The newest trend in fantasy romance seems to be dragons, perhaps because vampires and werewolves are becoming stale. I, for one, was excited about reading about these creatures, but so far the stories haven’t lived up to my expectations. Maybe I just don’t get the idea of a woman falling for a dragon who can transform himself into the man of her dreams. I constantly wonder if these women will have to lay eggs rather than give birth as humans. Overall, though, I just haven’t read any dragon stories yet that are as seductive and sexual as they are meant to be.

I give Allyson James, aka Jennifer Ashley, credit for writing some remarkable characters and very scorching sex scenes, but as far as plots go, hers is seriously lacking. The scenes that fell flattest featured our dragon hero as he tries to experience life in his new human skin. He addiction to TV and use of slang reminded me of too many time travel romances I’ve already read. I did grow to like Caleb, but I think it was more so from his enthusiastic nature in bed rather than his charm and alpha-like nature.

Caleb is a golden dragon stuck between the two worlds of Earth and Dragonspace. He was handed down as the pet of Lisa Singleton by her deceased grandmother. He lives in a spare bedroom in her apartment as the gatekeeper for his home world. Caleb is under a century-old spell from a coven of witches who enslaved him for their own selfish means. His sole purpose for the moment is to protect Lisa. Caleb has grown to care for her as more of a friend than anything else because well, he is a dragon after all and his kind don’t do too well with love in general. His past relationships have almost killed him. It’s dangerous when dragons mate because the female kills the male in the end. So Caleb is quite content watching soap operas all day and hanging out with Lisa.

Lisa is half-Chinese, half-Scottish. She works behind the scenes on a television cooking show and is more than pleased to have her own dragon. Dragons are so loyal and sweet since they won’t cheat on her like her ex-husband did. Life between these two is beyond perfect until her life is threatened. Lisa is the only person who can help the present day witches control the world along with aiding another dragon who is exiled on earth. When things come to a head, Caleb appeals to one of the more sympathetic witches to make him human so he can have an easier time in protecting Lisa. Lisa also embodies the Silver Dragon, which is the most powerful of all dragons. Along with this power, she must find a magic orb that both witches and dragons alike want. In the wrong hands the orb could destroy the world. Lisa and Caleb must also watch out for Malcolm, an amoral black dragon who was exiled from Dragonspace, and Donna, the evil witch whose one joy in life – other than trying to rule the world – is to have incubus sex every chance she can get. The more sex with these demons, the more powerful she becomes. Then there’s Saba, the witch who helped Caleb turn human in the first place. Malcolm soon marks her himself so she will compelled to do whatever he wants. Malcolm develops a tender and protective nature towards Saba that eventully turns romantic.

When both sets of these characters are not practicing spells, turning into dragons, or watching television, they like to engage in as much sexual release as they can. Lisa and Caleb have some interesting sexual escapades as dragons (yes, they do indeed mate – but not in great detail) and as humans. One scene I particularly enjoyed involved Lisa introducing Caleb to the joys of ice cream and chocolate sauce.

I found myself more intrigued by Malcolm and Saba’s relationship rather than Lisa and Caleb’s, which was a problem. Malcolm and Saba were more subdued and overall meshed well together. I wished this secondary couple had more word count devoted to them, never a good thing in a romance featuring a different hero and heroine. Not surpringly, Malcolm and Saba’s will continue in The Black Dragon, to be published this November.

At this time I can’t say that James provides a fresh new voice to the world of dragons. The world-building is so extensive it lost me, and rather than being excited by the action, I found myself only intrigued by the love scenes. Dragon Heat simply bogs down with too much action and world-building, then wraps up way too neatly at the end. I think I may take a pass on dragon-themed erotic romances in the future.