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A review by caughtbetweenpages
Hoarded by the Dragon by Lillian Lark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
A fun addition to the series! I always appreciate when a story set in a fantastical world can offer both an insider’s and outsider’s perspective on it, and by virtue of being, respectively, an ancient dragon from a time long past and a witch who only realized she wasn’t human in her late teens and thus grew up out of the loop, the protagonists of those stories managed to ride the line and offer just enough of each perspective to keep the shenanigans flowing and the plot interesting.
I liked Katarina as a protagonist. I found her school-of-hard-knocks attitude coupled with her desperate desire to know herself and her place in the world to be really easy to sympathize with, and her POV was voiced snd readable. Her loyalty to her friends, as well as her desire to redeem her previously questionable actions, were demonstrated on page and thus easy to believe, and they made the plot Go™️ to boot! Excellent leading lady.
My main gripe is that I don’t love Kalos and Katarina for each other. Or rather, I don’t love him for her. It took far too long for him to get on board with being in love with her, and she spent far too long after her feelings had grown allowing him to keep her in that awful limbo of “we’re in a situationship but I’m literally having your baby”. I love a good groveling when an imbalance of feelings-timing happens and leads to someone getting hurt, but it happens too little and too late for my tastes. There’s a part where Kalos asks Rina if she will stay with him after he tells her he doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to love her, and while I really appreciate this book for giving the pair of them such a frank discussion of feelings and boundaries, I wanted Rina to respect herself enough to tell him “hell no”! The proximity for the duration of pregnancy I understand, as her life literally depends on it, but Kalos’s behavior never bridged the gap from “kind of a dick” to “awkward with his feelings but means well” for me. Normalize not letting men treat women poorly in 2025 even if they feel like they have a good reason.
I did think the steamy scenes were really hot, and I appreciated the lore given to the world at large (Fae gates! Monster babies! New info on the council and on the seedy underbelly of the magical world!) and the set up for the next book (marriage of convenience! Bickering to lovers!), but I don’t think I’ll be returning to this installment.
I liked Katarina as a protagonist. I found her school-of-hard-knocks attitude coupled with her desperate desire to know herself and her place in the world to be really easy to sympathize with, and her POV was voiced snd readable. Her loyalty to her friends, as well as her desire to redeem her previously questionable actions, were demonstrated on page and thus easy to believe, and they made the plot Go™️ to boot! Excellent leading lady.
My main gripe is that I don’t love Kalos and Katarina for each other. Or rather, I don’t love him for her. It took far too long for him to get on board with being in love with her, and she spent far too long after her feelings had grown allowing him to keep her in that awful limbo of “we’re in a situationship but I’m literally having your baby”. I love a good groveling when an imbalance of feelings-timing happens and leads to someone getting hurt, but it happens too little and too late for my tastes. There’s a part where Kalos asks Rina
I did think the steamy scenes were really hot, and I appreciated the lore given to the world at large (Fae gates! Monster babies! New info on the council and on the seedy underbelly of the magical world!) and the set up for the next book (marriage of convenience! Bickering to lovers!), but I don’t think I’ll be returning to this installment.