I received a complimentary ARC of "Playing With Fire" by Meg Ripley and was very pleased with this paranormal shifter romance. It was so refreshing to read about a dragon shifter that wasn't the bad guy or had the super supreme arrogance or temper that some others use to portray these shifter's. Jason is the protagonist, his father Damian has that arrogance to spare but is easily forgiven since the love of his life, his wife is deceased at story start. Jason's friend Vincent also has that same self-indulgent arrogance and a temper to boot; Vincent seems to be what many portray dragon shifter's to be, but that's okay because he's the antagonist and it balances out in the end. Ripley's writing and dragon romance is not on par with Gena Showalter's "The Heart of the Dragon", but is good enough to earn a spot on this reader's bookshelf. While Ripley did create some interesting character's that were easy for this reader to empathize with, they were not as fleshed out as Showalter's characters. And that is okay because Ripley is not Showalter, she is her own writer telling her own tale, in a warm and inviting style. There were minimal grammar, spelling and or punctuation errors, the main one sticking out in this reader's mind was a misplaced letter "g" on page 257 of the ARC PDF file. The letter "g" was missing from the word "good" and appeared on the word "reined" instead, making that word "greined". With that said, what does Ripley offer in her writing style? Action, adventure, a gruesome murder, mystery, and a red hot romance all packed into one. This reader hated to put the book down! Ripley's story was creatively told and visually appealing, allowing this reader to visualize the various settings, places, and most characters. The dragon fortress that Damian rules over was probably the most difficult for this reader to visualize; more time was spent detailing Neil Simmons' house, Adventure Isle, the bar where Mary works, and the Club the dragons belong to, than the underground labrynith of Damian's fortress. It did not truly take anything away from the tale, but the minute details offered in the other settings mentioned allowed this reader a chance to envision them and feel as if she was there watching as the story unfolded. All in all, this reader was happy with the new to me writer and looks forward to reading more of her writings, in future. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on February 6, 2017. **
