Antonia Bernardin

The 67th book I consumed this year was the Dragons Bride by Katee Robert, the first book in the A Deal with a Demon series. This is an infamous booktok book and there was a fairly well known bit of fan artwork about it that was doing the rounds (if you know, you know… if you don’t do know, well, let’s just say- proceed with caution before searching, it’s very NSFW)

A plot summary attempt

Five humans make a deal with the bargainer demon, seven years in their realm, in the company of the different creatures that rule each territory. They cannot be harmed, they must allow the ruler they go with attempt to seduce them (but they don’t have to do anything else) and any children they have (which they must consent to attempting to conceive) will have to remain behind at the end of the seven years.

Our main character, Briar Rose, is escaping domestic violence and has no family or friends to turn too, so in a last desperate attempt she agrees to the bargain, agreeing seven years in exchange for the demon getting rid of her husband… permanently. When she gets picked by the strange creature that seems half dragon, half human, Briar has to fight the lingering affects of the violence she escaped, finding herself surprisingly drawn to her new husband.

Sol reads between the lines about what Briar’s been through, he knows he needs a human wife to have a child with her that will strengthen the magic in his territory so he attempts to get to know her, always being wary of what she’s been through. He’s surprised to find himself quickly coming to care for his brave little human but she’s holding back, the seven year deadline looming over them both.

What did I think?

Now, I will acknowledge that this book isn’t elite literary fiction, but for a smut book where she marries a dragon man… it’s actually really sweet and enjoyable! Whilst there’s plenty of fun, silly things about it, I actually found the undercurrent of Briar working past her abusive relationship really heart wrenching. Especially all the moments where she was afraid because he was being kind and she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, something I relate to for reasons that I won’t get into on the internet. The story telling style is good and very read-able (or listenable, in this case), which is sometimes enough for me to say a book is good to be honest. Obviously there’s lots of smut in this, so if that’s not your deal, then definitely steer clear! But for me, I think I’ll continue listening to this one.