Heart of Fire (Legends of the Storm, 1); Bec McMaster

I tend to turn to McMaster for my romance reads when I’m on vacation. It’s not planned, it just always tends to happen that way. Her books are always fast, rather light despite the fantasy elements, and always enjoyable. “Heart of Fire” is no different on the score. We follow Freya, an outcast amongst her people for her mismatched eyes and the power she hides, who is desperately trying to care for an ailing father when the dreki, a type of dragon native to Iceland folklore, steals a ram she needs to survive. As the only person to ever challenge the dreki in his lair, he’s instantly intrigued and goes about pursuing Freya. McMaster uses their pursuit as a way to show the reader this new world she is introducing for her series. And, for the most part, she does a great job of teasing out the world building amongst a lot of steamy angst and tension. Until she just… stops?

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I liked Rurik and Freya a lot. They are an insta-lust couple that slowly builds into a true relationship that makes the fated mate aspect of everything feel nice, at least to me. But the other thing I was enjoying about the book was the mystery around Freya and her mother, and I was super invested in Rurik’s place amongst his people and seeing what he would do there. Those aspects of the story really kept me invested in both characters beyond their steamy scenes. So, when the ending came and it felt more like a HFN rather than a HEA, it seemed… unnecessary? There was plenty there to extend this already short novel and get some actual closer around Freya, her mother, and Rurik’s future, so I don’t know why the story ended where it did. That’s why it felt a bit like the author maybe got tired of writing because too much outside of the spice was left unanswered.

Given that this is the first book in a (at the moment) 5 book romance series, I’d normally forgive the lack of story closer. Except each book follows a new romantic lead so I can’t trust that Freya and Rurik’s story will continue in any sort of satisfying way. It may, in the background, but I don’t know how I feel about that, either. I did enjoy the book for the most part, and it was a perfect little book to read on vacation. Still, I’d have liked more of those story elements to have been wrapped up for Rurik and Freya before moving on to the next couple, hence the 3.5 stars. But I am intrigued enough to at least check out the next book and see what gets answered about this world while getting to know more about the next leading couple.