Pia Giovanni is a half human half shifter who has lived in secrecy all her life.  Years of living in hiding left her feeling extremely lonely and she makes the mistake of trusting the wrong man.  When her ex-boyfriend blackmails her, Pia has no choice but to agree to his demand that she steal from the most powerful Wyr in her society, dragon shifter Dragos Cuelebre. 

Dragos never expected anyone to dare steal from his hoard, much less be capable of it.  He goes after Pia with all he has, but instead of tearing her to pieces he finds her intriguing and decides to keep her.  Dragos and Pia must learn to deal with each other fast in order to survive his enemies who seem intent on killing both of them.

Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison is the first in her new series of The Elder Races.  It is a fabulous read!  The world is an alternate reality present day, where supernatural creatures live openly yet somewhat separate from human society.  The plot moves at lightning speed and there is never a dull moment.  While the story is somewhat predictable, there are enough twists in the story to keep the reader fully engaged.  What makes this story truly outstanding is the characters.  I thoroughly enjoyed every single character in this novel.  Not much time is spent on the bad guys, but I did not miss them.  The heroes and their allies were interesting enough all on their own.  I loved the dialogue between the characters.  They interacted with a familiarity that made me feel as if I knew them.  Cliché phrases are found sporadically throughout the novel, but the author makes them work. 

I found the relationship between Pia and Dragos very satisfying, and hated to see their story conclude.  I hope they continue to make appearances in the future.  Pia has been taught to run and hide her entire life, with good reason.  She is not a predator shifter in any way, shape or form.  However, she is not weak.  Pia handles Dragos beautifully.  I really liked the way Harrison found a balance between Pia’s strength and vulnerability.  So many times we find leading ladies who are either super women or damsels in distress.  Pia is strong when she needs to be, but there are also times when she just feels like giving up, and that makes her real.  Dragos is the ultimate alpha male. Dragon to the core, the man admits to being “jealous, selfish, acquisitive, territorial and possessive.”  Regardless of these attributes, Dragos is more than willing to compromise in order to make the relationship with Pia work.  In the hundreds of romance novels I’ve read, I have never seen an alpha male try to make a relationship work and keep his mate happy as Dragos does in this novel.  The man is no pushover.  He has no idea what a relationship is, he does not understand the concept of love, yet he is constantly striving to learn how to keep Pia happy. Through it all, he remains very much an alpha male dragon.  Dragos wins readers’ hearts as he wins Pia’s love and trust.

Dragon Bound is a stellar series debut.  I am very excited about this new world and its colorful characters.  The novel is not too dark, action packed, and keeps the relationship between the main characters as the focus of the story throughout.  The next installment will be a definite auto-buy for me.  I highly recommend this one.

~ Denise