to hear from readers at awriterafoot@gmail.com.

Reviewer & reviewer credentials:

MD Johnson is a mountain northwest regional -- freelance author, living in Payette, Idaho. His writing interests include poetry, romance, westerns, science fiction, travel, and history. His work has appeared in a diverse range of publications including True Romance and Ballyhoo Stories. He is currently republishing the 1935 western classic historical novel, “The Bitterroot Trail” as the anthologist.

If you have a book or an ARC, you would like Mr. Johnson to review, please address your questions to him at queries@pencraft.biz.