The story was well-written and awesome. Isabel Cooper has done an amazing job with her books. I liked this one more than the last few I've read. Erik & Toinette are such a perfect couple. Good!!

This is Erik and Toinette’s story. He is a highland dragon who is fighting to free Scotland. They’re stuck on an island. Will they survive or will their passions win out. It is a fast paced story. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.

While this is the third in the Dawn of the Highland Dragon series, this could be read as a stand-alone. While there’s some references made to the couples of the previous books, none of it is necessary to enjoy the story. Mild spoilers for the book below.

Erik, one of the Loch Arach family members (and a dragon), has been sent away from the battle between the Scottish and English to find a treasure supposedly hidden by the Templars. As it’s apparently located on an island in the middle of the Atlantic, he’ll need a ship to get there. Luckily, he runs into Toinette (another dragon), who he was fostered with at Loch Arach, and now captain of the ship Hawk. While they were attracted to each other as teens, nothing more than a kiss happened before Toinette was sent away, and it’s been quite a long time since they’ve seen each other.

This was not at all what I was expecting. I binge read the first two books in the series before this one, so coming off of Moiread and Madoc’s road-trip-style romance, I initially thought this would be another fun traveling story. Then things took a surprisingly decided turn sideways, and I realized . While I wouldn’t call any of Ms. Cooper’s books that I’ve read so far light reading – they usually have multiple layers, and have several philosophical and religious layers – this on was heavier than most. It quickly goes from “OK, this is weird” to “creepy” to “OMG WHY am I reading this at night???”, while at the same time exploring sacrifice, friendship, and understanding the price of both.

“It’s all pride, as far as I’m concerned. Kings and crowns and banners—it’s all pride, it’s all stupid, and none of it’s worth a drop of my men’s blood.”


I admired Toinette. Unlike the MacAlasdair dragons, who are Scottish nobles, Toinette grew up poor and English, and she’s on her own when she suddenly starts manifesting her dragon powers as a teen. Somehow, she manages to end up at Loch Arach, where she’s taken in and learns to control her powers. Even there, though, it’s obvious she’s not one of them, and when she’s eighteen, she leaves to forge her own life. And she does! She marries, is widowed, and then inherits the captaincy of the Hawk. Her crew respects her, and from everything we see of her, she’s a good and prosperous captain. While Erik owes his loyalty to his MacAlasdair family, Toinette’s family is her crew, and she knows it.

One of my favorite parts of this book is the interactions between Erik, Toinette, and her crew, especially Marcus, her second in command. During a storm, Erik and Toinette are forced to reveal their dragon selves in order to save the ship and its crew, so threaded along with the rest of the plot is the crews’ reactions to, well, their captain turning into a giant fire-breathing monster. Each of the crew are distinct and well-characterized, and each have their own reactions to the dragons and being stranded on the island.

And as a note, since I was not expecting this – this book reads as straight horror at times. It’s more of an existential horror rather than blood and guts-type, though there’s a bit of that, but this is a book I would most definitely NOT recommend reading before bed! While I’m only an occasional horror reader, I thought the quality of it was well-done, and the explanation behind it was fascinating, as well as keeping with the series’ fourteenth-century take on religion.

Overall, while this was not at all what I was expecting, this was excellent. Recommended for anyone looking for an exciting paranormal romance with a large dose of horror!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The adventure written between the pages of this book were stellar. I was expecting more dragon time and development of those characters but over all a decent story.

Such a unique story, nothing I was expected with this one.I was surprised about how much I like it!I have to check the previous books for sure!I love the plot and the writing was captivating!I was a little bit confused in some places and this is probably because I haven't read the previous books so I believe it would be better to read them in order!

Highland Dragon Master is very well written. Isabel Cooper is great at tugging on your heartstrings with her romances. This book was a little darker than what I expected and I wish I had read the first two books in the series first, but that is not necessary to enjoy HDM. Please do not misunderstand me because this is a great book. Toinette and Erik are a strong couple with a beautiful chance at love. They each have to find what is important to them and that makes them all the more special for it.

One of the things Ms. Cooper does well is give her female characters courage and determination. And, her male characters are man, or dragon, enough to let their woman be who they are. You will like Erik and Toinette all the more for their relationship.

I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging this book is. I find this to be a fairly unique take on a paranormal or fantasy romance for what is being written in the genre today. I'd actually classify this as more of a fantasy romance with paranormal elements, and I think this could be a friendly point of entry into romance for fantasy readers OK with a strong romantic element. The writing quality was quite high, as well, which was a treat and something that I wish there was more space for in the genre at large (not to say there aren't strong stylists in romance- I just wish there were more!). My favorite part of the story was definitely the heroine- Toinette was a bad ass privateer with zero time for bullshit, and I thought her strength seemed to be organic & lived in, rather than the author telling us over & over again that the heroine is strong but that not playing out in the story. Anyways, all this to say- I haven't finished the first in this series, but this book made me excited to get back to it. I would recommend this to anyone who likes fantasy romance... perhaps good for folks who like "The Heartstone" by Elle Katherine White but wanted some more sexy times in it?

Every book in this series is different. The first book, Highland Dragon Warrior, was a slow-build, slow-burn, both on the romance front and on the action front. The heroine was an alchemist, and the story moved along at the pace of her experiments.

The second book, Highland Dragon Rebel, is a road story. The romance, the danger, the action, all move along as the protagonists travel from place to place.

The third book in the series, Highland Dragon Master, is pretty damn creepy at points. I don’t mean creepy as in pace, I mean creepy as in, let’s call it horror-adjacent. For a story that takes place centuries before the Gothic genre came into being, it has that Gothic atmosphere of creeping evil.

Also Templars and the Ark of the Covenant. Well, not exactly THAT ark, but an ark that wants to make a covenant, and turns out to be every bit as destructive as that famous scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

The books in this series are not like each other, and they don’t depend on each other to build the story. There are minor references to the heroine in the first book, and lots of call backs to the place that all the dragons call home, but nothing in Highland Dragon Master that can’t be picked up from context.

The title, like all the titles of the series, is kind of a twist. Both Erik and Toinette are Highland Dragons, but neither of them is the master in this particular scenario, unless the reference is to Toinette as her ship’s master. Instead, they have run into something that wants to master both of them – and that’s what they must prevent at all costs.

The story begins as a sea voyage, and ends as a second chance at love. But the middle is just about as scary as any horror fan might desire. The story begins as a search for treasure, but turns into something that will keep readers biting their nails hoping for good to triumph over evil.

This is a story where nothing turns out to be quite as it seems. Except the love that Erik and Toinette rekindle in each other – a love that they may be forced to end in the ultimate sacrifice.

Escape Rating B+: Highland Dragon Master was a lot faster paced than Highland Dragon Warrior, but not nearly as much fun as Highland Dragon Rebel. If you are thinking of picking up this series, particularly if you loved the author’s earlier dragon series which begins with Legend of the Highland Dragon but is set centuries later than this series, you might want to start with Highland Dragon Rebel.

I’ll also admit that I’m not a horror fan, so the strong sense of creeping evil that permeates this book from the moment they wreck on the mysterious island had me on the edge of my seat. It was also more than creepy enough that I waited until morning to finish the book because I didn’t want to read this one in just the flickering light of my iPad.

One of the things that makes this series so enjoyable are the characters. Toinette is one of the best. Even in the 14th century, she has found a way to live the life she wants to live in spite of her gender. Toinette is a ship’s captain. Not the sexy caricature of female captains we so often see, but a woman who has found her authentic self and lives that self. She commands her men and their loyalty not through sex appeal, but by being a good and fair commander. They give her their loyalty and if necessary their lives because she gives hers in return.

It is a soul-searching moment for her when she and Erik must reveal that they are dragon-shifters if there is to be any hope of saving the ship and her crew. That she agonizes over the change in her relationship with her men, especially her second-in-command, is heartfelt and very, very human.

And it is utterly marvelous that her second-in-command, who respected her as his captain before he knew she was a dragon, is able to shift their relationship without breaking that respect. At the same time, it is terrific to see that their relationship has always been that of partners without any element of sexual attraction between them, even though Marcus seems to be as heterosexual as Toinette. That they can be friends and colleagues and both be content with that relationship is something that needs to happen more often, and not just in romance.

This is also a story where the ends don’t justify the means, and where Erik has to go through a certain amount of soul-searching to come to that conclusion. He came on this quest in search of treasure to add Scotland in their perpetual war with England. And he finds it. But, as has been discovered before in other times and other lands and even among the stars, some gifts come at just too high a price.

I have enjoyed both the Highland Dragons series and now this prequel series, Dawn of the Highland Dragon, very much indeed. This looks like it might be the end of this trilogy, but I sincerely hope that the author is not done with the Highland Dragons.

❤️❤️❤️❤️
💋💋
This is a dragon shifter book , which I love , though I have read others like this and I have my favourites.
This one I found to be above average , it has action from the outset and the storyline and characters are well developed, they Have depth and good personality traits.
The only problem I found was that I felt starting at this book was a mistake and I would have appreciated the book more had I started at book one , I fully intend to go back and read the others .
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley, and chose to submit a review

This book promises both an adventure and romance. It delivers on each though not as much as I had hoped, because when it comes to historical fantasy and dragons, I'm all in and I could not wait to devour this book.
It started out with Erik, a dragon shifter, on a quest and he meets Toinette, a childhood friend/love and their journey on the high seas has them tackling things they never expected.
The two make a great team. However, I found it a bit too descriptive and this made the plot boring and at some point slowed my pace.
If you love a dragon shifter romance, with an element of historical mystery, then you could try this. I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and you've just had it!

Toinette is a fiery little thing, “if I was truly being womanly, you’d have had a knee in your stones by now.” Erik makes some interesting promises when his woman throws down, “I’ll show you clerkly later, love,” he growled into her shoulder. “Only you’re too tall for me to carry back, so I’ll have to leave you in shape for walking.” I liked this book, Toinette and Erik made a good team.