Sep 15, 2024
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Dragon Bound: Thea Harrison, Elder Races series
Found this when looking for books to read after the Psy-Changeling series.
Sexy, exciting, witty, and with main characters I can root for. This is everything I hoped Nalini Singh’s Guild Hunters books were. I love the heist at the beginning (she steals a penny from him, and he knows exactly which one🔥) and the tension between Pia’s fear for her life and the strong sexual energy between her and Dragos. I love how both of them are confused by what’s happening between them, and he’s a dragon, so his extreme possessiveness is a feature instead of just being creepy. The action is fun (goblin attack and the prison escape especially), and I like how she’s a very gentle person but is also very capable of standing up for herself and handles Dragos so well. Naturally he is a billionaire, because no romantic fantasy is complete without absolute financial independence, so we get some upper-class living porn too. Poor Rune just gets beat up by everybody in the mating fury, poor thing. Good thing he gets mated soon. Then it turns out she’s a unicorn (my first time reading about a unicorn shifter!), and the pregnancy angle is really interesting—and I like how she roped in some of the sentinels to help her and got them on her side.
Bottom line: A fun read! Satisfying, catches my interest. One I’d probably read again.
Rating: four and a half out of five stolen pennies
Books of Thea Harrison in order
Thea Harrison, is the pen name for Teddy Harrison also known as Amanda Carpenter. Thea has lived in England and explored her way around Europe for a few years as well as having traveled extensively. She now resides in Northern California. She wrote her first romance novel at the tender age of nineteen and has sixteen romances that she authored under her pen name Amanda Carpenter.
Elder Races
Dragon Bound (2011) — Buy on Amazon!
Storm's Heart (2011) — Buy on Amazon!
Serpent's Kiss (2011) — Buy on Amazon!
True Colors (2011) — Buy on Amazon!
Oracle's Moon (2012) — Buy on Amazon!
Natural Evil (2012) — Buy on Amazon!
Devil's Gate (2012) — Buy on Amazon!
Hunter's Season (2012) — Buy on Amazon!
Lord's Fall (2012) — Buy on Amazon!
The Wicked (2013) — Buy on Amazon!
Kinked (2013) — Buy on Amazon!
Dragos Takes A Holiday (2013) — Buy on Amazon!
Divine Tarot (2014) — Buy on Amazon!
Pia Saves The Day (2014) — Buy on Amazon!
Peanut Goes to School (2014) — Buy on Amazon!
Night's Honor (2014) — Buy on Amazon!
Midnight's Kiss (2015) — Buy on Amazon!
Dragos Goes to Washington (2015) — Buy on Amazon!
Pia Does Hollywood (2015) — Buy on Amazon!
Shadow's End (2015) — Buy on Amazon!
Liam Takes Manhattan (2015) — Buy on Amazon!
Dragos Meets Stinkpot (2016) —
The Chosen (2018) — Buy on Amazon!
Planet Dragos (2018) — Buy on Amazon!
American Witch
American Witch (2019) — Buy on Amazon!
Chronicles of Rhyacia
The Unseen (2020) — Buy on Amazon!
The Adversary (2021) — Buy on Amazon!
Game of Shadows
Rising Darkness (2013) — Buy on Amazon!
Falling Light (2014) — Buy on Amazon!
Moonshadow
Moonshadow (2016) — Buy on Amazon!
Spellbinder (2017) — Buy on Amazon!
Lionheart (2018) — Buy on Amazon!
Standalone Novels
Flashback (1984) — Buy on Amazon!
A Deeper Dimension (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1984) — Buy on Amazon!
The Wall (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1984) — Buy on Amazon!
The Great Escape (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1984) — Buy on Amazon!
A Damaged Trust (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1984) — Buy on Amazon!
Rage / Raging Passion (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1984) — Buy on Amazon!
Reckless (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1986) — Buy on Amazon!
Waking Up (1986) — Buy on Amazon!
Caprice (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1986) — Buy on Amazon!
The Gift of Happiness (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1986) — Buy on Amazon!
Rose-Coloured Love (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1986) — Buy on Amazon!
Passage of the Night (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1991) — Buy on Amazon!
Cry Wolf (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1992) — Buy on Amazon!
A Solitary Heart (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1993) — Buy on Amazon!
Perfect Chance (As: Amanda Carpenter) (1996) — Buy on Amazon!
The Winter King (As: Amanda Carpenter) (2022) — Buy on Amazon!
Short Stories/Novellas
Puppy Problems (2017) —
Rating the Elder Races series:
There are still some novellas I haven’t read yet, but my library doesn’t have them, so I’ll be stopping here for now while reading some other things. This was a superfun series!
17. Serpent’s Kiss (Rune/Carling): Rune can’t get me past the crusty, old vampire who’s trying to retire and die but is also a romantic lead 🤢
16. Peanut Goes to School: manic pixie dream kid gets the better of a teacher-bully. Good for him.
15. Devil’s Gate (Seremela/Duncan): zzzzzzzz I’m happy for them 😴
14. Hunter’s Season (Xanthe/Aubrey): I mean, I came around to them eventually, but kind of an outlier story, both in setting and social status of the leads
13. Dragos Takes a Holiday: it’s cute! But mostly a little filler story.
12. Wicked (Olivia/Sebastian): if this wasn’t fiction, their little workplace romance would have flamed out spectacularly and left their coworkers uncomfortable for months while stuck on a tiny island with them
11. Lord’s Fall: set up for the back half of the series, with great action and some new characters. And then a very silly birth situation.
10. Shadow’s End (Graydon/Bel): practically the definition of angst *chef’s kiss*
9. Midnight’s Kiss (Melly/Julian): I like how they have a lot of fun and laugh together. Shackles in a dungeon don’t hurt either
8. Pia Saves the Day: an amnesia love story between some old favorites
7. Dragon Bound (Pia/Dragos): this was such a great start to the series. Pia’s a great protagonist, Dragos is scary-sexy, and plenty of action.
6. Night’s Honor (Tess/Xavier): Xavier is one of my favorite types—strong, powerful, restrained, thoughtful. Tess is also an interesting character, and I like the slow burn.
5. Oracle’s Moon (Grace/Khalil): Grace, and how she cares for the kids as well as shouldering her financial difficulties, captured my attention as much as Khalil’s.
4. Natural Evil (Claudia/Luis): look, a tough woman and a sex-on-a-popsicle-stick-with-brains guy take out a slavery operation. What’s not to love?
3. True Colors (Alice/Gideon): I am a sucker for a sweet story about mating at first sight, between a rough-around-the-edges cop and a not-at-all-tough girl, where both realize they are home with each other
2. Kinked (Quentin/Aryal): this one single-handedly converted me about enemies-to-lovers, and I was there for every minute of it.
1. Storm’s Heart (Tiago/Niniane): I love everything about this one. It’s funny. It’s sexy. An extremely powerful male sets himself aside to support the woman he loves. It’s all very Lan/Nynaeve and I adore it.
Shadow’s End: Thea Harrison, Elder Races
Sooooo much angst. Like, if you look up the definition of angst in the dictionary you’ll just see “Graydon/Bel”. A solid two hundred years of angst and separation. It’s perfect.
* I do like Graydon. We haven’t really had much opportunity to get to know him apart from the other gryphons, even when Dragos picked him as his new First. “The concepts of family, justice and nation ran deep in him, but the gryphon lived in a place deeper still…he shouldn’t be so eager to get back to the woman who defined unibtainable.” I also love the reminder that the genteel fronts the elves and Wyr make to the world disuises just how ancient they are, and how dangerous they have been. Bel wears a sword on her back and remembers being bitter enemies of Dragos back when he was killing elves all the time.
* It’s not a surprise, but dang, Malphas came up with a really awful bargin. Make a mom choose between her kid and the love of her life? There’s really no choice, and it sucks. Ooo, did he have anything to do with Ferion agreeing to trick Julian, and then never saying anything for twenty years? I mean, he was as much a jerk/at fault as the sister, but he hadn’t seemed a complete a-hole previously? I think it’s heavily implied and that the head-canon I’m sticking with.
* Claudia and Luis!!!! They are here and still together!!!! And mated. I love that for them.
* There is a lot of death at the end of this one. 😢
Bottom line: so much delicious angst, and a mom who has to put her kid ahead of her love life. A very nice HEA.
Rating: three out of five stolen pennies
Midnight’s Kiss: Thea Harrison, Elder Races
Choosing this picture because, come on, the whole point of this book is a guy shakled in a dungeon being hot.
It’s a little weird getting Julian as the guy lead. We’ve spent so many books seeing him as a frustration if not a straight up villian. Interesting getting to see him as more complex than that. And how Carling’s compulsions and orders have impacted him. I’m not sure it was clear to me before how binding a sire’s comands are to their creations? That seems to make things a whole lot more complicated.
* King of the vampires, shakled to the walls in a dank dungeon, rescued by the love of his life? Yeah, that’s hot.
* I like how much Melly and Julian laugh together and have fun with each other. I like how their history fleshes out their new relationship.
* I like Melly’s reunion with her sister. I like how she says she’ll be able to forgive eventually, even if she can’t forgive now. It’s not black and white. And, aww, it inspires Julian to make up with Carling! That’s sweet. I like how these books have real, legitimate relationship enders, but finds resolution and reconcilliation some books later.
Bottom line: a lot of wrongs get righted in this cute story that involves chains and dungeons, but still manages to be more of a Hollywood set rather than hot.
Rating: three out of five stolen pennies
Night’s Honor: Thea Harrison, Elder Races
Tracked down a physical copy at the library!
I appreciate that Tess gets weeks to settle in the new job without Xavier around, and aside from a touch and some stray thoughts nothing sexual happens (reminds me of Cooper giving Grace six months to acclimate before stating an intention to court her—Psy Changeling series, which you will enjoy if you like these books!). I love their interaction when Xavier returns. She’s scared but never backing away. He’s frustrated but intrigued by her. I think I may be in love with Xavier. He’s complicated with layers. And such restraint, but holding back such power and authority. I adore a slow burn. And, aww, Tess is fun! Xavier describes her as, “Defiant. Devious. Delicious…Unforgettable.” She has guts and when she’s scared she gets strong. He quotes Song of Songs to her (which if you’re unfamiliar with it is the absolute spiciest book of the Bible—he used to be a priest). He’s kind and deserves the adoration of his attendants. Absolutely delightful story.
Bottom line: a slow burn with two people I really like. Very enjoyable!
Rating: four out of five stolen pennies
A Dragon’s Family Album: Thea Harrison, Elder Races
Dragos Takes a Holiday
Manic pixie dream babies tend to annoy me. This child is 3 months old. Even if he is meeting six month milestones, what do you mean he’s responding to English like he understands it? He never goes on a crying jag until you just can’t handle it? Or cries, like, ever? He takes four hour, predictable naps during the day and you have the energy to do anything other than sleep? Plus no mention of copious drooling (he’s teething!) or spitting up (babies are gross for a long time). Although I do adore that Liam has Pia’s ability to get through any lock. They will really have to oay the babysitters more. Oracle’s Moon was a much more realistic picture of early parenthood. Also, ma’am—I am side eyeing the sheer amount of alcohol you are consuming while nursing. Maybe baby dragon Wyr metabolism is different? Yeah, yeah, it’s fantasy. But constantly being turned on for sex on a regular basis at this stage? While breast feeding? Nah. My suspension of disbelief only goes so far 😊.
That said, I really like how Pia’s version of going on vacation with Dragos is to go somewhere he can explore his solo hobby on his own, and she’s completely non-fussed that he expects to spend hours away from them. It’s true love that recognizes a family vacation doesn’t mean everyone has to love spending every minute of vacation together. Pia and Dragos are a good couple. And the kid is actually kinda cute.
Bottom line: it stretches credulity, but for a silly little dragon-going-treasure-hunting story it’s pretty fun.
Rating: three out of five stolen pennies
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Pia Saves the Day
Rich people porn is always a trip. Amnesia! It’s a classic trope for a reason. What could be better than a love story, except for a new love story with the characters we love? Amnesia-Dragos being jealous of nonAmnesia-Dragos over Pia is so tragically beautiful. The fact that he almost immediately recognizes her as the real treasure to hoard. And yeah, Pia is the best.
Bottom line: the peanut remains a manic pixie dream child, but otherwise this was surprisingly sincere and lovely.
Rating: four out of five stolen pennies
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Peanut Goes to School
Manic pixie dream child is still manic pixie dream child. And a prodigy, of course. Yeah, he’s also adorable and kinda grows on me, but could he throw an tantrum or something normal from time to time? Anyone ever bullied by a teacher at school will appreciate the outcome of this story.
Bottom line: this could be the plot of basically any kids PBS show.
Rating: three out of five stolen pennies