Eden Ashe's "The Dragon's Heart" is a lengthy yet oddly satisfying read. She presents her dragon shifting males as somewhat typical alpha males; they don't talk too much, expect others to jump when they speak, are huge and muscular, and highly protective of females - especially a 'mate', no matter who she is mated to. And an awful lot of words are devoted to dragon king Daniel's inner fight about letting protagonist Shelby go to live a life without him, for her own good, even though he doesn't feel like he can let her go. At times, this grouchy, broody and moody dragon male made this reader think of Angel - portrayed by the delightful actor, David Boreanaz, from the Buffy world ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; Joss Whedon, Creator; TV; 1997-2003) and just like Angel, wasn't sure if she wanted to slap him or kiss him! There are a few grammar, spelling and punctuation errors in the story, but not enough to toss a reader from the tale. Ashe builds the story very slowly, almost tediously slow, at times. The plot felt a bit convoluted with all the tiny twists and turns, and with those minute details it became confusing quite often. While the world Ashe created for her dragon stories is an interesting and visually appealing place, and the settings are descriptive enough to easily imagine, at times it almost seemed like pieces of the story was missing or told in an earlier tale, but nope... this is the first book of the planned series. However, dialogue between the characters was fairly natural and moderately unique to each character. Shelby with a temper is loads more interesting than terrified Shelby, and love scenes between Shelby and Daniel were quite sensual and sexy. The battle at the end of the story was quite a let down for this reader, after the considerable buildup. Antagonist Alexi was a one dimensional character, at best. All readers are told is that power corrupted Alexi and we are never shown any aspects of his personality or his 'evilness'. Readers are also told the antagonists son, Micah, has no soul, but we are never told why or how this happened to Micah. At this point, this reader cannot positively say she will continue with the series, but will not 'not' recommend the story, either. It was a semi-entertaining way to pass the evening. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on May 27, 2017 and Goodreads on the same date. **
