Review: Silver Bound by Jody Wallace

Silver Bound (Tarakona Dragons #1) (Magic, New Mexico World)
by Jody Wallace

My Rating: 4 stars

Genre: Paranormal Romance/ Fantasy Romance
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: MF

Blurb:
A heroine burned by magic…a hero who burns only for her.

Nadia Silver’s escape from indenture in the world of Tarakona leads her through a portal to Magic, New Mexico. A rare silver dragon shifter, she hopes to find a place where she will be safe from the wizards who would exploit her gifts.

Barnabas Courtier, a wizard without a dragon of his own, joined the Dragon Liberation Front when he heard of the seizure of a magnificent silver dragon – a dragon who has the power to turn the tide for the DLF. He has made freeing her his personal mission. Barnabas is shocked when he discovers not only has the silver dragon freed herself, but she has disappeared from the Tarakonan dimension. Determined to ensure her safety, his quest leads him to the world of Earth and the town of Magic.

Once in Magic, nothing goes according to Barnabas’s careful plans. Nadia isn’t the beautiful innocent of his dreams. She’s strong, passionate, and determined to resist everything he offers her – even love. How can a wizard convince a silver dragon to return to a world where she’s hunted when she’s found a place where she fits right in? And can he protect her from those who would enslave her once again?

Tropes: This funny fish out of water romance novella has a virgin heroine and a protector hero.

My Review

After reading Catalyst I decided to check out more books by the same author and Silver Bound was the one I read next. Silver Bound is a fast paced paranormal romance book set in the Magic, New Mexico series. I’ve only read one book in the Magic, New Mexico series so far and this one can definitely be read without any knowledge of that world. It does feel like it’s sets the stage for a series about dragons set in this larger world and feels like a series starter in that way.

This book hooked me from the start. First with Barnabas finding out the dragon he was going to safe already saved herself and then even more with Nadia’s first chapter where she’s trying to get used to Earth, which is very different from her world, which was a lot of fun to read. Although sadly there isn’t as much of that getting used to earth later in the book. After that introduction they quickly meet and team up.

This is a pretty fast paced story with some romance. My favorite part was the world building with the way dragons couldn’t use their own magic and only a wizard could use the magic of a dragon. I like how this shaped the world. The story mostly focuses on Barnabas and Nadia teaming up and trying to make sure Nadia doesn’t get enslaved again. I liked seeing how it all played out, even though the trying to avoid capture plot line wasn’t as interesting as I would’ve hoped, I still enjoyed following the story along. I like this author’s writing style and that made it easy to stay invested in what was going on.

As this is a pretty short read the romance progresses pretty quickly. There is this whole set-up with the secret and Nadia hating wizards and then when it all comes to light it quickly gets resolved and they end up in bed shortly after. I would’ve liked a bit more build-up as now it was hard to fully feel their romance and get why they fell for one another. Although it makes sense that with a shorter read the romance would develop faster, I still would’ve liked them spend some more time in danger and together before really falling for one another. It just felt a bit fast now.

Despite that niggle I did like these two together. They made for a good team and really seemed to care about the other. I also liked their personalities with how put together Barnabas was, but Nadia could make him shed his composure. I liked seeing how Nadia wanted to make the most of her freedom and the decision she made at the end of the book.

I didn’t like how Barnabas lied to Nadia, although it made sense it a way as Nadia was very prejudiced towards wizards for a good reason. At the same time it still bothered me, just like how Nadia disliked all wizards which felt a bit like over generalizing. On the one hand it made sense, but I still didn’t really like it. I also felt like both issues just were there to create some drama and never got full worked through. Luckily both are only a minor part of the story.

I really liked the concept and the world building for this book. The whole thing with how wizards and dragons had to work together so the wizards could use the dragons magic in the world of Tarakona. And how the main theme of the book deals with how now most of the dragons are suppressed and enslaved and used by the wizards for their magic. And the Dragon Liberation Front is fighting for freedom for the dragons. I liked reading about the different types of dragons, each color dragon has their own type of magic. It was interesting to read about the way their magic worked and how a wizard could channel it directly or store it in an amulet that other wizards could sue as well. And then there is the Earth dimension as well and the town of Magic, although most of the book is spent in Magic we mostly learn about the Tarakona magic system and world building. I liked the world and look forward to returning in the next book.

To summarize: Silver Bound is a fast paced fun paranormal romance read about a wizard and dragon who fall in love while fighting to keep the dragon free. Barnabas and Nadia are both likable characters and this story grabbed my attention from the start. I thought the romance progressed a bit fast, the build-up with a secret and how that came to light was resolved a bit too quickly and shortly thereafter they landed in bed together. I would’ve liked a bit more build-up for the romance. The story mostly focuses on the danger of Nadia’s previous owner wanting her back and to enslave her again. I really enjoyed the author’s writing style. The world building was probably my favorite part I liked reading about this other dimension where dragons have magic, but can’t use it themselves and need wizards to use their magic. And how now a liberation movement wants to free the dragons from enslavement. All in all a great read and a good start to the Tarakona Dragons series, I already have the next book!

Links:
– Goodreads
– Bookbub
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo

You can also read my review on Goodreads and Bookbub.