Blurb:

Carina McKay is an outsider. With one parent of royal blood, she’s not nobility, yet not a servant either. The only comfort in her mundane existence is her love of Critons, the large fire-breathing creatures that protect the border of her homeland. But her destiny changes forever the day she catches the eye of King Marek Duncan.

Marek’s heart is closed to love. After an arranged marriage withers to a bitter end, he dedicates his energy to protecting his kingdom. Yet he’s searching for something more–the Caller of Light, the one who summons Critons.

Carina’s beauty and willfulness intrigue Marek, and he’s determined to have her. When his enemies try to come between them, he discovers just how much he will endure to protect her. Together, they can unlock a love that binds their souls, but only if they find the strength to follow their hearts.

Review:

Cinderella meets Dragonriders of Pern

I don’t know why I don’t read traditional fantasy more often. I always end up loving the books! Always! And Caller of Light was no exception. Shaw builds a completely unique world full of Critons, which are essentially dragons. The Critons bond with their riders but they sometimes need assistance from a caller. Unfortunately the last caller dropped off the face of the earth over a decade ago.

Meanwhile, Carina is our spirited underdog. Abused and treated as a servant in her own house she captures the heart of a King. Her evil half sister is willing to do whatever it takes to sabotageCarina and Duncan’s relationship. Meanwhile there’s political intrigue and looming threats of war in Duncan’s kingdom

The only thing I didn’t like, and yes, I know, this is crazy nitpicky, I didn’t like that Criton was capitalized. I get that their sentient super special cool dragon like creatures, but you don’t capitalize dragon, you capitalize the dragons name. I don’t think I would have noticed at all had I not just had to do a global edit for something very similar. But I did notice, and the word criton was used here about as often as the word horse would be used in a western so it just kept poking at me.

However, I just read a long book and my only complaint whatsoever is the capitalization of one word. I think that speaks volumes for how GOOD this book is.