Moth and Spark

DNFed 15% into the story. <br /><br /><u>Reason number one: </u><br />Apart from the prologue and some vague mentions about Dragons and lost magic, there is no magic / fantasy in this story. Instead you are treated to a highly unconvincing historical, pseudo-medieval romance with insta-love and some such. This was really not what I expected or anticipated. <br /><br /><u>Reason number two: </u><br />The annoying female main character. Tam, wow I hate her. Never thought I would write this ever about anyone but she is so damn perfect, that I had an insta-hate moment there. She is not only <i>“stunning, (…) with the most astonishingly beautiful face he had ever seen”</i>, she is also totally unaware of her attractive looks and an epitome of womanly virtue. Gah! <br /><blockquote> <i>She was a well-bred and well-educated young woman, even an accomplished one. She spoke three languages besides her own and could draw, sing, play the piano, and do embroidery, all of it inoffensively. She could converse on poetry and morals with equal grace. She had improved her mind by extensive reading. But her education did not end there. <br />She dressed wounds, mixed medicines, sat by the dying. She helped her father with his experiments and his writings. When he saw something interesting under the glass, it was she who drew the picture for him. She had done other work too, assisting her brother with his accounts, shipping lists.</i> </blockquote><br /><br /><b>Of course she can sit so fucking quietly <i>"that a butterfly lighted briefly on the flower in her hair.</i></b> <br /><br /><u>Reason number three:</u> <br />The awful descriptive writing. Never have I ever seen so much info-dumping on the historical facts and semi-poetical, semi-prosaic descriptions. <br /><br />- There is a whole paragraph dedicated to archaeological findings around the capital <b>only to emphasize Tam’s sentiment of feeling “humbled”</b>. <br />- There is no escaping the many gowns and fashion accounts or the countless remarks on the countryside, architecture or interior design of the palace. <br />- There is no difference in the two POVs the story is written in. Tam’s and Corin’s voices are totally alike. Why even bother to write in two POVs when you can’t differentiate between the two characters? <br />- Last but not least: The many confusing expressions like: <i>”draw, sing, play the piano, and do embroidery, all of it inoffensively”</i> or <i>“She smelled stone and ice”</i>, which I admit could be useful if you're looking for a cave. The smelling part is really baffling. All in all Tam and her Prince can smell like bloodhounds. A total of 63 times they smell things like damp air, death, water, they can smell if a wind is cold, and they even pick up with their noses on salt in the air. How something can smell salty is beyond me. Things can smell "angular and sharp"? Say what? Apparently even people can be gamey-smelling. Whats wrong with words like rancid or stinky? <br /><br />So feel free to read it for yourself but be aware that there is not much fantasy! <br /><br />

5 of 5 stars at The BiblioSanctum <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/2014/02/book-review-moth-and-spark-by-anne.html">http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...</a><br /><br /><b>Updated:</b> Interview with author Anne Leonard at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/2014/02/interview-with-anne-leonard-author-of.html">http://bibliosanctum.blogspot.com/201...</a><br /><br />Moth and Spark was one of my top anticipated novels of 2014. My gut instinct told me it was going to be a good one, and while my gut might not be the best guide for a lot of things, it has hardly ever steered me wrong when it comes to books. And I was pleased to see to that it was right once again. If anything, Moth and Spark gave me even more than I bargained for.<br /><br />To understand why I liked it so much, you also have to understand that I've been looking for a book like this for a long time. While I was reading Moth and Spark, a Goodreads friend of mine commented on one of my status updates with: "Fantasy with a romance sub-plot is rare." Indeed it is! Everyone who knows me knows I enjoy a good love story. And I would be reading a lot more romance, except I prefer it combined with other elements, especially from speculative fiction.<br /><br />What I've always wanted to read was a meaningful and actively engaging romance in a high fantasy, but typically, most of the adult fantasy novels I enjoy merely scratch at the surface of romantic relationships. It's pretty much made me resign myself to the fact that I can only have one without the other. That is until this book came along and filled that void.<br /><br />Moth and Spark is also different from a lot of romances. Yes, the love between the two main characters features heavily in this book, but at the same time it never lets you forget that both Corin and Tam are organically part of a much bigger story unfolding around them. Their relationship, as suddenly and swiftly as it occurred, is not merely the central focus with just the fantasy setting tacked on; it is part and parcel of the overall plot which involves a rich tapestry of courtly intrigue, back alley conspiracies and impending war, all culminating into a nation hanging in the balance. Together, the crown prince of Caithen and the commoner daughter of a renowned doctor must work together to save their homeland, combining their powers to free the dragons from their bondage to a mad emperor.<br /><br />That's right, there are dragons. Just when you think things can't get any better, eh?<br /><br />I think most of all, I loved this book for the wonderful characters that Anne Leonard has created. Call me a softie, but I like it when I see strong and inherently good, decent people find each other and fall in love. I like it when I see lovers like Tam and Corin sacrifice for each other, care for each other, and respect one another. I like that their romance is a partnership, where the chemistry is natural and mutual.<br /><br />The author is also very adept at world building. She has a way of inserting very detailed information about the environment without encumbering the prose. For instance, I only noticed afterwards that there is actually a good amount of description in the text, but I hardly felt overwhelmed by them at all as I was reading. Anne Leonard accomplishes this by not laying out the background of the world all at once; instead, we gradually get to learn about things like the Empire's history or magical lore as the story progresses.<br /><br />I could go on and on about a lot of the other aspects that I enjoyed, such as the magic, the dragons and their riders, the king's wizard-assassins (I really liked Joce, who was probably my favorite character after Tam and Corin), the court politics, the formal dances and elegant fashions, the sword fighting scenes and so on, but I should leave some of the more enchanting parts for people to discover for themselves. I will reveal though, that the ending involves quite a gripping scene of a duel on dragonback. Oh yes, this book gets my heart pounding in more ways than one!<br /><br />Suffice to say I was very impressed with Moth and Spark, which is a debut for Anne Leonard. The novel's story of love and adventure struck the right chord with me, and it's going straight onto my shelf of favorites. I'll definitely be watching this author in the future for more.

Original Review found at my blog: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.beawesomebeabooknut.blogspot.com">www.beawesomebeabooknut.blogspot.com</a><br /><br />This was NOT what I was expecting. The story-Great! The romance-eye rolling... I knew there was going to be romance I didn't exactly know or understand that this was a ROMANCE novel. <br /><br /> This novel is written from duel perspectives, mostly Corin's and I did like that. The world building can be a little slow at first and a bit dragging but the author did a great job of making sure you understood everything about her world and what is going on. She made sure you understood each character and their part in the plot and their back story.<br /><br />The romance was a bit ridiculous in my opinion, and too fast it was disappointing. Corin and Tam are all over each other within 24 hours of meeting and after LITERATLLY five days they are in love and eternally committed to each other by taking vows and making promises which made it all too fast and really disappointing, and I gagged a few times and did a TON of eye rolling. So much for character development in that arena. And what's with all the sex and innuendos! totally took away from what could have been an EPIC romance, in my opinion.<br /><br />The story starts off with an amazing bang as revelation of a prophecy involving freeing the dragons from the emperor comes about which complicates everything in Corin's life, his quest to free the dragons and his duty to his country. Prince Corin has been chosen to release the dragons from the Empire and free them from bondage, but even though they've given him some of their power, they didn't give Corin much or any of their knowledge. Which complicates things. Yet, what was interesting was no one, not the dragons or their riders seem to know what keeps the dragons in the Empire’s control. huh. weird.<br /><br /> Tam started out sooo interesting, she was smart, strong, stubborn, beautiful, curious, and we later learn that she is a Seer-COOL! However, I felt she lost all sense of herself when it came to her romance with Corin.<br /><br /> So Tam and Corin try to work together in order to save their kingdom of Caithen from oncoming war. <br /><br /> Overall the fantasy side of the story was GREAT and well written! It had everything, prophecy, power, mystery, war, political intrigue. it was awesome! The romance killed it for me.<br /><br /> Sexual Content: heavy (lots of sex initiated from the female character)<br /> Language: moderate (PG)<br /> Violence: moderate (PG)<br /> Drugs/Alcohol: moderate (PG)<br /><br /> *Thank you to Viking publishers for mailing me a copy of this book to read for an honest review.

Review originally posted at <a href="http://mybookshelfisready.tumblr.com/post/84127350715/moth-and-spark-by-anne-leonard" rel="nofollow noopener">My Bookshelf is Ready</a>.<br><br>This book has a seriously great cover and an interesting premise but<br><img src="https://images.gr-assets.com/hostedimages/1398696601ra/9451509.gif" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>3/4 of the book is devoted to Mediaeval-ish social politics such as courtship and gossiping about royal suitors.<br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1398696601i/9451510.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>The characters are all dull, and the “intrigue” is nowhere near as interesting as the A Song of Ice and Fire series. It’s almost as if someone tried to bridge the gap between <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/113436.Eragon__The_Inheritance_Cycle___1_" title="Eragon (The Inheritance Cycle, #1) by Christopher Paolini" rel="noopener">Eragon</a> and <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/13496.A_Game_of_Thrones__A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire___1_" title="A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) by George R.R. Martin" rel="noopener">A Game of Thrones</a>, though less hackneyed than the former and way less developed than the latter. <br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1398696601i/9451511.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>I also had a problem with the fact that too many characters names started out with either “C” or “T”. In a fantasy book where most of the cast is already pretty wooden, it makes it hard to remember who is who and why they are important. (Hint: they aren’t really, and most of them turn out to be secretly wizards or something.)<br><img src="https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/hostedimages/1398696601i/9451512.jpg" class="gr-hostedUserImg" loading="lazy"><br><br>Overall, a pretty tedious book that doesn’t really deliver what the artwork or blurb promises.

Forget the glossy, beautiful hardcover; this should have been published as a mass market paperback in the romance section.<br /><br />I was cautiously optimistic when I cracked this supposedly epic fantasy novel and found (yay) a map! But, when the author frequently mentions cities, countries, and other geographical features that I could not even find on said map what, really, is the point? <br /><br />Frustrating.<br /><br />Tepid world building, some dragons, some sort of magic, nothing really well explained, and of course a hot prince who falls insta-in-love with the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. <br /><br />Prince Corin, most eligible bachelor, is caught up in a struggle between the Emperor that rules his country, some dragons who no one really knows too much about, some wizards, and an invading barbarian horde. <br /><br />Corin is hot stuff and he knows it. <br />"The table-maid appeared a few minutes later and refilled the glass. his fingers brushed against hers as he took it...their eyes met. He thought she would not slap his hand away. He wondered if she knew who he was. He was tempted, but she was too young and too ignorant. It would not be fair."<br />Gag.<br /><br />He also has had a bevy of lovers, including his current (married) mistress, but he quickly ousts her when he sees the most beautiful woman in the whole wide world, a girl who turns out to be a "commoner" (in fact a wealthy daughter of a doctor, just not a noble). Tam of course is unaware of her extreme charm and besides being gorgeous is a paragon of virtue and talent. Cue romance, balls, dresses squeeee, and long talks and smoochies. Tam falls desperately in love, and she can barely restrain herself from bonin' the brains out of Corin. So they don't wait very long. Honor and country be damned (don't worry it will all work out in the end).<br /><br />Oh wait, what about the dragons? Apparently after getting the hots for each other, both Tam and Corin find out they have POWERS. Cue epic battles, lots of love making, worries about the future, and oh now the king says we can be married, yay happily ever after.<br /><br />What just happened? I'm still not sure.

<i>"I am not a poetess. Patient. Either brokenhearted or engaged. A good archer or rider. A spendthrift. A faithful correspondent. Uneducated. An older sister. Kind or a drunkard." She stopped. "Is that enough?"<br /><br />"And which of those is a failing?" he looked amused.<br /><br />"Lack of kindness, I suppose," she said. "I am not a nice person."<br /><br />He grinned, a splendid and amazing smile that made her want to do nothing but look at him. "Of course you're not. Most of us aren't. You try though, don't you?"<br /><br />"Yes, but sometimes it just slips out."</i><br /><br />Corin is the crown prince of Caithen who has been destined for great things from birth. His destiny is somehow intertwined with the fate of the dragons that are imprisoned by a Hadon, a distant ruler who controls everything with an iron fist. Tam is a young common born woman with a keen mind and a sharp sense of honor. When they meet by chance, it seems like fate. Attraction sparks. Friendship flourishes. Love blossoms. And yet the dragons grow restless to be freed from the tyranny that enslaves them. Corrin has no idea what he is meant to do to save them, but with the help of his new love Tam, who has powers of her own, he just might stand a chance. Which is good because he is going to need all the help he can get; for war is coming.<br /><br /><i>"You know, I loved you from the moment I saw you, before I even knew who you were."</i><br /><br />There are so many wonderful things for me to say about this book. First I want to talk about the aesthetics. I had no idea what this book was about or that it was even published until I came across it by chance when I was in the bookstore last a couple of weeks ago. The cover caught my eye and I was almost immediately mesmerized by its soft texture and beautiful image of a candle with black moths formed out of the smoke. When I read the back and learned it was about dragons I was immediately sure that I would love it. I mean, c'mon, dragons always guarantee a book to be amazing, right? :) Also I was intrigued that it was a stand-alone novel, since those are few and far between in the fantasy genre.<br /><br />I was definitely not disappointed in my choice here, because this book was just a pure delightful read from start to finish. As much as I wanted to race through it (like I usually do when I find a book that I love this much) I found that I couldn't. The beautiful writing and fully descriptive scenes forced me to slow down and savor every single word on each page. There were a few passages that I ended up earmarking and then going back and re-reading them over and over because of how much I loved them. I wanted to disappear into this world, this world of dragons and wizards, of castles and true love. It was almost as if there were various storylines together intertwining into one beautiful and poignant story. There is the story of the dragons and how they were enslaved and the lengths that Corin has to go to free them, there is the story of the war, and there is the love story between Corin and Tam. But one part of the story didn't dominate any others, and that was another thing I loved about this book. You don't have to be a hardcore fantasy fan or a hardcore romance fan to enjoy this. I truly believe that it has something for everybody! :) There is just so much going on that kept me engaged and riveted and so excited to find out what happened next. I loved the writing style, loved the dialogue, loved the characters, and especially loved the dragons!<br /><br />I loved this book so much! This is a must read! I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves fantasy books and/or romance books. <br /><br /><i>He burned for her, and she for him, and it was as unstoppable as rain in spring.</i><br />

This is another book that is supposed to be one of the most hyped about books of 2014. So I again had to check this one out. Ok, let me just say that all the talk in the world can not help a book if it can not stand up to the hype. I really wanted to like this book because it sounded intriguing, however I got to chapter four and put it down. It took me several days to come back to this book. Then when I did pick it back up, I was only semi interested. I skimmed chapter five and it was then that I made up my mind that I could not read this book any further. Maybe some day down the road I might pick this book up again and try to finish it. There was way too much dialect and not enough fantasy. Which is what I thought I was getting when I picked up this book. In fact after stopping this book, I still did not have a clue what was so special about the dragons and why Corin needed to free them.

At the end of the day you’ll want to read this book because you’re in the mood for some touching fall-in-love action between two characters that are inherently good. The added bonus is the vibrant, well-realized, believable, astounding court culture that Leonard subtly crafts throughout her book. The magic system and dragons takes some time to really matter too much, but by the end of the book, that will be as interesting as everything else you’ve read. If the ending suffers a little, Leonard makes up for it with some astounding writing, and a story that you can really sink into. This is one of those powerful debut novels that is unlike anything you’ve ever read before, while being exactly what you expect.<br /><br /><br />Read my full review here:<br /><br /><a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.bookwormblues.net/2014/02/24/moth-and-spark-anne-leonard/">http://www.bookwormblues.net/2014/02/...</a>

➸ <u>Trigger warnings</u> for <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="44a966be-ca78-49a7-9f0f-cc2fcf682d8b" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="44a966be-ca78-49a7-9f0f-cc2fcf682d8b">sexism,<br />blood depiction, murder by poisoning (on-page), animal attack, war themes</label>.<br /><br /><a href="https://typedtruth.wordpress.com/" rel="nofollow noopener"> Blog</a> • <a href="https://triggerwarningdatabase.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">Trigger Warning Database</a> • <a href="https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/typedtruths" rel="nofollow noopener">StoryGraph</a>

Anne Leonard's debut novel, <i> <a href="https://goodreads.com/book/show/16239655.Moth_and_Spark" title="Moth and Spark by Anne Leonard" rel="noopener">Moth and Spark</a> </i>, is an enjoyable surprise. I'm not sure what I was expecting when I read the blurb that described it as '<i>... </i>The Princess Bride<i> meets </i>Game of Thrones<i> ... with a dash of Jane Austen.</i>' but once i was reading it, it felt more like <i>Game of Thrones</i> meets <i>Pretty Woman</i>. Maybe that's because I've never read <i>The Princess Bride</i> or Jane Austen <input type="checkbox" class="spoiler__control" aria-label="The following text has been marked spoiler. Toggle checkbox to reveal or hide." onchange="this.labels[0].setAttribute('aria-hidden', !this.checked);" id="3653cf5f-641b-46b9-bc4e-18742932cc9e" /><label aria-hidden="true" class="spoiler" for="3653cf5f-641b-46b9-bc4e-18742932cc9e">Yes, I know that's a bad thing, but there is a sort of valid reason – sort of.</label> – although Jane Austen is thanked at the end of the novel for dialogue pointers. But, I've definitely read <i>Game of Thrones</i> and I've definitely seen <i>Pretty Woman</i>.<br /><br />The <i>Game of Thrones</i> connection is obvious: it's fantasy, there are dragons, and it's got a prologue that has little, if any, connection to the rest of the novel. There's even a chap called Bron. Corin is the prince – wealthy, powerful and successfully avoiding marriage, or love, this far in his life. Tam is smart and sassy and not at all used to the social structures of court. Although they're from different worlds, they're destined to meet and fall in love. But obviously they cannot marry each other – an badly kept secret affair is all it can ever be. There's even a moment where the prince borrows an expensive necklace for Tam to wear to the ball – <i>Pretty Woman</i>.<br /><br />The first few chapters felt a bit slow, but this is where the world building takes place. The characters are introduced and we find out who they are and what makes them tick. The dual narration style follows both Corin's and Tam's separate stories until the 'events' force their paths together. Tam witnesses a murder and suddenly finds herself with access to some of the highest people in court. The book really takes off at this point and Leonard's story really captures the imagination. Yeah, there are still some pacing issues; yeah, there is still some weirdly awkward dialogue; and yeah, the book sort of peters out at the end. But, I forgive her. It's a debut novel, and the story pays off in spite of those flaws. We have wizards and dragon-riders, dragons who exist outside of time, princes and commoners, and a remote evil empire. What's not to like?<br /><br />My copy was an advanced copy – a rather poor PDF to Kindle conversion – but, the publisher was keen to point out that this was not the final version. The book hadn't been through it's final edit cycle, so not only would I absolutely expect the formatting problems to be resolved, I might well hope that some of the pacing and dialogue might even be tightened up in the final print.