Heartstone

A fantasy novel with elements of Pride and Prejudice, this mashup had issues with both lineages. Or maybe Regency romance just isn't my thing.

Starting with the fantasy, which is my thing. The world is interesting, with lots of creatures both good and ill. The concept of a special team called in to solve the "griffin problem" works, and some rivalry (riders vs rangers) is also interesting. The potential for the main character to pursue a different life, a hissing villain... and then the story goes cold. After a dry middle passage, we get back to battle, though the villain (and his extortion) never reappears. The defeat of the monster was too quick. Perhaps some of this was to set up a sequel? Not sure.

Regency romance is satire on social interactions and human foibles, and these have all been removed. There is a 1:1 match between this book and Austen's work, and most of the same plot lines are also followed. Wickham exceeds his roll of rake in a rather violent fashion, but the remaining characters are just too nice, and that makes for a boring run.

I was impressed by a short story from the author and added this book to my goal of reading more women writers of genre fiction. I'll probably not read the next book in the series, though my mind could be changed by the right discussion. In goodreads rating, this book was okay - 2 stars out of 5.