Sophia Rose Reviews: Dragons of Pemberley by Maria Grace

 

Today my pal Sophia Rose reviews Dragons of Pemberley by Maria Grace
Enjoy!

Dragons of Pemberley by Maria Grace

#10 Jane Austen’s Dragons

Gaslamp Fantasy

Publisher:  White Soup Press

Published:  4.27.22

Pages:  451

Rating: 4.5 stars

Format: ebook

Source:  purchased

Sellers:  Amazon

ADD TO: GoodReads

 

Goodreads Synopsis:

Homecomings never live up to expectations.

After a visit to London that nearly cost her everything, Lady Elizabeth Darcy, Dragon Sage, desperately needs the solace of her country home, Pemberley. Sir Fitzwilliam Darcy, knight of the Pendragon Order and Keeper to Pemberley, counts the minutes until Pemerbley's walls protect his family once more.

Their homecoming cannot happen soon enough.

Pemberley and its substantial population of minor dragons welcomes them home with open arms. But those open arms contain more than happy dragons.

Unexpected problems plague the estate and surrounding county. Dragon-sized problems. Problems that might be too big for even the Dragon Sage.

A fresh new gaslamp fantasy adventure in the engrossingly intricate world of Jane Austen’s Dragons. Anne McCaffrey meets Jane Austen perfect for dragon lovers and Regency-era fans alike.

 

Sophia Rose's Review:

After the stunning events of the last dragon adventure and political intrigue within the Blue Order, Elizabeth Darcy, the Dragon Sage, and her family are ready for a rest on their home estate.  But, with dragons, nothing is ever easy so the troubles begin nearly from the moment of their arrival.  Maria Grace has penned a complex and fantastic secret world of dragons blended with the Regency world of Jane Austen’s novels.  Detailed background and twisting suspenseful plots are de rigeur and I was eager to make my curtsey to the latest installment in the series.

 

Dragons of Pemberley is the tenth entry in a closely tied series of Gaslamp fantasy books full of romance and adventure.  These are best read in order and definitely this latest is a tough place to jump in and catch onto who and what is going on.

 

The Darcys, Elizabeth’s sister Lydia, Fitzwilliam’s cousin Richard, and a grumpy gentleman from the Blue Order Secretary’s Office arrive with their entourage of servants and dragon companions at Pemberley for a rest and time to see to estate matters.  They discover that all is not in order or well since poachers have attacked a dragon on the estate and the estate dragons are unsettled by this and more.  If that weren’t enough, the Secretarial rep wants to conduct audits on Pemberley estate and Matlock where Richard’s bitter, jealous older brother is keeper and Cownt Matlock is in a fine pelter about the intrusion.  Oh, and Elizabeth’s mother is screeching to the heavens about Elizabeth’s neglect toward her and her other sisters and Kitty has a questionable beau Darcy must suss out.

 

There are lots of plot threads, but they are easily followed.  I enjoyed the secondary main plot thread with Lydia and Richard on a mission for the Order to discover who is behind the increased activity of the poaching of dragon parts and dragons in Derbyshire.  Also, it was fun seeing little fire dragon Pemberley growing up and establishing herself as the main estate dragon much to Elizabeth’s consternation since the Dragon Sage is struggling not to see Pemberley as the little dragon baby she helped since hatching.  In truth, Elizabeth is struggling under the need to delegate to willing and capable help as well as get past her pain in never being enough for either mother or father.  Darcy quietly is there to support her even when she is mad at him.

 

The mystery of who is doing the dragon poaching and working with unethical apothecaries was exciting.  There were some good twists.  I had part of it right, but still got some good surprises along the way.  With this suspenseful part of the plot, the dragon politics and fascinating new dragons to meet along with the human characters growing and learning to work together and work on their relationships, I was enthralled as usual and had a sad sigh to be finished with the book.  Thankfully, there are several more books in the series to draw me in and captivate me.  Gaslamp fantasy fans who like an intricate dragon world don’t want to miss this series.

 

 

Author Bio:

Six time BRAG Medallion Honoree, #1 Best-selling Historical Fantasy author Maria Grace has her PhD in Educational Psychology and 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, historical romance and non-fiction to help justify her research addiction.

She stumbled into Jane Austen fan-dom in the mid ’90s with Emma Thompson’s Sense and Sensibility film, having somehow graduated HS without ever having read Austen. It was only a short leap then to consume all of Austen’s works, in all their various media forms. In the hopes of discovering more works by Austen, she stumbled into the fan fiction forums, which naturally led to asking ‘What if…’ herself. Thirty books later, she still asks that question.

 With over 16 years  of experience in teaching and public speaking, she is available for workshops, book groups, speaking engagements and consulting assignments. Please email for further details.

She can be contacted at: author.MariaGrace@gmail.com 

Website:  https://randombitsoffascination.com/

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