Nancy Lee Badger

I liked the fact this story’s setting moves from a fast-paced city where Abigail nor Mitch are happy to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where they can be more of whom they are. Abigail is city savvy but slightly innocent in allowing herself to be in vulnerable circumstances.

Mitch feels restricted by his controlling father building an empire in the corporate world. Mitch has always toed the line. He knows his dad still misses his wife, a good number of years dead. Mitch did, too. But luckily, he’d had the love of his aunt and uncle who’d taken him under their wings when his mom died, having him live in the campground. His remembrance of that time gave him a heart, but the life in New York has made him lose sight of who he wants to be.

Abigail loves her work as an artist, but her batteries need recharging. She needs to get away into nature, to create the naturistic pictures she’s known by, which hold a hint of magic.

Mitch is a character I had trouble getting to like, not until far into the story. It took him some time to get over himself, and stop being so self-centered utilizing his lower anatomy to think! He is so focused on getting Abigail into his bed. He basically set her up, arranging a stay for Abigail at his aunt’s and uncle’s campground, dropping brochures here, a won free-week stay at the campgrounds, and if that weren’t enough, a couple of gift certificates for dining in town. He also backs out of a business trip to Europe using his uncle’s workload and supposed surgery to spend the summer at their place as their handyman. (hoping Abigail would show)

Abigail takes the bait, drives her new trailer and truck up to the campgrounds. Who’d have thought she is such a klutz? She creates some very funny situations and Mitch seems to be in the wrong place at the time. Ouch! I was happy to see him work for what he wants.

Even when Mitch finally realizes he wants much more than bed play in his relationship with Abigail, can a trusting relationship of value ever work when grounded in trickery? Can Abigail’s deep attraction to Mitch excuse the falsehoods which come to light?

Badger takes the reader into the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Obviously, she knows the area well with descriptive natural scenes I can envision. The story engages on several fronts: the beauty and danger of the White Mountains, family love and loyalty, the changeability and volatility of the weather, the danger women can face, even outside of the city, and above all the need to follow your heart in matters of the heart.… (mehr)

I’ve enjoyed this series by Nancy Lee Badger. If you love stories about dragons, this is certainly one for you.

Apparently, there are no more dragons left, except these three brothers. With no more females, they are a desperate lot in finding a way to have progeny. In the earlier books, Vika, the human female, married to Evan is carrying a child. What no one talks about between the brothers is will Vika be able to bear this child? Will it be in dragon form or human? This anxiety the brothers feel, is also carried by the reader. That’s problem one.

Problem two is the shape-shifter Kera, who is mate to Wynn, another brother. She carries a child. Will a shape-shifter be able to bear a dragon?

And then there is Dougal, the eldest of the brothers who was married to the last female dragon. She was a bit promiscuous so even though she carried a child, Dougal wasn’t sure it was his. But this is a moot point, because Cliona was attacked and killed. Of course, this leaves Dougal in a bit of a funk.

Fiona knew Cliona, but only in human form. She was her best friend, and since she’s gone missing for some time, Fiona is determined to find her. Hence, her interest in going to the local village. Thinking Cliona may be there, she finds much more to keep her busy, keeping her from searching for her friend. Right at the top of the list is Dougal. Every time she is in danger, he shows up. It is his duty to protect those in the village, but he feels highly protective of Fiona. Fiona soon is swayed by his chivalrous manners.

Pirates swarm the area, looking for treasure, and are out to retaliate for a ship badly damaged, they presume by the villagers. (They don’t realize the brothers did the damage.) So the honorable thing, of course, for the brothers, is to protect those who attack. The story is action-packed with sly pirates sneaking into the village, where villagers help defeat the pirates, where dragons, highly sensitized to protect their mates, learn how to fight like men.

I can see this series will continue to evolve. After all, there were several loose threads not tied up at the end. The scenes where Dougal learns to seduce a female in human form is ridiculously amusing. I enjoyed how Fiona, although not human, trustingly befriends the villagers, and quickly learns how to avoid the bad guys who lust for a good tumble. I hope you join Badger’s band wagon–to fantasize how the Island of Skye may have been centuries ago.… (mehr)

Meet some desperate dragons who try desperate means to save their species from extinction

An enjoyable read, full of delightful, comical scenes involving a clan of dragons, who are adorable in their own right, but dealing with some very novel situations! Apparently, three brothers (all dragons) will find their true love in each of the three books in the series. It’s a light-hearted read with a serious challenge confronting their species -- extinction. No more female dragons are available to procreate with, the last being killed while shifted form to a red deer. She was Dougal’s mate and until now he grieves her departure. This clan decides to do the unthinkable – to search for a female who will accept them from outside the dragon species. Their experiment seems to bear fruit, when Wynn’s youngest brother struck out into the human village to find his mate. Vika, a lovely red-haired beauty is pregnant with his bairn and lives in a cave with her chosen. What kind of child will she have?

Wynn, finds himself attracted to a shape-shifter, who has been a wolf for some time, but grew up as a human before she reaches puberty. Kera, having been injured when Wynn fell from a perch, (probably shoved by Dougal who is always up to tricks) and knocked her into a tree trunk. She is scared when she awakes to find a dragon bending over her. She is coerced into going to the cave with promises of Wynn she will not come to harm. Evan carries her back to the cave where Vika is housed for the duration of her pregnancy. She and Vika hit it off immediately. She finds Evan utterly and completely in love with his mate, which helps put her at her ease. She decides to stay in her human form, although, she heals more slowly that way. She doesn’t want them to know she is a wolf. Of course, Wynn knows this because he saw her shift, but doesn’t mention it.

Toal, the toad, is an uncouth man who killed Kera’s wolf mate. It seems he also has past ties with Vika. Kera’s goal? To heal and leave the dragons’s cave to search for this man, exterminate him and return to her wolfpack. But fate has another path for her.

If you are partial to dragons, and shape-shifters, as I am, and romance in the Scottish highlands, you will enjoy this fanciful story of strong females, and hopeful dragons who brave the unknown with love and strength in their hearts.… (mehr)