Light My Fire by G.A. Aiken

Elina Shestakova of the Black Bear Tribe of the Midnight Mountains of Despair in the Far Reaches of the Steppes of the Outerplain (Elina) has been tasked with killing the dragon Queen. She does not succeed but, then, Celyn didn't think she tried very hard. That's why Elina is put in jail rather than killed. And it works out because, even though Celyn forgets that she is in jail, Elina is needed later to help broker a deal between the dragons and her people.
It was nice for Celyn to get his HEA after being harassed by his cousin so much for sleeping with the woman who eventually became his cousin's mate. These books are getting longer and I'm sort of convinced that it's the length of the names.

Dragon Kin #7

Three stars

This book came out November 25, 2014

Follows How to Drive a Dragon Crazy 

Followed by Feel the Burn

Borrowed as audiobook from Audible Plus 

Opinions are my own

Can't Get Enough by G.A. Aiken

Shalin the Innocent wouldn't mind sleeping with Ailean the Wicked but doing so would set off the rampant jealousy of her princess who is obsessed with the male. So she's been sent to the human realm to protect her. 

However, Ailean sees her after a night of debauchery with another woman and he kisses her. When word gets back to the princess, Shalin is suddenly sold to a dragon in the Northlands. Ailean is irate. But he's going to get his woman. 

The origins of Bercalek. Too short but adorable. 

Four stars

Dragon Kin #0.1

This book came out September 1, 2008

Followed by A Tale of Two Dragons

Borrowed from Audible Plus

Opinions are my own

Chains & Flames by G.A. Aiken

If you've read the G. A. Aiken Dragon Kin series, you've encountered the Queen of Dragons, Rhiannon and her mate, Bercelak. Their story started when Bercelak fell in love. He battled to make himself invaluable to her mother's court and now her mother has finally decided that they are to be mates. But first, she binds Rhiannon so she can no longer turn into a dragon. She is dropped off as a human at Bercelak's cave. While he isn't happy that she is hurt, he is elated to know that she will finally be his. At least she will be as soon as he finishes wooing her. And makes sure that her mother won't kill her. 

A short story that could have been longer but gives some history to the Dragon Kin stories.

Three stars

This book came out... at some point (?)

Borrowed as Audible Plus book

Opinions are my own

The Heretic Royal by G.A. Aiken

We are on the fourth of the three Smythe-Ferguson sisters (the third being a scheming bitch who is trying to build an empire), Ainsley, in this book. She feels like a forgotten sister. Keeley, the oldest, loved her brothers and sisters and the forge. Gemma was a fighter and then a war monk. And she was always Ainsley's main sparring partner and now the first to dismiss any of the contributions Ainsley is trying to make. But, now that the dragons have arrived (a crossover from Aiken's Dragon Kin series) and that might change the odds. 

There are SO MANY characters in this book. You will have a little bit of a chance if you've read either the Dragon Kin books or the Scarred Earth books so far but there are still a LOT of people to keep track of. Aiken is great at spinning off side characters and that happens again in this book but we also get a return of the rather large group of characters from the previous book in the series. So, a lot of page space is taken up with these characters. did I still enjoy this book? Mostly, yes. I really wish we had gotten to see more of Gruff, the centaur who doesn't usually talk, especially in the building of his relationship with Keeley. As it's own book, this is about three stars but as an addition to the overall series, four stars.

Scarred Earth Saga #3

Three and a half stars

Follows The Princess Knight

This book comes out November 24, 2022

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as ebook from Libby February 2024

Bring the Heat by G.A. Aiken

Aidan the Devine and Branwen the Awful have fought together before. This time is definitely to help save a nation. But this time they are not on the front lines. Instead, Branwen, Aiden, and a group of others will have to work behind the scenes to make sure that the eyeless zealots don't kill off everyone. 

This book ends the arc that has been flowing through most of the series so there is a lot of wrapping up to do but we still do get to see Branwen and Aidan go from war buddies, to sex buddies, to something more. The world building of this series was so fun, I hope that the series is not entirely over but am satisfied with the ending if it is.

Dragon Kin #9

Three stars

This book came out August 27th, 2017

Follows Feel the Burn

Characters next found in The Princess Knight

Ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible plus audiobook January 2024

Feel the Burn by G.A. Aiken

Gaius Lucius Domitus lost an eye to his uncle when he was a child. Then his cousin (the uncle's daughter) kidnapped his sister and tortured her for years. So it's understandable that he's spending a lot of time hunting down the entire family and trying to kill them. But he is somewhat distracted by the cult of the eyeless human god. They are growing in numbers and very opposed to anything that is "unclean." In fact, the cult has been going through other temples and "purifying" the inhabitants. Mainly it is a lot of unnecessary killing. 

And that's what Kachka of the Steppes has been asked to do by the human queen Anwyll, get rid of the cultists. She is not generally impressed by men but this particular male dragon is... not horrible. And he's good in bed. As a descendant of women who keep men only for sex, breeding, and trash removal (more or less), this is pretty important. Plus, he's good in battle which is going to be important as the two band together to beat the eyeless god to what he is looking for.

Dragon Kin #8

Three stars

This book came out November 24th, 2015

Follows Light My Fire

Followed by Bring the Heat

Ebook borrowed from Hoopla

Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible plus audiobook January 2024

A Tale of Two Dragons by G. A. Aiken

 When your father is a plotter and the rest of the family doesn't really want you, sometimes the best you can do is stay hidden. That is what Braith of the Darkness is trying to do. But now she's suddenly been asked to help escort a lady to her home and her crush is going along on the trip. The crush that seems to be very admiring of the lady who is the antithesis of Braith.
Addolgar the Cheerful is a Cadwaladr, a family of fighters. He's willing to help a lady. However, if that lady tries to poison him... well, all bets are off. It's a good thing that Braith not only saves him initially but then helps get him away from the people that were going to make sure he was really most sincerely dead.
This is a short story but we still get a sense of who both Braith and Addolgar are. We also get to see why they are attracted to each other and what it is that each admires about the other. All with a sense of fun that permeates the entire Dragon Kin series.

Four stars
Dragon Kin #0.2

This novella came out November 5th, 2013

Follows Can't Get Enough
Followed by Dragon on Top
Borrowed from OverDrive
Opinions are my own

Reread as audiobook from Audio Plus January 2024

How to Drive a Dragon Crazy by G. A. Aiken

Éibhear has been attracted to his (not blood related) niece Izzy since her mother married his brother something like 15 years ago. He went absolutely nuts when he found out she was having sex with one of his cousins but still has never made a move toward her. At least, not until this book. After all these years, he is being summoned to go find her and take her home. Nobody knows quite why but they do make it home and he finally apologizes for his actions from ten years ago. Izzy is not impressed. But they do have to work together to help keep her sister and cousins safe.
There was so much going on in this book. Some series story arcs got wrapped up in this book which was nice but it was sometimes hard to follow.

 
Three and a half stars
This book came out September 4th, 2012
Follows Dragon Who Loved Me
Followed by Light My Fire
Opinions are my own
Audiobook from library

The Dragon Who Loved Me by G. A. Aiken

 Rhona the Fearless has been fighting in the dragon war for five years along with everyone else in the series. And even after all this time, the Northern dragons still don't understand that females are just as capable as the males at fighting. And when Vigholf breaks her favorite spear... she is beyond peeved. So when she learns that she is going to be traveling with Vigholf to protect some of the royal family, she's not exactly ecstatic. But traveling together means that they're going to get to know each other better and she might discover that Vigholf doesn't want to protect all females so much as he wants to protect her.

This book does a lot to move the overall storyline forward (lots of battle descriptions and catching up with other characters) but there isn't a lot about Rhona and Vigholf.

Three and a half stars

This book came out September 1st, 2011
Follows Last Dragon Standing
Followed by How to Drive a Dragon Crazy
Opinions are my own
Audiobook from library

Last Dragon Standing by G. A. Aiken

Keita has been described in previous books as something of a "slag." Like, girl got around. But there have been shades that she is going to be something more, especially since her mother, the Dragon Queen, hates her so much. 

Ragnar has also been in previous books. He's a little full of himself and thinks very little of Keita. Well, he thinks about her a lot but doesn't actually think she's good for anything. Even so, he is really good at apologizing when he makes a mistake. Like, none of that, "I'm sorry your feelings were hurt" BS.

Together, the two will work to keep Keita's mother on the throne.

The story doesn't hang together well and doesn't make sense toward the end but is so fun it's hard to care.

Three stars
This book came out September 7th, 2010
Follows What a Dragon Should Know
Followed by The Dragon Who Loved Me
Audiobook from library
Opinions are my own

The Princess Knight by G. A. Aiken

The focus of this book is Brother Gemma. Although it's hard to call her "brother" at the beginning of the book because she feels abandoned by her god and is hardly worshiping him. In fact, everyone thinks that she's drinking like her cousin. However, when someone (not Beatrix!) starts attacking religious sects (starting by slaughtering almost all of the peace monks), Gemma is not especially excited about helping but she saddles up along with her squire Samuel, her sister Ainsley who Gemma and Keeley seem to always forget, and two of the Amichai Laila and Quinn. Quinn is a thorn in Gemma's side though he is definitely a good fighter.

First, they travel to Gemma's past to visit the place where she trained and the other War Monks. There, we learn a bit about why Gemma is the way she is as well as more about the politics of the War Monks. We also get to meet Ragna, another War Monk; one who is even more dedicated to the cause than Gemma. She is the one who ultimately gives Gemma a list of sects to pick up including temple virgins, witches, divine assassins, war priests, a truce monk, and a nun (the Abbess Butcher). Oh, she also gets back her horse Kriegszorn. The one she lost in battle and had to raise (battle monks tend to win battles by bringing the dead back to life.) So what if he's only half normal horse and half rotting corpse? It's her horse!

We do get to see Queen Keeley (who gained such love from me in the first book that I had trouble switching over any to Gemma) and how she's building her kingdom. There are glimpses of Beatrix and what her evil plan is ultimately going to be. And then, a brief glimpse at some special guests who are going to be in the next book.

Definitely start with the first book in this series. This is an Aiken book through and through with characters that go so far beyond zany that you have to love them because they are so well-definied in their own brands of crazy. The beginning was actually a little slower than some Aiken books but it picked up nicely.

Scarred Earth Saga #2

Four stars

This book comes out November 24, 2020

Follows The Blacksmith Queen

Followed by The Heretic Royal

ARC kindly provided by Kensington Books and NetGalley

Opinions are my own

Reread as ebook from Libby February 2024

The Blacksmith Queen by G. A. Aiken

Adjacent to Aiken's Dragon Kin series (though you don't have to have read any of those books to understand what is going on), this book dumps you into a land where the king has died and his sons have all immediately started killing each other off in order to inherit the throne. However, there is a seer who has proclaimed that the next ruler will actually be a woman.
From there, we are dumped in the middle of a fight where a boy, Samuel, is saved by a blacksmith, Keeley. But then... there's a lot of world-building. We meet Keeley's family, including her sister, Gemma, who left and has returned a rather "chunky" nun. Also introduced is Keeley's sister Beatrix who is reported to be the next queen. But will it be her or is the prophecy somewhat murkier than first thought?
It took me awhile to get into this book. I love the zaniness of Aiken (especially in her romance series writing as Laurenston) but it took a lot of time to get to a point where the world was built enough to really enjoy the craziness that I think this series will get into. Normally Aiken is much better at building the worlds simultaneous to getting characters developed. For me, the book was sort of a bell curve with the best part of the book being the middle but you sort of had to wade in to get to it. Hopefully the second book will be better because all of the back story will be behind.

Three stars

Followed by The Princess Knight
This book came out August 27th, 2019
I borrowed this as an ebook from the library

Note: I borrowed this as an audiobook later and it was even BETTER
Opinions are my own

Reread as Audible audiobook January 2024

What a Dragon Should Know by G.A. Aiken

Gwenvael the Handsome has been sent by his sister-in-law, Annwyl, to follow up on a rumor that people are plotting against her because she is about to give birth to half-human, half-dragon twins. But that means he has to go to the North and talk to the Reinhold. The man has an offspring that is known as the Beast. Gwenvael is shocked to discover that the Beast is actually a woman, Dagmar Reinhold. And she refuses to help him unless he helps her first. So they'll have to travel together to help to save not only the children but basically the world.
Gwenvael is beyond conceited but Aiken is amazing at making him very likable even through that. And Dagmar is intelligent. Definite shades of Laurenston at her best.

Three stars
This book came out September 1st, 2009
Follows About a Dragon
Followed by Last Dragon Standing
Audiobook from library
Opinions are my own

About a Dragon by G.A. Aiken

Taliath is in a loveless marriage. And she was sent there by a goddess. A goddess who would know exactly how much the people of the town she's in would hate her. Her skin is different, her ways are different, and, well, she's a witch. That has made them especially grumpy. Grumpy enough that they are going to hang her.
Briec the Mighty is strangely drawn to this... human. She has magic but that isn't why he wants her. At least, he doesn't think so. It's the fact that she argues with him. It makes her intriguing. And not a little hot. So he saves her from the villagers and claims her life. But then she disappears and his heart hurts. Luckily, this is a romance and he will find her again.

Three stars
This book came out December 1st, 2008
Follows Dragon Actually
Followed by What a Dragon Should Know
Audiobook from library
Opinions are my own

Dragon Actually by G.A. Aiken

Sibling rivalry can be deadly and never more so than between Annwyl the Bloody and the brother who has tried to kill her since her father brought her to their home when her mother died. Annwyl is one of the few who is willing to stand up against her brother's tyranny.

Dragons have little use for the affairs of humans. Fearghus the Destroyer is one such dragon. He hasn't been seen for years for just that reason. But when he sees Annwyl being attacked by a group of men, and fending them off, he decides to step in. Nursing her back to health, this dragon is intrigued by the human. But she isn't quite as enamored as he is. Well, she is intrigued by his brain. But her body is more in love with the warrior who is teaching her how to fight.

When I found out that this author is Shelly Laurenston, I immediately grabbed this book. And it is the same- kooky, a little loose with details, but an overall fun ride.

Three stars

This book came out September 1st, 2008

Followed by About a Dragon

Audiobook from library

Opinions are my own

Reread as as hard copy of mine March 2021, Audible Plus January 2024