Scales by Acacia Awai

Vivian Blue has always been a little different. But she had no idea how different, until Hatch Lancaster, Dragonkind's bad boy, enters her life on a secret mission. Within a short time, Hatch is her boss, her friend, and a man who haunts her heart and her dreams. And everything Blue has known and believed turns out to be a lie. Surrounded by subterfuge and an unidentified danger, Blue is left with Hatch as her only protection and defense. But as she turns more and more to Hatch, the danger seems to come more from the man himself than from the mysterious activities in Dragonkind. While the head dragon of one clan is trying to form a Joint Council to resolve the enmity between Dragonkind, Hatch is torn between his growing attraction for Blue, his responsibilities to the revered clan leader, and loyalty to his homeland of Concord. Blue fears she'll never fit into his world. She must choose between him and the place she's always called home.

The first novel in this new series by relatively unknown author Acacia Awai follows the story of unique and beautiful Vivian Blue and the life-changing events which occur when she falls for Hatch Lancaster, a humanoid dragon. The first thing I will say is that unless you are a lover of tween-style obsessive love stories very much akin to Stephanie Meyer's 'Twilight' series, then this is definitely not the book for you.

This is really one of the main focuses of the book and due to this, I feel the plot line is lacking somewhat in detail. It feels as if the author is in a hurry to skip through the action in order to get to the romantic scenes and as such, often forgets to explain major details to the readers which usually enlighten us of the goings on in the scene. These range from failing to enlighten us on what the different dragon powers actually mean, and also on revelations which the characters suddenly become aware of; the reader instead being left to work things out for themselves from vague dialogue. In the end this dialogue has helped to give the reader a better idea of what went on in the book, but personally, I felt that I still didn't fully understand all the details.

Something I was pleasantly surprised by however, was the characters' abilities to stick in your mind during the day whilst busy doing other things, showing their memorability and likeability; I often found myself wondering what would happen next to Vivian, Hatch and co as well as puzzling through various unexplained questions in my head!

Overall, I think that the storyline does have potential but is quite a disappointing read overall. If only Awai had spent more time on detailed description and explanation, she could have been on to a winner. I just hope things pick up in book two.

6/10 The storyline does have potential but is quite a disappointing read overall.