"Lynne Murray has the uncanny ability to blend voices and genres and even to pay homage to the books influencing her writing while making the blend uniquely her own. Flying by us in Runaway Dragonette, a glorious melange that is both tour de farce and tour de force, are the Rings, Avalon, Dragonfyre, Harry Potter, and of course Lynne's own wonderful previous work. Most amazingly, she manages to combine fantasy and romance with a considerable touch of satire, and yet somehow keep the romance convincing and suspenseful, to boot. (Hint, hint - gets hot as a dragon's breath!)
Description:
Runaway Dragonette #1
When the Dragon King demands that Princess Verity choose a romantic partner from 26 dragon shapeshifters, she’s not allowed to say, “No.” But she has to.
Verity must escape her father’s romance plans for her, but it won’t be easy with cameras broadcasting her every move and the whole Dragon Planet watching.
Meanwhile on Earth, Ryan, a tech industry millionaire, loves dragons more than anything in the real world. He has moved back to his home town to run a dragon-centered bookstore. When a portal misfire lands Verity in Ryan’s store, the attraction is instant and irresistible.
Ryan jumps at the chance to compete to win Verity’s hand. The Dragon King allows it. He doesn’t expect a computer nerd human to survive a competition with fire-breathing dragonshifters.
Can Ryan win the dragon princess's hand by defeating a pack of hulking, jealous, firebreathing dragon men who don’t play fair? Will Verity be able to save her true mate from death by dragon fire?
EXCERPT
The storyline suggested that Verity was herself a shapeshifter, but so far she stayed in human form. He had no complaints, he enjoyed looking at her human form. Her face was heart-shaped, her lips inviting. The sheet of jet black hair down her back seemed to invite stroking. Most amazing were her pale blue eyes, lit with a fire of intelligence. When the camera moved in close, something in her eyes seemed to reach out of the screen into his heart and beg him to rescue her from the mumbling platitudes of the hyper-muscular dragon men who stood in front of her and told her she was beautiful. Most of them said they wanted to get to know her better.
As absurd as it sounded, Ryan wanted to get to know her better. He knew that a beautiful actress in a strange little science fiction video parody would be unlikely to be hot to meet a small bookstore owner. His only claim to fame was once inventing some software and getting paid well for it. Not exactly knight in shining armor credentials, as his experience with Deborah had taught him.
Bachelor Dragon Blues #2
Can the love of an Earth woman save a dragonshifter from the ticking time bomb inside?
The Dragon Planet hails Jevrath as a war hero for a military action that wounded him. No one knows that spy bots invaded his wound during the battle. They track his every move. They can kill him at will. The only threat Jevrath knows about is the Dragon King’s vow to force him into a planetary romance show, to publicly select a dragonshifter mate. Jevrath refuses and heads for Earth for a vacation. Then Beth, a human woman, walks through the door of the resort bar and his world will never be the same.
Beth’s dream is to work with endangered species, but who knew they would be so sizzling hot? She needs a weekend away from her lab tech job and her lecherous boss. When she walks into the resort bar and sees tall, dark, commanding Jevrath, her dreams seem about to come true—along with her worst nightmares. She can have a lab of her own on the Dragon Planet, if she pretends to go along with the televised romance show. But her desires for Jevrath go dangerously beyond pretending.
Can the devotion of a dragon man sustain Beth in the face of 26 firebreathing dragon women who don’t mind killing for love?
EXCERPT
JEVRATH PRIDED HIMSELF on narrowly escaping having his love-life turned into a planetary joke. The entire Dragon Planet now called him a hero. All because of what he did when he was escorting a group of half-dragons through a portal. An explosion followed by fifty seconds of horrific action that seemed like a lifetime. The media called it the Battle of Cygnus Corridor 44X. Catchy name, Jevrath wanted to snort in ridicule every time he heard it. There hadn’t been a visible enemy. The battle was to patch up the portal wall before they were all sucked out into space and to keep as many of his men alive as he could.
His wounds had healed, but the injuries were deep enough and laced with enough scar tissue on his back and shoulder to make him slower at shifting into dragon form. He was no longer tireless when flying. The doctors had decreed that now he was not fit for the kind of military service he had done before. He was discharged with honor. He tried to ignore the shadows that seemed to show up with occasional sparks right at the corner of his eye. When he whipped his head around to focus on them, they disappeared. The military eye doctor told him, it might be lingering damage to his optic nerve during the explosion or from the few seconds he was exposed to the vacuum of space. Or it might be something else. In other words, no one knew
So, what was he going to do with the rest of his life?
Billionaire Dragon's Secretary #3
Jill is kidnapped by a lying, cheating dragonshifter and stuck on the Dragon Planet. Romance with a dragon is the last thing on her mind. She only wants to earn enough to pay for a ticket back to Earth, but her billionaire dragon shifter boss sets her senses on fire, and he’s trying to give her every reason to stay. Targon, “the Gold Whisperer,” fiercely guards his heart and his hoard until his new secretary, Jill arrives. Instantly he recognizes her as his True Mate. How can a dragonshifter convince an angry Earth woman to trust him when he doesn’t trust himself?
EXCERPT
TARGON OF THE Sky Rim Clan had a taste for Earth women. He was a genius at managing dragon wealth. He was tall with short-cut pale blond hair, and the kind of imposing good looks that attracted attention from female dragonshifters. Yet he avoided the mating wars.
Courting a shapeshifting dragon woman was bizarrely complicated. He had no time, or interest in the clan politics, the endless fertility tests. The “You show me your assets, I’ll show you mine” dance made him cringe. He got enough of that at work.
Relationships with human women from Earth were simpler, but dangerous. They had caused him grief before.
Targon openly displayed some of his personal hoard as a taste of the power of his clan. The unspoken suggestion was that such treasures might come to his clients as well. The same was true of the secretaries. The clients could enjoy their attention, but no touching. He brought in a new one every week or two to keep everyone from getting attached.
Some of Targon’s clients joked that he was sampling the women’s favors and discarding them.
He wasn’t.
Bitter experience had taught him to keep his distance, his desires under control.
Once. Just once Targon had fallen for an Earth woman. That painful memory helped him get a grip on the slightest suggestion of emotion. He had come way too close to killing that woman.
About the author:
Lynne Murray was born in Illinois and grew up in transit Texas, Alaska, Florida, Washington state, and Southern California due to her father's work with the military.
Lynne writes the kind of books she loves to read. Those usually feature a lot of action, quirky characters and supernatural attitude. She just might read anything that isn't tied down, but some of the books that have to be restrained also make it onto her list. Her favorite authors include Illona Andrews, Faith Hunter, Patricia Briggs, Kim Hamilton, Terry Pratchett and T.H. White.
She now lives and writes and stares out the window at the ocean in San Francisco with a group of rescue cats, who rescue her right back with heroic feats of purring.
Author's Giveaway
I think the book sounds interesting.
ReplyDeletethese sound like some exciting pool side reads and I love the covers!
ReplyDeleteThe books sound interesting. I do like dragons!
ReplyDeleteI love the book cover.
ReplyDeleteI just love your cover.
ReplyDelete