This was an unexpected pleasure because St. Clare takes the typical shifter story and turns it on its head. Most shifter books make the transformation from human to shifter happen pretty quickly. But that's not the case in Dragon's Kiss. Instead, the transformation is the slow crux of the plot, and I found that viewpoint fascinating.

Dragon's Kiss focuses on a hero, Kei, who's been bitten by a dragon--and that means he'll change into one. He's sent to Lorran, who lost her husband to dragon transformation years ago and who has studied dragons ever since, to see if there's any help she can offer. And there really isn't any way to stop the dragon from taking over, until Kei's dragon nature starts taking a strong interest in Lorran.

I loved Lorran and Kei's intense pull toward one another--this book is chock-full of sensual scenes--as they confront Kei's inevitable fate. And yet that pull is what might offer Kei a chance at a different life than as a lonely and desperate dragon. Seeing these two realize that they've discovered something special made this a treat to read. And seeing something new in the typical shifter-romance story was something special for me!