“Raid a dragon's hoard for her dowry? It seemed like a good idea at the time...
Madelena isn't in love with her friend Armando, but his marriage proposal offers the security she needs. She sympathizes with him—his father insists Armando must either find a bride or join the army. Armando would rather become a husband than a soldier, but his ugly face has scared away all other eligible ladies despite his family's wealth. Although she harbors only friendship for Armando, Madelena agrees to marry him on one condition: she insists on acquiring a dowry worthy of his family's noble standing in the land of Costa Nueva. But as a humble stablemaid, Madelena has no idea how to find such wealth. That's when the talking burro Terco mentions he's heard how to find a dragon’s treasure.
Javier, Armando’s younger brother, has loved Madelena in silence for years. When he learns of their impending marriage, he offers to help her find the treasure, even though succeeding may cost him the chance to spend his future with her. Together, they face a dangerous wilderness, a charming bandit, and a dragon’s lair, forcing Javier to confront his feelings and Madelena to re-evaluate her heart.”
Series: Book #6 in the multi-author series, “Cornerstone”. It does not seem to be connected to any other books, however. A stand-alone novel. Click on the books to be taken to that review: Book #1, Book #2, and Book #3, Book #4!, and Book #5!
Spiritual Content- A few Scriptures are mentioned, remembered, & quoted; Many Prayers & Thanking God; God is called by the Spanish word ‘Dios’ in this book; 'H's are capital when referring to God; Mentions of Dios; Mentions of prayers, praying, blessings over food, & thanking God; Mentions of going to church/Mass, mission churches, Mass, & priests; A couple mentions of a cross necklace; A mention of Heaven; A mention of someone being a godsend; A mention of someone not being “conscientious enough” to become a priest; A mention of blessings;
*Note: When thanking Dios for a meal with meat in it, Madelena particularly thanks Him for creating animals “that did not speak or think, all of which He permitted to be eaten” and it’s added that “those were much different from the talking kinds of animals, the burros, horses, dogs, cats, and birds of prey which He had created as helpers to work for and with humans, not to be eaten by them.”; Madelena has a talking burro and he is with her on this journey to a dragon’s lair, plus two talking horses; A man talks to a bird in a language that Madelena and Javier don’t understand; Madelena talks to a dragon.
Negative Content- Minor cussing including: a ‘dumb’, a ‘shut up’, and three ‘stupid’s; A mention of a curse (said, not written); Some sarcasm & eye rolling; Both Madelena and Javier eavesdrop on conversations; Madelena considers lying about not finding the treasure, but knows she couldn’t live with herself if she lied about it; Talking horses are unable to lie, but burros can bend or ignore the truth (which is why most duplicitous people use burros); Fighting, Being hit, Facing bandits, Being held at gun-point, Gunshots, & a Duel where someone could die and concern for the person (including imagining the person hurt or dead, up to semi-detailed); Seeing someone shot, a bad injury, pain, blood/bleeding, & giving someone stitches (up to semi-detailed); Seeing a burro attacked by a wildcat, the blood/injury, & shooting the wildcat (and later the dead body of the wildcat, up to semi-detailed); Killing a tick (up to semi-detailed); Javier has a bit of a temper and wishes to punch a man for his comments towards Madelena; Javier gives Madelena a cup of brandy to drink when she’s injured (she’s never had brandy before so he says she’s in a for “a real treat” and his parents enjoy sharing a brandy after supper every evening); A dragon threatens to eat Madelena and Javier or her burro (the dragon adds about the taste of the burro, but Madelena won’t give him her talking burro adding that she would never sell a talking creature to anyone who meant to eat it, barely-above-not-detailed); Many mentions of bandits, criminals, thieves, stealing, stolen items, being robbed, kidnappings, ransoms, being shot, & weapons; Mentions of deaths, grief, & fevers (Madelena’s parents); Mentions of a duel & the possibility of being killed (barely-above-not-detailed); Mentions of shooting, being shot at, & gunshots; Mentions of injuries, pain, stitches, & blood/bleeding (up to semi-detailed); Mentions of alcohol (wine and brandy) & drinking (See comment above for a positive comment about parents drinking brady after supper); Mentions of ticks stuck on animals & the animal being harmed or dying because of it (up to semi-detailed); A few mentions of a bully; A few mentions of lies, lying, & liars; A few mentions of a dead wildcat’s body (barely-above-not-detailed); A couple mentions of the possibility of being drugged or poisoned; A couple mentions of a story about a bear attack and a wife having to sew her husband’s hair back on; A couple mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of hunting; A mention of a dead rodent; A mention of manure; A mention of vomit;
*Note: Madelena assumes a couple of times that people think less of her because of her being a stablemaid and that not being typical work for a woman; Javier says his oldest brother is selfish and spoiled.
Sexual Content- An almost kiss (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed), a barely-above-not-detailed kiss, and two semi-detailed kisses; Remembering a kiss & an almost kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Wanting to kiss (barely-above-not-detailed); Glancing at another’s lips; Touches, Embraces, Hand holding, (border-line barely-above-not-detailed // semi-detailed); Remembering Touches & Dancing (barely-above-not-detailed); Noticing (barely-above-not-detailed); A bit of flirting; Madelena plans to marry Javier’s brother because of circumstances (marriage of convenience) even though they don’t love each other (she had come to expect that they would one day wed, so she had fed and nourished her affections for him, but still does not love him); A man flirts with Madelena which makes Javier jealous; Another man wants Javier to trade Madelena for a horse (which he doesn’t do); Mentions of kisses, hand kisses, possible kisses, & kissing; Mentions of jealousy; A couple mentions of chaperones; Love, falling/being in love, & the emotions;
*Note: Madelena looks away from a shirtless man, but notices Javier tugging his shirt back on (barely-above-not-detailed); Madelena is “what others generally called “a solid girl”” and that “her shoulders and arms boasted the kinds of firm and useful muscles many young men would be proud to have. The kind that would drive most young women of Costa Nueva to wearing long sleeves or a shawl to hide them. But not Madelena Vela. She had gained her strength through honorable work, and she felt no need to hide it.”; Later, Madelena notes that she has “a woman’s curves” but they are “understated compared to her powerful shoulders”; Madelena wears a dress that “modestly covered her womanly curves while making sure they were shown off to their best advantage”; A few comments/thoughts from Madelena about decent women keeping their hair up as only a husband should be allowed the intimacy of seeing a woman’s hair down.
-Madelena Vela, age 22
-Javier Moncada, age 20
P.O.V. switches between them
188 pages
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My personal Rating-
{ Those squeamish to blood/injuries might not enjoy scenes from this book, lower up to a full star for such readers. }
I have a new pitch for this book: Josefina American Girl Books + a little bit of Dora the Explorer with the quest for a dragon’s lair + the cutest unrequited love 🥹 + talking animals (which I typically don’t like, but it worked so well for this book?) + a little Love Comes Softly for the Western setting and a scene towards the end = I was pretty flabbergasted about this one. Which is so funny to me because out of those elements, if someone tried to sell that pitch to me, only the unrequited love and smitten MMC (he’s been reading books and learning all he can about establishing a successful business so he can build a home with her one day—my heart!) would have attracted me to this story. But it worked so well despite it being so different for me, oddly enough.
I will say that I didn’t quite get The Ugly Duckling story? Javier’s brother is known to not be good-looking, but he was mostly mentioned, and we didn’t see him much so I thought it was strange that he would be the ugly duckling.
There were a few parts that made me squirm that had to do with blood and injuries and animals, just as a heads up for those sensitive to that element. I’m usually not in books, but there were more details that I was expecting in this one about all of that.
When I first started reading this book and saw the talking animals, I thought it was interesting, but not really my normal read. Which it wasn’t. At all. But it ended up being such a fun wild card, if you will, and one I will be thinking of fondly!
See y’all on Friday with a new review!
*BFCG may (Read the review to see) recommend this book by this author. It does not mean I recommend all the books by this author.
