This was an excellent fantasy with lots of romance. When Merybourne manor is invaded by gryphons, the local lord gathers together enough money to hire a group of Riders to clear them out. While Aliza Bentaine is grateful to the riders, one of them, Alistair Daired, just rubs her the wrong way. She first meets him when he kicks her hobgoblin friend Tobble and calls him vermin. Daired is rude, arrogant and haughty. A romance does bloom between one of the other Riders and Aliza's sister Anjey though which delights Aliza and Anjey's social climbing mother who wants nothing more than to marry her daughters off to Riders.

After the gryphons have been defeated, most of the Riders leave and when the king calls, the rest leave too. Anjey and her Rider promise to write to each other every day but no letters arrive. Aliza is angry and sad for her sister. Time passes and Aliza travels to visit her best friend who has married and is living near a Daired family home. There she meets Alistair again whom she blames for sabotaging her sister's relationship by intercepting the letters. He denies it and confesses his love for her in a somewhat tactless manner. She rebuffs him but can't seem to get him out of her thoughts.

When a terrible lindworm surfaces endangering Aliza's home and all the Riders, she learns what her true feelings are for Alistair Daired. I loved the slow building romance. I loved all the various creatures especially Tobble and Alistair's dragon partner Akarra. I liked the world building. I liked Aliza's adventure to save her love.

I haven't read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and can't compare this story to the original. However, I do recommend this one to anyone who likes fantasy and romance. ( )

I received an e-arc of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Actual rating: 4.5/5

Full disclosure: Pride & Prejudice is one of my favourite books ever, and I try to read/watch as many retellings as possibile, just because I love it so much. That's possibly one of the reasons why I whizzed through Heartstone, but it's definitely not the only one! Whether you are a die-hard P&P fan like me, or you've never even heard of Jane Austen, Heartstone is very likely to capture you from the very beginning.

This fantasy retelling is set in a world where humans and mythological creatures coexist, some more peacefully than others. There was a great variety of creatures involved, some adorable and some incredibly sinister, and of course there were dragons! I loved how the Riders displayed their bond with their creatures, and I particularly liked Akarra, Daired's dragon. Despite being a scaly, fire-breathing creature, she displayed a fully dimensional personality and the ability to demonstrate feelings like compassion, friendship and loyalty. In case you couldn't tell, I LOVED her!!

The rest of the characters were also fairly well developed, although some of the secondary characters could have been explored more in depth and that would have been super. Aliza and Daired were also adorable, and there was actually slightly more chemistry than in the original. I enjoyed seeing how the story developed very independently (and with dragons! Did I mention dragons already?), but at the same time featured all the most iconic scenes from the original. Reading this book felt like going back to a place you loved after a long time: familiar enough to make you feel comfortable, while different enough to surprise you.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! The middle part was just a tiny bit too slow, and that's the only reason I'm not giving it a full 5 stars. Definitely recommended to everyone!

For this and more reviews, visit Book for Thought. ( )

A good retelling of Pride and Prejudice with Dragons. ( )

The first two thirds were entertaining however suddenly in the last third a character who had been an utter jerk was really actually charming and okay because he’d been secretly in love with the main character. Really. *facepalm*
I’d have said 3 or 4 stars up to that point, and been interested in reading others in the series until that point. Ugh. ( )

3.5 Stars ( )