The holiday weekend is the perfect time to spend with friends, and my girlfriend and I stopped by a bookstore and did some browsing with the six children we have between us.  We browsed the teen fiction section, and I eventually chose Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey as a light read.  This was my first time reading this author, and because this book is considered teen fiction, I will give a conservative parent’s view of it.  I consider it to be a clean fantasy romance.  Although there were three mild curse words, the romantic part of the book has an old world element to it.  It appears that the characters held Christian beliefs, and the society believed in waiting until after marriage to have intimate relations.  With that being said, there were no heated scenes, and the author kept her young audience in mind.

As for the writing, it flowed naturally and was an interesting read.  My only complaint is that there were too many hints throughout the book, and although the main character was clueless about some things, I had the ending figured out midway through.  The book was fun but not filled with suspense, and it did not keep me guessing.  However, I did enjoy the book filled with humans, dragons, and fairies.

Although you don’t have to read her other book called Dragon’s Keep to understand this one, it is a book based on events that happened many years prior to Dragonswood, and it might be an interesting read also.