How to Date Your Dragon

By: Molly Harper

Narrated by: Amanda Ronconi, Jonathan Davis

Length: 6 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

The first book in Molly Harper's uproariously funny, sinfully sexy new Mystic Bayou series!

Anthropologist Jillian Ramsay's career has taken a turn south.

Concerned that technology is about to chase mythological creatures out into the open (how long can Sasquatch stay hidden from Google maps?), the League for Interspecies Cooperation is sending Jillian to Louisiana on a fact-finding mission. While the League hopes to hold on to secrecy for a little bit longer, they're preparing for the worst in terms of human reactions. They need a plan, so they look to Mystic Bayou, a tiny town hidden in the swamp where humans and supernatural residents have been living in harmony for generations. Mermaids and gator shifters swim in the bayou. Spirit bottles light the front porches after twilight. Dragons light the fires under crayfish pots.

Jillian's first assignment for the League could be her last. Mystic Bayou is wary of outsiders, and she has difficulty getting locals to talk to her. And she can't get the gruff town sheriff, Bael Boone, off of her back or out of her mind. Bael is the finest male specimen she's seen in a long time, even though he might not be human. Soon their flirtation is hotter than a dragon's breath, which Bael just might turn out to be....

©2017 Molly White (P)2017 Audible Originals, LLC.

As someone from Louisiana...

As someone from Louisiana, let me say that I always panic when I pick up an audible set in the bayou. There's too much that can go wrong for me. If the writer doesn't understand the culture or the narrator doesn't understand the accent, I just get annoyed. However, Molly Harper as well as Amanda Ronconi and Jonathan Davis do a nice job here.

Molly Harper has spun a well developed tale with conflict, mystery, interesting characters and an interesting community. I was impressed by the story and would definitely pick up something else from her. I fell like she's probably not from Louisiana, maybe watched a lot of True Blood, but she didn't try to overdo it and shove in a lot of incorrect, Hollywood-ized cultural references. The only thing I can say with certainty is that you don't have crawfish boils on New Years (it's not the season) and you don't boil shrimp with your crawfish because their seasons don't run together. If that's the worst trespass she has, she's in good shape.

Speaking of True Blood, Jonathan Davis' Cajun accent is straight out of Bon Temps. As a matter of fact, he sounds just like Rene from season 1. It's not exactly accurate but it's not a complete disaster either. I appreciate the attempt and the effort to keep it natural and not overdone. Kudos to the narrators for a great job.

Great story but (UPDATE)

UPDATE : The audio issues below have been fixed! i love Jonathan's reading. His voice as Bael will melt your heart!

This story is spot on Molly Harper. The characters are great and the angst is not over done. Amanda Ronconi did a wonderful job. The main turnoff was Jonathan Davis's editing. I really enjoyed his reading! He did a wonderful job bringing Bael to life. there were times his re-dos sounded like they were recorded over the phone and other times the quality made it sound like someone else was reading. Did anyone listen to this production before it was published? I'm a huge fan of two readers, they really bring a story to life, but the constant fluctuation of Jonathan's sections was distracting. As a side note, I would love to hear more from Jonathan in the future, I hope more books in this series hosts him as a narrator.

Reasonably Good

In general, I am really a fan of Molly Harper, but a few of her books (like the Bluegrass series), have been only marginally better than mediocre; this is one of those. The characters are likable enough, and the story is entertaining enough. But, the characters aren't outstanding, and the story isn't riveting. Perhaps I would have liked it better if I had never read the Half-Moon Hollow series, and so I wouldn't be subconsciously weighing this book against those books, but I have, and so I did.

These characters felt a little flat, like they had a lot of potential, but they just weren't developed quite enough to be all that they could be, and the plot kind of seemed bare-minimum; it was very uncomplicated. Sure, simple plots can become phenomenal stories, with clever and sophisticated crafting; I don't believe this particular simple plot quite achieved brilliance.

Nevertheless, it was still quite readable, and not regrettable.

A note about the dual narration: I have always appreciated Amanda Ronconi's contribution to Molly Harper's novels, and she was no less adept here. Jonathan Davis did a good job. My problem is that their narrations--that is, their respective interpretations--did not go well together, so much so that the shift from one to the other was jarring. Davis isn't (like many male narrators), particularly skilled at female voices, and this was further underscored by the dual narration, because, if he were the sole narrator, it's possible the listener could become accustomed to his female characterizations. Unfortunately for him, he shares narration with Ronconi, who is more skilled at voicing characters of the opposite sex (at least to my ear, anyway). I think the dual narration could have worked if the two narrators had read simultaneously, dialogue-style, but that seems to be done very rarely. Also, these chapters were actually written from alternating perspectives. Anyway, the narration wasn't ideal.

Dual Narrators Are Self Destructive

I understand that alternating chapters with alternating character points of view can indicate there should be dual narrators. Except that obviously the person narrating each chapter has a voice for both characters. So every other chapter the listener hears a different voice for each character. I apologize for not explaining this well, but Amanda Ronconi does a great job narrating the female and the male characters in the first chapter. Jonathan Davis does a good job too narrating the same male and female character. But it takes a bit of work on the listener's part not to be jerked out of the story by the change in the voice of these characters every other chapter.

Molly Harper writes good stories and this one survived the voice of each character changing constantly. This sort of thing works wonderfully if the book is read as a play with the same voice actor consistently reading the same part. But done like this it is distracting. Since most of Molly Harper's books are narrated by Amanda Ronconi and her male voices are consistently good it seems a shame fix something that is not broken.

Cute story, too much sex

Decent murder mystery & good intro to Mystic Bayou, but I'm not a fan of explicit sex scenes.

4 stars

I liked the dual narration and the story line. I did confused as to the point in the story when the relationship actually got started. I felt one minute I was reading about an investigation and the next they were just ripping each others clothes off while looking at his gold. I didn't actually get that build up to a relationship like in other books, maybe I missed that part. Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Romantic Penny Dreadful

I don't fantasize about having sex with other species, so I guess I'm not the target audience The concept of an anthropologist studying a community of shape shifters intrigued me. Until the protagonist started to focus on getting her daily dose of dragon dick. I'm no prude, but the literary value of discussing the temperature of spent dragon semen eluded me...

So Worth It

So I've hesitated to listen to this book - I saw the reviews and the Audible spotlight review and I love love love these narrators but I just couldn't bring myself to listen. Now I'm SO glad I did. It was an amazing listen - the realistic portrayal of the most unrealistic paranormal things made this a fun one and it was so well written that I was sucked in after only 10 minutes. I definitely recommend this as a jumping start for the shifter category - now I'm *HOOKED*. Love love love this one. GIve it a shot!

No to 2 narrators

I liked the story although it seemed more simplistic than her other books. Having two narrators made it very disjointed and hard to maintain the continuity of the characters. Nothing against the male voice but totally unnecessary. Female performance was much more effective.

Disapointed

Decent book, but it did not feature any sex scene with a dragon in dragon form. Very disappointed.

New series has potential, but annoying audio

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes, if audio is improved (see below). I love Molly Harper & Amanda Ronconi, and have all their supernatural-themed audible books. I’m not that keen on chapters with alternating POV however, and think the story would read better from one perspective. I like the set-up for this new series, however. Mystic Bayou and its inhabitants are a lot of fun, and there is a huge range of characters and mythologies to explore alongside the how-to-protect-the-town storyline. Main character Gillian is clever, caring, funny, interesting: multi-dimensional and likeable. And realistic! You root for her and feel you could know her, which is exactly what I hope for in a book like this. Her love interest isn’t such a well-developed character, but is likeable.
I will keep an eye out for the next book, with fingers crossed that it’s a bit better (with the quality audio it deserves).

How could the performance have been better?

Switching between male & female performers was distracting. It’s not a play, so having F read some chapters and a M read others meant that you were hearing each character’s voice read by 2 people. No consistency. Also, unnecessary. A Ronconi is excellent at distinguishing a range of characters/voices.

Also, and this was a major issue for me, it sounded as if some passages had been re-recorded and edited on; every so often the tone would change for a few sentences as if the actor had been in a different place, nearer to the microphone etc - then it switched back to the main recording. This was really jarring.

Fire in the Bayou

When Jillian’s career takes her to Mystic Bayou, Louisiana, she thinks it’s a simple case of documenting the facts and learning about the shifter species. When one of her interviewees turns up dead her warm reception turns a little frosty but a dash romance can heat things back up. She quickly realises that Mystic Bayou has a little more magic than the average town.

This is a great introduction to a promising new series. I’m already a big fan of Harper’s work, particularly when it’s on audiobook, and it looks like she has plenty more to give. Jillian is her typical flawed but sweet character and the mixture of humour and romance is just right. I’m hoping book two finds a date for the mayor.

Brilliantly bonkers

This is unlike anything I’ve ever read before and definitely not my usual genre (though I’m not quite sure it fits neatly into any genre). I’m not going to talk about the plot because you just need to give this a go and stick with it. It’s quirky and funny, the narration is excellent. Honestly, if you fancy something different, try this.

Great fun

my only complaint is that I wanted to listen on for hours & hours more!!

Didn't expect it at all but absolutely LOVED this.

So well written, such a natural, charming style. an adult fairy tale that I just wanted to continue forever.

How to Date Your Dragon

What made the experience of listening to How to Date Your Dragon the most enjoyable?

This is where it fell down. I don't mind different narrators for different characters, but have two narrators for the same character makes the story very disjointed and hard to follow. I learn a characters 'voice' and having someone else then do that same voice just throws me off too much. I LOVE both Molly Harper and Amanda Ronconi so writing this was difficult. I'm not knocking Jonathan Davis's work either. One or the other or one for each different character, not both doing the same please :)

Indulgent twaddle

Interesting concept but all potential for character development lost in simplistic one dimensional storyline. Mills and Boon with dragons. V disappointing.

good book

Female narrator was very good, male too but his voice for Jillian was a bit irritating at the end (she was meant to sound sexy, I suppose, but sounded too...well, male;)). The story was quick paced, well structured and enjoyable. Caught myself smiling quite a lot while listening to it. It's a light chick flick with some good erotic scenes and friendship dynamics. Don't expect deep though, or a lot of suspense and tension. Events evolve rather quickly, this book could have been easily twice as long and still be good, but it is just fine that way too. I'll definitely look for more works of this author and seek out the rest of the series. I have the feeling that mayor is next to go from single to mingle;)

Twilight for adults

Bought this as part of a sale. I'm not quite sure what I expected - really I think the title just amused me. It's just a twilight style novel. Bland female protagonist has to move to a small town where every available man proceeds to fall in love with her, despite the fact she has the personality of a wet cardboard box. Narration is performed well, but couldn't rescue this dull, dull dross.

How To Date Your Dragon

I must admit I was more interested in finding out about the world the characters lived in, and the murders, rather than the relationship, which meant I didn’t really enjoy this book as the relationship is central and not that interesting.