This didn't really work for me. The protagonist is a teen girl who discovers that her parents never told her that she's half weredragon. And her race has an ancient feud with were-arachnids and beaststalkers. While I could suspend my disbelief with the paranormal aspects of this story, I had a problem with the characters and their interactions. Jennifer often acted like a brat, lashing out at her parents over everything, for example - her dad not being there because of his job. Jennifer takes out on her mom just because she was there. Okay, teen angst, sure, but more than I have patience for, so when she kept doing it I wasn't enthused. Meanwhile, her parents alternated between saying nothing and just letting Jennifer rant, and snapping back beyond the point I thought an adult should. Her dad got so annoyed, he just dropped Jennifer off at her grandfather's, said something nasty, doesn't let her know what's going on, and leaves. I was thinking: what kind of parenting is this? I also don't understand why they never told her what she was. The "protecting her" excuse seems very flimsy. The communication in this family is disfunctional! Her parents let Jennifer believe what she wanted without setting her straight and then revealed she was very very wrong and should feel bad (is this supposed to teach her something? Becuase I thought it was passive aggressive on her parents part). On top of that some of the other people seemed to act out of character (I couldn't really buy the ending and how forgiving somebody was). And finally; there were people who added nothing to the plot at all - I said to myself - why were they there? I won't be reading the rest of this series.

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I really enjoyed this book! A lot of fun reading and I didn't get lost in the different characters descriptions like you do in some books like this with a lot of information in the first book. "Safe" for teens to read and I have put the rest of the series on my WL so I can find out what happens. 2 Thumbs up!!!

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I really enjoyed this story. It is a Young Adult novel, so there are typical teen feelings towards parents and school. But mix that in with a 14 year old finding out she is a weredragon and part of a whole group of weredragons you have an exciting ride. This was the first in the series, so alot of it was leading up to future events, and showing some back story, but all in all I think this was a great start to what promises to be a great series.

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Book 1 in the Jennifer Scales series. Written by MaryJanice Davidson and her husband, Anthony Alongi. Jennifer's parents neglect to tell her of her true nature until the day she morphs into a dragon. Jennifer is not as mouthy as Betsy. She comes across as a believeable teen with a few more problems than most 3.5 stars.

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Davidson's trademark snark is toned down some in this collaboration with her husband. It comes across somewhat in the smart mouth of teenager Jennifer Scales, who is rather unlikable at first meeting. Fortunately, she improves upon closer acquaintance and her parents, grandfather and her friends, both dragons and others, are great characters. Learning about the dragon culture along with Jennifer makes this a fun and interesting story for teens and adults. I'll be reading more.

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Reviewed by Jocelyn Pearce for TeensReadToo.com

Jennifer Scales is just like any other fourteen-year-old girl. She's going through some...changes. But it's all normal, right?

Not exactly. In JENNIFER SCALES AND THE ANCIENT FURNACE (don't let the title keep you away; it's not what it sounds like), Jennifer's parents tell her some...surprising news. She's going to be changing a lot more than most people do at her age. In fact, she's going to be getting scales, horns, and claws--at least some of the time. Jennifer is a weredragon, from her dad's side of the family (her mom never has a tail the way Jennifer and her father do), and her parents waited to tell her until the day of her first morph. Whenever there's a crescent moon, Jennifer, her father, her grandfather, and so many other seemingly normal people turn into dragons.

That gives Jennifer a lot to deal with. She's got her friends (who she can't tell), school, and, well, being a fourteen-year-old girl. She's got to put her life on hold, though, when she goes to her grandfather's farm to become a dragon, and learn the skills she needs for that (at first, even standing up is hard!). Jennifer (and all weredragons) also has some ancient enemies, though: beaststalkers (humans with the power to hunt weredragons) and werearachnids (people who turn into giant spiders every crescent moon). As if starting high school wouldn't be hard enough!

JENNIFER SCALES AND THE ANCIENT FURNACE is a fast-paced story that I read all in one sitting! The writing isn't particularly remarkable, but it's simple enough to keep the reader focused on the story. The characters all seem pretty realistic, if a bit removed from the narrative. The idea is pretty original--a great spin-off of the less original, and more often written about, idea of werewolves. MaryJanice Davidson and Anthony Alongi's writing allows the reader to easily suspend disbelief, and every bit of the story seems as if it could be happening right now, despite what common sense tells us.

This is a fantastic and unique young adult fantasy novel that every fantasy fan (and perhaps those new to fantasy) should read! If you do, you'll certainly want to pick up the next book in the series, JENNIFER SCALES AND THE MESSENGER OF LIGHT.

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