Lynette's Two Cents: REVIEW: Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

30 May 2011

REVIEW: Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison

Posted by Lynette

Dragon bound
Thea Harrison
ISBN #: 978-0-425-24150-9
Publisher Name: Berkley Publishing Group
Date Released: May 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Book Format: Print.

BACK COVER BLURB:

A Fiery Temper is Not Easily Extinguished.

Half-human and half-wyr, Pia Giovanni spent her life keeping a low profile among the wyrkind and avoiding the continuing conflict between them and their Dark Fae enemies. But after being blackmailed into stealing a coin from the hoard of a dragon, Pia finds herself targeted by one of the most powerful–and passionate—of the Elder Races.

As the most feared and respected of the wyrkind, Dragos Cuelebre cannot believe someone had the audacity to steal from him, much less succeed. And when he catches the thief, Dragos spares her life, claiming her as his own to further explore the desire they’ve ignited in one another.

COVER SNARK:

The guy is hot on the cover, but not how I pictured Dragos or the feel of his personality that I seen.

FIRST LINES:

Pia was blackmailed into committing a crime more suicidal than she could have possibly have imagined, and she had no one to blame but herself.

LYNETTE'S TWO CENTS:

Social Media is a funny thing. One person can rave about a book, then it snowballs and everyone starts speaking of that book like it’s the best romance novel that was ever written in the history of time that you are not really a romance reader if you haven’t read and loved this book. That is what happened to me regarding DRAGON BOUND. Talk about peer pressure! LOL! I saw the buzz on-line about DRAGON BOUND and couldn’t resist picking it up. I even purchased a copy with my own money. Often when I read a book that has been so hyped up, I read it and am like “are you kidding me, where these people on crack when they read this book?” While I didn’t have THAT reaction to DRAGON BOUND, neither did I think it was the best book I read this year, or in a long time.

The beginning of DRAGON BOUND was slow for me. I don’t know if that was because I was waiting to be wowed or not. The slowness I felt came from the feeling that too many pieces of the puzzle were thrown all over the place and not in a cohesive manner that kept me interested in the fate of Pia and Dragos. I didn’t understand Pia’s urgency in deciding she had no other recourse except to steal from Dragos. The way it was written attempted to make it feel as if she had no choice. Yet, she had many other choices that she could’ve done to avoid doing that. Choices that appeared later in the story that had me wondering, why didn’t you do that upfront? Those choices (leaving, getting a spell that forced her blackmail not to talk in the beginning instead of after the fact) made it hard for me to warm up Pia or feel any sympathy for the actions that she had taken. I understand Pia stealing was the catalyst of DRAGON BOUND and that the story wouldn’t work without it, but I felt that the motivations of WHY she had to do that should have been stronger instead of glossed over.

Dragos was a much more interesting character. I loved how the author managed to make him otherworldly (uncivilized and barbaric), yet still working within the confines of the normal world. That duality made him seem less like an arrogant butthole. I loved Dragos because he was the ultimate Alpha who was trying to be the caring man that Pia needed him to be. Those attempts, even when he totally messed up endeared him to me. His strength and his devotion to her and their relationship made me forget that Pia while not being a weak character, made a lot of immature decisions in the first half of the novel. She did improve in the second half though and I found myself loving them as characters and seeing how their relationship progressed.

WHERE PURCHASED:
Purchased with my own money.

RATING: