Jennifer Mandula

'Mary.' Her eyes went wide, lashes fluttering. 'What is that?' 'Well. If I am not mistaken - and I don't think I am - this is a pterodactyl.' Mary Anning wants to be a geomagician a paleontologist who uses fossils to wield magic but since the Geomagical Society of London refuses to admit women, she s stuck selling her discoveries to tourists instead. Then an ancient egg hatches in her hands, revealing a loveable baby pterodactyl Mary names Ajax, and she knows that this is the kind of scientific find that could make her career if she s strategic. But when Mary contacts the Society about her discovery, they demand to take possession of Ajax. Their emissary is none other than Henry Stanton, a distinguished (and infuriatingly handsome) scholar... and the man who once broke Mary s heart. She knows she can't trust her fellow scholars, who want to discredit her and claim Ajax for their own, but Henry insists he believes in the brilliant Mary, and only wants to help her obtain the respect she deserves. Now Mary has a new mystery to solve that's buried deeper than any dinosaur skeleton: She must uncover the secrets behind the Society and the truth about Henry. As her conscience begins to chafe against her ambition, Mary must decide what lengths she s willing to go to finally belong and what her heart really wants.

Fossil hunter Mary Anning has spent her life on the outskirts of geomagic, despite the fact her own discoveries helped establish the field. The Geomagical Society of London doesn’t admit women – though they are happy to make their name off the specimens Mary supplies them with – leaving her to scrape by selling enchanted objects to tourists visiting her in Lyme Regis.So when Mary finds an extremely rare fossilised pterodactyl egg that, to her absolute shock, hatches in her hands, she seizes the opportunity and strikes a bargain with her geomagician mentor: she''ll sell him the pterodactyl in exchange for a promise of nomination to the Society. But upon her arrival to London, Mary''s met with both collegial warmth and animosity. Complicating things further, her childhood friend and the man who once broke her heart also happens to be her mentor''s infuriatingly handsome colleague.And as she gets closer to uncovering the secrets of the Society and the truth about the pterodactyl, Mary must decide where her heart really lies, and what lengths she''s willing to go to in order to finally belong.Especially when her discoveries could unravel everything''s she''s ever worked for.