I fell through a rabbit hole of clicking around, looking for something new to read when I found Rising Sun by Donna Grant. It had pretty good ratings, so I decided to pick up the audiobook to listen to at work. When I tell you that I’ve never been gladder to find a book at random! Narrator Shane East? To die for. The slow burn? Burned. This was just such a great romantasy!
Usually, when I’m picking up romance audiobooks, I tend to pick up duet narrators or female narrators only. I’m not sure why. It’s just how it has always been. So I was on the fence going through an entire romance with dual POV and having a male narrator only. I was a fool to be worried. Shane East was amazing. He had enough range that I could tell exactly who was talking at all times and the pitch was never annoying or squeaky. I am looking forward to listening to many more audiobooks narrated by him.
Onto the actual story itself. This is a spin-off of Donna Grant’s Dragon Kings series, which I’ve never read. Even still, everything is well laid out and easy to grasp. Dragons live in a neighboring country and there is a tentative peace. Humans are the minority and there are some reproduction issues going on, leading to humans being adopted out to whomever. We get just enough story that the narrative makes sense and feels solid, but not so much that it bogs down the pacing or romance. Human FMC, Yasmin, is caught thieving and told she will not be charged or in trouble so long as she guides elven MMC Ravi to her former home, Shaldorn.
Yasmin and Ravi, of course, hate and misunderstand each other. Ravi thinks she’s being petulant for refusing to return and help, believing she just doesn’t understand how high the stakes are. Yasmin thinks Ravi is cruel and heartless, uncaring and oblivious. And so, little by little, as the pair travel through beautiful and cruel landscapes, they begin to slough off their misguided misconceptions and form a tentative friendship until, of course, one falls ill and the other looks at them in a new light – a sexy light. This is a slow burn. VERY SLOW BURN. If that isn’t something you’re into, do not pick this up. Over three quarter of the book is building up to the actual romance, which is made all the more delicious thanks to what they have to overcome. The spice is short but intense and satisfying.
For anyone that is a fan of extremely slow burn romances in a fantasy setting, I absolutely would recommend Rising Sun by Donna Grant. It has solid worldbuilding, amazing tension, and great characters. I especially would recommend picking this up as an audiobook because Shane East does a marvelous job bringing every character to life. Honestly, I cannot wait for the second book in this series to continue within this world and with the greater cast we were introduced to.
