Katie MacAlister has a few successful dragon shifter series under her belt. Her combination of sexy romance combined with action and laughs has made for some enjoyable reads for me in the past, and I’m happy to say that this new release, Day of the Dragon, delivers another equally entertaining escape.

Sibling rivalry is taken to extremes when it comes to brothers Archer and Hunter. A tragic family history resulted in the two brothers being separated at birth and now they’re arch-enemies leading rival outcast dragon clans. Archer leads the Storm Dragons and his ranks have been decimated lately. He blames Hunter and his Shadow Dragons and they have been unable to come to a truce.

Both brothers want to get their hands on a medieval manuscript that purports to describe an ancient dragon artefact, but in their way is Thaisa, a medieval scholar who works at the antique shop that has the treasure, and the only person who can decipher the encrypted text. Thaisa recently had a chance encounter at a bar with a man she’s dubbed ‘Mr. Tall, Dark and Infuriating’. When that man, who happens to be Archer, shows up after hours at the shop to steal the manuscript, Thaisa recognizes him. Suddenly she’s caught up in a supernatural struggle with dragons and demons and sprites – oh my! Can she solve the mystery of the manuscript and bring about a happy ending for the brothers, and an HEA of her own?

I know to expect a low angst, laugh-out-loud reading experience with Katie MacAlister and that’s exactly what you’ll get here, with some interesting world building and a mystery that gets solved over the course of the story. There are some fun twists and turns, some unexpected surprises and of course, a sexy romance for Archer and Thaisa. The existence of supernatural beings is a shock Thaisa gets over reasonably quickly considering she’s fully human. She doesn’t seem at all wigged out by being attracted to a dragon shifter, and once Archer believes her to be his mate, he’ll do anything to keep her safe and protected, a difficult task since there is more than one enemy after the manuscript – and Thaisa’s  cryptography skills.

Thaisa has a condition, poliosis,that results in streaks of white through her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. She knows she looks different and she has some self-esteem issues when it comes to her appearance, ones that Archer goes out of his way to dispel. He’s attracted to all of her – her looks, her brain, her fiery spirit. There’s plenty of banter between them that’ll make you smile, plus Thaisa’s internal dialogue is a hoot. The story is told in an interesting way, with Thaisa’s point of view being in first person, and Archer’s in third. The switch is a little jarring at first, but it makes a clear distinction between their thoughts.

Like any good story, there are secondary characters with important parts to play. Thaisa has a best friend, Laura, and Laura has recently introduced her to Bree. There’s something a little odd about Bree (though she’s very funny) and she turns out to have a significant role later on. Archer’s feud with Hunter heats up when both want Thaisa’s help, though Hunter will try to get it in more devious ways. Archer relies on his best friend and cousin Milo but Thaisa isn’t sure that Milo’s not up to something for his own benefit. Thaisa’s boss is a jerk, one who threatens Thaisa’s grandmother if she doesn’t get the manuscript back after it’s stolen. Thaisa will do anything to keep her grandmother from harm so she too has her own agenda. Everyone has secrets to be uncovered.

Solving the mystery of the manuscript takes some ingenuity, skill, and luck. There’s a lot of action scenes, even some sword fighting (!) and plenty of magic to get to the happy ending everyone deserves. Archer and Thaisa have a fun, sexy and exciting partnership and I plan to read more of the Dragon Hunter series in the future. One last note – the book available for purchase currently includes the novel Wolf’s Mate by Celia Kyle, a two for one special. They each take up approximately half of the total length of both the digital edition and the paperback.

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