The Heart of a Dragon

Published:  September 3rd, 2013

Scorched (Scorched #1)

By: Mari Mancusi

Sourcebooks Fire

ISBN-13:  9781402284588

Trinity

Don't leave me here...It starts with a whisper.  At first Trinity thinks she's going crazy.  It wouldn't be a big surprise -- her Grandpa firmly belives there's a genuine dragon egg in their dusty little West Texas town.  But this voice is real, and it's begging for her protection.  Even if no one else can hear it...

Connor

He's come from a future scorched in dragonfire.  His mission: Find the girl.  Destroy the egg.  Save the world.  

Caleb

He's everything his twin brother Connor hates: cocky, undisciplined, and obsessed with saving dragons.  

Trinity has no idea which brother to believe.  All she has to go by is the voice in her head -- a dragon that won't be tamed.

Review

     Trinity Foxx has been living with her Grandpa and struggling to make ends meet ever since her Mom died.  Then her Grandpa goes and blows all their money on what he believes is the last real dragon egg in the world for the museum he curates.  Trinity is understandably angry and thinks that they're going to lose their home and everything else because of this.  But then imagine her surprise when Connor shows up and trys to steal the dragon egg.  Trinity might not want the thing, but if he takes it they can't get the money back either.  So she goes with him and finds out that it really is a dragon egg!  Connor wants to destroy it to stop a future dragon-scorched apocalypse from happening.  On the other side of things is his twin brother Caleb, who wants to save the egg and dragons from destruction.  With new things coming to light at every turn, who can Trinity trust?  And how can she decipher the feelings she is developing for both Connor and Caleb?

     I wanted to like this book, as I have been a fan of Mancusi's Blood Coven series for quite some time (since sometime between books 2 & 3 to be more precise).  But I started out feeling fairly bored.  Also, Trinity seriously got on my nerves!  She goes off with a guy that she only just met.  Even when proof of the existence of dragons is given to her, Trinity doesn't believe it until she has absolutely no other choice.  Plus, when her Grandpa first tells her about the dragon egg, the thing she's most worried about is that they might have to return her Christmas present - an expansion pack for her favorite computer game.  None of the plot twists really surprised me, the least of which was who the "good guys" and "bad guys" were.  Probably the single truly awesome part of this book was when Trinity went into like an alternate zone where she could fly with her dragon and talk to it, etc.  I liked the ending as well.  

     But for the most part this book's plot structure, action and climax was extremely jumpy.  The characters weren't very well developed and I left this book feeling no greater connection to or interest in Trinity, Caleb or Connor then when I started it.  Overall, this one just wasn't my cup of tea personally.  To be honest, it kind of reminded me of the teen books published by MTV back in the day.  Interesting, largely forgettable and only ever truly good to a young teenager!  If you like dragons though (i.e. are obsessed with them) maybe it might be worth giving this book a shot.

VERDICT:  2/5 Stars

*I received an Advanced Reading E-book Copy from the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, via NetGalley.  No money or favors were exchanged for this review.  This book was published September 3rd, 2013.*