Dragon Bound

I think this is going to be a difficult book for me to review.

I hated parts of it. I loved parts of it.

Pia Giovanni drove me absolutely nuts.

Part of me wonders if I would have appreciated the book more had I read it, instead of listening to the audio book. One minute Pia was a whiny pushover who I wanted to smack around and the next she was tossing the gryphons on their asses. Would I have been as irritated if I didn't have to listen to the whininess? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

Other irritants: this book is the very definition of insta-love. And it's rarely (if ever) questioned. It's just a completely natural thing for Pia and Dragos to become a couple as soon as he shows up to punish her for stealing from him. Yes, he's intending to kill her but instead they end up together. A couple.

And the entire book is made up of obstacles that seem dire but are tidily wrapped up with no difficulty whatsover as soon as the dragon shows up. Seriously - the climax of the book is Spoilerwhen Pia is about to be attacked by the dark fae King and Dragos shows up and instantly rips him into pieces. Literally. The main antagonist is dead in less than 5 seconds without a fight. That trope happened several other times too - Dragos is just too damn powerful, I guess?

But oh my goodness - the sex scenes were damn steamy. I also appreciated how Thea Harrison used anatomically correct language in many places. Yes folks, this romance novel used the word penis. And testicles. It was so very refreshing to read a story that wasn't full of euphemisms that often make me uncomfortable. Oh! And the word clitoris was used. No pussy or cock here (shudder). Thank you for that Ms. Harrison.

In the end, despite the many annoyances and irritations that occurred I found myself invested in these characters. Even the supporting ones. I want to stay in this world a little longer, so I will read the next book in the series. And I do mean read - no audio book moving forward.