#elva birch

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LOOK AT THE BEAUTIFUL CHARACTER ART!!!!

Apparently I'm not finished making the Royal Dragons of Alaska books approximately 70% of my personality, so have some lovely art of Tania and Rian (left) and Carina and Toren (right).

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Shifters At Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! This novella is really darling because it not only focuses on Christmas, but it really starts to expand the lore in the Shifting Sands universe. We knew there were legendary shifters (dragons and sirens and dryads, for example), but this novella gives us another type of mythical creature: Brownies. Let's talk Thawing His Hart.

SPOILER WARNING HERE. Continue at your own risk.

Felicity is a new hire to Shifting Sands Resort, and she has a secret. The resort is designed for shifters, but Felicity is actually a brownie, not a shifter. She is outed when she misunderstands her own attraction to a guest at the resort and they miss their match as fated mates. Almost immediately, Felicity's brownie magic has food going rotten--much to the dismay of Scarlet and Chef.

Robert is over here working through some serious trauma this Christmas. He spent two years imprisoned in Beehag's shifter zoo, and was full-on declared dead in that time. He has not recovered; it's hard to build a life when you have convinced yourself that it was your own fault that you were targeted and kidnapped and tortured. Yet he nevertheless decided to come to Shifting Sands for Christmas. Where the poor guy kicks himself while he's down by simply DECIDING that his fated mate can't love him because he's so broken...without checking with her first.

Thank heavens that Scarlet is perhaps the best at reading people ever, because support is there when Robert visits the site of the zoo to try to find closure, and that helps him realize that it's ok to...y'know...talk to his fated mate and see if there might have been some honest confusion. At which point everything is sorted out and Felicity's brownie powers kick into high gear and make the raw ingredients even better, taking Chef's food to even greater heights.

Felicity then also gets to come clean to her mate, coworkers, and boss--all of whom she adores--that she isn't a shifter, she is, in fact, a brownie.

Overall, this is just a delightful Christmas novella. It is exactly the right mix of weighty and fun, and we even get a trans shifter who is loved and accepted by their found family. (My hope is that Theodora gets her own book at some point in the future!) I also love that shifters and magical creatures get to coexist in this universe, because it elevates the world just a little higher into fantasy in a way I really enjoy.

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...Ok, So When I Said We Weren't Doing This, What I MEANT Was...

...We would do it in a single post because I cannot get this series out of my head where it has been living rent-free for literal months. And also I had green fairy lights my husband put on my bookshelf for me, so obviously we had to give this series some atmospheric lighting. I've already covered the first two books in this series, so let's talk the final four books of The Dragon Prince of Alaska series.

As usual, spoilers abound below the break, so be warned!

The Dragon Prince's Bride picks up with the idea Tania and Rian developed in the previous book that eldest brother Fask can rules-lawyer the compact into activating a fated mate for him. They also use this moment to cement a further alliance with Mo'orea, another of the small kingdoms.

Unfortunately for Fask, before he can so much as put eyes on Princess Leinani of Mo'orea, she runs into Tray and both their dragons basically do the spider man meme going "FATED MATE." Tray and Leinani are both absolutely horrified because of all the possible engagement day faux pas, this has to take the cake. And they do TRY to deny the fated mates thing; the premise of magic in the series is "all spells fade," so the logic here is that Tray and Leinani just keep their distance until the initial fated mates magic wears off, and then she and Fask get married as planned.

Which works for all of five minutes until a fanatic cult leader intent on breaking tbe way magic works in the world to take it back from shifters kidnaps our fated mates and holds them prisoner in a tiny-ass hotel room with literally nothing to do but get to know each other. Even WITHOUT the fated mates spell and "only one bed" trope, there is no way on this earth that Tray and Leinani don't fall in love in this situation.

Especially when you contextualize the captivity with the fact that Amara (our fanatical culture leader) is testing various spells on Tray--including one that separates him from his dragon. That level of sheer psychological torture is both freaking terrifying and beautifully handled. Eventually, Tray and Leinani work out a couple of loopholes in their prison to escape, and then get trucked back to Alaska with the help of some rogue Majorcan bastard Princes. They also get some help from Amara's disaffected right hand, Mackenzie, who helps them escape and defects with them.

The trio arrive back in Fairbanks just in time for our boys' estranged brother, Kenth, to come barreling through the door yelling about his kidnapped daughter.

Which is precisely where The Dragon Prince's Secret picks up. Kenth has been estranged from his family long enough that of his brothers, only Fask knows about Dalaya, Kenth's five-year-old daughter. And poor Kenth takes about six rapid-fire metaphorical punches to the chin in as many minutes when he arrives, because not only are three of his brothers mated now, Mackenzie is HIS mate, magic doesn't work on Mackenzie so she can't feel the mate bond spell, and Kenth has to deal with FASK. Some people just bring out the worst in each other, and Kenth and Fask basically cannot exist peacefully in the same room for longer than about two minutes.

And this is about when everything goes directly to hell. Because Kenth and Fask more or less immediately begin fighting about the best way to get Dalaya back and whether Mackenzie can be trusted. They eventually do come up with a plan to break Dalaya--and the other eleven kids Amara is holding an exploiting to copy spells quick-and-dirty so she can more effectively assault the small kingdoms--out of captivity. However, the plan is scuppered in about the first five minutes, and Kenth barges in like a dragon-shaped wrecking ball, with Toren yelling behind him that "This is not a plan! This is the opposite of a plan!" Which is not wrong, but Kenth's baby girl is in that cult hotel, and I'm pretty sure nothing was stopping him from barreling in there. He's a motherfucking dragon, after all. (I adore this chaos cat of a man, not going to lie.)

Ultimately, however, it's Mackenzie who gets Dalaya and the rest of the kids out, with Kenth taking a seemingly ineffective magical shot to the shoulder on the way out. Which of course he tells nobody about until he quite literally keels over unconscious in screaming pain because the "bullet" didn't "hit" him; it hit his dragon. Three days of agony and the entire palace expecting Kenth to die later, Dalaya breaks the stalemate, wields chaos magic and takes a hit that would have killed her if she were a dragon to fix her dad. This chaos cat of a man has a chaos cat of a daughter and honestly it's kind of awesome, even if Fask throws a massive temper tantrum in response.

I have to say, in my first read through of the series, this was the book that solidified my suspicions about Fask that Tray and Leinani being fated mates in the last book sparked. If the question Tania was supposed to be asking was why a mate wasn't called for Fask, then the fact that them trying to crowbar one on was so DECIDEDLY thwarted was sus in book three. Then Fask's ongoing suspicion of Amara and weirdly aggressive feud with Kenth just nailed it home for me, because even if you and a sibling cannot get along to save your lives, there was something WEIRDLY toxic about Kenth and Fask's relationship, especially given the circumstances of their mother's death and who had ordered who to be where when. I wasn't sure what had happened at this point, but I was sure Fask knew and was involved.

The other fantastic thing about this book was the fact that Mackenzie wasn't affected by her half of the bond spell. It was a really interesting change in the typical fated mates dynamic, and I appreciated that it let Mackenzie--who had spent soooooooooo many years under Amara's thumb in a cult setting--not feel stressed that something or someone else was messing with her head. She had the freedom to find her feelings on her own and to work toward learning to trust herself again. That could have been handled so badly or even just handwaved because fated mates, but instead, Birch thought outside the box and worked with it. A+ no notes. I don't even object to Kenth still getting his half, because chaos dad is not like...super great at feelings? So while Mackenzie got freedom, he got training wheels.

I'm not going to stand here and say that an ungenerous reader couldn't find that invasive or one-sided, but I would argue that the text does not support such a reading.

Ok, I have definitely spent too much time on my second-favorite book of the series, so let's remember that we still have eleven stray kids and a cult out to take down the small kingdoms to deal with and move on.

The Dragon Prince's Magic starts with hiring a tutor for said eleven stray children. Even with all their royal resources, the Alaskan princes aren't having any luck locating their parents--its likely Amara kidnapped them from poor circumstances, negative foster situations, or even just off the streets, so they weren't even reported missing as far as anyone can tell. What IS evident, however, is that one of them is neurodivergent and all of them are still experiencing aftereffects of being raised in and used by Amara's cult.

This is where Katy comes in--she is a professional tutor with a metric ton of experience with neurodivergent kids and knowledge of shifters' existence. Her best friend as kids was a shifter who shared the secret, so when dragon shifters are revealed after Katy signs a HELLA binding NDA, she's not horrified or shocked. She's ecstatic. There is MAGIC in the world, and it has just invited her in.

Also, there are kids who need her help, and she is THERE for her kids.

But upon arriving at the castle and running into Prince Raval, Katy is also there for HIM, because hello fated mates. Raval and Katy are an absolutely adorable couple to follow...which is good because the grief project that Raval has been working on since his mother's death is a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang TARDIS that sends him, Katy, and all eleven kids back to ancient Mo'orea. Turns out that time loops are VERY much a thing, because the eleven kids end up being the eleven founders of the small kingdoms and Raval and Katy negotiate with the dragons and spirits to get the compact written originally. It's actually VERY cool, and it's an interesting look at the compact itself.

They're also in the past without birth control and with a mate bond long enough that when Raval and Katy come home, Katy is cooking up a cousin for Dalaya. Raval, however, also comes home with a glass disc that reveals truth, and when he goes to visit his sleeping father, the spells keeping him alseep are revealed, as is the caster...which is the cliffhanger the book ends on.

The Dragon Prince's Betrayal is ultimately Fask's story, but because Fask's story isn't a romance--it is, in fact, a goddamn tragedy--our POV couple is Captain Luke and Draygar. This is a complex book for me emotionally, because while the writing and progression of the romance is fine, as a couple, Luke and Draygar feel a bit like Camillo and Paulina at the end of the Winter's Tale. It's a bit...ok, sure? But the bit about investigating Fask and finally seeing the threads he's been pulling for the past five books was possibly my favorite thing and it was heartbreaking.

Thirteen years ago, Fask had worked with Angel to plan a prank on Kenth. Unfortunately, that prank ended in the accidental death of their mother (and really made Fask and Kenth's relationship so toxic that Kenth left). Then Fask got toxic as hell, repudiated his own dragon, and turned around and murdered his father and magicked his dragon into something that looks like sleep but is likely something closer to stasis. And then he spent YEARS telling his siblings that he thought their father's sleep was the sort of thing he simply...wouldn't wake up from. He was THAT CLOSE to admitting that their father was dead from day 1. Given all the guilt and attempts at blaming magic and Kenth and the compact itself, it's honestly not a surprise that Fask starts pulling strings and plotting to not renew the compact at all. He was pullling Amara's strings, setting portal anchors in his brothers' bedrooms and the vault, and ultimately, his death at the hands of Angel is basically on par with Hamlet's: Ultimately tragic and ultimately of his own making.

As a conclusion to the series, I loved this book. As a romance...meh. I wasn't so much of a fan. But reading the series together as a single story (and the books will tell you they can be read as standalones, but I disagree; they're better as a single story arc) was hella fun and rewarding. Every couple was unique, which is impressive given that five of the male leads are brothers and the sixth is their half cousin. Each story feels different and like it exists for a reason, which is not always the case in romance novel series.

Overall, this series is living rent-free in my head and I would highly recommend it to shifter fans and romance fans. And to anyone who is feeling vaguely homesick for Alaska, because wow did it scratch that itch for me.

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I grew up on the Beast's library from Beauty and the Beast and Derek's library from The Swan Princess, so somebody needs to revise the "how to win a girl's heart" textbook because honestly? We don't want the princes so much...we want their libraries. Lead with the library, guys.

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You Have My Attention: Dragon Prince First Lines

...Ok fine, I might be a little bit homesick.

But just because I have a soft spot for Alaska doesn't mean that author Elva Birch didn't have to hook me as a reader, so let's see how she does that with her first lines!

"Carina Andreson surged to her feet, sweeping her camp chair out from under her as a make-shift weapon."

-- The Dragon Prince of Alaska

"His first email was short, and completely professional."

-- The Dragon Prince's Librarian

"'Yes, Mother,' Leinani said."

-- The Dragon Prince's Bride

"Kenth thought he was hearing fireworks when he first woke."

-- The Dragon Prince's Secret

"Katy didn't notice that anything was wrong until the barista pushed her coffee across the counter and backed away cautiously instead of joking and flirting like she usually did."

-- The Dragon Prince's Magic

"Any attempt at stealth was abandoned when the first dragon crashed, full-body, into the top floor of the apartment building like a cannonball."

-- The Dragon Prince's Betrayal

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Damn Right the Perfect Queen Uses a Cane

Fairbanks is somehow simultaneously too small and too large a town. Apparently one of my very best friend's partner has been friend with Elva Birch since they were both teenagers, so that's a degree of Kevin Bacon I was super not expecting but shouldn't have been surprised by, because I KNOW how small a town Fairbanks is. None of which is strictly relevant to why we're talking about the second book in the Dragon Prince of Alaska series, but it is a fun little Fairbanks Fact. Which is even wilder because this book starts in Florida. So let's talk The Dragon Prince's Librarian.

This is, as is typical on this blog for sequels and mid-series books, a SPOILERIFIC REVIEW. Be warned.

Ok guys, I swear we aren't going to do all six books of this series here, and I know I am way overdue for the next Dresden Files book, but where I take just...every single possible issue with how the Dresden Files handles disability, this book handles it SO FREAKING WELL. Tania is realistically tired, realistically has good and bad days, realistically uses mobility aids, and realistically has that all-too-familiar feeling of "No, no, you don't even get to DREAM of being rescued from this situation because a) it will be too painful when it doesn't happen and b) you getting rescued doesn't fix the hideous inequities of the US healthcare system and frankly, that shit NEEDS fixing."

Additionally, I appreciate that Tania doesn't hate her cane. She recognizes that it lets her move and stand independently and it can up her quality of life, if only in small ways. What she hates is that the cane is UGLY. And that is entirely fair, because there is nothing worse than a boring, utilitarian mobility aid that stands out from you and your aesthetic rather than integrating with you. And Rian, absolute PRINCE that he is (pun fully intended), doesn't try to fix or cure Tania, he gets her a beautiful cane that integrates with her personality and aesthetic. That level of support literally made me cry. And then I cried MORE because while Rian couldn't fix the American healthcare system, what he COULD do was donate a ton of equally beautiful canes in Tania's name in such a way that the people who need them most can access them, the process for getting them is as simple and barrier-free as possible, and Rian took care of ALL of this so Tania did not have to expend spoons on it. The care and attention included in how thoughtful and well-executed this was was absolutely breathtaking. Literally, our reality is not this good, and I love that this book took such care and respect with how disability/chronic illness and mobility aids are handled. At no point did any of it feel patronizing, infantilizing, catastrophizing, or an attempt to "fix" something that was "broken" or "lesser." Just A+ no notes, and I don't say that often about representations of disability in books.

The other thing that I just felt in my bones about this book is how the end of Tania's academic career played out. She literally got gatekept and gaslighted because the Small Kingdoms erased every single trace of her master's thesis, her primary sources, and even her ADVISOR (who was paid to disappear, not killed). This very handily gets Tania kicked out of school, and as her health worsens, she also loses her job and health insurance, so by the time Rian shows up at her front door in Florida, Tania's life has literally fallen apart and it is 90% Rian's fault. Which makes the whole fated mates thing SUPER awkward, because she's rightfully pissed with him for torpedoing her degree and academic career, and also he then gaslit the hell out of her about that until he realized they were fated mates, came clean, apologized, and...proposed. It was awkward as hell, you guys.

And let me say, as someone who went to grad school, had someone gone from admitting they torpedoed my life and gaslit me about it to proposing marriage, they would have been super mega deadsies. Like, no questions asked, they just would have been annihilated by the sheer force of my rage.

But fated mates and romance novel, so Tania just mostly spends the whole book going "remember how you torpedoed my thesis?" in varying tones. Rian is literally never living that down, and he shouldn't, because frankly he was lucky to SURVIVE admitting that.

Overall though, I was so happy with the representation of disability and a healthy, positive relationship that includes a disabled person, as well as Tania and Rian as characters, I was willing to overlook insufficient consequences for fucking with a grad student's thesis. Because this book was a delight to read, and it is UNQUESTIONABLY my favorite book in the series.

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I am low key obsessed with the Dragon Prince of Alaska books--which I'm pretty sure exactly three people have read but more should because they're darling--and so because it makes me happy, I'm ranking the six princes. If spoilers bother you, I would advise bailing now, becausethere are spoilers below the break. Go read these books and then come check out my ranking.

Everyone please remember that this is a subjective list. Feel free to reblog with your ranking! Mine is as follows:

Rian. He is earnest AF, well read, and lives in a library. Also, he would read to me. He also handles chronic illness EXTREMELY well. 10/10 no notes.

Kenth. This man is pure chaos dad energy and THAT IS STILL NOT A PLAN! I am sold on this energy and he is an excellent dad, which honestly is never not awesome.

Tray. If Kenth has chaos dad energy, Tray has dad joke and prankster energy, which just makes me smile while scolding him. Sheer fun gets you a pretty high slot on the list. Also, if I had to be a cult's hostage, I'd want to share a cell with this man.

Raval. In all honesty, Raval and Toren could tie, but I'm putting Raval up a step because MAGIC TIME TRAVELING CAR.

Toren. Baby prince who steps up has even more earnest energy than Rian, plus he's dramatical cats. He's just a sweetie pie, even if he is objectively the blandest brother.

Fask. THIS ASSHOLE. Expert statesmanship and a charisma score higher than Denali is tall does NOT excuse getting your mother killed, repudiating your dragon, murdering your father, and working with a cult to destroy eleven kingdoms. Like, broski. Those are your BROTHERS and their FATED MATES. Don't be a dick.

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I'm Not Saying I'm Homesick, But...

Yes, yes I HAVE been reading a lot of Alaska-based romances lately. I miss having mountains around that you can't drive over, and this book is set right in Fairbanks, which is where I was raised. I recognized more than a few of the locations here, and almost more than the characters and actual romance, I loved being immersed back in my home town.

That said though, y'know what strategy has literally never failed me when choosing books in a genre that is somewhat famous for it's broad range of quality? Following authors I like and seeing who THEY recommend. My road to Elva Birch was 100% through CE Murphy, and it was an excellent path. I am literally doing the math again on getting physical copies of the other four books in this series, because Libby--much as I love it--doesn't have them. In the meantime, let's talk The Dragon Prince of Alaska.

Carina and Toren are pretty adorable as a couple, and as far as shifter lore goes, I really appreciated that Carina had some reservations about the "fated" part of fated mates, especially once Toren explains that it's a spell. That was a nice underlying question, even if the effect on the relationship was...minimal at best. I wasn't mad about it, but your mileage as a reader may vary.

I also really enjoyed Carina's legal troubles, because as far as plots go in romance novels, framed for murder by a massive bank that the protagonist caught laundering just SHATTERING amounts of money was interesting and political in a way that really served to build the world. That was deftly handled, and I appreciated it massively.

The character work was also pretty good, given how many needed to be introduced and developed. I liked all the dragon princes, not just Toren, and the family dynamics were really sweet and real. I am very excited to get to read the rest of the princes' books.

Finally, I just need to shout out the incomparable Mrs. James, who completely understood the assignment. Like yes, you absolutely should make a production of pointing out the bedroom of the princes with whom the future princess is to get it on as the first stop on the Alaskan castle tour. Mrs. James runs that castle and quite frankly might be my favorite secondary character in the book.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this light, fluffy read that evoked home so strongly.