Cora’s a young girl with two dreams: to be a dragon jockey when she grows up and to own a pet dragon now. She constantly buys “egg packs” at the dragon emporium in hopes that one will hatch into a rare pet-sized dragon, but only gets short-lived mayflies. However, when an unexpected egg does develop into something new, Cora may be in over her head.
Don’t miss H.L. Burke’s Rafflecopter giveaway at the bottom of this post, which you can enter to win a paperback copy!
Ohhh, this book.
I am an enthusiastic fan of H.L. Burke books. Each one seems better than the last! So I was incredibly touched when she contacted me shortly after my daughter’s health crisis and asked if it would be all right if she named her main character in this story after my daughter, in honor of her AVF journey.
So going into this story, it was already special to me, and I expected to enjoy it.
But even so, it blew me away!
I read the entire thing in one sitting on an airplane ride, except for a small bathroom break (during which…let’s be honest…I would have been reading there too, except that airplane bathrooms are so small and hard to use! Ha!).
I was immediately entranced by the spunky protagonist, Cora, her hopes and goals, and the fascinating world, which resembles America’s 20’s or 30’s except that there are dragons – dragons kept as pets and beasts to ride. I loved her friendship with Abry, and the girls’ dedicated approach to starting up their own business. I loved the girls’ parents. I even loved the antagonists! All the characters were deep and multi-dimensional, and grappled with complex moral questions. There are themes of racism, animal cruelty, friendship, kindness. Yet the themes are never trite or moralistic, and naturally pour out from the story.
I cried in three different places. I never cry reading books!
My only complaint was…why isn’t this book longer? I want MORE! 😀
This is a wonderful book for ages 9 and up, or even a younger child if you were reading it aloud to them. Highly recommended.
I can’t wait to read it to my own Cora when she’s old enough. 🙂
Author Bio:
Born in a small town in north central Oregon, H. L. Burke spent most of her childhood around trees and farm animals and was always accompanied by a book. Growing up with epic heroes from Middle Earth and Narnia keeping her company, she also became an incurable romantic.
An addictive personality, she jumped from one fandom to another, being at times completely obsessed with various books, movies, or television series (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Star Trek all took their turns), but she has grown to be what she considers a well-rounded connoisseur of geek culture.
Married to her high school crush who is now a US Marine, she has moved multiple times in her adult life but believes that home is wherever her husband, two daughters, and pets are.
She is the author of a four part fantasy/romance series entitled “The Scholar and the Dragon”, featuring the books Dragon’s Curse, Dragon’s Debt, Dragon’s Rival, and Dragon’s Bride as well as the YA/Fantasy Beggar Magic. Her current projects are a young adult steampunk fantasy and an epic fantasy trilogy.
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I’ve got the book but haven’t had time to read it (or anything!) yet. This makes me all the more anxious. What a lovely gesture and sweet inheritance for Cora.