I read this book as part of my Adult Reading Round Table’s paranormal romance meeting.   I wanted to pick something a bit different from the vampire and werewolf books that have been very popular over the past few years….and I came across a whole sub-genre called dragon shifting.  I had no idea what to expect and overall was surprised by this book.

Pia Giovanni is half human, half Wyr and has spent her life hiding her true identity.  When she is blackmailed by her ex-boyfriend to steal an item from the hoard of Dragos, an old and powerful dragon, she finds herself running for her life. When Dragos tracks her down, there is an immediate attraction between the two but Pia finds herself torn between fear and desire.   Can she love a dragon?

I had many thoughts while reading this book and there are things that I found myself enjoying and others that I did not.   First off, this book doesn’t have the best writing.  I have definitely read worse books but I found the very short sentence structure to be off putting.   I also felt like there were a lot of characters and world building thrown at the reader right away and it wasn’t until I was further through the book that I could keep the characters straight.   This seems to be a fairly common practice in fantasy romance books so it wasn’t surprising but it made it hard to immerse myself in the story.   I liked the characters and was surprised that Pia wasn’t written as a wilting flower, powerless to resist Dragos.  She has a mind of her own and works to get herself out of situations without relying on help.  She stops and thinks about her actions and stands up for what she thinks is right.  Dragos was written as a typical Alpha male character and I didn’t find him to be that interesting.   There was instant attraction between the two which I normally hate in romance novels but given that these character aren’t human and there is talk of mates and bonding, it made sense in this scenario.   I enjoyed the side characters and was given just enough development to be interested in reading their inevitable books.    The thing I liked most was the world that Harrison created.  It was expansive without being sprawling and interesting enough to make me want to find out more about all the creatures and people that inhabit it.

For my first shifter romance novel, this wasn’t a bad choice. I enjoyed the female lead and the overall story but found the writing lacking and the main character not that interesting.   However, I liked enough about the world and the side characters enough to read others in this series.

Author:  Thea Harrison

Published: 2011

Rating: 3.5 Stars