Holden’s Mate by Meg Ripley

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Title: Holden's Mate
Author: Meg Ripley
Series: Daddy Dragon Guardians #1
Published by: Indie
Release Date: May 3rd 2018
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 156
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2019 Beat the Backlist Challenge, Lenoreo's 2019 Reading Assignment Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Winter 2018
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ IndieBound
My rating:

Blurb:

They were drawn to one another by an attraction that neither could comprehend. Nor resist.

Holden has come to Earth as one of the last of his kind. Dedicated to raising one of the dragon babies left behind by his slain queen, he must acclimate to this strange new planet in order to succeed. Humans prove to be odd creatures, but one blue-eyed beauty compels him in ways he’s never experienced. Their paths cross often, and he can barely keep his inner dragon in check when she’s nearby. The fierce need to protect her completely takes over, and he knows he must have her.

After a year of separation, Leah’s divorce from her cheating ex is final. She’s relieved, but finds the stress of everything has compromised her psychic abilities, which she relies on to keep a roof over her head. She knows she just needs time, and pushing forward with her new life as a single woman sounds like the perfect solution. But when she keeps running into the same mysterious, gorgeous stranger, Leah’s plan to write off men proves to be harder than she thought.

With her reluctance to start a new relationship and Holden’s secret, will these two find a way to be together as fate intends them to be?

**Holden's Mate is a 30,000 word novella with steamy shifter scenes intended for readers 18+.

My Review:

3 stars — For a shifter book, there wasn’t a whole lot of shifting going on…so that was a bit of a bummer.  As far as paranormal elements, Leah being a psychic played into it more than Holden being a dragon.  I really wish we’d gotten to know more about what it was like to be a dragon, what it was like on their old world, just basic world building type things…we really only got glimpses.

On the whole, the story was short.  Entertaining, but short.  There just wasn’t enough time to build up chemistry and connection between Leah and Holden.  Or perhaps I just wasn’t satisfied with what was there.  It felt very much like insta-love…and if it had been explained away as a by-product of being fated mates, then I would have been more satisfied…but I really didn’t get that impression.

I enjoyed both characters in general though.  Leah was dealing with changes in her life, but it was fun seeing her use her psychic powers to make a living…and she seemed like a genuine person.  I liked her.  And Holden seemed like a good guy.  It was funny to see him struggling with being “human”, and I could appreciate how disorienting that might be.  I also appreciated that he tried very hard not to pressure Leah in his pursuit of her affections…even when he got rejected.  I do wish we’d seen him interact with Finn more.  As the series is “Daddy Dragon Guardians”, I expected more interplay with the kid, you know?

And I probably would have rated this a 3.5 (still rounded down, but…), but the author enjoyed using odd euphemisms that just didn’t work for me…  She actually used sword and sheath…for realz.  I don’t need that kind of variety personally, it takes me out of the story since it’s so…bizarre.

So yeah.  I was entertained, but in general there was a lot of depth missing — from the characters, from the romance, from the world building.