Where do I start?

Okay let's see if I can get through this the 5th time around.

There is so much information in this book that it blows your mind.

I am happy for Nikolai and Esther who have accepted they are mates.

I cried to find out that his parents had been killed by members of their own clan and he was left for dead. Ulrik found him, protected him and went to the King of the Ivories to tell him he would be raising Nikolai. How the hell can this be our bad guy...tell me...how? There are a couple of other scenes with these two that...well they are going to take your breath away. It makes one think that maybe Ulrik is changing his mind about certain things.

Usaeil is NUTS! She's gone to Taraeth asking him to kill Rhi! Like that's ever going to happen! She's also surprised to find out Balladyn, whom she asked for his death, is very much alive. Balladyn runs to Rhi. Rhi runs to Con (I know, that's what I said!) and it ends with a conversation between Con and Usaeil which leads to this exchange:

As soon as she was gone, Daire released Rhi. He remained veiled while she walked to Con. "Well, I think it's safe to say that Usaeil is off her rocker for sure. Now more than ever, I know she needs to be removed as ruler of the Light."
Con looked at her with a troubled gave. "Her eyes began to change."
"To what?"
"Red."

Oh yea, Queenie has gone up and around the bend.

Esther and Henry are actually the TruthSeeker and JusticeBringer....monitors of the Druids. Not too sure what their function is but that's part of the mystery we still have to figure out. Along with just who were their parents and are they Druid too?

Balladyn kills Taraeth but not before Taraeth gets a fatal wound in. Balladyn calls Rhi because if he's going to die he wants her to be at his side. Rhi is frantic, she goes to Con...who once he knows she's not the injured party agrees to go wherever she needs him to. He sees Balladyn and immediately knows what happened and being that this is for Rhi, he heals Balladyn.

Yes, my Dragon King universe is being turned upside down and inside out with all these things going on. Con and Rhi not at each other's throats but conscientiously taking care of one another's feelings. Ulrik helping Nikolai and Esther? to the point of shifting and fighting Dark at Nikolai's side

But what really stopped my heart, the final scene of the book.

He walked until he stood in the cavern where the Silvers were kept. He wasn't sure what brought him there, only that he had to see the dragons. Once in the cavern, he stilled, listening, his gaze searching the shadows as his gut warned him that he wasn't alone. That's when he spotted the shape half hidden behind the stalagmite.
Several minutes passed in silence before the form moved and Con's gaze landed on Ulrik.

Really....you are a mean woman Donna Grant. How could you just put those two in the same place and write The End on the book. AHHHHHHH now I have to wait until June for more. At least then it will be Ulrik's story so there's hope these two won't kill each other, yet?


( )

I'm going to refrain from leaving a review until I read it a 2nd time before the pub date. ( )

I received a free E-galley of Heat from St. Martin's Paperback to review and I am very thankful for the opportunity to read Donna Grant's book. I have not read any of the previous books in the series. It is totally something that I would be interested in reading, and I am definitely adding them to my "need to pick up" list. I will say that this book is very busy and I wouldn't recommend picking it up alone. You can read it as a stand-alone, I did, but you miss a lot of the family connections that you are supposed to be feeling amongst everyone. This is totally a series that you could easily eat up. It reminds me of Lara Adrian's Midnight Breed series, except with dragon kings, druids, and the fae.

Without reading the previous books you miss all the intricacies in the relationships. You get a few references to previous events and a few other characters pop up here and there, but you don't feel any connection to them. If you had read the 11 books prior it would totally be different. You would know what Nikolai was like before the book, where it feels like when you start they're already in love with each other. Stuff like that. It isn't bad at all though. This is a great way to get yourself connected to the world and then continue from here on out. I think you would be able to get a good feel for the rest of the stories progression and want to continue.

Esther is a fun character in this book. She is haunted by the fact she doesn't remember events in her life since her memory has been erased. That's where you pick up, so you have to piece what's been going on from there. You make this discovery that she is a part of this magical world with Dragon shifters and the fae in more ways than one. Once her issues are resolved the book really comes together in a sweet way. I feel like Esther and Nikolai's connection was a fun and sweet one. After that, I was invested in Esther's character. I liked who she was after everything she has gone through, and I didn't even know half of what she went through because it was written earlier in the series. That just makes me more interested in the series.

I went with a 4-star rating because I think whether you have or haven't read the earlier books the characters are interesting and all the different side plots are interesting enough that it felt worthy of a four star. ( )

This being the twelfth book in the Dark Kings series; Heat took a while before I was able to warm up to the story. Having not read the prior books the numerous characters and pages spent on the background of Grant's world were challenging to keep straight. That being said the paranormal beings were interesting along with the writing talents of Grant. Nikolai is a Dragon King who is tasked with helping Esther an M15 agent retrieve missing memories that have been stolen. Both Nikolai and Esther had unique histories and it was a pleasure to read about them. Romantic paranormal conflict that would be best if the series were read in its entirety. " Copy of this book was provided by St. Martin's Press via Netgalley with no requirements for a review. Comments here are my honest opinion." ( )

Heat by Donna Grant
Dark Kings #12

Another dragon king finds his mate in this book :)

Esther North, having lost part of her memory and feeling tense and worried about what lurks in her mind, has talked Nikolai, Dragon King of the Ivories, into going with her to locate the druid that took over her mind in the past. Off the two go to Ireland and Scotland to visit places that might trigger memories and help Esther achieve her goal. They have interactions with Fae, druids, dragons and others as they learn that Esther has a purpose and that her parents are not who she thought they were. While their story is taking place side stories occur in which the king of the dark fae is killed, the light fae queen’s evil is exposed even more to those she has harmed in the past, more chess pieces are moved toward an ultimate conclusion for the series, characters from previous books make appearances and the set-up for book 13 is put in play.

I enjoyed this book and believe The Dark World series would make a brilliant series for TV or the big screen. I will say that having only read three books from this series, the Reaper series from the beginning and few if any other books in this series it is not always easy to follow what has happened in the past or figure out where the story might go in the future. In spite of not having all of the backstories I am eager to keep reading this series and look forward to what will happen in this marvelous paranormal world that is so wonderfully created. I LOVED when Esther flew through the sky on the back of Nikolai while he was in dragon form…what a wonderful thing that would be to do! I would recommend reading from the beginning (if you can) and found a listing of the order to read the books should you decide to do so: http://www.motherofdragonsbooks.com/category/books/?series=dark-world

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC – This is my honest review.

5 Stars ( )