Dealing with personal trauma is not easy. Trauma itself, at least for me, can be a sneaky thing. Hitting when it is least expected, and being triggered in unlikely situations. I always think I am okay until something boldly points out ‘You are not okay.’

That is what happened to me during the pandemic (the one we are all acting like did not happen) and this review is about the series that saved my sanity.

Admittedly, the pandemic was a traumatic time for humans. People were shut in. The world closed down. But, I thought I was doing okay. To me, I was coping relatively well.

Until one day, I realized… I was incapable of reading. 

And I mean anything and everything. 

No books. No articles. Not even social media captions. 

My brain would process none of it. I would start, only to have it all blur in front of me. Or I would get bored and start staring into space, not seeing the words in front of me.

Book after book after book. It unnerved me that nothing was connecting.

I read. That is what I do. How is it right now… the perfect time to read and I could not do it?

Panic is a strong word, but this type of signal was a serious yellow-orange-reddish flag waving madly in the air for me.

Thankfully though, after much too long, @danzibooks on Instagram (who you should definitely follow) facilitated my rescue. 

The algorithm brought up posts from her page into my feed. When I clicked in, a big smile started spreading across my face. Her caption says “A Jamaican Girl in a Fantasy World”.

AHHHHHH YYYESSSSSSS!!!!!

Here was a fellow Caribbean-nite who loved fantasy books and talked about them as well. Finding her page was like unearthing a treasure trove for me. And it was in scrolling through it, I saw a black girl on a book cover that said Dragon Academy. When I dug a little deeper, the author of said book, Devonnie Asher, was from Jamaica! As in, she still lives there.

If any book was going to get me out of the dark space I was in, this HAD to be it. 

And thank goodness it did.

From the first few test pages, Devonnie had me hooked. All I remember is downloading the first book from Amazon, then I blinked and in a few days, the full 5 book series was done. The fog that engulfed me had lifted and, once again, I was able to read. To fully read and finish books!

That was a HUGE relief.

How did that happen? Well!

Dragon Academy, book 1, begins with a young woman who travels into the Forbidden Ruins to retrieve ‘something’ for her handler. She is trained, skilled, and named Kaos. The ruins themselves were created after dragons of death came through and destroyed the once bustling village. Now the military, which keeps them safe from further attacks, also keeps them out of those ruins. Of course, she gets in, and her mission turns out to not be what she was told. She goes in and finds a surprising creature. A dragon.

The story takes you through her being caught, the consequences, and a war that is filled with villains. Kaos has a lot to learn, and Devonnie does a splendid job of keeping readers locked in and addicted to the story as well as the characters.

Trying to predict what happens next is impossible. Which of course made this series so much freaking fun!

You guys know I hate spoiling books, so all I will say is, this is one of those stories where you keep discovering information, uncovering secrets, and being blown away by the reveals.

Kaos is strong, and has to be, but she is also able to build beautiful friendships, as she learns to trust her instincts, all the while discovering who she is and from whom she comes.

I loved it. I just loved it.

As for the dragons, they are sentient, and connect strongly with their…. uhm…. errr…. people. Yeah, let’s call them people :D.

Honestly, this series rescued me because it hit all of my soft spots. Secret destiny, academy setting, dragons who work with their ‘people’, found family (multiple times) and fighting the man! You know, whoever he might turn out to be 😉

The full series is on Kindle Unlimited, and supporting a Caribbean author can never go wrong!

The place I was in felt terrible. It felt as though I had lost myself for a while. Pretty sure that feeling was familiar to us all during that time. But these books? These books were the dragon-fire lit path back to me being me. 

So I am very sure you will enjoy them too. Check them out!

And start waiting with me for Ms. Devonnie to write some more… sigh!