Dragonshadow

by Elle Katharine White

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Amazon* | Goodreads

*Disclaimer: All Amazon Links are affiliate links. If you purchase anything through one of my links I will get a small commission! All the thoughts and opinions in this post are mine and in no way influenced by Amazon.

Heartstone Series

• Heartstone (Review | Amazon | Goodreads)
• Dragonshadow (Amazon | Goodreads)
• Flamebringer (Goodreads)

For those of you who don’t know, Heartstone is a Pride and Prejudice retelling with Dragons! Its amazing and I love it! But, Pride and Prejudice has no sequel so I had no idea what to expect when reading Dragonshadow. (I didn’t even read the synopsis, it was a complete blind read!) I was wary because I would have hated it if they played the “you can’t truly be in love after only knowing each other for a month” card.   It would have killed me if Aliza and Daired (Lizzy and Darcy) fought constantly and didn’t have a good marriage.  Thankfully tho, I needn’t have worried. They had some spats and some obstacles in their relationship, but for the majority of the book their relationship was strong, and the plot didn’t revolve around issues between the two of them.

The main issue I had with both Dragonshadow and Heartstone was that they didn’t give descriptions of the magical creatures.  I knew what Dragons and Wyverns were but I didn’t know what Beoryns were. In the context of Heartstone I thought they were some type of Dragon.  It wasn’t until my re-read / buddy read with Phil that I found out they are actually bear-type creatures.  In Heartstone it didn’t effect the story but in Dragonshadow I missed the big reveal because I didn’t know what one of the creatures was.  It was easy enough to google and get caught up, but no one wants to stop reading right at the climax in order to google stuff! It ruins the effect.  On a cooler note, Phil found these super awesome pictures on Elle Katharine White’s Tumblr:

Despite having to google the mythical creatures, I really loved Dragonshadow.  It was a great mix of romance, action, adventure, and world building.  Even though Elle Katharine White doesn’t explain the creatures, she sure as hell knows how to build a world.  I love all the different people and cultures.  You can tell each and every person has their own story and you only get a glimpse into their lives as Aliza and Daired pass through.

There was a slight cliffhanger at the end of this book, but there was still a definite finish to the main story line, so I didn’t mind.  It was very well done.  (I may have complained about it to Phil but that was because I had just finished The Wicked King as well, and between the two books I swear the authors are trying to kill me!)