FIRE WITH FIRE is a book I seriously wish had been around when I was a teenager. Biracial Latina sisters Dani and Eden Rivera training from childhood to join the family business of dragon slaying? My fantasy-loving teenage self would have spontaneously combusted from joy, and I’m still thrilled I got the chance to read it now. Author Destiny Soria put a little bit of everything in this book: sibling conflict, figuring out who you are/want to be, cat-and-mouse games, romance, and—of course—dragons!

I really enjoyed Dani and Eden as our narrators, especially since they often don’t see eye-to-eye. I understood Dani wanting to do her own thing and not prioritizing her dragon-slaying talents despite family expectations, and I totally got why Eden would be so frustrated by that, especially when she was taking things seriously and still falling short of Dani’s natural talent. Even before a dragon and magic come between them, the sisters’ dynamic felt very real and occasionally heartbreaking. It was always interesting to see them from each other’s point of view and realize how close to/far off the mark they are. Your enjoyment of this book is likely to hinge on if you can sympathize with both of them (and I am happy to report that I did!).

FIRE WITH FIRE moves quickly and expects its audience to keep up, which I enjoyed. Sometimes fantasy books set in the modern world have a difficult time integrating the two, but I had no trouble believing that the Rivera family were part of a small group of dragon hunters, ever vigilant for the growing-closer-to-extinction-each-day dragon-kind. It was nice to see that the Rivera parents had day jobs, Dani had a summer job, and Eden was taking college classes. That retreat to a (mostly) normal home made the adventures with dragons and sorcerers all the more spectacular—and there are some fantastic confrontations and fights in this book.

While I largely view FIRE WITH FIRE as an adventure story, we do have some romantic subplots that support the main action. Dani is canonically bi (and has to deal with the first girl she ever kissed coming back to town), and both sisters have their own romantic subplots. I do wish we had gotten just a little more of Eden’s developing romantic relationship, though I will admit that prioritizing Eden’s relationship with her sister and herself was the better narrative decision.

Recommendation: Get it soon if you’re in the mood for a contemporary fantasy. FIRE WITH FIRE is a fast-moving book with a sibling relationship at its heart and a lot of fun adventures running through it. This is the first book I’ve ready by author Destiny Soria, and I will definitely keep an eye out for her next project.

First of all, who doesn't love a book about dragons. I really enjoyed the sister dynamic between Eden and Dani and both of them trying to prove themselves to their families and their dragon-slaying heritage. The transition between scenes sometimes felt a little blurry and it took me a couple pages to re-situate myself in the story, but I had so much fun watching all the chaos unfold.

A really enjoyable read. Characters were three dimensional and well rounded as well as interesting. The conflict between the two sisters was understandable and really easy to relate to. I loved Nox! I really enjoyed this book by Destiny Soria and can't wait to read something else by this author

I absolutely LOVED Fire with Fire! Dani and Eden are such well-written characters, and the sisterly bond is nice to read about among a plethora of YA stories that focus on romantic relationships above all others. Dani especially was endearing and fierce.

Dani and Eden since they were little have trained to honor their family's surname which is synonymous with being the best dragon slayers, but while Eden seeks perfection and recognition from his clan through constant training, Dani is interested in leading a normal life where his dragon hunting life does not interfere at all. Soon Dani will begin to question if what she knows about dragons is true when Dani meet Nox with whom she will have a special bond.
The story charmed me from the moment Dani and Nox met until the last sentence of the book, all the time there was action, and the characters are very memorable, and each character presented to us by the author has a role in the story. I enjoyed seeing how the magic of the sorcerers worked. Many times I get to despair of a certain character (Eden) because the decision she took and the things that she did and how she was seduced by power ,but that made me like the book even more because we see quite complex characters and it is something that we rarely get to see in the books, I must also highlight the representation we see in this book because the sisters are half Latinas, strong, independent and Dani is bisexual and I love it.
Each chapter revealed new information to us and served to make the plot develop, passing those chapters we see how the sisters take different paths, but it is their motivations that guide them in this story. I don't know if this book will be a standalone or it will have a continuation, I hope so, because if it’s a standalone I think it's missing pages because I'm left with the intrigue of what happened with after the last sentence.
Favorite character: Dani, Nox and Kieran. The interaction between these 3 characters, Nox with his sarcastic comments in everything Dani did or said were on point and more when he said "I hadn't heard any dumber idea but do it" had me laughing. As for Dani, I adorated her with all my heart as she defended her ideals and because she was not going to stop until I achieved what she wanted to achieve and never lost sight of what was important, her relationship with Nox was the funniest thing in this book. As for Kieran I've never read such a gray character

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars (rounded up)
This book had sisters to enemies, dragons, and a bi lead. And did I mention dragons!!!!
It was such a fun read, though at some points the romance and plot felt a little rushed but overall I genuinely enjoyed this book.

All Eden wants is to be the best dragon slayer she can be, but it's hard to do when her younger sister is a dragon slaying prodigy. Dani wants to be normal. She doesn't care about dragon slaying or her family's legacy. Everything changes when Dani has an unexpected run-in with a dragon and forms a soul bond with it. Things go even more sideways when Eden finds out about it. Eden runs to the sorcerers for help, but their help comes with a price. Who will have to pay it?

Fire with Fire pits sisters against sister, sorcerer vs. slayer, and questions everything the legendary dragon slayers have ever known. Well paced and action packed, this book follows two sisters as they pulled in very different directions and fates.

Such a powerful read! Could deff not put it down. Everything from the characters to the writing to the plot and twists it was amazing. I will deff keep reading this author as it was a great experience.

I loved this book, especially because there aren’t that many good modern day dragon books. I loved the characters and their development throughout the whole story, even the side characters! The beginning drew me in straight away with the mention of dragons but never what they really did or where they were, making me curious to read on to see what happened.
The fast pacing of the story really made it enjoyable to read and I was never bored when going through. Themes of love, power, betrayal and magic were prominent throughout the whole book from start to end. However, I feel like the world building could’ve been improved as we don’t really learn that much about the history of the sorcery. Also the POV switches between Eden and Dani were hard to keep track of sometimes.
I’m so glad I read this and I recommend to anyone. Thank you to Netgalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for giving me an ARC of this book and Thank you to Destiny Soria for writing this amazing story.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the dual perspectives it presented to the reader. I enjoyed getting to know both sisters. I love books with dragons in them. The world was interesting. I did struggle a bit at the beginning and think that it was definitely a slow burn at the start, but once the action picked up it was worth powering through the start

Fire with Fire is a great exploration of the relationship between sisters and how different life can be, even when you are raised under the same roof. It was a fun read with a lot of great world-building. I love the use of the South-Eastern part of the United States as a setting that went beyond pickup trucks and football. Instead, we get a much-needed story about a family of color, especially a Latino family.

How do two sisters find themselves on opposite sides?
Fire with Fire by Destiny Soria is a dragon fantasy YA novel. I don’t usually go for dragons but I liked the idea of following two sisters in a contemporary world of monster hunting and magic. Plus the cover is beautiful.

The story is in two voices, we have Dani, the impulsive, gifted and untamable one. The one that is confident and does what she wants, just because. And we have Eden, the older, the one who works hard, dedicates herself to the cause, never feels good enough, pushes herself all the time and ultimately has terrible anxiety. And both of them have been brought up to save humanity from the terrible threat of dragons.

I really loved that the story was in two voices, it is always fun to see how a same event can be interpreted so differently, misunderstood or read in a very different light. I really enjoy that kind of story building and think this works particularly well in teen fiction - a time period in people’s lives when it isn’t always easy to put yourself in someone else’s shoes.

Another big bonus of the book was Eden. She was such a layered character. Her difficulties make her so relatable and real, her panic attacks, anguish, struggles and continual fight against herself and threats. She might not be the type of person crowds might go for at first, but there is so much to dig and understand and feel for. She really was a nice highlight to the book. And by comparison Dani rang very hollow to me. She lacked personality and depth and seemed so superficial. There was something very childish about her, of course she is the youngest, but her motivation at first seemed very self centered despite the story about how she got her best friend. This is subjective of course, but I admit to have been almost bored by her sections at first.

The setting takes a lot of time to come together and I think there wasn’t such a need to dwell on many of the more mundane details. It felt dragging and a little heavy at first, but it made it clear which world we were in. Everything was explained in great details and I don’t think it was that necessary, even to get a sense of the sisters.

Everything makes sense in this book and has a place, it fits in the overall story and was introduced for a reason. The plot is well rounded and thoroughly thought out. But it wasn’t something unforgettable or that sweeps you along and grabs at you intensely. I can’t really say it was a page turner and probably because all the Dani sections felt a little weak to me and needed more character depth. There were some good ingredients there that could have made for a more interesting character, but they went nowhere. She just felt so entitled in her attitude and speech.

I think this will talk mainly to people who love dragon stories and sister friendships.

I did not think this YA dragon book would make me miss doing MMA so much it hurts, but here we are. Thank you to the publisher for an ARC of this book!
To be honest, this book was a bit hard to get into and I'm still undecided if it was a slow start, or if it wasn't for me, or if maybe it wasn't the time for me to read it. Maybe it's a little bit of all. I'm always one to point out that marking books as YA or MG or NA or adult is more about the target audience of this book (and in most cases also about the age of characters), and not that it's a genre - but in these times I think people have come to consider YA to be a genre more than anything else. And this book made me see why - I think it's almost aggressively YA in the way people think of YA books - but in ALL the good ways.
This book is fun. This book made me feel a lot of things. This book has interesting characters, some of which grow more on you than others. This book straight forward has a character dealing with anxiety and panic attacks, and, hey, as someone who also deals with that? It was good to read. And, this book, most importantly, has dragons.
It also made me feel like YA books, as a genre and not target audience, are not my cup of tea anymore, and I'm a little conflicted about this because all in all? I enjoyed this book. The first half of it was slow, and then suddenly I couldn't put it down.
Were I still 17, I'd be obsessed with it. I'd keep borrowing it from the library until I'd save up enough money to buy a copy. What I most loved about it? It reminded me of how I felt reading Eragon when I was 10, a book about dragons, a book that I grew up with and will always, always have a very special place in my heart.

Representation: bisexual, latinx, anxiety disorder

Content warnings: blood, violence, torture, cursing, manipulation, panic attacks, sibling rivalry

Ahhh a fantasy book with latinx and bisexual representation in a fantasy setting with dragons?!! I was so excited to hear about this book and it was so good!

Sister dragon slayers that turn into enemies is just the trope I needed. The story follows two sisters Dani and Eden who grew up in a family of dragon slayers. Eden is committed to the dragon slaying while Dani ends up bonding with a dragon - Nox and her feelings and everything changes.

Some of the characters needed to be fleshed out a bit and I felt the romance was a little rushed and the pov where in the middle of chapters which threw me off a bit but overall it was such a enjoyable change of pace and I loved Dani a lot.

Thanks Netgalley for the e-arc

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my unbiased review.

I want to say that it is so refreshing to read a contemporary YA novel that isn’t an obvious set up for a trilogy or even a cliché love triangle! Fire with Fire is most importantly the story of family bonds, especially sisters. The Rivera family works as dragon slayers, a secret operation that works with the world of sorcerers. While exciting, sometimes it’s younger trainees just want to be teenagers and do normal teenager things.

Sisters Dani and Eden view their lineage differently, so when one sister is taken in by the sorcerers and the other befriends a dragon rather than slaying it, sibling rivalry goes to an entirely new level.

At times the plot moved a bit slowly, and some of the subplots, such as the ones with Sadie and Nate, did not seem necessary for the overall story. Naturally the bulk of the action takes place when the parents are conveniently away on business too. That said, the concluding scene of the family involving the entire Rivera family and the aunt is wonderfully suspenseful. There are plenty of pop culture references to current music and social media trends teens will recognize.

It is refreshing to see Latinx in the world of fantasy. Although a character references a lack of Spanish, I believe that a greater inclusion of Spanish would have been an even more welcome addition to the story.

Wow. I thought this book was just plain incredible. The main characters, Dani and Eden, were both understandable and dynamic, and while their conflicting motivations caused problems for the characters and their relationship though out the story, it placed them on opposite sides in a well done manner without either of them seeming unrelatable. The theme of what it really means to be human that was explored by Eden throughout the story was inspiring, and the eternal loyalty between sisters that bound Dani and Eden together made this a really enjoyable read.

This book was not what I was expecting but I really liked it! This book was so badass! I honestly couldn't put it down! There was honestly just so much to love about this book and I don't want to spoil anything because this book is best to go into not knowing a ton.

What more could a girl want? Dragons, fire, drama, and maybe love. This book has the right amount of intrigue, suspense, action, and turmoil to keep readers on the edge of their seats as the story unfolds. I would highly recommend this book and would not be surprised if it gets turned into a new tv series.

While it had a bit of a slow start, I couldn’t stop reading the last quarter! I’d say 4/4.5 as the final rating.
Sisters Eden and Dani have been training nearly their whole lives to join their parents as dragon slayers. After Dani suddenly becomes bound to a dragon, Eden turns to the only people she thinks can help- the sorcerers. But are the two dragon-fighting groups actually allies?

It took me a while to get into the story- I’d say the first third would be 3-3.5. However, once all the pieces were in play, I really enjoyed it. Destiny Soria does an excellent job in writing both sisters. While Dani is undoubtedly the protagonist, I really felt for Eden the entire time. Both experience classic teen/ya emotions (trying to have it all, never feeling adequate)- albeit in a new context. Language will keep it off of my 6th grade shelves, but if I taught high school I’d most likely buy it.