Rashe

Brides of Driegon, Book 3

De: Ava Ross

Narrado por: Tawnia Murray, Teddy Hamilton

She's looking for happily-ever-after. He can’t touch her. But with her life at stake, he'll sacrifice everything to protect her.

Kristy: Chosen for the Driegon bride selection, I’m confident I’ll meet the alien of my dreams. I don’t expect to find true love, but it would be nice to find someone special. Three weeks into the program, I’m falling hard for Rashe, a guy who sadly doesn’t notice I exist. Forget happily-ever-after. At this point, I’d settle for friends with benefits. But when someone tries to kill me, Rashe becomes my knight in shining…scales. Can we discover who the villain is before I wind up dead?

Rashe: Kristy is everything I could ever hope for in a mate but touching her will trigger the Torrent—an ancient Driegon mating ritual—and will result in my death. Instead of claiming her, I’ll long for her from afar and ensure she’s matched with someone who can give her the love she deserves. But with someone out to kill her, I’ll risk even my own life to protect her.

Rashe is book three in the Brides of Driegon Series. This standalone, full-length romance has heat, aliens who look and act alien, a guaranteed happily ever after, no cheating, and no cliffhanger.

©2022 Ava Ross (P)2022 Podium Audio

Medieval castle and alien dragons in space!

The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💚💜💙🩷
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥
Chemistry: 🧪🧪🧪🧪
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌏
Character development: 😒🤩😀🙂
Narrator(s): 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration type: Dual Narration

The heroine: Kristy - when the plague that killed most of the females in the kingdom of Dreigon also killed the majority of the males on Earth, the King of Dreigon found that the dreigon’s and humans of Earth are compatible and can form Torrent bonds. They set up a strategic alliance with Earth for mail order brides. Kristy was a marine biologist, who loves reading alien romance. She has high hopes for the program and really wants to find someone she can have a nice life with or at the very least, find someone to spend some sexy time with.

The Hero: Rashe - Rashe is a member of the King's Elite Guard. He holds a belief that he is cursed, fearing that if the Torrent bond is activated within him, it will result in his demise. Consequently, he has resolved not to seek a mate. Upon encountering Kristy, he experiences an immediate attraction toward her but remains convinced that he cannot pursue a relationship with her. Therefore, he chooses to observe her from a distance and endeavors to assist her in finding a suitable partner.

The Story: There are people in the kingdom who don’t like the fact that human females are marrying Dreigon males. When one of those people tries to kill Kristy while she is diving in the moat, looking at the fish and creatures under the water, Rashe is the one that finds her and saves her. He is then assigned to guard her. The two get to know each other more over the next few days. Rashe loves Kristy’s sense of adventure and her joy of life. Kristy has been yearning for Rashe and dreaming about him, and she can’t understand why he refuses to touch her to see if the Torrent bond forms.

I like the aspect of the curse and there is also this old Driegon woman who is said to have magic and see the future. The lady goes around saying cryptic things like a quest must be undertaken to restore peace to Driegon and uniting the kingdom by fixing her windrus stick (like her magic wand), the stone at the top of the stick was destroyed long ago. She also said that it wouldn’t be Kristy or Rashe that would go on the quest. It was all very ambiguous and mysterious.

This setup layered with romance, tension, political intrigue, and an air of mystery that keeps things dynamic. The curse element gives Rashe a strong emotional hook, while Kristy’s adventurous spirit makes her a compelling heroine who isn’t just waiting around for things to happen. The political conflict over human-Dreigon marriages adds another layer, giving the stakes real weight beyond just the romance.

The old Dreigon woman and her cryptic prophecies are such a great touch. It makes the world feel lived-in, like there’s a deeper history tied to this kingdom that Kristy is stepping into. And the idea that neither of them will go on the quest—very intriguing! It raises questions about who will, why the windrus stick matters, and how it connects to Rashe and Kristy’s personal journeys.

This audiobook was narrated from multiple perspectives, done in dual narration by Teddy Hamilton and Tawnia Murray. Teddy Hamilton is one of my favorite male narrators and he always does a terrific job. He is one of my go-to narrators. Tawnia Murray is not one of my favorites, though she is not bad and has a pleasant voice.