“Zoe Cyprienne Lane is a simple daughter of a seamstress in hidden Darkfrith, in 18th. century England, the home of the magical Drakon. The Drakon look like ordinary humans but the males can turn invisible and take dragon form and some of the women can turn to dragons or have other powers. Zoe discovers she has some powers which would cause her to be married off to a member of the ruling family, something she objects to. Instead she keeps her powers hidden and eventually becomes engaged to Hayden. When Hayden disappears on a mission to the Continent, Zoe breaks with all the rules of the English Drakon and runs away to try and find him.
The book opens with the first chapter in diary form, written by a young Zoe. Young Lord Rhys is obviously infatuated with her, but young Zoe rebuffs him. The second chapter onward is in more typical third-person form. A big problem is that Zoe is not all that sympathetic. Sure, she's flaunting tradition and is gutsy about going off on her own, but it's not easy to fathom her motivations. For one thing--why was she so intent on keeping Rhys at a distance? Why was she engaged to Hayden, who seemed as cool to her as she was to seemingly everyone else? Why is she so intent on breaking Drakon law and going into danger to find Hayden when she never seemed to be that in love with him (until he disappears, anyway)? The good thing about her is that in her coolness, she seems totally unafraid and amazingly competent out in the real world, despite having lived a very sheltered life. (This was somewhat unbelieveable, but still kind of neat.)
The good thing is that once Zoe is out in the world she bumps into Rhys's ghost. Rhys was always in love with Zoe, even though he definitely played the field as young and relatively indulged lordling (he was taken during an attack on Darkfrith and was thought to be a captive or killed). His personality was always lively and fun and remained so even as a ghost. He hangs about Zoe, helping her whether she wants it or not. It is this part of the book that is the most fun, and there is an interesting sweet pathos to him being in his unsubstantial form, still longing for his childhood sweetheart.
While the plot of this paranormal romance/romantic fantasy is somewhat thin and most of the secondary characters remain mere sketches, there was still something here that appealed enough for me to want more, which is why it's getting 4 stars when it probably should get 3...”
aprillee wrote this review Wednesday, May 20 2009.
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