A Kiss and a Dare - Charlene Raddon Romantic Comedy, Fantasy Romance, Futuristic Romance
August 1, 2022
Independent
283
Amazon
At last, Garen McTaggart’s lifelong dream of owning a castle is coming true, but not without certain... impediments. He must complete the renovations on time and marry the owner's granddaughter, Leeza Cantrell, or all will be lost.
Everything appears to be on track—until Garen lies down for a nap in a lush little garden he discovers. There, in an instant, his life changes forever.
It all has to do with a frog, a dragonfly, a newt, and a witch.
Garen is left in a pickle of a situation. On the one hand, he can have everything he ever wanted, including the right woman. On the other hand, having her will cost him all he has—the castle, his business, his reputation. His… fiancée.
Is true love worth losing everything? What’s a man to do?
Find out in this sweet, funny fantasy.
Review by Xanthe
Reviewer for The Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
For a first dip into fantasy romance, Charlene Raddon has done a good job. I did find it a little hard to get into the story to start with, but once things were established and we know the characters more, I found myself invested and entertained by all the goings on.
Poor Gwenlyn and Garen. Both have been dealt a pretty crappy hand. Gwenlyn has been waiting for several hundred years for her soul half to return and save her from life as a toad, and Garen is under extreme pressure with everything seemingly against him and then this random, naked woman appears and seems to think of him as her long-lost love. It makes for some interesting conversations and miscommunications, especially with Gwenlyn speaking in old English/Welsh. Gwenlyn definitely finds it hard, coming from a completely different era but she’s determined to win over Garen, who is quite a hard, focused man. Her innocence is part of her charm, mostly having no idea the affect she has on the man, whilst he is doing his utmost to deny his attraction and stay faithful to his fiancée, Leeza.
Things are further complicated by other characters in the story. Edmund is Garen’s adoptive father but he can’t tell him of his true self. Leeza is engaged to marry Garen but both are not in it for the right reasons. And then there’s Sybil, who just has to be read to be believed with quite the evil streak about her. One who thinks everything is owed to them without doing anything for it.
Overall, it’s quite a story with talk of magick, witches and dreams of a past life. It’s a tale of great imagination that’s set in the beautiful location of Wales, full of history and rolling vistas. Everything flows well through the story but my one niggle is there’s no space or notice of changing between perspectives of the characters. As we go between mostly Gwenlyn and Garen, but also on occasion Edmund, Leeza and Sybil, it can get slightly confusing. Barring that, I enjoyed a story that’s full of entertaining characters with a wonderful fantasy element and a plot that has you intrigued to how things will unfold.