Rating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Declan is used to being seen as irresistible object and he hates it. He can’t help that he’s an incubus, but it means the men who lust after him can only see their desire and not the man beneath it all. So Declan keeps himself isolated and uses sex workers to feed when he must. It’s not much of a life, but at least he protects his heart. When Declan goes to the sea for a swim, he finds himself captured by a beautiful but stubborn dragon.
Augustine knows instinctively that Declan is his mate. He just can’t understand why the enchanting incubus is so upset about being kidnapped. Augustine has hoarded jewels and gorgeous things his whole life, just so he might share them with the one person destined to be his. Now he just has to convince Declan that his affections are more than skin deep.
Wyrmwood is the second book in the Poisonwood and Lyric series and follows Poisonwood. The books are capable of being read independently, but I’d start with Poisonwood for more of a backstory. In Wyrmwood, we’re introduced to a reluctant incubus, one who is cursed by his nature but wants a meaningful relationship. Declan feeds reluctantly on sex workers, but like his brother Jasper, he refuses to take advantage of partners who lust after him, but do so only because of his curse. I don’t think Declan was fleshed out very well and I found found it hard to really grasp his entire personality. He clearly balks at being kept like another piece of Augustine’s hoard, which I absolutely appreciated, but he never read as a fully dimensional character. Augustine came off much the same way and, as a result, I struggled to connect to this couple. They just didn’t seem as completely rendered as the characters in Poisonwood.
Like Poisonwood, the story here is pretty bonkers (there’s a talking sword), but it doesn’t come off quite as charming as I’d hoped. Part of that came down to my lack of connection to Augustine and Declan and, on the whole, while the plot worked, it just wasn’t quite as fun as the first book. I just wanted a little bit more from every aspect of the story. There is a moment of drama and I think had this been drawn out further or given a bit more weight, I would have been more invested in the characters. The stakes would have seemed more legitimate. But it was resolved too quickly and, as a result, lacked the necessary impact to raise the entire storyline.
Other readers may feel differently and I think if you enjoyed Poisonwood, you’ve got to give Wyrmwood a try. It does have the same general feel and I suspect Declan and Augustine will appeal to some. I just never quite meshed with the main couple or found the same kind of charm that I did with the first in the series.
