I really enjoyed this book. I absolutely love dragons and they are definitely my soft spot! I really enjoyed the FMC, Yanni, she's such a strong lead character. Really enjoyed the different cultures which are in this story, too. Great characters and world building.

This is a fantasy with great characters and world building.

What more could you ask for, other than magic and dragons combining for a wonderful story.

I really enjoyed this.

Given by Nandi Taylor, 464 pages. Wattpad Books, 2020. $18. CENTERING ME
Language: R (41 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG13; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
Yenni Ajani (18yo) has a duty to her tribe as one of the chieftain’s daughters, including marrying to strengthen alliances. But Yenni’s father is sick, and nothing they do helps. Yenni appeals to the Sha and is granted Orire N’jem, a year-long journey, to dedicate herself to learn the magic of Cresh, hoping to discover a cure for her father – but the gods have other plans.
Taylor introduces a new world with clashing cultures and forms of magic; I enjoyed the worldbuilding as much as I enjoyed the story. There were a couple points that felt like they were unrealistically overlooked by the characters, though it’s possible they could be purposeful loose ends to be addressed in a potential sequel. Overall, the book is entertaining, with adventure, magical spells and battles, family struggles, romance, and more.
Yenni is depicted as Black on the cover, and her people are also described that way. When Yenni travels to Cresh, she observes people with skins of many hues, including sandy, golden brown, pale, blue, green, and more. Weysh is described as having dark skin, though not as dark as Yenni’s. The mature content rating is for alcohol use, illegal activity, innuendo, mentions of rape, partial nudity, and implied sex. The violence rating is for fantasy fighting and blood.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

DNF 50%
I see many DNF it, and i undestand why.
I was confused by this love interest who "claimed" her because of her sent, did not care about her name or explain anything. Urgh. Pass.

This novel had an interesting premise, but it was not executed well. There really was not much action in the story but focused solely on romance.

**Apologies for the late review. Major illness affected my ability to review**

Many thanks to Netgalley for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Just going to start this off by saying that Weysh can be a bit of a dork/jerk in the beginning of the story (and through most of it) and I can see why that may have turned some people off of this story.

So, the story begins with Yenni Ajani, princess of the Moonrise Islands, who is on her way to attend school in Cresh as a part of a ritualistic journey that will allow her to lead her people. Weighing down on her during this time is her father's incapacitation due to illness and her attempts to find a cure for it. While there, she meets Weysh, a sarcastic, arrogant, typical romance bad boy who also happens to be a dragon. (Shape-shifting dragon story will always get a couple of sniffs from me.) However, Weysh's arrogance and constant pursuit of Yenni after attacking her and the idea of insta-love were a little cringe for me.

I did love the idea of being immersed in Yenni's culture and people and shape-shifting dragon, but I felt that these areas took a back seat to the romance and Weysh's personality. Honestly, it's not something that I'm unfamiliar with, but I felt that he needed more motivation and I also wanted Yenni to be more of her own person beyond Weysh's nth conquest.

There also is an issue with Taylor telling her readers about the characters, rather letting showing them how they are, like Yenni was a bit whiny and entitled as opposed to caring and empathetic. There of also a bit of the "claiming" or "You're my forever mate" theme going on that kind of irks me. That idea was kind of fun when I was just getting into shape-shifting romances, but it's now been a bit too overdone for me and I wish Taylor added a bit more depth and allowed the characters to grow together organically. Having Weysh grow (and I did notice some growth) from arrogance into humility while earning Yenni as his "Given" would have been more compelling for me.

That said, I think this book was okay for a first release and I look forward to more from Taylor in the future.

I wanted to like this book but it just fell flat for me. The characters weren't very relatable, they had kinda flat personalities. The "fated relationship" part was a little cringy. I would have liked more world building.

I read this book on Wattpad initially so I was so excited to see that it has been published, I just had to reread to see what changes had been made.

The story is fast paced with enjoyable characters (the love interest goes through considerable growth through the book)

This book addresses a large amount of topics such as biracial identity, disability, racism, micro agressions and more.

*I received an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

I feel like this book is for an audience I am not part of - those immersed in romance tropes. Though I liked the most of the characters, I was unenthused by the primary romance.

The cover looked interesting and so is the book. Yenni and Nandi rocked with this book. 5 stars from me.

Overall I loved the concept of this story and you can’t really go wrong when dragons are involved, but I couldn’t get into the story as much as I wanted to. Yenni as a main character left a lot to be desired, but I did enjoy the world building and magic system.

I was really excited to receive a copy of this book to review as it was an anticipated read of mine, and I wasn't disappointed. Nandi Taylor has a great style of writing. I was drawn in during the first half to the world and magic and was desperate to find out what happened to Yenni during her year in Cresh.
Overall I found this a very enjoyable read and felt the book covered a lot of very important, troubling experiences that a lot of people face.
I look forward to reading more from this author.

I remember being a teenager when I discovered Wattpad and its world of mating romances (yeah, I was a sappy teenager, sue me :P) – so the blurb of this current book had me twice as interested – first, dragons and second mating, for it reminded of those teenage days (ah the nostalgia!).

Yenni is a warrior princess of a smile tribe in the islands and she has been given a reprieve of one year before a political marriage, one year that she plans of using to find a cure for her father’s illness; that no one seems to be able to diagnose. The last thing she was expecting was to encounter dragons; especially who immediately after meeting her is now claiming her as his Given, his destined mate. The audacity, I tell you!

Okay, this is my first published wattpad book – and I so enjoyed it. Not just because dragons are my weakness (they are!), but because it is actually well written – the dialogues are crsip and Yenni, along with the supporting characters are strong, independent and showcase badass – ery that actually had me cheering for them right from the start!


Yes, the blurb is a bit misleading; for I wasn’t expecting a magical school reminiscent of Hogwarts in the story; but it was a pleasant surprise nonetheless. But what I absolutely respected was the fact that there was no case of insta – love in the plotline – yes there is the whole destined mate thing ongoing; but it takes time for Yenni and her dragon, Welysh to find not just their rhythm but also the mutual respect, and loyalty that is purely of their own choosing rather than because of fate.

There are of course few loose ends left; so here’s to me hoping that there will be a sequel to this quite a surprisingly enjoyable fantasy romance with adventure in its plotlineand strong characters!

this was a great fantasy novel, the characters were great and I loved the bond between Yenni and Weysh. It was a lot of fun.

This is such an original and beautiful diverse fantasy for everyone to read! The worldbuilding is really good, and I loved the main character, Yenni. Given also deals with race and culture. Also, DRAGONS!! My only issue was with the love interest, Weysh. I didn't like him that much...

I read this story on Wattpad while it was being updated, and it had always stuck with me. Popping up when I was in the mood for reading something familiar with well-rounded characters and a plot that's exciting. The characters come back to me while I'm browsing and it's always the story I recommend on Wattpad when people go looking for stories.

I recommend that everyone reads this book. It's captivating. A read that will stay on my shelf through the years.

I've been a bit caught up since the COVID-19 epidemic started but finally got around to reading Taylor's debut novel. I deeply enjoyed this novel and recommend it. She's a fresh new voice, and I look forward to seeing what she does in the future.

I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

This was a wonderful diverse fantasy story. I enjoyed this book. It had a slow but action packed beginning but as time went on I enjoyed the epic battles and the world building was great. I liked the main character Yenni but I didn't care as much for Weysh because he is definitely on team do too much. This book had lots of great details.

DNF @ 27%

"She's too sensitive," Weysh concluded. "Most women are. I just have to show her I'd never hurt her. Once she realizes that, she'll come running with open arms."

look I came for dragons not men with delusions of what they deserve & why did there even HAVE to be a crap romance? Why couldn't it just be Yenni learning a new culture, struggling with the bias against her own culture, and being badass??

I have been struggling with this book for a while now, and unfortunately I just cannot get into it. It's definitely not for me and I'm struggling to connect with the characters and the plot.
I DNF'd this book around the 25% mark.
I have read that some people really loved the book but it was just a disappointment for me.