[Review] The Dragon King's Mate by Harlow Blaze

Publisher's synopsis: Who’s more dangerous, her stalker or her king?

Ava:
Dancing in a rowdy nightclub isn’t most girls’ career plan, but Ava makes it work. Bump, grind, flirt—easy as pie.

Her life shatters when she’s marked. A human that can have dragon shifter babies is a prize worth killing for, and her stalker is ready to be a dad.

When her apartment burns down, Ava learns a fun fact. Stalkers don’t like being rejected. And hers will stop at nothing to claim her as his own.

One man can help her.

Baz—King of the Seattle dragon shifters and definitely not a gangster. Despite the warnings to stay away from him, his protection is her only hope.

But Ava has a problem. Powerful and sexy as hell, Baz sets her soul on fire.

Literally.

Baz:
Baz doesn’t have time to help humans. His sister has a target on her back, and family always comes first.

Everything changes when a dancer crashes into his lap, desperate for his protection.

Ava’s sweet scent and feisty temper drives his inner beast wild. The need to mate is irresistible, but his pretty, new roommate is already running from one dragon. Seducing her for himself is, at best, morally gray.

But Baz has always been a bad boy, and rules don’t apply to the king.

At first, having her in his penthouse is delicious torture. But the longer Ava is around, the more Baz starts to soften.

And when you’re king, being soft isn’t an option.  

My thoughts: I sort of just inhaled this shifter romance. I may have put aside two other books I had been reading in order to devour this one.

Plot-wise, I can't even pull anything out that was super unique to the story. We have a young woman who's running from a less-than-ideal past, a protective alpha shifter, and the thing that's trying to keep them apart. All in all, it's all pretty standard shifter romance plot points.

But I really liked these characters. Baz is your textbook definition alpha protector, yet he manages to come off as both hard and loving when around Ava. I loved that it didn't take the whole book for him to give into his feelings. 

As with any first book in a series, I absolutely need great world building and set up if I'm going to not only enjoy the book but also continue on with the series. And Blaze definitely delivered on all fronts. I thought this book had a great mix of fantasy (found in the dragon connections and eyrie) while still being anchored in real-world Seattle. 

Overall, I loved Baz and Ava and the magical shifter world they inhabit. Readers get a good amount of world building while also being introduced to some great main and secondary characters. This book can definitely be read as a standalone, but I can't wait to continue on with this series and read more about the Seattle dragon's eyrie. 

[I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.]

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Release date: 3/17/22
Format: eARC

eARC provided via: BookSirens