The Awakening: The Dragon Heart Legacy, Book 1 (The Dragon Heart Legacy, 1)

This is the first book in the Dragon Heart Legacy trilogy. 

Breen has been told, by her mother, for most of her life that she's not good enough,  that she'll never be more than average. She got a degree that she didn't want, due to her mother's insisting, and has a job that she doesn't like. While taking care of her mothers house while said mother is on a spa vacation, Breen's life is turned upside down. She goes to Ireland to search for the father that left her when she was young, and finds something magical.

Keegan became taoiseach (chieftain) of Talamh at a young age. He knows his duty to his home world, and he knows the dark forces that are looking to tear apart his world and the next. But the bridge to the next world is a stubborn woman that refuses to acknowledge what she has inside of her. Yet, he'll train Breen to become the warrior she needs to be.

This is not the usual "boy meets girl and starts to fall in love while battling the dark forces" type of book that Ms. Roberts has done in the past. This book is about Breen finding who and what she is and learning how to deal with that, as she's pulled between the two worlds. She finds a lot of things have been kept from her by her mother and has to come to terms with it, as well.

I enjoyed the story, and it grabbed my interest. I enjoyed how Breen started opening up to become her own self and not the "average" person her mother made her feel. I was thrilled that Breen did confront her mother about the past and made her mother see how she had grown into her own being. And I was alternately sad and mad of how her mother still dismissed Breen.

This book does end on a cliffhanger!!! If you don't like cliffhangers, and don't have the second book, I'd suggest you wait then!! I'm looking forward to the second one to see how things start to shape up again.

This novel hits all the notes for me: a wannabe writer miscast as a middle-grades teacher b/c of her mother's strong opinion; an unexpected inheritance opening up new possibilities and using the new winnings to fund a once-in-a-lifetime overseas trip; best friends who have your back no matter what; and a 'UGE dose of magical realism -- and actual magic. What's not to love? In this first book of a trilogy, we meet Breen, who is stuck as a middle school teacher. Stuck in an apartment she has to share w/ her best friend;stuck riding the bus b/c she can't afford a car; stuck in a rut b/c she has to ration her spending money. Breen's worked hard her whole life: first trying to make the grades for school, then trying to pay off her student loans. So, when a letter literally flies around her mother's office while Breen is watering her mother's plants, and Breen sees her name listed as the beneficiary of a large investment account, she is gobsmacked, and really angry at her mom for hiding the account -- and the fact that Breen's dad didn't just abandon them, that he was the one who had set up this account. Breen contacts the investment advisor and becomes the active manager of the account. Then, she decides to visit her dad's homeland - Ireland - on the above-mentioned once-in-a-lifetime trip. She takes her BFF, Marco, along w/ her for this adventure/searching for her Dad. They stay in a picturesque cottage and start enjoying the locals. After two weeks, Marco goes home; Breen is going to spend the whole summer in Ireland. She is taking a walk one morning w/ her puppy who just happened to show up at her cottage, when she stumbles over a root of a giant tree, while trying to get the puppy out of the tree. When she falls .... she falls into a whole different world. This reminds me of Clare and the Standing Stones in "Outlander..." When Breen comes to, this "other" world LOOKS like Ireland... but only magical. I mean, she sees a flying dragon! And flowers magically grow when she waves her hand over them... Does Breen have magical powers?? When she sees her landlord, and the gardener, from the "normal" side, the game is up. Who are all these people??? And THEN she meets her grandmother, her Dad's mother, and learns about her young life, of which Breen knew nothing. How does Breen handle all the new revelations? Will it affect her relationship w/ her mother? With Marco? What about Keegan, the dark-haired dragon-rider? What does she learn about her Dad? Is he alive in this magical realm? Is her new-to-her grandmother telling her the truth about the dark forces threatening the magical world -- and Breen's place in it? Read "The Awakening" and see. I'm really looking forward to starting Book #2.

As an introductory story, this novel does all it can to prepare you for the rest, I think. I liked that it didn't take long to get to the meat of the story, and Breen's arc was pretty good. My only two qualms were the development of Keegan and the jumping POV seemingly on every page. Still, the cliffhanger was enough to make me want to read the next story.