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Solstice Dragon World #2
Dragon Bone Ridge
Dragons can be so demanding at times, even those stuck in stone.
Nyle came to Maribelle in a dream demanding she help him reclaim his missing dragon pieces.
She has more than enough keeping her busy, except for a man in her life. Adding searching for stone dragon parts seems hardly conducive to improving her love life.
Nyle has waited years for someone to fall asleep near him on a solstice day and agree to make him flesh and blood again. He’s not going to allow a man to interfere with his plans.
If she can’t locate all the missing pieces, Nyle is doomed to be stone, and she’s going to be stuck with a dragon wandering around in her dreams. A woman needs privacy when she’s asleep.
Maribelle has her own goals to achieve, but Nyle’s needs keep getting tangled in her own.
When Seth enters her life, helping a dragon becomes a frustrating endeavor that begins to reveal buried fractures in her own family.
Will she have time to help Nyle before he’s permanently fractured as well? Does she even want to?
Buy this standalone novel in the Solstice Dragon World because dreams are tricky and dragons trickier.
Nyle came to Maribelle in a dream demanding she help him reclaim his missing dragon pieces.
She has more than enough keeping her busy, except for a man in her life. Adding searching for stone dragon parts seems hardly conducive to improving her love life.
Nyle has waited years for someone to fall asleep near him on a solstice day and agree to make him flesh and blood again. He’s not going to allow a man to interfere with his plans.
If she can’t locate all the missing pieces, Nyle is doomed to be stone, and she’s going to be stuck with a dragon wandering around in her dreams. A woman needs privacy when she’s asleep.
Maribelle has her own goals to achieve, but Nyle’s needs keep getting tangled in her own.
When Seth enters her life, helping a dragon becomes a frustrating endeavor that begins to reveal buried fractures in her own family.
Will she have time to help Nyle before he’s permanently fractured as well? Does she even want to?
Buy this standalone novel in the Solstice Dragon World because dreams are tricky and dragons trickier.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2020
About the author
L. Darby Gibbs
50 books28 followersL. Darby Gibbs, aka Elldee: I have lived all over the country, so I don't feel I come from anywhere specific, but I started in Maryland and consider California my current home base. I am a teacher of creative writing.
At thirteen, I read science fiction almost exclusively, reading Asimov first and moving alphabetically down the library shelf, then turned to fantasy for a while taking in everything up through Tolkien. I spend my free time reading many of the classics, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and contemporary fiction.
I have four fantasy series and a nonfiction book on narrative frameworks available in eBook form on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobe and other fine eBook retailers.
At thirteen, I read science fiction almost exclusively, reading Asimov first and moving alphabetically down the library shelf, then turned to fantasy for a while taking in everything up through Tolkien. I spend my free time reading many of the classics, science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and contemporary fiction.
I have four fantasy series and a nonfiction book on narrative frameworks available in eBook form on Amazon, Smashwords, Kobe and other fine eBook retailers.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
March 19, 2021
So, I was only interested in the moments Seth was around and when Mirabella and Nyle were in a dream. I didn’t care about anything else going on or any of the other characters except her siblings. I did like them. I found Seth to be really cute and thoughtful.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
February 22, 2023
unique dragon story
This is one of the most unique dragon stories I have ever read. The characters are well developed and the story is fabulous. I could imagine something similar happening at Backbone State Park in Iowa, although that would be a much larger dragon..
This is one of the most unique dragon stories I have ever read. The characters are well developed and the story is fabulous. I could imagine something similar happening at Backbone State Park in Iowa, although that would be a much larger dragon..
September 12, 2022
This book starts out as a pleasant summer read. Before you know it, the reader is completely immersed in Mirabelle's world. The author's skill at pulling the reader in is amazing. A confident young woman make a great protagonist for this story. You will viscerally feel her emotions and thoughts as you gently glide into this wonderful tale between the woman and the dragon.
This is also a love story. The reader gets to be a witness as real true love is slowly unraveled. The author has given us several outstanding examples of how true love really works.
This is definitely a book to let yourself get immersed and just enjoy the ride.
This is also a love story. The reader gets to be a witness as real true love is slowly unraveled. The author has given us several outstanding examples of how true love really works.
This is definitely a book to let yourself get immersed and just enjoy the ride.
June 14, 2020
Sweet
Another dragon take. This is very different to the first in the series. This is a friendship between a dragon and a woman. It is standalone despite being book 2. I’d hoped for more connection to the first story.
Another dragon take. This is very different to the first in the series. This is a friendship between a dragon and a woman. It is standalone despite being book 2. I’d hoped for more connection to the first story.
August 25, 2023
My favorite so far from this series (out of the first three books). From this point forward, spoilers abound, so consider yourself warned.
The shared lucid dreaming was interesting.
I liked Maribelle. She was capable, intelligent, shrewd and merciless in business, disciplined, but also friendly (with a wide network of friends), gracious enough to be willing to maintain a friendship with a lady that at first she did not enjoy, caring enough to drop everything to nurse back to health an elderly man with a bad fever, and compassionate enough to use her little free time to go hunting for body parts for a dragon that was a nuisance and was holding her ransom by threatening to not let her sleep if she didn’t cooperate.
Also, as I've come to expect from L. Darby Gibbs, the world-building and attention to detail is far better than the vast majority of self-published fantasy-romance books. She brings her worlds alive with realistic details of life in an age prior to our technological age of convenience (things which most self-published fantasy writers don't think of, like snow collecting in your petticoats--an example from a different of this author's books, but the one that comes to mind) and fantasy details that make her dragons stand out as being memorably distinct from the innumerable other iterations of dragons in other fantasy books.
This is not a book to read if you DON'T want to read about a vividly-portrayed world with a village full of other people besides the main characters, don't want to read the details of Maribelle preparing lunch (I found this delightful myself) or running a store, don't care about how the female lead's relationship with anyone other than her love interest develops, and would rather read a book full of nonstop fight-or-flight-inducing danger.
This is another way of saying the book was a bit slow at times. However, personally I deeply enjoyed the richness of both the world-building and the development of so many other relationships besides even the friendship with the dragon (the relationship most central to the story) and her love interest (who had somewhat less screen time than the dragon). There were family relationships, including older characters’ efforts to coax the lead’s younger sister to greater maturity, there was Maribelle’s friendship with an older lady of higher social standing, whom she only tolerated at first but gained a true appreciation for by the end, there was the relationship between that same lady and her childhood sweetheart, there was Maribelle’s friendship with the innkeeper, and (possibly my favorite) the way that she met, got to know, and coaxed out of isolation her uncle who had been married to her aunt who passed away.
And despite the slow pacing at first, things did gain a great deal of urgency at the climax when several significant characters were all working together and fighting against time to restore the dragon’s final parts before his stone form cracked too deeply and killed him.
The relationship with Seth (the love interest) didn’t show very much in terms of bonding activities like, e.g., long conversations, but the chemistry was still evident and convincing despite their lack of time together, and the approval of all family members involved helped it to feel to readers like this is a good match.
I also really liked that when they fought and had a temporary estrangement (which is a common trope of romance novels), it actually was for a convincing reason that made sense. (The same is true for her temporary estrangement from Nyle, the dragon.)
As my only real criticism, I would just say there were a few little loose threads that never seemed to have an explanation or a significance in terms of the plot. However, for the most part everything wrapped up very neatly in the end.
Compared to the other fantasy-romance novels flooding the market right now, reading this book was like eating a satisfying, well-nourishing meal instead of a snack that's sweet but low on substance. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the series is one I will certainly come back to.
The shared lucid dreaming was interesting.
I liked Maribelle. She was capable, intelligent, shrewd and merciless in business, disciplined, but also friendly (with a wide network of friends), gracious enough to be willing to maintain a friendship with a lady that at first she did not enjoy, caring enough to drop everything to nurse back to health an elderly man with a bad fever, and compassionate enough to use her little free time to go hunting for body parts for a dragon that was a nuisance and was holding her ransom by threatening to not let her sleep if she didn’t cooperate.
Also, as I've come to expect from L. Darby Gibbs, the world-building and attention to detail is far better than the vast majority of self-published fantasy-romance books. She brings her worlds alive with realistic details of life in an age prior to our technological age of convenience (things which most self-published fantasy writers don't think of, like snow collecting in your petticoats--an example from a different of this author's books, but the one that comes to mind) and fantasy details that make her dragons stand out as being memorably distinct from the innumerable other iterations of dragons in other fantasy books.
This is not a book to read if you DON'T want to read about a vividly-portrayed world with a village full of other people besides the main characters, don't want to read the details of Maribelle preparing lunch (I found this delightful myself) or running a store, don't care about how the female lead's relationship with anyone other than her love interest develops, and would rather read a book full of nonstop fight-or-flight-inducing danger.
This is another way of saying the book was a bit slow at times. However, personally I deeply enjoyed the richness of both the world-building and the development of so many other relationships besides even the friendship with the dragon (the relationship most central to the story) and her love interest (who had somewhat less screen time than the dragon). There were family relationships, including older characters’ efforts to coax the lead’s younger sister to greater maturity, there was Maribelle’s friendship with an older lady of higher social standing, whom she only tolerated at first but gained a true appreciation for by the end, there was the relationship between that same lady and her childhood sweetheart, there was Maribelle’s friendship with the innkeeper, and (possibly my favorite) the way that she met, got to know, and coaxed out of isolation her uncle who had been married to her aunt who passed away.
And despite the slow pacing at first, things did gain a great deal of urgency at the climax when several significant characters were all working together and fighting against time to restore the dragon’s final parts before his stone form cracked too deeply and killed him.
The relationship with Seth (the love interest) didn’t show very much in terms of bonding activities like, e.g., long conversations, but the chemistry was still evident and convincing despite their lack of time together, and the approval of all family members involved helped it to feel to readers like this is a good match.
I also really liked that when they fought and had a temporary estrangement (which is a common trope of romance novels), it actually was for a convincing reason that made sense. (The same is true for her temporary estrangement from Nyle, the dragon.)
As my only real criticism, I would just say there were a few little loose threads that never seemed to have an explanation or a significance in terms of the plot. However, for the most part everything wrapped up very neatly in the end.
Compared to the other fantasy-romance novels flooding the market right now, reading this book was like eating a satisfying, well-nourishing meal instead of a snack that's sweet but low on substance. I thoroughly enjoyed the book, and the series is one I will certainly come back to.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2022
Lacking after reading book one .
I was very excited to begin reading this book after reading the first book in the series ( The Dragon Question). However, the first few chapters had so many moments that seem to drag for me. By sticking with it though I found the characters became more interesting and so did the story line. There we several connecting words missing in the sentences also, However were easily known. I gave book 2 a 3 Star rating because of of this.
I was very excited to begin reading this book after reading the first book in the series ( The Dragon Question). However, the first few chapters had so many moments that seem to drag for me. By sticking with it though I found the characters became more interesting and so did the story line. There we several connecting words missing in the sentences also, However were easily known. I gave book 2 a 3 Star rating because of of this.
May 28, 2023
Cleverly original
I so enjoyed this story about an intelligent girl and a friendly but grumpy dragon with an unusual problem. I usually prefer fairytale retellings and this tale was a refreshing change. I loved the strong supporting characters, and the story's well-crafted development: how Maribelle learned to manage Lady Caridas, and how she and Kady got Aunnie to pull her weight.
I so enjoyed this story about an intelligent girl and a friendly but grumpy dragon with an unusual problem. I usually prefer fairytale retellings and this tale was a refreshing change. I loved the strong supporting characters, and the story's well-crafted development: how Maribelle learned to manage Lady Caridas, and how she and Kady got Aunnie to pull her weight.
July 23, 2024
A delightful fantasy tale
This was a wonderful story with an awesome twist on the dragon mythos. The main character is a sweet, intelligent and industrious young woman who helps a dragon with a truly unique problem all while helping her family run their businesses. There is budding romance and the rekindling of an old flame. This a story I would recommend to any fan of fantasy, romance and coming of age stories.
This was a wonderful story with an awesome twist on the dragon mythos. The main character is a sweet, intelligent and industrious young woman who helps a dragon with a truly unique problem all while helping her family run their businesses. There is budding romance and the rekindling of an old flame. This a story I would recommend to any fan of fantasy, romance and coming of age stories.
February 26, 2025
an unusual dragon tale
A very enjoyable read. The dragon of her dreams is a true statement here. I loved Maribelle showed loyalty to her family and friends. She demonstrated what it means to be a friend. Her ability to connect people to others was beautiful.
A very enjoyable read. The dragon of her dreams is a true statement here. I loved Maribelle showed loyalty to her family and friends. She demonstrated what it means to be a friend. Her ability to connect people to others was beautiful.
March 23, 2025
An awesome book!
I love the dragon and how he kept his word and took her for a ride once he was whole! She found all his parts just in time. I also loved the care and compassion she showed her friends and family!
I love the dragon and how he kept his word and took her for a ride once he was whole! She found all his parts just in time. I also loved the care and compassion she showed her friends and family!
June 12, 2025
Such a lovely story
Combining a family story with the magic of a stone dragon kept me reading. Every person was described in a glowing descriptive inter-related manner, exactly as it used to be in days gone by.
Combining a family story with the magic of a stone dragon kept me reading. Every person was described in a glowing descriptive inter-related manner, exactly as it used to be in days gone by.
February 24, 2025
Interesting
This is a total new world where stone dragons sleep. It is really the tale of Maribelle and her life. Interesting read!
This is a total new world where stone dragons sleep. It is really the tale of Maribelle and her life. Interesting read!
June 20, 2025
3.5 cosy fantasy. Different premise but enjoyable
July 9, 2025
Good book
I did enjoy the book. Although it did feel alot less adventury than the dragon question. I am happy with the character progression for all of the characters.
I did enjoy the book. Although it did feel alot less adventury than the dragon question. I am happy with the character progression for all of the characters.
May 29, 2024
Good slow paced read, not a lot is going on. I feel like you read this when you want to unwind from a busy day. I was invested in the story so I stayed until the end.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews