Storm's Heart (Elder Races Novels) [Libro de bolsillo]

I really struggled with how to review this book. It's rare I encounter a problem like this one, but it's happened nonetheless: I like the author, loved the first book in this series, I even thought the writing in *this* story was good...I just couldn't stand the characters, Tricks in particular. Maybe I should commend the author for making the heroine's annoying qualities so pervasive and realistic that I actually struggled to keep reading. That must be a sign of great skill, right? Here's the thing: there is this old Meg Ryan movie called French Kiss where Meg's character is talking about women who annoy her, little girls who "smile when they're sad, pout when they're happy, say yes when they mean no, and no when they mean yes." This is Tricks exactly. She wears pigtails. She babytalks frequently, saying things like "Sowwy" instead of "Sorry". At one point Tiago accuses her of sex-kitten manipulations, and he's right. I didn't mind Tiago one way or another: he seemed kind of cardboard-ey to me, like one of those Fathead wall decals; his role really could have been filled by any ancient alpha male type guy.

I really loved Dragon Bound and I especially liked the fish out of water presented by Pia. In this genre it's not unusual to have larger than life heroines who never make a mistake and who never need help in kicking butt and taking names. It was refreshing to see a normal woman who panics, cries sometimes, acts bossy other times, but who ultimately gets the job done. Tricks, unlike Pia, was just an idiot. And it's not even like I have a major bias against "too stupid to live heroines" because I adore old Julie Garwood historicals and she's famous for idiot women characters.

At the end of the day, I will think of this book as a pit stop on the way to Rune's story. I've got it pre-ordered and can't wait, despite Tricks attempting to waylay me with her psycho Playmate of the Month personality.

Thea Harrison has a gift for writing sexy Alpha heroes. First, she gave us Dragos... And now we have Tiago. (Purrr.) We first met the ancient thunderbird during the last story and honestly, I was a little disappointed that he would be the next Wyr to get his own book. We didn't really get to know him in Dragon Bound, except as a hulking, intimidating sentinel, who was fighting with Tricks. But sometimes an author knows what we want better than we do. This is one of those times.

As the story begins, Tricks has left the Wyr kingdom behind and is going to claim her place as the Queen of the Dark Fae. Things go bad quickly, when she becomes a target for assassination. So Dragos sends Tiago to find and protect her.

Even though Tiago and Tricks both worked for Dragos for hundreds of years, they didn't interact much. Now that they are thrown together, the fireworks are unmistakable. Tiago is commanding, powerful and sexy. And Tricks eats it up with a spoon. The sexual tension between these two was outstanding! What's more, there were plenty of opportunities for familiar tropes to take hold: lack of communication; big misunderstandings; self-sacrifice for the other person's supposed happiness or safety. I kept waiting for the inevitable, familiar roadblocks to fly up. There was one scene in a nightclub, where I was just so sure we were going to have all three devices take hold at once... I swear I was already rolling my eyes. But Thea Harrison sidesteps the conventional foils, leaving me jumping up and down on the sofa, hooting like an idiot. (Yes, I can admit that.)

In the meantime, there is a great storyline going on. We're treated to lots of action, as Tricks and Tiago fend off her enemies. And we've got a great mystery to solve as our couple works to figure out who is trying to kill her. As much as we learned about the Wyr in the last book, now we're getting a peek inside some of the other Elder Races. Harrison reveals more details about the inner workings of the Dark Fae and the Vampyres. And we travel to Adriyel, the magical Dark Fae land.

This book gave me everything I wanted. A hot Alpha hero, a smart and resourceful heroine... love, sex, action, adventure, strong secondary characters, and world building that is both consistent and easy to understand. The Elder Races series is a PNR fan's dream. Thank you, thank you, Thea Harrison. I'm pretty sure I love you. 5 stars.

*ARC Provided by Berkley

OK. I loved "Dragon Bound" and would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and different fast-reading paranormal romance. This book though... aiy-yai-yai! I must confess I haven't finished it. I got to page 244 (out of 303) and literally COULD NOT GO ON. My problem with this one is that the characters are not really characters at all. Tiago is a walking talking hormone-drenched battering ram of a warrior. That's it. That's all he is. No personality at all. I got REALLY tired of all the descriptive turgid language about how massive he was and how sexy that was to Tricks. Tricks is completely NOT the same as in the last book where she was fun and funny and witty and clever. In this book she mostly thinks about how big and sexy Tiago is and the rest of the time she has nightmares about the "tragic past"; worst of all though is how she completely hands her life and her decisions over to Tiago at every opportunity. It just doesn't work for me. I can't buy that either of these characters are as old as they are supposed to be. He reads about 30. She reads about 18. My reading experience with this book has been: pick up book, start reading a paragraph, roll my eyes (twice), set book down, lather, rinse, repeat. I will keep my pre-order of the next one and PRAY it has the same "something" "Dragon Bound" had; but that "something" is nowhere in "Storm's Heart".