Publisher: Thea Harrison
Publish Date: June 23rd
How we got this book: ARC from the author
In the latest story of the Elder Races, two mates face their deadliest challenge yet—each other…
Pia and Dragos’s magical young son Liam (the Peanut), is growing at an unprecedented rate, and if that isn’t enough, he is also exhibiting new, and unpredictable, magical gifts. To protect him, the concerned parents decide to move to upstate New York.
Both Dragos and Pia relish the idea of leaving behind the city. They finally have the space to indulge their Wyr side, and Liam can grow in safety. It’s a breath of fresh air—literally—but their idyllic situation is shattered when Dragos is injured in a freak accident.
Stripped of his memory and bereft of Pia’s taming influence, there’s nothing holding back Dragos’s darkest side. And in order to restore her family and save her mate, Pia must confront the most powerful menace in Elder Races history.
It’s going to take more than a penny to fix this…
This blurb came from the author’s website.
**BP Note: We have a little something to go along with this review for one reader. Keep reading to find out what the prize is and how to enter.**
Lou: I think I can safely say all of us love the Elder series by Thea Harrison. Dragos and Pia are one of my favourite couples, and Pia Saves the Day knocks out a great and quite surprising story. Drago’s memory change is a new twist in his and Pia’s life. He’s forced to learn about Pia again but something inside him recognises that she’s his mate. Pia I adore. Though it pains and hurts her deeply, she confronts and doesn’t give up on a Dragos who is very dangerous to her own personal well-being. He’s not the Dragos she knows and loves. It’s a new journey in their lives, and with Peanut once again demonstrating new abilities, I can’t wait to see what Thea has planned for them all because I think this story is a big game changer in some ways. My only critique is that I think the story ended really abruptly.
I give Pia Saves the Day a B+
Has: I am also a huge fan of Pia and Drago as well as Peanut who is also fast becoming one of my favourite characters in the Elder Races series. Pia Saves the Day is the second novella in an a story arc focusing on Drago’s family. For a novella, this story really packed a punch with the impact of Drago losing his memory in a freak accident and upsetting Pia and the rest of the Wyr and staff. In a lot of ways this felt revisiting their romance in the first book, I loved how much he falls back in love with her again when Pia helps and guides Drago back to regaining his memory. Pia was fearless and dauntless in approaching him even though he reverted back to his primal self and dragon shape and I loved the intensity of their relationship which has them mating again. It was passionate and raw and I loved that despite losing his memory, Drago will always love Pia deeply.
However, I did wish this plot-line was expanded in a bigger book, because the repercussions over Drago’s accident has long-term ramifications and like Lou, I felt that it ended pretty abruptly. But that was because I really loved the story and I wanted to see more how Drago and Pia as well as their close circle of friends will cope with his memory. I did like that Thea Harrison created consequences over his accident which I suspect it will play out in the series which will be interesting to see. But this was a fabulous novella which again illustrated how hot and sexy the romance between Pia and Drago are as well as a tightly written plot which leaves me hanging for more!
I give Pia Saves The Day a B+
E: I was super happy to see that Harrison was going to continue writing little novellas to give us glimpses of life among the Elder Races. Her latest set have explored what Pia, Dragos, and Peanut have been up to as a family since the events in Lord’s Fall. I love these installments and seeing how the impacts of Peanut’s extremely magical parents have made him very unique. In this particular case the action focuses on Pia and Dragos versus well Dragos while Peanut demonstrates the true power of the mind. I really enjoyed seeing elemental possessive Dragos in action and his determination to keep what he called his. On the other hand I thought Pia’s determination and patience was pretty incredible. She refused to consider defeat regardless of the setbacks. I thought this novella really showcased how much Pia has grown over the course of this series in terms of confidence, skills/ability, and faith in Dragos’s people. Unlike Lou and Has, I didn’t think this ended abruptly but I am extremely curious to see how the results of this installment carry over into Harrison’s future novels involving Dragos.
I give Pia Saves the Day an A-
MinnChica: I adore the Elder Races series, and Dragos and Pia are my favorite couple. There was so much to love about this story, from Pia’s never ending determination to the little Peanut’s adorable antics. One of the things I love most about Harrison’s novellas is that we get a chance to have more time in the daily lives of her characters. I loved that in this story, we really got to see what exactly Pia is made of. While she has always come across as strong, in this story she really stepped up to the plate and showed everyone else why she is Dragos’s Mate. Why she has the potential to be a wonderful leader as well. Combine that with her patience with Dragos, and I loved everything about Pia. Getting the chance to see into Dragos’s head while he was dealing with his memory loss was amazing as well. I loved all the little moments when he compared himself to the “other Dragos.” 🙂
I give Pia Saves the Day a B+
**BP NOTE: Thanks to the always gracious Thea Harrison, we have a print copy of Dragos Takes a Holiday, the first of this new set of novellas and a QR code for a digital copy of The Wicked. Winner will be announced on 20 Jun and is open US only. To enter leave a comment saying why you enjoy reading novellas. Good luck! **
Links to Purchase
We will update the post when they are available
Eek, but what if we don’t enjoy novellas? 😉 Truthfully, the only ones I enjoy are those from series’ I’m following because they’re little bites that keep me happy in the long waits between the full novels. I haven’t always enjoyed Harrison’s Elder Races novellas when they featured characters too far outside the core group (or completely unrelated to them) but the others have been winners (Dragos Takes a Holiday was delightful!).
I hope the ending isn’t too important – the next book isn’t set in the wyr demesne! I’m kind of bummed, I thought Harrison said this one would be Grayson’s and instead, it’s going to be that vampire’s. Bleh.
Small gripe: that woman on the cover looks nothing like Pia should. 🙂
I really enjoy novellas if there isn’t a full length book available 🙂 However I must say that Thea Harrison’s shorter work is pretty fine, I particularly enjoyed ‘ Natural Evil ‘.
Don’t enter me – I own them both so I just Tweeted out for you! Nice review. I’ll be picking this one and Peanut Goes to School as soon as I can.
I enjoy reading novellas because they provide a complete story when I don’t have time to read a full-length novel.
I like novellas as a way to introduce you to a series, or to catch you up on your favorite characters. Also sometimes they work to give you a story of a character that may not have gotten a whole book but is worth getting into their story. I’m excited for this one, Dragos and Pia are great together!
I love this series,,,,,thanks for the terrific review and giveaway.
Novellas can be a nice way to find a new author or series of books without a huge time investment.
Novellas are an art form. It takes a lot of effort to sell you on characters in a shorter work. So I really appreciate authors who can make this come across well!
Because they’re pretty short
I love reading novellas and have found some of my favorite .authors that way
I love reading novella when I don’t have time to read a full novel. They are my between novels when I’m busy.
I love this series and I especially love these novellas b/c they expand and explain this world so well. I like having stories centered on “secondary” characters and even though I’m a glutton for this world, the stories are just long enough to satisfy my love of this series w/out creating series fatigue. Thanks for dangling the carrot 🙂
I enjoy being able to read a whole story in a short time.
Don’t enter me, I am not US. I do love this series very much, and look forward to reading this novella myself soon. Thanks for the great review ladies.
I like reading novellas because they’re quick, easy reads when I don’t had a lot of time to spend reading. 😀
I like novellas because they give more story than a short story/ novelette, and when I don’t have time to read novels.
I didn’t use to like novellas because I didn’t want to have to buy anthologies where you had to pay full book price just to get the 1 story by an author you liked stuck in with 3 or 4 other stories that you didn’t want. However, now that you can buy only the story you want, I love them. They are perfect for 45 minutes on the elliptical machine.
I love novellas because they give a wonderful taste of a favorite world or characters — just to tide you over until the next book. I also love them because the shorter length gives the author space to just have fun with the characters or tell a shorter story (or a segment of a story) without tangling among other story arcs. I absolutely LOVE novellas — especially by someone who does them right, such as Ms. Harrison! Thank you!!
I like novellas because they give authors the opportunity to publish more frequently, even if some are ebooks only. If Thea Harrison were limited to full-length traditional paperback novels we’d only get to see one or two per year, but with the e-novellas we are treated to numerous glimpses of Pia and Dragos’ world.
I read novellas as palette cleansers, or when I need something quick and easy.
I love reading novellas for two reasons, one emotional and the other practical. The practical reason is that novellas are usually published far more quickly than a full-length novel which means that I’ll get it faster. The emotional reason is that, in my opinion, it’s more difficult to write a short story with depth and still pack an emotional punch. So I have a lot of respect for novellas that are able to do this.
I love novellas because they help when I need a chance of pace or am having trouble deciding which book or series to dive into next.