Last Dragon Standing [Mass Market Paperback]

I'm writing this review KNOWING that I will probably get a lot of "Unhelpful" votes but here goes. I absolutely LOVE
Shelly Laurenston/G. A. Aiken....but this was not a great book. I can't even believe I'm saying this. Usually her books have a wonderful combination of Romance, Passion, Action, and Humor. The best romance and passion in this book came from the side characters, not the so called "couple" in this book.

This book was suppose to be about Keita the Red and Ragnar the Cunning. In past books, we have seen that Keita does not have the best reputation. But here we find out that she has more to her than her lustful ways. Ragnar, who is a Lightning Dragon from the North is now in an alliance with the Dragon Queen. I felt that there was not enough attention paid to this couple. Most of there interaction had several other people around them...very few moments for them to be alone to get to know each other. There was very little intimacy between the couple. It felt more like..."I don't have anything better to do, and you're here".

The good thing about the book was finding out what has happened with the past characters like Annwyl, Talaith, Izzy, and the dragon brothers. I'll admit that after 200 pages, I stopped caring about the relationship between Keita and Ragnar. I finished reading to find out what would happen next between Eibhear and Izzy. And that's the wrong reason to finish a "Romance" novel...to find out about other characters...not the main couple. This felt more like a continuation of Annwyl's book and not a stand alone romance novel for Keita and Ragnar.

Where has the writings that I have loved from this author gone? I'm hoping that her next book will give the main couple the romance and passion they deserve. It's nice to catch up on past characters, but they should not take over the book. As a series about Annwyl, it was fine. As a romance about Keita and Ragnar....it was not.

Wow there was a lot going on Last Dragon Standing which was less romance-y than the rest of the books in this series but which still had plenty of the laugh out loud moments you'd expect from this Shelley Laurenston alter ego.

In the spotlight this time is Lightning Dragon Ragnar the Cunning leader of the Northern 'barbarians' who is charged with bringing Fire Dragon Keita the Viper - youngest daughter of Queen Rhiannon and sister to all the former leading dragons - back to her 'lazy southland' family. We also get to see lots of former Southland dragons and their mates as `something wicked this way comes'.

Although I love the way that not-as-flighty-as-she-seems Keita and the oh-so-controlled Ragnar get under each other's skin once the `game' is on, their romance wasn't as well developed as the ones in the previous books. And even though there is some pay off - the sealing of Keita and Ragnar's `deal' was pretty darn steamy - I didn't think that Ragnar and Keita's story seemed finished. (I am hoping their story will continue as a side thread in the future books the way that Brastias and Morfyd's has been.)

Still there was so much good stuff going on in Last Dragon Standing that I didn't mind that Ragnar and Keita had to share their screen time with everyone else. I still loved all of interactions between Keita's dysfunctional family - parents, siblings, aunts and cousins - and, perversely, quite often I found the twisted relationships between the often borderline psychotic females (often accompanied by screaming and hair pulling) to be hilarious.

I also enjoyed watching as Aiken threw a bit more fuel on the fire which smolders between Éibhear and Izzy - she's no longer sixteen but Éibhear is still in denial. Oh and I thought that Keita's mysterious eastern dragon buddy Ren, was really intriguing, as was the mention of his eastern kin and of sand and water dragons.

Now I am dying to know, what happens next - big things loom on the series arc. And I can't wait to find out who will be Aiken's next starring pair - probably not Éibhear and Izzy they still have some growing up to do, hmmm, maybe Ren and Anwyl's twins' new Nanny or maybe Aiken will bring in one of the sand dragons or one of the zany dragon aunts or cousins. There are so many intriguing possibilities that Aiken should be able to keep the series going for a long time.

This was my least favorite of all the Dragon Kin books. I admit, I wasn't looking forward to reading about Keita in the first place. The appearances she made in the previous books didn't really endear her to me. She came off more like the female characters in the Mangus Pack books - extremely bitchy. Also, that girl got around a lot. Gwenvael got around a lot too, but he came off as sweeter and funnier, and less crass. That made all the difference for me.

But, I was still extremely excited to read this book. I love this author's blend of hilarity, action, romance, and sex. She is the only author I've read with a style like this, and I love her campy books that don't take themselves seriously. Her characters are always over the top and you can't help but love them for those qualities.

This book was considerably longer than the previous books in the series, and there was a lot less focus on the relationship in it. I think that was the problem with the book. This one spent so much time on other events that we never really got any alone time with Keita and Ragnar. Their relationship and interactions seemed to be sprinkled in between interactions with the other characters. We also spent a lot more time in other people's pov's. That's not usually a problem, but it felt intrusive because the main romance was so underdeveloped.

When the book ended it felt like their relationship wasn't complete. I wonder if the author has plans to continue their relationship in another book. It really felt more "happy for now" as opposed to "happily ever after." There was no claiming or relationship resolution like in the other books. Keita's resistance to any sort of permanence precluded that. I just felt unsatisfied with it. I can't help but fear she'll one day dump him because everything got too heavy for her.

But, if you ignore the relationship this is still classic Aiken/Laurenston. That's why I gave it three stars instead of a lower grade. The humor still pops and the family antics are hilarious. I loved getting to see more of the previous characters. I was very amused by Gwenvael's jealousy over Ragnar. It was cute! I also loved how touchy Briec was about his daughter smiling. Little things like that made this whole book worth it!

There was a lot of new developments on the Izzy/Eibhear front. I loved all those scenes! I can't wait until we get to see them in their own book. I was really glad the whole thing developed like that. He needed a reality check that she's not a little girl and she's not waiting around forever. I also hope we get to see more of Ren in the future. I find him very interesting.

I can't wait to get my hands on the next one!