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OMG, what an amazing cover for The Dragon’s Playlist by Laura Bickle. If this is any indication of the story inside, I can hardly wait to get started. How about you?

Cover:  Danielle Fine

Amazon  /  Goodreads

MY REVIEW

I have heard some rumors about Laura Bickle’s writing and now I know, IT’S TRUE! She can spin a heart pounding tale of love and loss, and fantasy and fiction, that blend together in a spellbinding read that you will not be able to put down.

Diamond came home to see her ailing father. It is terrible to see a parent weak, ill, a parody of their former self. He had been hurt in a mine cave in.

Oh man, she’s got a porcelain unicorn collection. Me too. She talks of her love for trees and the forest. I love them too. I also had a treehouse, and, like hers, it was really just a couple of boards nailed to a couple of branches. BUT, I never had a fiery something coming my way. Hmmm…is it a shadow…is that fire?

Money issues force her to take a break from college and she is not happy about it. She is resentful, even though she knows it’s the only way to help her parents. Her ex-boyfriend, Jason, seems to be a permanent fixture at her parents home. She thought it was odd, until she found out why Jason and her dad had such a close relationship.

Another mining story with the same theme, attitudes, danger, treehuggers…and the miners who need the jobs. I have read several books, recently, about coal mining and it pisses me off every time it comes up. We shouldn’t be underground, like rats, mining for an obsolete product. Well…let me collect myself…These type of stories get my emotions roiling and I am filled with anger, disgust, sadness, and a feeling of ambivalence.

I couldn’t help but laugh at the mention of noodling, and if you haven’t heard of it you are in for a laugh or two. It’s a southern thing. They were supposed to be looking for Buzzard Bill, but the kids are easily bored.

Whoa…Not what I was expecting and I love it. Reminds me of Mothman…a bit.

The characters have some decisions to make, some attitudes to adjust and some romantic feelings to sort out. Their futures are not easy to discern and their problems read like a true story as they struggle day by day. Sometimes we don’t get all the dreams of our youth, but, like Diamond, there can still be love, happiness and a feeling of contentment.

At seventy percent, I am feeling so sad. I went from childlike wonder to anger and disappointment, sorrow and hope. So much heartache. Can there possibly be any happiness left?

I cannot stop reading…I must know…OMG! Fabulous, fiery, fantastic, flaming, flawless fantasy!

I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of The Dragon’s Playlist by Laura Bickle.

  5 Stars

GOODREADS BLURB

From the author of THE HALLOWED ONES and NINE OF STARS comes a new novel blending the magical and the real…

“This is war,” the dragon said. And she believed him.

Di fled rural West Virginia to study music and pursue a bright future as a violinist. But when a mining accident nearly kills her father, she is summoned back home to support her family. Old ghosts and an old flame emerge from the past. When Di gets a job as a bookkeeper at the same mine where her father worked, she is drawn into a conflict pitting neighbor against neighbor as the mine plans an expansion to an untouched mountain.

If the mining company’s operation goes forward, there will be more at stake than livelihoods or the pollution of the land: Di has discovered a dragon lives deep within Sawtooth Mountain, and he is not happy with this encroachment upon his lair. When catastrophe strikes, Di must choose between her family’s best interests and protecting the dragon – the last surviving bit of magic in Di’s shrinking world.

In every fight, sides are chosen. And there can be no yearning for what has been left behind.

ABOUT LAURA BICKLE

Laura Bickle grew up in rural Ohio, reading entirely too many comic books out loud to her favorite Wonder Woman doll. After graduating with an MA in Sociology – Criminology from Ohio State University and an MLIS in Library Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she patrolled the stacks at the public library and worked with data systems in criminal justice. She now dreams up stories about the monsters under the stairs, also writing contemporary fantasy novels under the name Alayna Williams.

Her work has been included in the ALA’s Amelia Bloomer Project 2013 reading list and the State Library of Ohio’s Choose to Read Ohio reading list for 2015-2016.

Stalk Laura Bickle:  Website  /  Facebook  /  Twitter

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