Hello my beautiful watchers.
Okay, I swear it was not my intention to turn my channel
into the "romance and questionably-romance book review show".
I actually provided my beloved patrons with several options for the subject of this episode,
but I guess the title of this particular novel was just too alluring to pass up. So, here we are.
"How to Date Your Dragon" is a 2018 book by Molly Harper.
It's the first of currently three books known as the Mystic Bayou series.
It is a shifter romance novel which,
unless I'm very much misled by my research, is a popular type of paranormal romance
for people who want more than just sexy vampires, sexy vampires, and yet more sexy vampires.
If you're not familiar with it, the name will hopefully make a little more sense to you,
after you hear the general description of this book. Harper appears to be a pretty successful
figure in this genre, and she's written over 30 books themed around it in the last 10 years.
She's certainly an efficient writer, if nothing else.
She's also contributed significantly to the sea of "sexy vampires, sexy vampires, and yet more sexy vampires" books.
First things first: I just want to confirm, in no uncertain terms, that this book has zero connections to How to Train Your Dragon -
either the book series by Cressida Cowell, or the DreamWorks adaptations.
The title is pure...
Is there a word for "clickbait that refers to things that don't necessarily just exist on the internet"?
Well, it's that.
Which is kind of a shame, because this is legitimately a good book,
that I think deserves better than a dumb, parody joke that forever leaves it in another, completely unrelated book's shadow.
My initial assumption was that this was probably the result of publisher interference,
as I have a few author friends who have had bad experiences with demands made of them regarding their covers and titles.
However, looking at some of the other novels that Harper's put out, it's possible she just
has a really quirky sense of humor when it comes to naming her books.
As I said, I think this is a really good book, and it's the first of this recent batch
of romance novels that I've been working through that
I genuinely enjoyed reading, despite my self-confessed lack of interest in the genre.
So much so for once, I'm not going to give a full synopsis of the plot, because I don't want to discourage
anyone from reading it for themselves.
I will, however, provide a set up and vague overview, so I'm not just randomly judging things with no context.
However, before I start I would like to give absolutely no trigger warnings at all,
because for the first time in a disturbingly long while, I'm reviewing a book with lots of sex,
but no blatant consent issues. I can't fully express what a relief that is.
I've personally observed that modern fantasy stories set in the 'real world' tend to fall into two categories:
Either magic is an unrealistically well-kept secret to all but a chosen few;
or the slightly less common, but increasingly popular "the abnormal is just normal, now".
"How to Date Your Dragon" occupies a sort of middle ground.
In principle, it falls into the former category, as the world as a whole is not aware that magic shit exists,
but in practice it actually contains more tropes associated with the latter,
because the story takes place in a small town where literally everyone has been in on the secret for centuries,
and it's nothing new for the two point-of-view characters.
Basically, there's no "Harry Potter seeing Diagonally for the first time" style scene, which is both good and bad.
I mean, that's a good way of introducing the new world to the audience, but on the other hand,
you don't have to wait for the lead to get used to this reality before the main plot can start.
Here's the basic gist: A minuscule percentage of the world's population are shifters -
magical creatures like unicorns, kappa, phoenix, and dragons -
who can change between their true form and their human form at will. Yes, sorry to disappoint anyone
who was secretly hoping this book was going to be about a human fornicating with a giant lizard.
There's actually a joke referencing that in the story.
For quite a few years now a secret government organization - because there always is one -
made up of humans and shifters, knows the League has been helping keep things quiet,
but, it's generally accepted that, due to increasingly advanced technology,
this is probably not going to go on for much longer, as - in the book's own words:
"The Loch Ness monster can't hide from Google Maps forever."
In preparation for this big outing, the League sends one of its up-and-coming field researchers, Jillian Ramsey,
to Louisiana, to do an in-depth study on a town called Mystic Bayou,
a small community that's been a harmonious mix of humans and shifters since the olden days of America,
to get a feel for how things are going to be for everyone, soon.
Ah, yes, the American deep south,
a place well known for its tolerance and acceptance. [sigh]
I'll come back to that.
on arrival, Jillian meets a variety of friendly and colorful people,
of literally all shapes and sizes, who are super sweet and welcoming to her.
One of the only people she doesn't really get along with is the young and shockingly handsome police chief, Bael Boone.
So... Take a wild guess who the love interest of this book is.
Yeah, one of the thankfully-few negative things I have to report is this novel's adherence to
the SUPER tiresome trope of the love interest not getting along at first, and being in denial about their feelings for each other.
I have truly come to loathe that cliche in my time as a book reviewer.
Getting back to the more positive, I'm delighted to say that this book utterly failed to bore me at any point,
whether it was in the world building, the character arcs, or the plot.
Speaking of, it does appear that in addition to being a romance novel, "How to Date Your Dragon" is also
a murder mystery! Ooh!
Better yet, these elements of world, characters, and plot are much better integrated and balanced
than most books focused on romance I've come across so far. I got the impression that
Harper was genuinely interested in the universe she was creating, and the plot did not simply exist
to provide a convenient climax at the end. While the book does fall into some
romance cliches, it actually manages to acknowledge and deconstruct others.
For one thing, the League is super aware that their agents are going to want to fuck the shifters;
they don't even pretend to not know that the paranormal is sexy as hell. It's not illegal or even outright taboo,
but there is apparently a long history of humans who date supernaturals coming to a sticky end.
So, there's basically low-key abstinence classes that are about as effective as the ones forced on teens in human society.
Another of the minority things I didn't like about this book was
the dreaded but oh-so-common "jealousy being presented as romantic".
Right from the start, Bael is grumpy as hell whenever Jillian talks to any other man,
and it gets even worse when her ex sends her gifts in the mail. Jillian sort of calls him out on it,
but not in an "actually having any consequences that he would learn from" sort of way.
It actually gets so bad at one point, it was giving me low-key "Fifty Shades of Grey" vibes,
which is a horrible thing to say about the book I actually liked, I know, but it was just something
that Bael said, something along the lines of, "I'm not prepared to share you", that really
set off my past trauma of reading those awful, awful books.
I DID eventually forgive it though, because this book also includes a very satisfying scene that could almost serve
as a how-to manual for dealing with creepers in public.
Bael has an evil cousin, who decides he wants to claim Jillian for himself, and tries to corner her in
a supermarket and invade her personal space while saying very inappropriate things.
She starts the conversation by keeping her voice down, but then realizes that this benefits only him,
so loudly and clearly tells him in no uncertain terms that she's not interested,
bringing the attention of witnesses to the conversation. Then, when he ignores her warnings not to touch her,
and tries to verbally and physically threaten her, she hits him with the Taser to the groin.
I was also very pleased to read that Jillian has, like, a RIDICULOUSLY healthy relationship with her roommate and best friend, Sonia.
Sonia is attractive, talented, charismatic, and intelligent, but this inspires only admiration from Jillian,
and their friendship is based on mutual respect and support.
I can't even remember the last time I read a romance novel with a legitimately loving platonic friendship in it.
I mean, I think this is what Kate was supposed to be in "Fifty Shades of Grey", if E.L. James didn't have
negative-figures writing talent, and a DEEP hatred of other women.
We learned that one of Jillian's character traits is being a huge fan of "Game of Thrones" and I was like,
"Uhh. Oh boy, 2018." [winces]
To quote my friend That Movie Chick, "That reference didn't even get a chance to age badly."
I thought that I was going to be able to describe this book as sort of a sexless True Blood, but, uh,
no, there are only two sex scenes, and they start quite late in the game, but they do get it on,
and it is... uh, creative.
He may not use his full dragon form, but Bael is not opposed to using his shape-shifting to spice things up a bit.
[rock music playing]
[rock music playing] [zipper sound]
[rock music playing]
[rock music playing] [leathery sound as wings unfold]
[rock music playing] [dragon roaring]
Also really liked that the dragons of these books are like super old-school fairytale dragons,
I.E., they have a fixation on compiling a horde of gold and other shiny things
The first sex scene actually takes place on top of a pile of gold, like Scrooge McDuck's favorite porno.
Harper used the term 'gas lighting' to describe Jillion's ex, which kind of made me nervous,
as a lot of people misused that word, but after I read the description of his behavior and actions,
I'm fairly confident in saying she knows exactly what it means.
I would be kind of amazed if it turns out that guy isn't based on a real person.
So, as I hinted at before, I couldn't help but notice that the Mystic Bayou is a somewhat... idealized version of the American south?
Lots of courtly manners, small-town ideals, and large parties that the entire neighborhood comes to...
but no suggestion of any racial prejudices whatsoever, either towards human minorities or shifters.
I'm definitely not saying that all small towns in America have a racism problem, as that would just be a crass generalization. It's
It's just that the picturesque nature of this little society is so extreme it's hard to miss,
especially when other authors writing about similar geographical settings use
supernatural desegregation as a direct metaphor for racial issues.
In counterbalance to this surprising shallowness, the book shows an interesting, deep political understanding
of the pros and cons of an organization like the League. It straight-up directly points out that
even if the League is working in the shifters' best interests at the moment, it can still never
be a good thing that a group that is in no way elected has complete power over the people it governs.
But that said, the book doesn't completely villainize the League, either. Maybe that will happen in the sequel,
I don't know. But for now I am impressed to see a book that acknowledges an imperfect system, but doesn't
feel the need to fix it all up with an immediate solution.
The climax, when the bad murderer attacks, comes and goes pretty fast, and there's some plot threads
left unresolved for the sequels to pick up, so the ending is not the most satisfying,
but I think it's good enough.
All-in-all, Molly Harper is definitely a talented writer, in my opinion. She's creative; conjures good imagery;
conveys emotion; and creates likeable, relateable, three-dimensional-feeling characters.
I was going to say that she's slightly better at writing for women than men,
but then I remembered that she did not in fact a write a man, she wrote a dragon,
so I don't actually have much point of reference for judging him.
I will admit that it's possible that some of my positivity towards her is due to the palate-cleansing she
provided me after the unfortunate string of boring, depressing,
or genuinely incompetently-written books that I've read before hers.
But I don't think that accounts for all of it.
Also, the thought did occur to me that my enjoyment of her work isn't necessarily a sign
that people who usually like romance novels will love it. My appreciation for it could be due to
it being such a good romance novel it can appeal to people outside of the usual fan base,
or it could be due to it leaning so far away from the usual romance novel format
it actually wouldn't appeal to the usual fan base as much.
If you have any insight into this, be sure to let me know; I am deathly curious.
So, yeah! Good book. I will put links to it in the video description.
Sorry that this is a bit of a short episode, my beautiful Watchers.
It, uh, turns out positivity doesn't flesh out the word count the same way rage or disgust does.
I shall, as always, leave you with the usual reminder that YouTube's algorithmic based method of
reward and punishment makes jealous dragons look like no big deal. And, the best way to help people
trying to make a career on this site is with the good liking, sharing, and subscribing.
Thank you for joining me, and I will see you soon.
[music]
Much love and appreciation to my patrons of honor: Shelby Hotz, and Matthew J. Brysch. [[unspoken, but on screen: Etel Sverdlov]]
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Neighbors upstairs are being quite noisy, which is disturbing because I live on the top floor.
Questionably romance with boob-- books with [tongue tied mutters]
Good start! [sip]
Ugh, I hate tea. You gonna be quiet, Sir Terry, or do I have to throw you out?
We both know it's the latter option, but we have to go through the motions.
She's certainly a -- [sudden switch to silence]
Sir Terry's playing with my Phantom of the Opera mask.
You're not helpful, buddy.
-- town by the name of mystic Bay-you [abrupt pause at mispronunciation]
'BUY-you', it's definitely Bayou. The book series by...
Carissa Ko-well??
Why does my brain always go blank, when I see a name for the first time?
[mutters] It must be a dyslexia thing.
-- it's more community. That said, being ab-- [chuckles] Hi, Sir Terry.
Hey buddy. Hey, floof ball, how you doing?
-- genuinely enjoyed reading, despite my self-confessed lack of interest in the genre-- Damn it, lunch alarm!
-- lots of courtly manners, small-town [abrupt pause]
[muttered] Damn kids 'n' your skateboards.
use supernatural desegregation [stutter]. I knew that word was gonna get me!
-- cleansing she provided to me after the Austr--[stuttering, incoherent tongue-tied stumbling]
Gosh damn my writings bad on this one.
[alarm sounds] Oh, now with the dinner alarm. I've been at this for a while!
He balance was reached that I ended--. Oh, already said 'balance'. [sigh] Gosh damn, could've done
a bit of a longer proofread on this one, I think. [sip]
Ugh, fuck you, tea. Why do you have to be so good for my throat, but so bad for my taste buds?