Review – Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

After a flurry of activity on the internets last week I picked up a mass market of Dragon Bound (dear pub industry, I'll buy paper with a discount, if you can't price ebooks better). By midnight on Wednesday I was naming the bags under my eyes the following morning after Angela James and Thea Harrison.

In a word, this book was fantastic.

Pia Giovanni is on the run.  Part-human/part-wyr and hiding in plain sight this has always been her life, that is until she's blackmailed into stealing from the wrong person.  Dragos Cuelebre is one scary wyr and is unapologetic about how he acts, particularly when it comes to someone stealing from his hoard.  But when he captures the snarky vegan (that's rigth VEGAN...with a side of humanely harvested honey) he's tempted to make an exception, and anyone who doesn't like it will have to face his fury and like it.

This story is the type of first book I love to read.  A well explained universe, a villainous plotline, street smart heroine and a take no prisoners hero go a long way into putting this book in this years top 10 for me.  The author sets up a well developed plot and helps us understand our main characters...even if they don't have the reaction one would expect...case in point Dragos, when confronted with theft (okay its a penny, but still!) reacts in the following manner: 

I'm sorry, the message said.
The theft was a violation of privacy. It was an unbelievable act of impudence and disrespect. Not only that, it was—baffling. He was murderous, incandescent with fury. He was older than sin and could not remember when he had last been in such a rage.
He looked at the paper again.
I'm sorry I had to take your penny. Here's another to replace it.
Yep, that's what it said.
One corner of his mouth twitched. He gave himself a deep shock when he burst into an explosive guffaw.

The above quote is one of the best ways to describe the development of the relationship between Pia and Dragos.  Equal parts frustration and humor.  Pia and Dragos are that quirky odd couple that you stare at harder because you're not sure how they're able to navigate their differences without it resulting in bloodshed.


Pia is proof possitive that being a vegan (and in Dragos eyes somehow inferior) does not make your a pushover, nor an idiot.  She knows the fine are of picking her battles and displays this constantly throughout the book.  Dragos however, is an alpha male of the might makes right school of leading...unfortunately, this fails in the face of a Greta Garbo lookalike frowny face.

Dragon Bound is probably one of the best second debuts of an author I've read in a long time.  If you've hesitated in buying this book because it's by a new author, wait no more. 

I would send my my copy, but I'm on my 3rd reread and can't be parted with it right now.

I have three words for this title: Read, Enjoy, Repeat.