Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard

Published: December 30th, 2014 

Publisher: Penguin

Pages: 368

Copy: Won from Luanne at A Bookworms World

Summary: Goodreads

A prince with a quest. A commoner with mysterious powers. And dragons that demand to be freed—at any cost.

Prince Corin has been chosen to free the dragons from their bondage to the Empire, but dragons aren’t big on directions. They have given him some of their power, but none of their knowledge. No one, not the dragons nor their riders, is even sure what keeps the dragons in the Empire’s control.

Tam, sensible daughter of a well-respected doctor, had no idea before she arrived in the capital that she is a Seer, gifted with visions. When the two run into each other (quite literally) in the library, sparks fly and Corin impulsively asks Tam to dinner. But it’s not all happily ever after. Never mind that the prince isn’t allowed to marry a commoner: war is coming to Caithen.

Torn between Corin’s quest to free the dragons and his duty to his country, the lovers must both figure out how to master their powers in order to save Caithen. With a little help from a village of secret wizards and a rogue dragonrider, they just might pull it off. 

Thanks first to Luanne at A Bookworms World and to Penguin for this fantastic book.  I hadn't heard anything about it when I entered Luanne's giveaway, but I'm a sucker for anything with dragons, so I had to enter.  So glad I won.

'Moth and Spark' was a pleasure to read, from beginning to end.  Ms Leonard's writing is lyrical and engrossing and captured me at once.  One of the things I loved was the language that she used and it was very interesting to read in the acknowledgements that  'Finally I am indebted to Jane Austen whose language I liberally borrowed from'.  As a huge Jane Austen fan I understood immediately why I had fallen in love with her 'voice'

I also was very enamored with her characters - every last one of them, even the not so nice ones.   I felt as if I could relate to all  of them, and though the situations are certainly nothing I have ever had to cope with, I could understand why the characters reacted the way they did.  There is a huge case of almost insta-love, which I am not in general too fond of, but somehow  this time around it felt real, not forced, and Tam and Corin just seemed made for each other. Would you be willing to sacrifice all for the 'greater good'? I'm not sure I could be as selfless as these two were. 

Oh, and did I mention there are dragons in this book - lots of fire breathing dragons, and an unscrupulous tyrant, and an evil emperor and hidden wizards and assassins and handsome captains and lots of other fun things that escape me right now. SO much fun. It's also a stand-alone, which is refreshing these days.  No waiting for a sequel.

Moth and Spark is sold as an adult book, but it's more of a New Adult to my way of thinking and I'm sure that older teen fantasy fans will just adore this book as much as I did. I'm immediately recommending it for purchase at the library.