Fury of Fire: Dragonfury #1    by Coreene Callahan Order:  USA  Can Montlake, 2012 (2012) Paperback, CD, e-Book Read an Excerpt     Reviewed by Martina Bexte Bastien, a dragon shifter, leads the Nighfury clan, a race of half-human, half dragon beings who live secretly among humans and are sworn to protect them at all costs. He lives and breathes duty and wishes he could ignore his pressing need to find a mate and producing a male offspring. Indeed, Bastien yearns for a mate and strong sons to mould into honourable warriors. What he cannot accept is that any human female he takes as his mate will die moments after giving birth, no matter how strong her life energy. Everything changes when Myst Monroe stumbles into Bastien's dark and dangerous world. She's not only brimming over with the special energy that shifters need to stay alive, she's also determined to protect the orphaned child she's just delivered. The baby's destiny lies with the dragon shifters, but which clan? Bastien's Nightfuries or the Razorbacks, rogue shifters who believe that humans should be erased from existence? Another debut author throws her hat into the paranormal romance ring with the first in this Dragonfury series: Coreene Callahan has an engaging writing style, keeps the action interesting and tightly paced, and has a deft hand at highflying battle scenes. She also weaves various nifty twists into her dragon mythology and does a great set up, story wise and character wise, for book two. What didn’t work for me was the excessive internalizing, particularly in heroine Myst's case; it often detracts from her tough cookie personae. Nor do her speech patterns and thought processes ring true for a female character; too much of her dialogue is a carbon copy of the way the dragon shifters speak and think. As for Bastien and his fellow warriors, their backgrounds and agenda seemed a tad too similar to a handful of other popular paranormal series out right now. Even so, I found Fury of Fire very readable and the romance between Bastien and Myst appealing, which leaves me eager to dive into Rikar's story: Fury of Ice will hit bookshelves and e-readers in June. Note: Opinions expressed in reviews and articles on this site are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of BookLoons. Find more Romance books on our Shelves or in our book Reviews