The Becoming by Nora Roberts

A new epic of love and war among gods and humans, from Nora Roberts—the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Awakening. The world of magick and the world of man have long been estranged from one another. But some can walk between the two—including Breen Siobhan Kelly. She has just returned to Talamh, with her friend, Marco, who’s dazzled and disoriented by this realm—a place filled with dragons and faeries and mermaids (but no WiFi, to his chagrin). In Talamh, Breen is not the ordinary young schoolteacher he knew her as. Here she is learning to embrace the powers of her true identity. Marco is welcomed kindly by her people—and by Keegan, leader of the Fey. Keegan has trained Breen as a warrior, and his yearning for her has grown along with his admiration of her strength and skills. But one member of Breen’s bloodline is not there to embrace her. Her grandfather, the outcast god Odran, plots to destroy Talamh—and now all must unite to defeat his dark forces. There will be losses and sorrows, betrayal and bloodshed. But through it, Breen Siobhan Kelly will take the next step on the journey to becoming all that she was born to be.

Another enjoyable read! So pleased that Marco was still in this story. Some great one liners in this book - especially from Marco. Dragons! Breen had her own dragon!

Suffers from "second book of a trilogy" syndrome, with a good bit of "more scenes with people we saw earlier."

This is fun and silly. I liked Marco joining Breen for her portal quest adventure- it's always annoying when the chosen portal girlie is like “oh my secret I can't tell anyone, I'll just be mysterious and weird” and I liked that Marco gets to come too. Their relationship is so goofy though like on one hand I'm excited for Nora to include a Black queer character but on the other lol Marco's personality is like basically a sassy throw pillow and there is a lot of “telling not showing” about how they have BESTIES more like siblings forever but like. You know what whatever bc I'm obsessed with these 2 introducing “Shallow” to the fairies based on their karaoke performances back on Earth.

Normally I do think Nora really excels at character development and side friendships/relationships so I do think that uhh maybe Marco is just based on like Karamo from Queer Eye or something but uhhhhhhh she's trying

anyway this is SILLY, actively smoothing my brain!!! Yes girl let's have a pretty dress montage!!! Yes girl let's bond with a beautiful dragon!! Yes girl let's have a crystal acquisition montage!!! Oh girl your love interest is gruff and stoic but his eyes soften when he looks at you??? tell me about it BREEN