2,5 stars.
Unfortunately this didn't work so well for me. I didn't feel any kind of sympathy or connection with the MCs, they fell instantly in love, being "mates", and on top of everything a wonderful pregnancy after a ten day acquaintance. Yuck, insta-love at its finest.

What I also dislike: Like in some fantasy/urban/shifter series, here in the first book someone nearly all-mighty is introduced (here: the silver dragon). Then further down the lane, someone even more all-mighty is created (here: the dragon master). So it becomes like a contest and gets blown out of all proportion with demon-gods and gods thrown in the mix. This gets boring. And it seems that more time is spent on world-building than character and relationship development. ( )

Book 3 follows Lisa's best friend, Carol, and a rare fire dragon named Seth as they fight a demon-god and fall in love. I recommend all three if you are in the mood for love and dragons. ( )

Reviewed for queuemyreview.com; book release Nov08

Now where can I get a dragon of my own? Especially one that turns into a mouth-watering specimen of masculine beauty? Ah well, I guess I’ll just have to settle for Allyson James’ dragon men and her latest book “The Dragon Master”.

This is her third (and final?) dragon book set in modern day San Francisco. Her dragons live in ‘dragonspace’ and only cross into the human world on rare occasions or when called by certain individuals of power who have learned the dragon’s real name. When in the human world, they normally appear as men since the magic has mostly left the human world and humans no longer believe in them. James provides each different color of dragon with different personalities and powers, and then weaves these threads into a very entertaining, readable, and super hot story!

Carol, or Li Mei, doesn’t believe in magic or dragons or ghosts or anything else she can’t see, feel, and touch. She’s worked hard to Americanize herself and has poured her soul into first her studies and now her business. So when she’s accosted by a naked man who claims to be a dragon and accuses her of ‘calling and enslaving’ him, she’s pretty sure he’s a loony even if he is the most gorgeous thing she’s ever seen. But it will take a lot less than 24 hours for Carol to realize that the world is a much different place than she thought, that there’s something inside of her trying to get out, and that a whole bunch of people suddenly want to kill her. Now if she and her dragon man can just stay alive long enough for her to figure this out, she’ll be happy.

Seth is a fire dragon and possesses more magic than the other dragons who have apparently become ‘trapped’ in the human world. Although he’s only ever been enslaved once before, it’s not something a dragon forgets and he’s furious. But there are a few things that are very different about this calling. First, the Dragon Master is a woman! Second, she keeps insisting that she didn’t ‘call’ him. Third, he’s in a human male form. And fourth, the feelings and emotions thrumming through this form are pretty strange, and WOW doesn’t the Dragon Master smell good? Uh, she feels pretty good too, and why does he feel the need to protect her? Now if he can just figure out if this is more of her sorcery…or something totally new to this dragon.

This hero and heroine have some pretty big conflicts to deal with. There’s the whole force vs. free will thing going on not to mention that he’s really large and scaly and she’s—not. Neither one really knows what love is and because of some other plot devices, they really have to figure it out on their own. And speaking of plot, I enjoyed the twists and turns of this one and, as always, appreciate the light humorous touches. Some events and motives I figured out beforehand, but there were just as many that came as quite the surprise. But even with a collapsed time span, the story and the relationship proceed at a measured pace with gradually increasing tension. And the tension and sexual interactions between our hero and heroine are red hot (get it? Fire dragon, red hot?) from the first.

I like Allyson James writing. I also like the historical and contemporaries she writes under the name Jennifer Ashley. If “The Dragon Master” is the last of her dragon stories, I’ll be a little sad. I read all three and even though they were written in the same world with some recurring characters, I still found each book just different enough to keep me coming back for more. But on the plus side, she does provide a peek at an upcoming paranormal series which will see its first release in January 2009. I guess I can wait until then…grudgingly. ( )