A Fire in the Sky is an exciting and captivating romantasy about power, magic, and love..

Tamsyn is the royal whipping girl - an orphan raised at the palace as a princess with one big difference - takes their punishments for her sisters as they cannot be touched. Her friend Stig is the captain of the royal guard, and reminds her that once the princesses are off and wed, she will be free to pursue her own life and make her own decisions. But when the Lord Fell Dryhten, the Beast of the Borderlands, arrives at the palace demanding to wed a princess in exchange for keeping the borders safe, the royals devise a plan. Instead of a princess, they will marry off Tamsyn instead. Once the deceit is revealed, it is too late, and Tamsyn and Fell are wed, and are set to return to the Borderlands as husband and wife, and enemies. Fell won't forget the deception and is planning his retribution, but he also can't stop thinking about Tamsyn. Is their bond stronger than their desire to remain enemies? In a land where dragons are extinct and witches are hunted down, magic is gone, but not lost.

It is so easy to be absorbed into this story! The prose flows easily and I read about 75% of the book in one sitting - only stopping there because I had to go to sleep! Tamsyn and Fell have a unique relationship - they should hate each other, but there is a spark there for sure that leads to some wonderful tension. There is a lot of "we can't ever be together" back and forth in the character's POV chapters, but you know they feel that spark too and there are plenty of swoony moments. The worldbuilding comes slowly, and I would have liked a little more of the history and lore. The ending is packed with heart stopping action, and I was on the edge of my seat while finishing this book. There is a ton of action, a history of dragons and witches, and kingdoms on the brink of war. I really enjoyed this treat of a book, and I look forward to reading more!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Harper Collins Avon for this advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

4.5 stars

This book blew me away! It was fast paced, lots of action, and gives the reader enough information, without feeling overwhelmed with world building! Dragons and magic!

I cannot wait for the next one already!

Truly an underdog story for both Tamsyn and Fell, but I really did enjoy that we got other point of view along the way to help build the story.

I’m a long time fan of this author, and she did a fantastic job with this one. This book does have a cliffhanger, but it’s not a terrible one.

I thought I would be getting the special edition based on how it was promoted on here. Nope. It was an ebook. Which I shouldn't have been too surprised. Don't promote it that way if you're doing ebooks. Nowhere did it say it was an ebook and not a physical copy. Anyways...Duel povs and it was the same details with no other information added to it. I had high hopes for this because of who the author is. This was a hard pass for me.

Tamsyn grew up alongside the princesses of Penterra as one of them, but not. She is the royal whipping girl and her role is to take the punishment for the princesses when they need discipline. The “Beast of the Borderlands”, Fell, protects Penterra against threats from the north and now asks for a Penterran bride as acknowledgment of the Borderlands’ contribution. The king is unwilling to hand over one of his daughters to Fell and decides to deceive him with Tamsyn. Now Tamsyn finds herself with a husband who hates her and she is being forced to move away from everyone and everything she knows.

This book really sucked me in. Tamsyn and Fell kept being drawn together even though Fell wanted to hate her for her part in the deception. I did guess the twists, but I don’t know that the author was trying to completely surprise us. Interesting storyline with some good tension and spice.

This was completely unexpected in the best way! I really enjoyed this book and now I need to go and read this authors back log!

I'm torn for how to rate this one. I went into A Fire in the Sky with expectations that it was going to be a fun dragon romantasy and while technically, yes it hit all of the marks, it really fell flat for me. I know starting any new fantasy series requires a lot of setup and world building but I feel like we were really missing a strong plot. I'm not sure if my problem was with the pacing or the world building or the writing itself but the story really struggled to capture my attention. None of the characters were particularly interesting and while I thought some parts had a lot of promise (i,e. the relationship between Fell/Tamsyn and Tamsyn hiding her secret from everyone) it all ended up feeling underwhelming. Even with a pretty interesting cliffhanger, I doubt I'll be reading any further in this series. There were just too many parts of the story where I found myself wishing for more.

Rating wise, I'm landing on 2.75. While it wasn't for me, I think this book would be fun for someone just getting into fantasy or anyone who is into shapeshifter fantasies.

This book looks absolutely beautiful went straight ahead to preorder! Since I was allowed to review the ARC I was hooked the second Lord Beast walked in and made his demand! I think it's worth the read if you like dragons and romance!

I loved this book!!! Thank you NetGalley for an arc for this book. It was so good!!! It was a very easy fantasy romance read. The plot focuses more on the romance than the dragons until the very end. The world building was not complicated or too much, easy to follow. There are a few plot twists at the end, I predicted one of them, but did not see the other. The story was good, I was picturing a tall Merida as Tamsyn. I feel like Fell was a little all over the place with his emotions like he couldn’t tell if he wanted to love her or not. The cover said it was a novel, I do not know if it’s turning into a series now or there will be a spin-off but she did say in acknowledgements that there would be more to their story, and thank goodness because after that bedding, I am unwell.cit was a good ending, but there is still so much unsettled. Highly recommend, if you want a quick fantasy read with dragons with not a complicated world building. And I have never been a fan of shifters, good book to ease you into it. Only reason it does not get 5 stars is I feel like it should have been longer or at least more info at least Tamsyn accepting herself or finding out about herself. She never really accepted she was a dragon.

Wow, I loved this story. I was reading something else when I started and got so hooked on this book that I ended up finishing this first. I honestly ate it up!! It’s got arranged marriage, betrayal, enemies to lovers, secrets, court politics, dragons, witches, and shifters. All the good stuff, what more could you want!

The romance between Tamsyn and Fell was central to the story and it was my favorite part for sure. The pull between them was so strong and I could feel that tension the more and more that they fought it. Their chemistry was so good, but they also stood strongly on their own as characters. Tamsyn might look on the outside like the average pampered princess but has dealt with lots of pain and abuse as the royal whipping girl. I loved seeing her strength come out! And Fell aka The Beast, has such a reputation as this scary and brutal warrior. And he has so much to prove, he could have been exactly that with Tamsyn. Seeing him soften for her was beautiful!

And the dragon twist! I am desperate to get the next book in my hands to see where this goes next.

I also really loved the world that Sophie created. I didn’t know that there were other books set in this world but I will be picking them up for sure.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for an egalley of this title to read and give an honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.
Jordan has long been a favorite author of mine. I love that she is versatile and can write in several different genres as well as age groups. I have read many of her YA books and her new adult. I've seen how well she writes contemporary, historical fiction, and fantasy. So I had no doubt I would enjoy this new one from her. And I was not wrong!
The first thing that drew me to this book is the dragons. They are very in right now (sailing on the coattails of Fourth Wing). What I hoped for was something unique and I do think I got it. The book was reminiscent of the Talon series by Kagawa but with a bit of an older crowd and some twisting involved. I see it being heralded as a romantasy and I will give it props to that because there is a lot of centering around the romantic relationship in this book. But that is not all it's about.
The world building is a little lite with this one. I kind of wanted more depth. Jordan does seemlessly weaves in the background of our character's fates and how the current world we are reading about is formed. There is some historical fiction in the form of a whipping girl; a throwback to 18th century aristocracy. But, don't get me wrong, this book really is pure fantasy about dragons and their history as it pertains to the world we are reading about. There is a bit of repetitiveness with the story line. Characters having inner monologue that is the same over and over again, giving nothing to actually move the story forward. So those bits were slower to absorb for me.
Jordan's characters are well fleshed out enough. The story is told in alternating points of view from Tamsyn, Fell, and Stig. There is one chapter from another character that plants some background. I kind of wish we had a few more of those as they would have leant to more world building. The points of view give good insight into who the characters are. The romance was ok. You know there is some connection by how the characters react in each other's presence. The romance becomes forced proximity. I wanted there to be more of a build up between the two characters romance wise, though. I felt like the chemistry was just a bit off. Characters are too quick to accept things, as well.
If you like twists, this story has a big one towards the end. I sort of figured it out but wanted to see how it would be revealed. The pacing was a bit more slow than what I would have liked before about the last 25% but it was fast enough that I wanted to see where things would go.
I was entertained enough that I would move on to the next book in this series. The ending definitely leaves all the room for that as it's basically a cliffhanger scenario. I need to know what happens next.
3.75 stars

I am obesssed with this book! I hadn't heard of this book until the publishers reached out and I am so glad they did! This book was right up my alley and I instantly wished that book 2 was already available. The book was broken up into parts, and I enjoyed how each part played out. The two plot twists, especially the one at the end were incredible and I need more of the story NOW - PLEASE. The pace was a little slow in the beginning, but picked up quickly. If you love romantasy and dragons, check out this book asap :)

- Dual POV
- Arranged Marriage
- Enemies to lovers
- Touch her and die
- Dragons
- Cliffhanger

I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan is a mixed third and first person multi-POV fantasy romance featuring dragon shifters. Tamsyn is the whipping girl of the royal family and also treated as the sister of the princesses. When Fell, the lord of the Borderlands, demands one of the princesses as a wife for all of his loyal services, the king gives him Tamsyn instead. Despite being tricked, Fell upholds the marriage while Tamsyn does what she can to try to make their union work.

What I liked was how Tamsyn does make a choice to go along with the plan because of her love for the princesses and the royal family as a whole. There’s a lot of complexity there because the queen found Tamsyn and adopted her, forming a familial bond that both do recognize, but Tamsyn is separate from the family as well. The whipping boy or girl is a long-standing tradition in the kingdom and Tamsyn was found at the exact right time to take on that role. You would think she’d be resentful of the system and how it treats her and yet she’s not. I’m curious if the next book will show if that’s because of her love for the royal family and how they do seem to treat her as one of them most of the time supersedes any resentment she might have or if she just buries that resentment deep, deep down and doesn’t let herself think about it.

The novel is more of an exploration of the early days of Fell and Tamsyn’s relationship that leads into a larger story rather than a self-contained romance like some fantasy romances tend to be. At their first meeting, Tamsyn and Fell don’t really talk and instead kind of size each other up, Tamsyn viewing him a threat to her sisters and Fell recognizes her as a servant but not much more. They don’t meet again until the wedding when Tamsyn is completely covered until after the wedding night to keep the ruse up. Despite starting their wedding on a deception, Fell takes Tamsyn back with him to the Borderlands because of his vow, he felt something during their wedding night, and Tamsyn refers to herself as Fell’s wife in front of a man who also wants her affections. It’s enough for him to not necessarily look past it but to work through it.

Given the cliffhanger we left on, I’m definitely up for reading the next book and seeing what happens next. I love a gruff warrior MMC and a stubborn FMC as well as the arranged marriage trope.

I would recommend this to fans of fantasy romances with shifters or dragons, readers looking for a fantasy romance with an arranged marriage plot, and those who prefer a fastburn to a slowburn.

Overall, this was OK for me. This is certainly more on the romance side of the romantasy genre, so make sure to have that in mind when you pick this up. It was SUPER predictable but it did move along pretty quickly for me.

** I received an e-ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The story takes place in Penterra, years after all the dragons and witches were hunted down and slaughtered. Tamsyn is raised as a sister to the royal princess, but as their whipping girl she's forced to take any and all of their punishments. When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, arrives at court to demand a daughter of the King as a reward for his defense of Penterra, he's tricked into taking Tamsyn as his bride. Although the couple feels a strong pull towards each other, starting their marriage with dishonesty leaves them distrustful of one another. During their dangerous journey back to Fell's home in the Borg, they learn more about each other and themselves that will test that bond even further.

I have really enjoyed Sophie Jordan's historical romances, but hadn't read her YA dragon series, so I was excited for the chance to read "A Fire in the Sky". I like both Tamsyn and Fell a lot. As the whipping girl, Tamsyn could have very easily been pitiable, but instead you get to see how strong she is and how much she loves her "sisters". You do kind of want to shake her when she talks about the privilege of being the whipping girl, but you understand her motivations and how this life is all she's ever known. I loved watching Fell struggle with how much he likes Tamsyn, despite being tricked into marrying her. While the couple doesn't get along for most of the book, I'm not sure I'd go so far as to call them "enemies-to-lovers" because it doesn't feel like their fight is with each other. The book ended on a cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to continuing the story in book 2!

4 stars out of 5, will probably read again, especially in preparation for the next book.

I really enjoyed Jordan’s Firelight series and knew I couldn’t miss the opportunity to check out A Fire in the Sky. This was such a binge worthy read that could easily be consumed the same day you start it. This book sucked me in from the prologue alone and with each passing chapter I had to know what would happen next. There wasn’t overly heavy world building but there is enough to get a clear picture of the land and political structures. This story is best sold through its main characters Tamsyn and Fell. If you loved the energy between Khal Drogo and Daenerys then you will be sucked in by the dynamic between Tamsyn and Fell. I also really loved that Jordan built a sense of intrigue surrounding both characters and their pasts. I’m also impressed by Jordan’s ability to keep you guessing. Every time I thought I had the secrets figured out, Jordan would throw a curveball rendering my predictions baseless. There’s also plenty of betrayal and political machinations to keep readers invested. I can’t wait to see where Jordan takes this story in the next book. I’m still reeling from the ending.

What a fun, fast read full of myth, magic, and a delicious slow burn.

Tamsyn is the royal whipping girl. Being raised as part of the royal family but never truly belonging. Fell is Lord of the Borderlands who invokes fear in his enemies and allies earning him the nickname of “The Beast.” The moment their fates collide the air itself is charged with the events that are now set in motion.

Sophie Jordan does an incredible job of creating a beautiful landscape full of complex characters and intriguing myths that build to the gasp-inducing cliffhanger. Tamysn is a new favorite female main character, and Fell has my heart.

A very solid 4 star read, and honestly I can see the second book in the series being a 5 star already.

This book had a lot of world building and some character building, with a lot of twist and turns throughout that made it a book a couldn't put down. Tamsyn is a good main character, and I hope we get more depth as the series continues. Now, Fell, oh my gosh though his POV is more limited compared to Tamsyn, I am in love. I would love a 50/50 split next book with Fell getting more time. I want to know so much more about him and I love his POV. A great start to a fantasy series that has you on edge for the second book by the end.

I was so looking forward to reading this book, I was thinking it would be like Kerrilyn Sparks' Embraced series or even Bertrice Small's World of Hetar series - but sadly it was neither and ended up being a DNF for me.

I really dislike books written in the First-Person Narrative and this book goes one step further by having several characters written in this way and the perspective jumps from one character to the other in each chapter, which was just confusing and hard for me to follow.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced copy

This is a romantasy. With spice, Touch her and die vibes, arraged marriage and more. Magic, with witches and dragons/dragon shifters. It is a good fast paced read.

From the very first page, the intriguing epigraph sets a tone of mystery and excitement. You get sucked into the fascinating world of Penterra, once home to magical creatures like dragons and witches, captured my imagination. One of the most unique elements is the concept of a "whipping girl," something I haven’t seen in stories before. It brings a fresh angle to the plot.

The tension from the betrayal left me feeling anxious for the characters, especially the MMC. I thought the story will dwell on this, (which I would prefer not) but there’s plot twists after plot twists, keeping it unpredictable and engaging. The story is fast-paced yet the world-building is not confusing.

Spice level? 🌶️🌶️ —I'd give it two chili peppers. Which I love, right amount of heat and a good chunk of plot and story-telling.

The ending? It left me craving more. I can’t wait to follow Fell and Tamsyn on their next adventure.

Highly recommended for fantasy lovers who enjoy a mix of romance, magic, and unexpected twists!