Cherri-Anne's Reviews > The Reluctant Lord

His crystal glowed. His dreams were coming true.

OH MY LORD!! I am not reluctant to admit it, Michelle has wowed me yet again! This time with Vlad & Clara and their adventure to find that elusive happily ever after. For Clara that means falling in love and being able to marry that person for love, not station as is expected of her. For Vlad it means attending his first ever Breeding Ceremony and finding that one woman that has been chosen for him by the will of the gods, signaled by making his crystal glow. (Oh the things I could say to that! The one woman who lights/gets/sets his rock all aglow; lights up his rock...LOL) I very much enjoyed this story, and of course cried for the last chapter or 2! I certainly did not expect this ending at all! Which is exactly why I am enjoying each of the books in this series, one after another! Okay, by now we all know that Michelle is a fantastic author, but do you REALLY understand or comprehend just HOW fantastic she truly is?!? Take these first 7 books in The Dragon Lords for example. You would think that after the first 3 or so, there would be a pattern and the books would start to feel familiar, sort of a 'been there done that' vibe. I mean, seriously! The Lords all meet their future wives that Galaxy Brides has delivered on time for the annual Breeding Ceremony, the new couples then try to adjust to their new lives, some kind of trouble or fight/miscommunication ensues, they kiss & make-up and live happily ever after. So end of story, right? Why read the rest of the books now that you have 'cracked' the code? Well! Let me remind you that Michelle M. Pillow IS THE AUTHOR. MICHELLE M. PILLOW people! You know, the PHENOMENALLY GIFTED, ASTRONOMICALLY TALENTED author whose books are the polar opposite to cookie cutter! I am positive that Michelle is the ONLY author that could write so many stories that by all rights should be repetitive, but yet are each so different, so creative, so entertaining and oh so very yummy!! Each story is unique, and I absolutely love the 'shared' scenes! Being able to see one scene from numerous views, angles & because each of the women have different backgrounds, upbringing & training, their insights all give these scenes new life & an original feel to them. In fact a few times I didn't even realize it WAS the same scene until that specific something happened! I think that I am enjoying this second grouping of books (5-8) that are about the cousins of the Princes simply because they don't live the Royal life at the castle. Of course, they also seem to have different takes on the Breeding Ceremony traditions which leads to some great hilarity!! And then how it affects them going forward is as entertaining as it is frustrating...for them! All in all, this story (& the series), is very well written with lots of humor, it's hot & sexy, engrossing, highly entertaining and one you do not want to miss out on! Once again Great Lady Michelle has managed to seduce this not-at-all reluctant reader with her phenomenal wealth of talent and her ability to mesmerize me with her fangasmic stories, time and again!