Darkfire Kiss: A Dragonfire Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Challenge coins have been exchanged and now Rafferty Powell will battle his long time enemy Magnus Montmorency. A battle that will end in blood. Upon entering Magnus' home, Rafferty comes face to face with a thief. A beautiful thief whose intoxicating scent Rafferty follows in order to protect her after she takes an important item from Magnus that will get her killed.

Melissa Smith is a reporter out to reveal the truth about Magnus' secret dealings and get justice for her friend, whose death he is responsible for. What she didn't expect to find was a handsome stranger in Magnus' home or discover that dragons are more than just a fairytale. Now she will need to work with Rafferty in order to accomplish a common goal, take Magnus down. It will not be easy and things are made even more complicated when the a lunar eclipse brings with it the firestorm Rafferty has been waiting centuries for. But this firestorm is different and before it ends, everything will change.

I have been waiting for Rafferty's story and firestorm since the first book. He has always encouraged his fellow Pyr, dragons who want to protect humans, to embrace their firestorm and stay with the woman fate has chosen for their mate. Rafferty has waited to be gifted with a firestorm of his own. It has finally arrived in Darkfire Kiss and the mate chosen for him is the intelligent, truth seeking and passionate Melissa. Melissa is attracted to Rafferty from the start but past heartaches have left her skeptical of the idea of forever. There's a connection and their firestorm fans the flames of desire between them but darkfire, something the Pyr have not encountered before, will not make sating this firestorm easy and will bring with it considerable changes.

Deborah Cooke has hit a new high with Darkfire Kiss. The latest chapter in this wonderfully written dragon shifter series did not disappoint. The romance hit all the right emotional cords and was balanced with the right amount of action and suspense. Rafferty is one of my favorite characters and to hear his stories and learn of his past was a real treat. Enemies are scheming, allies are uniting and bonds are being formed. Pick up Darkfire Kiss and be prepared for fantastic paranormal romance adventure.

Am I the only one who was disappointed in the aging process between the Pyr and their human mates??? The Pyr is very long lived, but the mate does not get to match his longevity after their firestorm. She just gets her regular old human years, and the Pyr slowly ages as usual. Ugh, not for me. I made the mistake of buying these books as they came out and not reading them until I had 6. So read them one right after the other. There were so many things that bothered me, but this ageing thing really gave it the kiss of death so to speak. I like a somewhat happily ever after story when I get to the end of a romance book, but always felt let down when I reached the end of each one of these.

This is not why I read a romance novel. I love and have read paranormal romances for years, and the author's Pyr world is a great premise, but can't get over this one spot. AND for pete's sake Sophie and Nicolas sure got a bum rap. Not sure why the author put in the Wyvern if she 1: can't have a romance of her own because:hey FORBIDDEN; can't directly help the Pyr because: hey FORBIDDEN. What good is she then to the whole story. I won't be buying the next book and will not be putting these 1st 6 on my re-read shelf. too bad as the story line was good

As the fifth and last current Dragonfire book out before Flashfire comes out in January, this was to be Rafferty's much awaited firestorm. Throughout the series thus far, he had been the voice of reason, quietly there for his "fellows" while they kicked and fussed about meeting their destined mate. Patient and wise, he let his disappointment show that the Great Wyvern had yet to grace him with his chance to meet the one female meant only for him and the only one in 1200 years able to conceive his children. He guided, cajoled, and shamed his fellow dragons into accepting not only the responsibility of carrying on the line of the Pyr but also advocating the up til now unpopular notion of true love and sticking around to help raise the progeny. Times were changing, violence against them from the Slayers were escalating, old prophesies were coming to pass, and their almost demi-goddess, the Wyvern, was dead. But still he believed their god to be benevolent and to have a greater plan in mind for all, him included.

While I understand that writing book series can be hard, not wanting each book to be the same formula only with different lead players, really there were only two original dragons left from the start, Sloan and Rafferty. The new direction the series was taking could have been spread out better, and new characters added more seamlessly (like Thorvald). Instead, Darkfire Kiss was packed with so many new characters, plot changes, dragons already introduced MIA, that poor Rafferty's firestorm was almost a side note. There was no chemistry between Melissa and him, or maybe it just seemed that way as they never really got to know one another. And what they did tell each other brought little in the way of emotional reaction, not at all what you would expect from the empathetic Rafferty.
*SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*

So after 1200 years, Rafferty gets his firestorm. But it's the dreaded darkfire, fabled to bring in a new age by shaking everything up. First, we're to believe he doesn't even realize it's his firestorm, Thorvald has to tell him. Then, none of his friends will even come near him to help him and help protect his mate, even though they were there for Quinn, who they thought had been dead for years, and Delany, who was infected with the Dragon's Blood Elixer and tried to rip unborn babies out of their mates wombs. His destined mate had uterine cancer, but doesn't tell him at first and lets him think she's on board to giving him the child he's wanted so desperately for over a thousand years. There's a long drawn out scene of flowery prose of what a gift she is giving him in agreeing to bear his child!He tells his sob story about his grandfather and she barely blinks. She tells a little about the cancer and being a reporter in a war zone, and he reacts like she had shown him a hangnail. What a letdown! Poor Rafferty! Yes, poor Melissa but she could adopt but how many orphan Pyr are there for Rafferty? Do they even feel for each other? Do they even care? By now, do we?

Erik's snarling and snapping, even at his mate,and wallowing in self-pity. The other Pyr, except maybe Donovan who grimly fulfilled a favor for Rafferty, showed no concern or remorse for not being there for him. Do we really believe Thorvald is 800 years old and doesn't know what it is to be a dragon? But will now take on the most powerful of the recently introduced ones by himself? And why is the new novel that is coming out in January going to be about one of the new character's (Lorenzo, who is strong enough to beguile Erik) and not Slone or Thorvald? Did we ever know where the Dragon's Teeth Warriors go off to when not fighting? After Darkfire, do we even want to hope that it will go back to the interesting storylines and character interactions of the first four books?

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