Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Audio Book Review: Valentine

Valentine

By:  Kimberly Loth

Publish Date:  June 30, 2016, Audiobook Release June 14, 2019

Format:  Audiobook - 5 hrs 58 mins
Narrated By:  Angela Rysk

Genre:  Fantasy

Series:  3rd in The Dragon Kings series; 1st Book ~ Obsidian, 2nd Book ~ Aspen

Impression:  New couple, new adventure in love finding.

Synopsis:
Three kings will arise. One from the land. One from the sea. One from fire.
Hazel’s entire world is turned upside down after her brother Rowan goes missing. Everyone believes he was eaten by a dragon. Everyone but Hazel’s sister, Aspen, that is.
Hazel has never heard of the dragon prophecy before. She knew about dragons, of course. Her sister, Aspen, made sure of that even though Hazel would have preferred to stay ignorant of the vicious creatures. But the more Hazel learns about Aspen and their family’s connection to the dragons, the less she wishes she knew.
Val never wanted to be king. He never even considered it a possibility. But now the prophecy’s fulfillment has begun, and it starts with him. His journey begins by training with Obsidian. In the process, he learns secrets from his past that shatters everything he knows..
On the way to mainland from Hawaii, Hazel and Val’s worlds collide and will soon have to rely on each other to find Rowan and prevent a human-dragon war.

First Sentence:
It didn't matter how often she made this journey, Hazel didn't like the flight home or, for that matter, waiting in crowded airports.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles 

Audible    (Box Set for series)

My Thoughts and Summary:
*I was given this free review copy of this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Angela Rysk returns to continue narrating the series for us. She has given voice to the characters in previous books and continues on with the same voices, along with adding in Val and Hazel. The audio sounds seamless in narration. Angela has become a voice to the world by now.

Going into this book I had one huge question. How does a dragon that's NOT a royal turn into a human? It was said through the first two books that only Royal dragons can turn human. Skye had a small pass because she's half Royal. Valentine is not a Royal dragon. This is explained quickly in the beginning, how Val gets a human form. I'm not sure if I agree to the quick reason for it, I thought there was more to the transformation process, but we move on from there.

Valentine is a new dragon to view. He was mentioned at the end of the previous book, but the order of the story fits with Valentine next. I'm not one for instant love, and shortly after meeting it happens here. Though, it feels to work for Val. Val feels to be a genuine nice guy. He's not out to play all the ladies and he seems as though he's truly interested in Hazel and people. He has a humble feel to him.

This story is of Val finding his way as a king and finding his queen. I like that the story of Val falling for his queen, and she for him, is different than Aspen's. It would have been easy to repeat the same story, but it's different.

I noticed in listening that there are wrong names and pronouns in place. I'm thinking this is an editing thing on behalf of the author and not the narrator, but I don't know.

I like Hazel's evolution in this book. I think she still has further to go and much to learn, but she's got a fair mind about what she sees. Hazel is a tough girl to get close to though, and she has her reasons for this. Hazel questions everything, and gets frustrated when she doesn't get answers. I understand this feeling. I was getting frustrated for her too. But there is an order to things before you can blurt out the truth about dragons to someone who does not like dragons.

We do solve the human killing dragon issue in this book. And start to see the possibility of war among the dragons. This book ends with the arrival of a dragon and person that have been searched for in this book. That will be the next stories tale. I am curious about their tale and why they stayed hidden, so on to the next book I will go.

The series is arcing nicely with the troubles in each book and when the troubles get solved along with adding new elements to the danger list.



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1 comment:

  1. This sounds like an intriguing series - thank you for a great review:)

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