Dragonfly by Julia Golding

Dragonfly by Julia Golding is a book my 13 year old read last year, and she said it was one of her absolute favorites.  She read it last summer and kept saying "Mom, you need to read this!   Mom, you need to read this!"  She got it for Christmas and put it on my nightstand.  Can you tell that my nightstand is where people put things so I can read them?  Anyway, after reading this I wished I would have picked it up sooner.  I loved it!  Tashi is the Fourth Crown Princess of the Blue Crescent Islands and Prince Ramil is from Gerfal.  Two very different people from two very different nations that have been forced into an arranged marriage so their countries will not go to war and be united against an evil warlord.  The two start out hating each other, but life quickly changes as they are kidnapped by the evil warlord and strive to deal with their difficulties and escape and try to save their two countries which they love and each other.  A great classic adventure and romance.  It is very clean and uplifting.  Both characters must exam their faith, what they should stand up for and what keeps them going.  A very good read for teenage girls (or for anyone for that matter).  I stayed up way too late reading it because it is a book you can't put down.  It is not a series, which is amazing to find a stand alone book now days, and that is nice.  Golding is from the UK and has several other books out that I would really like to read now.  She does have another book set in the same world as this book called  The Glass Shadows but this is not supposed to be available in the US until later this year.  I read that is does have Ramil and Tashi in it, but they aren't the main characters.  Definitely a 4 star book.  Check it out.