Dragon Warrior by Janet Chapman .

Overview from Barnes and Noble:

The steamy second book in Janet Chapman’s dazzling Midnight Bay series seduces readers with an enticing tale of a fiery independent woman and an irresistible immortal warrior with a dragon’s courageous heart.

Maddy Kimble has no time for a suitor—not with caring for her spunky nursing home patients, her shy nine-year-old daughter, her widowed mother, and her rebellious teenage brother. William Kilkenny’s stunning lack of modern dating protocol doesn’t help. The man is uncouth and outrageous—a towering, drop-dead, breathtakingly hot warrior. Who refuses to give up.

William is secretly a ninth-century Irish nobleman formerly trapped in a dragon’s body. All Maddy knows is that lately, she can hardly resist the urge to lose herself in his powerful arms. But as their uncontrollable passion grows, eerie occurrences in her small coastal Maine town begin to rouse Maddy’s suspicions about her lover. He begs her to trust him, but how can she surrender—body and soul—when she fears the danger he poses to her yearning heart?

My thoughts:

This was another beach read this year.  I loved that my children were so happy on the beach this year.  In past years we would go to the beach for a few hours and then go back to the condo for lunch, naps and downtime.  Each afternoon I would wish we could go back out to the beach, but they didn't seem to have the energy for it.  This year they did so we spent hours sitting on the beach, walking, playing in the water and sand and just enjoying it.  I love reading on the beach.  This was the first book I finished.

I discovered Janet Chapman a few years ago with her highlander series which I loved.  I read book two first and then went back and did the rest in order.  The MacKeage family were all larger than life and so much fun to read about.  I think since then I've read just about all the books Chapman has published.  They are such a fun escape from day to day life.

I only have a dim recall of the first book in the Midnight Bay trilogy.  It took Kenzie, who is the brother of Matt who married one of the MacKeage daughters in the other series, from his panther form to human again and brought him to a new place in Maine.  Kenzie of course found love and happiness.  He is forced to rebuild the house that was destroyed due to supernatural forces.  One of the supernatural things going on is a dragon from the ninth century who is really a man in need of help.  William Kilkenny has to both help Kenzie with the continued supernatural events and work on wooing a modern woman who thinks he looks like a caveman with his beard and crazy hair. 

Maddy had her life thrown off course early on by an unexpected pregnancy and then a marriage that didn't work.  She has been working hard to provide for her daughter, help her brother and mother and get by and has put her heart in a closet to keep it safe.  William threatens that protection, but offers a lot more.

Magic is throughout this book.  Along with men who can become animals there is a mermaid, a druid, supernatural storms and more.  I can't wait to read book three.  I have it on my wish list on Paperbackswap and the estimate is that a copy will be available to me within a week or so!

Details

•Pub. Date: January 2011

•Publisher: Pocket Star

•Format: Mass Market Paperback , 368pp

•Series: Midnight Bay Series

•ISBN-13: 9781439159897

•ISBN: 1439159890

Meet The Author

A native of rural central Maine, Janet Chapman lives there in a cozy log cabin on a lake with her husband. Three cats and a stray young bull moose keep them company. The author of the hugely popular Highlander time-travel series, she also writes contemporary romances.