Henchgirl

(Copy provided by NetGalley)



From Goodreads:

“The children of dragons and humans, the dracons, control eighty percent of the world’s governments. Humans worldwide are either subservient or prey. On the small vacation island of Mabi, humans call for war.

Sixteen year old Dakota Kekoa lives a double life. By day, she pretends to be a human to infiltrate Mabi Academy, a 'human's only' high-school. At night, she works as a henchman for her draconic mafia family, utilizing her ability to steal and manipulate emotions.

Dakota’s life is not ideal but it is manageable, until the rich and famous half-dragon, Wyvern Manderson, shows up and starts sabotaging Dakota’s missions. And for some bewildering reason, he is always angry at her.

Within days of Wyvern’s arrival, Dakota is suspended from future missions and in desperate need of money. When Wyvern offers to hire Dakota to find his kidnapped human half-sister, she accepts despite knowing she’ll have to spend all day, every day, with Wyvern and his gigantic ego. This is not just any mission though; she is diving head first into the escalating conflict between humans and dracons. As more girls disappear and some are discovered dead, Dakota realizes her first honorable mission may also be her last.”


~~~~~ I have to admit, when I picked Henchgirl up, I was hoping that it might be nearly as good as Nice Dragons Finish Last. And it was! Henchgirl is wicked fun, full of a slow-burning romance, a main character who is working HARD to keep her family and everything else together, and a well-developed alternative society. The author, Rita Stradling, admits that part of the plot is a nod to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which works well to enhance her story.

The book itself could have used the attention of a good editor--there were a few too many run-on sentences and other grammatical errors for my liking--but the story was so compelling that it was easy for me to forgive the errors and get lost in the story. The plot tension is pitch-perfect. I absolutely loved Dakota and Wyvern and the struggle for balance in their relationship. Loved Dakota's uncles too--Bobby and Glacier were well-developed and well-used as foils and levity--and I was completely surprised at who the real villain was. This really was a great book and I DEFINITELY want to read the sequel!


Gentle Reader Alert: There was definitely quite a bit of PG-13 language in here.