Hands-down my favorite thing was the relationship between Laurence and Temeraire

I was re-reading His Majesty's Dragon (or maybe it was one of the later books) a while back and noticing that some elements could almost have been lifted from a romance plot. Very charming, I thought.

Now you've made me want to read the most recent book, and it's not out in paperback yet. Sigh. (My one major nitpick with Naomi Novik is her tendency to end books with cliffhangers...)