Heartstone

Jane Austen meets dragons in this epic historical fantasy debut as a willful young woman and an arrogant warrior battle for each other’s heart. They say a Rider in possession of a good blade must be in want of a monster to slay—and Merybourne Manor has plenty of monsters . . . Passionate, headstrong Aliza Bentaine knows this all too well; she’s already lost one sister to the invading gryphons. So when the people of Merybourne Manor scrape together the funds to hire a band of Riders to hunt down the horde, Aliza is relieved her sister will soon be avenged. Her relief is short-lived. With the arrival of the haughty and handsome dragonrider, Alastair Daired, Aliza expects a battle; what she doesn’t expect is a romantic clash of wills, pitting words and wit against the pride of an ancient house. Nor does she anticipate the mystery that haunts them from Merybourne Manor, with its roots running as deep as the foundations of the kingdom itself, where something old and dreadful slumbers . . . something far more sinister than gryphons. It’s a war Aliza is ill-prepared to wage, on a battlefield she’s never known before: one spanning kingdoms, class lines, and the curious nature of her own heart . . . In Heartstone, Elle Katharine White infuses elements of Jane Austen’s beloved Pride and Prejudice with her own playful brand of magic. Filled with wyverns, dragons, and the warriors who fight alongside them against the monsters that threaten the kingdom—gryphons, direwolves, banshees, and lamias—this is an epic fantasy that conjures a familiar yet wondrously unique world.