Crucify my Love: Gay Book Reviews: [59-ENG] Review: SYN Consulting

Series: Dragon War Chronicles

Volume: 1/?
Publisher: A.G. Carothers

Genre/s: LGBT Urban Fantasy

Length: 69 000

Pages: 263

Read in: English
Review copy format: epub

Rate:✮✮✮✬✰✰

Danica Lestrange is the CEO of SYN Consulting, the consulting company which achieves some excellent results in its field of activity. However, the woman hides quite a big secret, as she's one of the incredibly rare female dragons.
Unfortunately, when the specter of war between dragons hiding in the dark and ordinary people hovers over the world, some secrets must come to light.

Already at the very beginning of this review, I must admit that it is difficult for me to rate "SYN Consulting", as when I decided to reach for this novel, I expected it to be quite different. Let's start with the fact that the main character is actually a woman, which naturally to a certain extent affects the content of this story. Personally, I'm not a fan of female leads, as I have high expectations of them and they rarely meet them. So in the case of the novel, this fact made reading it a bit difficult for me. However, I would like to point out, that it was not entirely the heroine's fault, because to some degree my personal feelings affected it as well. In short, the character like Danica was quite a surprise for me in "SYN Consulting" and I'm still not sure what to think about her.

Since I mentioned that a woman plays the main role in this story, I would like to write a few more words about her. Danica's greatest advantage is undoubtedly the fact that she is an example of a strong, determined and dominant woman, and we have never had enough of such heroines in the literature. Unfortunately, to some extent, this is also linked with her biggest flaw, because it's impossible to overlook the perfection of this character. Danica is extremely beautiful, athletic, intelligent, talented, and the icing on the cake may be the fact that she surrounds herself with men only. Tell me, how is it possible that so much perfection fit into one person, even if it is not a human? I don't know, but as you can see, it is possible. I am sure that if Danica were a side character, I would like her a lot. But is it possible when she dominates over other characters and at every step shows us her perfection? That is the question.

Another issue difficult to assess in relation to "SYN Consulting" are relationships, both sexual and emotional. As it is easy to guess, since the most important character of the novel is a woman, the story mostly presents the male-female relations. It wouldn't be so bad if it was not for the fact that it pushed the male-male relationship into the background, and in my opinion, it seems to change it to some kind of a little side story. However, if we turn a blind eye to this fact and focus only on the way the subject of relationship and sex is presented here, then I think that the readers have nothing to be disappointed about. The sexual intercourse in this book has enough steam to please the reader, and what's more, the love triangle which appears in this novel is quite an interesting topic. Nevertheless, I have the impression that the said triangle shows sex as a simple bodily act and deprives it of a deeper emotional meaning. For we don't find a polyamorous relationship here, so we can't expect to find a romanticism in the MMF sex. I admit, however, that in "SYN Consulting" the subject of feelings is also raised, which really is a plus of this novel.

Let's move on to the theme which in "SYN Consulting" is a huge and indisputable advantage, and thus to the subject of the universe created by A.G. Carothers. The world of the "Dragon War Chronicles" series is extremely fascinating and combines our present, more or less possible future and fantasy elements. It is really tempting and encourages readers to explore it. Dragons, magic, individual skills, other shape shifters who were created by dragons… The latter is a truly genius motif, even if the reader is not a witness to those earlier events, but only sees the finished result of dragons' actions. In any case, this well-designed and interestingly presented world is impossible to resist. From the first page, so from the prologue itself, we begin to absorb every word about this universe and we constantly want to know more about it. To tell the truth, the number of advantages and disadvantages of this novel is not so important, because nothing can match the wonder of the fantastic world of "Dragon War Chronicles".

In short, "SYN Consulting" is undoubtedly a very interesting novel set in a fascinating universe that is really worth exploring. However, the readers must be aware that this story is not really part of the male-male paranormal romance genre. The relationship between woman and man dominates this story, which is the result of the fact that the main protagonist is a representative of the fair sex. So if you don't mind the male-female love relation to be the main one in the story you read and the male-male relationship pushed into the background, then "SYN Consulting" is undoubtedly a novel for you. I think it's worth reading it.

Headcanon: ...

Fanfiction idea: ...

AU idea: High School!AU, All the characters (except Kenshin) are high school kids. Danica dates Xander. The boys play lacrosse - Kollin and Andrew are in one team, while Xander, Aiden and Matt in the other (Kenshin is their coach), as they go to two different schools.

MOODBOARD IN PROGRESS

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Here's some more about:

Book Title: SYN Consulting: Dragon War Chronicles Book One

Author: A.G. Carothers

Cover Artist: Angsty G

Heat Rating: 4 flames

Release Date: August 17, 2018

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This series is about dragons who want nothing more than to live in peace, but refuse to be subjugated. In war there's also love, and love is blind. Love doesn't care about gender, race, species (in this case), or sexuality.

Blurb

Continue to hide or help save the very kin she's hidden from?
Welcome to SYN Consulting, the top business strategy consulting firm in Europe, home to a motley crew whose leader has a life changing secret. CEO, Danica Lestrange, is the first female dragon born in the last 800 years. Hidden from the rest of her kin and raised in the human world, she built a life that she would defend until her death.
A devious plan is unearthed while working on a new business deal that could plunge the dragons into another war with the humans. The humans may have forgotten the last dragon-human war, but the dragons have not. Will the war reveal this hidden world to the humans, or will the clans come together to defeat their enemies and maintain their anonymity?
Danica must gather her allies and help the very dragons she's hidden from her whole life. She can only hope that she'll be strong enough to protect her chosen family.
This is the first book in a new series about dragons who want nothing more than to live in peace, but refuse to be subjugated. In war there's also love, and love is blind. Love doesn't care about gender, race, species (in this case), or sexuality.

Warning: This book contains explicit sexual content between consenting adults. The sexual scenes are MM, MF, and MMF. There are romantic relationships depicted that are MM. There is also a high level of explicit language, snark, kink, and possibly bad puns and fart jokes.

This book does end in a cliffhanger. Secrets Revealed: Dragon War Chronicles Book Two is Available Now!

Buy Links - Available on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Excerpt

Matthew finished the last bit of his sandwich as he stood up going over to a wall of glass that overlaid the actual wall. The glass was one large computer interface, much like most of the glass in the building from the table they were eating on to elevator walls, to all the glass panel monitors of various sizes. Matt tapped on the panel bringing up several windows and enlarging them so that everyone could see. He pulled a photo of Kollin Olsen and moved it to the center.
He reached back, grabbing his bottle of water. Swallowing a mouthful, he cleared his throat and started his report. “I finished my preliminary research into KleanTech and Global Gas. You'll never believe who Kollin Olsen is.” Danica was completely occupied with a large mouthful of her sandwich and gestured for him to continue. “He's the next alpha to the Norwegian Dragon Clan, son of none other than Hafthór Ormsson, making him Jǫkull Ormsson, The Glacier himself.”
“Fuck!” Danica thought, looking over at Xander, who could hear her thought clearly.
“Fuck is right,” he answered out loud.
Danica took another bite of her sandwich and looked around the table at the family she had created, mulling over that bombshell. Matt, thankfully, let her take her time and waited silently while she came to terms with that disturbing news.
These SLIPs who stood by her, supported her, and loved her were, for the lack of a better word, her pack as motley as they were. They were hers to protect as much as they protected her. She thought about that as she continued to eat. Xander placed a hand on her thigh and squeezed it reassuringly. If she took this job, she risked exposure of what she was. With that, she risked not just her life, but all of their lives.

About the Author

A.G. Carothers is actually a dragon very cleverly disguised as a human. They are a non-binary author of LGBTQIA Romance and Urban Fantasy, who enjoys writing original and entertaining stories. They are very excited to share the worlds they've created with you.

A.G. currently lives in Tennessee with their platonic life partner, who is not a dragon. They yearn to live back in Europe and will some day. In their spare time they are addicted to losing themselves in the lovely worlds created by other authors

A.G. is committed to writing the stories they see in their head without restrictions. Love is blind and doesn't see gender, race, or sexuality.