Dancing With Dragons by Maria Grace
#15 Jane Austen’s Dragons
Gaslamp Fantasy
Publisher: RBF Books
Published: 5.23.25
Pages: 358
Rating: 4.5 stars
Format: ebook
Source: Bought
Sellers: Amazon
ADD TO: GoodReads
GoodReads Synopsis:
he defining moment of Margaret Dashwood’s social life, the Dragon Keeper’s Cotillion, the most significant event of Blue Order society, looms large on the horizon. Well-recognized as an excellent dancer, Margaret should have nothing to fear. Unless, of course, her Friend Snuff unleashes his own brand of mayhem in London with his hoarding addiction.
But Snuff is the least of the Blue Order’s problems. Blue Order auditor, decidedly staid and dull, Miles Bexley and his Friend Half Wing travel to Exeter to deal with missing dragons, smuggling, and even worse crimes against dragonkind, and find themselves at Colonel Brandon’s doorstep for help in the investigations.
Half Wing’s instant attraction to Margaret and Snuff draws the two, known for innocence and silliness in equal measure, into matters they are not prepared to understand, much less deal with.
Or are they?
Is it possible, Half Wing identified the most sensible person in Bexley’s acquaintance, the one whose help he most needs for his investigations—and his life?
With danger mounting and threats closing in, can Bexley and Margaret prove themselves more capable than what society expects? With only the safety of the Blue Order and a chance at future happiness at stake, they must rise to the occasion or lose everything they hold dear.
A fresh new gaslamp fantasy adventure in the engrossingly intricate world of Jane Austen’s Dragons. Anne McCaffrey meets Jane Austen, a perfect mix for dragon lovers and regency-era fans alike.
Sophia Rose's Review:
The intrigue increases around the Blue Order as the Snapdragons work to undermine the order and endanger dragonkind. The Cotillion Ball promises more than debutantes dancing. Maria Grace’s fabulous Gaslamp fantasy series continues to be a must-read.
Dancing With Dragons is the fifteenth in the Jane Austen’s Dragon series of strongly inter-connected books.
The early part of the series introduced characters from Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice mingled with an intricate and amazing world of dragons and then later added the Persuasion characters. Now, with this latest, it was exciting for Austen’s Sense & Sensibility characters to join the large cast of characters and have their part of the series story.
Margaret Dashwood is impatient for some excitement and her own romance as she stays with her sister Marianne and her husband, Colonel Brandon at Delaford. She prepares for her debut, a surprise she hadn’t anticipate when Norland, the great dragon of her father’s estate (now her half-brother’s), insists her brother dower her and insists she is sponsored and introduced to Blue Order society at the Cotilion Ball.
Margaret has a sweet heart for the minor dragons. Her own dragon Friend is a hoarding, mischievous Puck named Snuff who is struggling with a hoarding fever that gets him into trouble. She also enjoys dancing above all and is enamored with a man who is a superb dancer and something of a charmer though she admits that he abruptly left the area the year before after getting her hopes up. Now, he’s back and wants to be her dancing partner.
Not wanting for sense, Margaret is not so caught up that she doesn’t notice his aversion toward dragons and the way his manners are self-serving under the charm. In stark contrast, a man who dances ill turns out to be the true gentleman. Mr. Bexley and his Friend, a fairy dragon, Half-Wing, slowly turn her head in a new direction.
Meanwhile, Bexley, not a great estate owner and a man of humble beginnings, but still a Friend to the Blue Order serves with Sir Richard Fitzwilliam in intelligence work in Devon, trying to root out the Snapdragon workings of kidnapping dragons to sell or kill to sell in bits and pieces and check out local minor dragon disappearances. He doesn’t think he stands a chance with pretty Miss Margaret Dashwood, but he stands her friend when it counts.
Dancing With Dragons is a transition story and introduces new characters into the series, progressing the series plot and giving some closure, but ends with a few curious threads for the next installment. I loved seeing some familiar faces and some new ones and a shift from major dragon action to the minor dragons getting the limelight in this one. A strong entry in a series that I can heartily recommend to Gaslamp fantasy fans who love an intricate world of dragons.
Author Bio:
Six-time BRAG Medallion Honoree, #1 Best-selling Historical Fantasy author Maria Grace has her PhD in Educational Psychology. She is a 16-year veteran of the university classroom where she taught courses in human growth and development, learning, test development and counseling. None of which have anything to do with her undergraduate studies in economics/sociology/managerial studies/behavior sciences. She pretends to be a mild-mannered writer/cat-lady, but most of her vacations require helmets and waivers or historical costumes, usually not at the same time.
She writes gaslamp fantasy, space opera, the occasional historical romance, and non-fiction to help justify her research addiction.
Sophia’s Bio:
Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, piano-playing, and gardening. Road trips and campouts, museums and monuments, restaurants and theaters are her jam. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate.
As a lifelong reader, it was inevitable that Sophia would discover book blogs and the joy of blog reviewing. Sophia is a prolific reader and audiobook listener which allows her to experience so many wonderful books, authors, and narrators. Few genres are outside her reading tastes, but her true love is fiction particularly history, mystery, sci-fi, and romance. Though, sorry, no horror or she will run like Shaggy and Scooby.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sophia.rose.7587
Twitter: https://twitter.com/sophiarose1816
GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13418187.Sophia_Rose
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