Grade: C+

So here’s my second foray into manlove fiction. Previously, my only other experience with this came from author L.E. Bryce. In Here Be Dragons, T.A. Chase has written an urban fantasy wrapped around a love story.

Kael is a herpetologist hiding out from an abusive ex-lover in Ireland. In any event, he’s working slightly out of his field in a research lab for a total hottie named Hugh. Kael is a thin, gangly science geek and Hugh is just two hundred pounds of pure stud, so Kael figures Hugh would never give him a second look. Plus Kael has all kinds of emotional baggage from his former partner, Will, and he doesn’t think it would be good idea to get involved with his boss, even if Hugh wanted him. Which he doesn’t. Because who could ever love a loser like Kael?

Little does he know, Hugh pops wood anytime Kael walks into the room. Hugh is a pretty normal guy without any excess angst, although his brother is going through a messy divorce because his wife is a cheating whore. that leads me to my next point — I’m a little nonplussed by this book in some ways, however. There isn’t much in the way of healthy straight relationships found in the book. Kael’s coworker, Irene, appears to be in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend as well. Apart from Hugh, there’s a dearth of … normal people to balance out Kael’s emotional fragility. When too many supporting characters suffer from some crisis or other, it lessens some of the impact of what goes on with the protagonist. Hugh was the best part of the book, but I’m afraid he couldn’t carry it alone, and the story never captured my interest altogether.

Anyway, once you get past all that, it’s quite a sweet love story between Kael and Hugh, joined with an interesting retelling of a dragon myth. I won’t give too many details because I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone who might want to pick this up. If m/m erotic romance floats your boat, you’ll find Here Be Dragons scorching hot with its plentiful, well-written sex scenes.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 6:27 am and is filed under Books, Grade: C, Romance: Sci-fi/Fan, Reviews by Annie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.