Dragon Master by Allyson James

Carol Juan is the granddaughter of Ming Ue, owner of a famous dim sum restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown. Her grandmother claims to be the luckiest women in the world because all the dragons came to her restaurant. But Carol doesn't believe in Dragons, and her time is spent in buying up land to make new Dim Sum restaurants and maximizing her corporate profits.

But one night after an argument with her grandmother at her restaurant, Carol is returning to her car when a tanned, red-haired, naked man accosts her asking her why she brought him here. She has no idea what he means, and no idea who he is.

The man is actually a Fire Dragon named Seth, and he believes that Carol has brought him out of the Dragon World and into the Human World simply to use him, and his great magical power. Long ago, he was summoned into the human world by a Dragon Master who lived in old China, and he hated his imprisonment and the use of his power for the Dragon Master's ends instead of his own. But when the Dragon Master tangled with a Demon-God, Seth was somehow freed and returned to Dragon Land. He had no desire to ever come back, but now he is back, and he isn't happy about it.

Carol has no idea what he is talking about, and even though she is very attracted to this beautiful man, she goes to her friends Lisa and Caleb, who her mother insists are a silver and gold dragon, for help. What she learns stuns her, for they are exactly what her mother said, and they do try to help her, along with Malcolm, a black dragon, and Saba, a witch and his mate.

Apparently, Seth was drawn into this world by a Dragon Master, and Carol, who is also a Dragon Master, but one without training, wrested control of Seth away from him or her and into her own orbit. But Dragon Mastery is rare, and Carol is being sought by the Society of the Black Lotus, who want to capture and enslave her for their own ends.

Seth, though hating to be tied to Carol by her power, soon becomes attracted to her for her beauty and promises to free him as soon as she can. As they become lovers, they grow closer, but she cannot trust his claims of simply wanting to be with her, because it could simply be the binding speaking. But their relationship and the threat of the Black Lotus will bring many hidden secrets to life. Will Carol be able to recover from a stunning betrayal and do what she needs to learn how to use the ability of Dragon Mastery within her and destroy the Black Lotus once and for all?

This is the third in a series of books, the first being "Dragon Heat" and the second being "Black Dragon". This book introduces a new type of Dragon, a fire dragon, who is just as much a Legend as a silver dragon was in the first book. Seth doesn't know why he's been trapped in the Human World, but through the course of the book, he and Carol work with and against each other to try and banish the evil that entraps him.

Carol starts off as strong, but only strong in the way of being a businesswoman, which is a cold, hard strength. To her, sex is a way to relax, nothing more, and love isn't in the cards for her. To become a Dragon Master, she has to relax and learn a different sort of strength. But unlike the Dragon Masters of old, she decides to ask the dragons she knows for help instead of just taking their strength. And that's a feminine way to approach power, as she demonstrates more than a few times.

The outcome of the book may seem somewhat sad at first, but cheers up considerably. I consider this a fine cap to the series as a whole, as the characters from the earlier books are not only mated, but on to having children. While I'd enjoy reading more Dragon books, it seems like Allyson James is starting a new series with her next book. But that's okay. I liked this book a lot, and I really enjoyed the series as a whole. Well done and recommended!