Timmy's 5★ Review of Slaying Isidore's Dragons!

Jean-Isidore de Sauvéterre and Declan David de Quirke II are both sons of ambassadors, and have a lot going on in their lives. Isidore is dealing with an abusive home life and the loss of his mother, while Declan is dealing with the loss of his father and assassination attempts on his mother. They meet at school, and Declan begins protecting Isidore almost immediately. As soon as Declan learns of Isidore’s troubled home life, he takes action. Isidore moves into Declan’s home and starts to recover. However, that’s not the end for them. There are Isidore’s four brothers and father to deal with, problems at school, the assassination attempts, and more! This book is one you won’t want to put down. When the action begins, it’s fast-paced and thrilling and there are mysteries to unravel. Through it all, you get to watch Declan and Isidore’s feelings evolve into a great love.

Cody’s books are the only ones that I know of on the market that are contemporary high-action. He isn’t kidding when he says Slaying Isidore’s Dragons is a teen Bourne Identity. Isidore is raw and terrified and has nothing to hold onto except Declan and his mother, Sorcha. They not only do everything in their power to protect him, they go above and beyond. While this is a story of fiction, it does represent a lot of what it takes to keep a kid safe after leaving an abusive environment, especially if the parents of the abused kid are wealthy and powerful. This isn’t only a story of hope, but a story about the extreme measures it can take to remove a kid from an abusive environment and protect him from his abusers trying to get him back—which happens in real life. Cody writes it in such a way that it isn’t based in fear, but in triumph. It’s a totally feel-good book.

I have read two books, one novella, and a free serial story by Cody Kennedy. I am in awe of his ability to tell a story in any form, and I was not disappointed when I read Slaying Isidore’s Dragons. It takes great talent to be able to tell a story based in negative events and situations in such a way that it gives hope to the reader. Cody has done that in every book I’ve read of his, but especially in Slaying Isidore’s Dragons. Coming from a troubled home myself, I really appreciate how Cody can tell stories of abused kids and still leave me feeling hope and triumph after reading it. This book, and others like it, not only help abused kids, it gives us the strength to survive and continue on. I don’t say that because Cody is a close friend, for I have said this about authors I don’t know, but hope is a very magical thing to a kid who has none. I have all these emotions that would explain it better, but it’s so hard to get it out in words.

Happiness is a hard thing for abused kids to see in their futures. It’s like that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. We want it to be real, but can’t seem to actually find it. Books like Cody’s give us hope for our futures, and he does it by telling his stories without dwelling on all the negatives in our lives. It’s not that he skims over the negative aspects, because those are all there. But he shows how we can still have the elusive happiness by trusting people who are trustworthy and want to help us. So I would like to thank Cody for the time and effort he puts into his books for the kids who need it the most.

Cody has a true skill for pulling the reader into his stories. This is another way his books and others like it will save lives. They are a safe place. A place we can hide, even if only for a few hours, and imagine a world better than the one we live in. Slaying Isidore’s Dragons is so much more than a book about an abused boy. It’s an adventure.

After reading the final copy, I fell even more in love with Slaying Isidore’s Dragons. There is MUCH more of Isidore in the story now, and that made an excellent book a PERFECT book. I can now relate to Isidore and the story even more than before. It also gives the reader a little more insight into the mind of an abused kid. This is important because it will help readers understand a small part of the heartbreaking confusion that makes up our daily thoughts. I believe everyone has had hard times, but it almost seems harder to start over than it does to remain in an abusive home. It’s hard to find the real you under everything you were forced to be. It’s harder still to explain that to someone who never lived that type of hell. This book will give you some idea of how hard the “new life” can really be.

I give this book 5 marbles and would give it more if I could. It is a must read (as soon as it comes out. You can preorder it now.) Be sure to buy your own copy rather than borrowing someone else’s because you will want to read it more than once. ~Timmy

Now available for preorder in print and ebook at

Now available in print and ebook at Dreamspinner/Harmony Ink Press
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A special note to the author:

I know your life hasn’t been easy, but the work you do to help save others, either through real life or your writing, is what makes you a true superhero. I can’t tell you the number of kids you will save, but I can say for sure, you have saved at least one. Here's a poem I wrote for you.

About Slaying Isidore's Dragons

5 Best friends
4 Vicious brothers
3 STD tests
2 Guys in love
1 Car bombing
&
Nowhere to run

Follow the burgeoning love of two teens during the worst year of their lives. Irish-born Declan David de Quirke II is the son of two ambassadors, one Irish and one American. He is ‘out’ to his parents but to no one else. French-born Jean Isidore de Sauveterre is also the son of two ambassadors, one Catalan and one Parisian. His four half brothers have been told to cure him of his homosexuality. Both teens have lost a parent in a London car bombing.

5 Weeks of hell
4 Attempts on their lives

3 Law enforcement agencies
2 Dead high school seniors
1 Jealous friend
&
A love that won’t be denied

Declan and Isidore meet at the beginning of their senior year at a private academy in the United States. Declan is immediately smitten with Isidore and becomes his knight in shining armor. Isidore wants to keep what is left of his sanity and needs Declan’s love to do it. One is beaten, one is drugged, one is nearly raped, one has been raped. They are harassed by professors and police, and have fights at school, but none of it compares to running for their lives. When the headmaster’s popular son attempts suicide and someone tries to assassinate Declan’s mother, they are thrown headlong into chaos, betrayal, conspiracy, allegations of sexual coercion, even murder. And one of them carries a secret that may get them killed.

5 New family members

4 BFF’s
3 Countries
2 Extraordinary Psychologists
1 Courageous Mother

&
A new beginning for two young men in love

Read Chapter One of Slaying Isidore's Dragons

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