The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 1

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The rest of the story was not up to the level I would expect from a fantasy trilogy or from Nora Roberts herself. I won't be reading Book 3 as I'm just not that invested in the characters.

Los padres de Breen se divorciaron cuando tenía doce años, y ella nunca volvió a saber nada de él hasta que descubre que su padre le ha estado mandando dinero durante catorce años. La relación de Breen con su madre nunca fue buena, pero tiene todo el cariño y amor que necesita gracias a su mejor amigo y compañero de piso gay, Marco, y al personal gay y trans de la discoteca Sally's. This book completes the quest for the death of Odran and the freedom of the Fey. An epic battle scene and the inner strength Breen finds to fulfill her promise to the Fey and her heritage come late in the book, but that's fine. This story is really about love. Love of family, of culture, of heritage, of people. The romance was there…kind of. I’ve always been drawn to Nora Roberts novels because of the romance, but for some reason she chose to wait until the epilogue for the main characters to voice their feelings for each other. The reader could read between the lines and see the hidden actions that indicated the love, but there was definitely no sweeping romance. The amazing Nora Roberts was absolutely in her element here ~ at the very top of her game when writing a trilogy of high fantasy ~ on location in paralleled worlds of present day and fantasy realm Ireland ~ the land of magic ~ romance ~ one of my DreamLands. I felt like I need to go to present day Ireland NOW to maybe stand and fantasize about this book at the Cliffs of Moher and other dreamlike places!

The themes in it - prejudice, mistrust, power-hungry people, - are woven so intricately into the plot that the negativity of it all just exemplifies the themes of family, love, and giving your life for what you believe in. The world created in this story is fantastical...mermaids, elves, demons, faeries, witches and more. It was a lot for me to absorb and it overwhelmed Breen. Her resistance was believable as she had to slowly evolve in understanding her own true identity as well as accept the weight of her ancestry. It wouldn’t have rung true to the character if she’d suddenly transformed and embraced this new world and all that it means.

Keegan was a harder character for me to like. He's an honorable man who has this fierce need to protect everyone, but that need got in his way of his compassion towards Breen in this book. It will be interesting to see how he changes in the next book now that he sees what he's asked of her. This whole book really just felt like a race to the finish line, without any pit stops along the way.Then there’s the romance! I love a swoon-worthy love story, and the romance between Breen and Keegan is slow-building, angsty, and wonderful. Keegan is super swoon-worthy, even though he has no idea how to communicate, and I love his developing relationship with Breen. They are well suited, though their relationship is not without its problems. Keegan and Breen are alike in that they both put the good of others ahead of their own needs. They are both torn between duty and desire, and they have to figure out if they can balance both. With their very lives and the lives of all they know at stake, they don’t take their responsibilities lightly, and I’m curious to see how their relationship fares as the story continues. Between the threat of Odran and his followers, jealous people, and other obstacles, their love will have to be strong to survive. Breen and Keegan - these two could have been written into a contemporary romance instead of a fantasy and they still would have been perfect for one another! I thought the writing was hard to read at many points. I’m not sure if she was writing in a sense that she thought they would speak in, but it resulted in difficult sentences and overuse of commas.