{Blog Tour: Review + Excerpt + Giveaway} Kundalis: Storm Dragon by Frances Pauli

Kundalis: Storm Dragon by Frances Pauli
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

GENRE: Urban Fantasy
THEME: Dragons
RECEIVED: Tour
Goodreads

BLURB:

Karin knows she’s gone completely insane—nuts—absolutely batshit crazy, when she spots an insidious blue dragon twining through the trees at a rest stop in the Cascade Mountains. Despite agreeing to join her roommate at a psychic fair, she’s never believed in anything metaphysical. She’s pretty sure the Reiki treatment she succumbed to has brought on a frighteningly realistic hallucination—until they roll their mini-van in the middle of I-90, and she is rescued from the vehicle by the same monstrous blue figment of her imagination.

She awakens to find that she’s been delivered to a cabin high in the mountains instead of to a proper hospital. The “doctor” looking out for her is more of a new-ager than a physician, and the people who own the house, including the urban highlander version of Fabio, don’t have any intention of letting her leave.

Faced with the unimaginable, and strapped to an all-too-real dragon, Karin must decide how to tame the beast or risk losing herself to it forever.

REVIEW:
This was a very different dragon story than I was expecting, the idea of dragons connecting to human and not actually having them shift was a much-appreciated change. I love when an author can take you from the norm and create a unique world, however I’m not familiar with chakras and meditation, it was interesting to learn about it from a dragon point of view.

Kundalis: Storm Dragon follows Karin a young woman who was on a trip with her friend to a fair. But after her reiki treatment she starts to see visions of a something big and blue. Trying to rid of the thoughts they head back on the road but get in a terrible accident in which she is saved by the very blue creature she saw in her vision. She wakes up in an unfamiliar place being treated by a man named Orrin who doesn’t strike her as a normal doctor. She learns the truth about her survival and that she has been chosen to be an anchor (bearer) to a powerful dragon.

Karin is a great female lead; she is stubborn, strong and in the end takes on a load of responsibility. When the readers first meet Karin she is confused and frightened, she has a lot to learn about why she has been chosen as an anchor to one of the most powerful of the dragons as well as how to handle the dragon itself, whom she names blue. The most interesting relationship with Karin had to be her and blue, their interactions were unusual as they spoke to each other inside Karin’s head. Blue is a born leader and wants Karin to act as such, but Karin wants to go home and not deal with the fact she is now attached to him. Their bickering and challenging towards each other causes a lot of problems but also makes them learn how to work together.

There are quite a few secondary characters but none really caught my interest as much as Karin and Blue did. There is Orrin who is the one constant and guide for Karin, he wants to help her but is frustrated that he can’t see the dragons or be like those who are like her. Their relationship changes over time and I feel there is going to be something big with him in the future books. There are also many other anchors like Karin who have their own dragons, like Cade who wanted Karin to be his mate and Li whose black dragon challenges blue. I’m hoping we get more insight on how they all came to be with their dragons and more interactions with Karin and Blue in the future books.

The villain of this story isn’t much a villain as it is an uncertainty of why the dragons are all awakening and what do they really want. The dragons seem to have a lot of control over their anchors but I think Karin is going to change that and maybe discover the reason for their existence.

Overall this first book in the series has a ton of potential, the main protagonist will hook you into the story immediately. There is a bit of romance but not as much as I would of hoped, however I’m interested to see what happens with Karin and if her heart will change after what happens. The pace was action packed from beginning to end and even though it took me a bit to understand what was going on, I liked the concept and look forward to continuing this series.

RECOMMENDATION:
This is an urban fantasy series that is a fast paced action adventure story that will keep you hooked. Fans of the Dark King series by Donna Grant and Thea Harrisons Elder Race series will enjoy Kundalis: Storm Dragon by Frances Pauli.

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About the Author Frances Pauli was born and raised in Washington State. She grew up with a love of reading and storytelling, and was introduced to Science Fiction and Fantasy at an early age through the books kept and read by her father.Though she always held aspirations to be a writer, she chose to obtain her Bachelor's degree in visual arts. The stories, however, had other plans for her. By the time she entered her thirties, they were no longer content existing solely in her head. Compelled to free them, she set aside her easel and began to write in earnest.Her original love of Speculative fiction led her into the realms of Urban Fantasy and either romantic or humorous Science Fiction, where she finds herself quite comfortable. Her tales feature fairies, aliens, alternate dimensions, and the wonders of space, usually with at least a touch of romance.

Frances currently resides smack in the center of Washington with her husband and two children. When not writing she dabbles in insane things like puppetry, belly dance and playing the ukulele. She collects rocks, and is a firm believer in good wine, fine chocolate and dangerous men.More information on Frances and her writing can be found at www.francespauli.com

Excerpt:

The black cat crossed my

path on purpose. I scowled down at it. Would it still count as bad luck if the beast was just messing with me? Amber eyes blinked up from the sidewalk. The kitty had been lounging beside the car in the next parking space, but when I tried to open my door it had stood, sauntered directly into my path and laid down there instead. Did it count if kitty wore a cutesy red bandanna and matching harness?

“Are you coming, Karin?”

Steph already stood outside the driver’s door. She’d managed to leave the vehicle without supernatural

interference, and now she leaned back in through the window, her auburn hair glinting in the last rays of August sunshine. Her round face crinkled into a grimace. “I have to pee.”

“Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

I watched my roommate bound away and cringed. I had to go too. We’d been in the car for over an hour and I’d polished off my water bottle a few miles back. Outside my window, the cat yawned, exposing needle teeth and a scratchy pink tongue.

“Hey there, kitty.” 

I pulled the lever on the van’s door and pushed the panel as far as I could without bumping the stupid cat. It yawned again then blinked and stared. Ridiculous. A cat on a leash had trapped me in the car at the only rest stop for another twenty minutes easy. I’d never make it that far. Too much water and road behind me. I sighed and made a soft hissing noise through the opening. The cat didn’t budge, but the sound got its owner’s attention. A skinny redhead wearing yoga pants held the other end of the cat’s leash. She stood as far away as possible, chatting with the man in the car on the far side of her Volvo. When I hissed, she turned my way and the flat crystal around her neck sparkled.

We’d probably been at the same event. Everything about the cat’s owner looked like she’d fit in at a psychic fair far better than I had. This was my punishment for going, sitting here until my bladder exploded while psychic kitty and his mommy held me hostage.

The woman smiled at me, then dropped her eyes to the sidewalk and frowned, tugging the cat’s leash gently and making a similar noise to tempt His Majesty away from Steph’s mini-van.

The black coat shimmered when he finally stood up. He wasn’t finished torturing me, though. His spine curved and he reached out for a nice long stretch, staring at me with his huge eyes and laughing his internal, kitty laugh while I fidgeted against the seat.

At last, when he’d tired of my torment, he turned and walked as slowly as possible away from my door.

I popped out of the vehicle like a cork and sidled between the van and the woman’s Volvo. A second black cat stared out from the front seat. This one wore a pink collar and a tiny, feminine bow around her neck. Unbelievable. We’d stopped at the rest area version of the Twilight Zone in the middle of Washington State. Somehow, the Seattle psychic fair had knocked us through a metaphysical vortex and the weirdness had tried to follow me home.  

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