I am please to announce I am taking part in the spotlight tour for the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) 2024. Today I am spotlighting a young adult fantasy , Lady of Dragons (Part One) by Shelby Elizabeth.

About BBNYA and the Spotlight Tours

The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Lady of Dragons (Part One) by Shelby Elizabeth is a 375 page historically based fantacy romance published on August 29th, 2023.

Blurb

“You will be bound, dragon and human.”

Finlay McDonough wants nothing more than to be a Dragon Knight: a warrior bound with a dragon partner, intent on ridding the kingdom of its dragon-killing monarchy. Well, she might want one thing just a bit more … Evander, her childhood friend, now keeper of the dragon sanctuary. Scouting with Evander one day, Finlay’s attempt to save a dragon goes horribly wrong, and she inadvertently ties her fate to the dragon’s—their souls bind, lending Finlay powers like those of the Mages the Knights are sworn to destroy.

After passing the trial to train as a Knight, Finlay discovers a devastating truth about a beloved dragon. To save them, she’ll need to risk her dream of becoming a true Knight, her chance at a happily-ever-after with Evander . . . and maybe her very identity.

Fantasy romance with a fierce heroine, gentle love interest, sassy dragon companion, and more than a dash of adventure awaits.

My Thoughts on the Book:

The writing was engaging with a good pace. There is some detailed world building and plenty of information given to keep me turning the pages. Enough hints were dropped to me want to find out more. In this way, I was invested in the story.

Finlay and her friends want to be dragon knights and they have to complete their training and apprenticeships. We really delve into their feelings for each other with the extensive descriptions of the characters. There was also some intensive world building to help set the scene.

The characters were well developed and there was plenty of character emotional response which was good. They were believable and their feelings for each other relatable. I liked Finlay’s impetuous nature, which sometimes had devestating results.

I particularly liked the dilemma of Finlay wanting to be a Dragon Knight whilst knowing she would love to work full time in the dragon sanctuary with Evander. I was also impressed with the characterisation of the dragons. Each dragon has been given it’s own personality, which comes out in the way they speak and react.

On the whole, lots of intrigue throughout. An enjoyable read with a real Mills & Boon style romance.

Author Bio

Shelby Elizabeth is a teacher in Upstate New York. She is a major geek (favourite fandoms include Lord of the Rings, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and One Piece) and loves spending time with her family, and relaxing at home with her cats.

She writes both young adult fantasy romance and young adult contemporary romance. Shelby can be found on Twitter (X) @ShelbyEBooks and on Instagram @shelbyelizabethbooks.

You can read more reviews by following the links below.

Amazon Link: https://a.co/d/fH25bpl (Canada) https://a.co/d/2sbTghu (USA) https://amzn.eu/d/15fL8Pc (UK)

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/181209722-lady-of-dragons-part-one

The Story Graph Link: https://app.thestorygraph.com/books/c92d6b16-64cd-4b12-9c14-b51f1ee62e63?redirect=true