March 7, 2011
A dragon, gryphons, and other Wyr creatures populate Harrison's steamy paranormal romance, the first in the Elder Races series. When Pia Giovanni's ex-boyfriend blackmails her into stealing from Dragos Cuelebre, Pia knows it's only a matter of time before the powerful dragon tracks her down. But instead of killing her, Dragos finds himself drawn to the half-human, half-Wyr thief. When the two are attacked and captured by goblins, Dragos and Pia realize that an old, powerful enemy of Dragos's wants them dead. Harrison goes beyond the usual vampires and werewolves to create an entertaining cast of supernatural creatures, but the action soon slows to a crawl and transforms into a series of misunderstandings between the lovers. Dominant Dragos is meant to be alpha-male sexy, but his constant bouts of possessive jealousy quickly grow tiresome, as does Pia's skittish, passive nature.
Starred review from May 1, 2011
Pias ex betrayed her, blackmailing her into doing something dangerous and scary. Dragos is a multibillionaire wyr dragon who controls a huge financial empire headquartered in New York. After Pia steals a penny from his horde, leaving a replacement with a note, he will not rest until he finds her. She was raised by a single mother, a member of one of the elder races, who knew to put all kinds of safety measures in place for Pia, including drops with false identities and cash. But even so, Pia is unable to evade Dragos. When they end up combining forces, they are captured and tortured by goblins, until her unique powers enable them to escape. Harrison presents a big, sprawling novel with such fascinating secondary characters as a faerie princess who is Dragos public-relations manager, a former god who creates thunder and lightning when angry, and a harpy. This is an outstanding blend of romantic suspense and urban fantasy with great storytelling and world building, extremely sensuous scenes that move the story arc along, and characters readers will be reluctant to leave.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)