Lionheart

Thea Harrison's “Lionheart” (ARC) returns to the world of the Elder Races, and is the third in the series beginning with “Moonshadow” and “Spellbinder”. It features characters we have seen before in several of her Elder Races books, King Oberon and Dr Kathryn Shaw. Oberon is the awesomely powerful King of the Dark Fae Court. Despite being in a coma for hundreds of years, his magical Power still endangers his entire realm and people, the Other land Lyonesse. Dr Shaw is a dedicated and very skilled Wyr physician, who has played a part in previous stories featuring Dragos, the Lord of the Wyr, and the Sentinel Aryal.

I have to tell you all that this book was amazing. I absolutely loved it and I couldn't put it down! Oberon has been waiting for his story for a long time, and he meets his match is the strong and determined Kathryn Shaw. Like Thea Harrison says in the novel, the Dark Court has a lot of heavy baggage, a long history of tangled grudges and ancient resentments. The injured puck Robin returns in this story, with his own loyalties and need for revenge. Oberon's cousin Annwyn has been working to keep the realm alive for many long years, and now that the crossover passageways to Lyonesse are open, she determines that Dr Shaw is the best chance of healing Oberon. I can't say much more without invoking spoilers, but I loved Kathryn Shaw's strong character—practical yet fiery, able to disconcert and challenge the most powerful creatures in any realm.

4.5stars--LIONHEART is the third instalment in Thea Harrison’s contemporary adult MOONSHADOW paranormal/fantasy trilogy-a spinoff from the author’s ELDER RACES series. This is Dark Fae King Oberon, and trauma surgeon Dr. Kathryn Shaw’s story line. LIONHEART can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary but I recommend reading the trilogy in order for backstory and cohesion.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Oberon and Kathryn) LIONHEART follows Wyr trauma surgeon Dr. Kathryn Shaw as she is tasked by Dragos Cuelebre, dragon shifter and leader of the Wyr Demense, with saving the life of King Oberon of the Dark Court. Over fifteen years earlier (200 in Otherworld time) an assassin was sent by Queen Isabeau of the Light Court to take down the once mighty and powerful King of the Dark. A sliver of magic sensitive silver had entered Oberon’s body, and was slowly destroying the man and leader he had become. In order to protect his people from his increasing instability, Oberon cast a stasis spell that sent the him into a two hundred year sleep. Enter Dr. Kathryn Shaw, and the woman with whom Oberon would fall in love. What ensues are Kathryn’s struggles to save the Dark Court King, and the potential fall-out as Oberon insists on going to war, in an effort to reclaim what was and what shall be again.

Dr. Kathryn Shaw loved New York, and her job as a trauma surgeon but when ordered to the Dark Court of Lyonesse, Kathryn struggled between head and heart knowing a man’s (King’s) life hung in the balance. King Oberon knew his time was drawing to an end. No longer able to keep his Power under control, his beautiful lands, and the people he loved were slowly being destroyed by the battle between good and evil.

The relationship between Kathryn and Oberon begins acrimoniously. Oberon never anticipated waking up to discover his lands destroyed, and his would-be mate struggling to keep him alive. Kathryn knew once she saved King Oberon’s life, nothing would ever be the same. The $ex scenes are intimate and passionate without the use of over the top, sexually graphic language and text.

All of the previous Moonshadow couples play secondary and supporting characters including LAPD consultant Sophie Ross, and Daoine Sidhe Knight of the Dark Court Nikolas Sevigny (Moonshadow #1), and sorcerer/lycanthrope Morgan le Fae, and musician Sidonie Martel (Spellbinder #2). We get a quick glimpse at Dragos and Rune from the original Elder Races series, but for the most part the characters include King Oberon’s court (Annwyn, Gawain, Owen) and his Puck (shapeshifter) Robin.

LIONHEART is a story of betrayal and revenge; recovery and loss; of one man’s struggle to reclaim what was lost, and one woman’s battle between head and heart. The premise is entertaining and imaginative; the characters are colorful and dynamic; the romance is provocative and moving. LIONHEART is a moving, animated and energetic tale-a perfect conclusion to Thea’s Moonshadow Trilogy.