Dragon bound by Thea Harrison

Heads up: he's a dragon. Well, technically THE dragon. She's a half-wyr (ie were...) something. He has been around forever (pretty much literally) and, as a dragon, has a hoarde. And enemies. Magic enemies. Evil enemies. The sort that can force an otherwise sane half-wyr to STEAL something from the dragon. That's just heading for a whole heap of badness...

However, she isn't a doormat. And he has a weird sense of humour... So, he doesn't get around to rending her limb from limb on their first meeting.

He held up a finger. "First, you're the only one who's ever successfully stolen from me." He held up aonther finger. "Second, I am not a forgiving creature. In fact, you're the only one I've ever forgiven before." He put up a third finger. "And third, I like vengeance. I'm looking forward to ripping apart the person who gave you that charm and who ended up with my penny."

As always, it's the relationships that sell a novel for me - and not just that between the romantic leads, although that is the most important, obviously.

Dragos and Pia's growing relationship, and their compromises and getting used to being a couple, is fascinating. Dragos has to work so hard to be a 21st-century male, when he is a creature from the beginnings of time - and very, very, used to having everything his own way.

Pia has been trained since birth to trust no one with her secrets, so has to overcome some deep-seated fear to let Dragos fully into her heart and mind.

Although Dragos is one scary dude and, at times, Pia is scared of him, she doesn't back down from confrontation. 

“I am cursed with a terminal case of curiosity," he said. "I am jealous, selfish, acquisitive, territorial and possessive. I have a terrible temper, and I know I can be a cruel son of a bitch." He cocked his head. "I used to eat people, you know.”
....

“I had a conversation with somebody. It was an epiphany.” His voice was rueful. He rocked her. “From that point on I swore I would never eat something that could talk.”

Then, there are Dragos' sentinels and their relationship with Dragos, each other, and Pia.

All very fascinating!

But, what I most want to find out about it is... what happens next! I want to meet Peanut, because so far, he's pretty amazing.

If you like this one, try:

• G. A. Aiken's Dragon kin series, starting with Dragon actually.
• Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series, starting with Slave to sensation.
• Jennifer Estep's Elemental assassin novels, starting with Spider's bite.
• Shannon Butcher's Sentinel wars, starting with Burning alive.
• Kresley Cole's Immortals after dark series, staring with A hunger like no other.
• Gena Showalter's Atlantis series, starting with Heart of the dragon.

~ Reviewed by Thalia.