This is a FAB enemies-to-lovers read that really delivers on the enemies part. The banter that comes from the animosity was epic and I was hanging on to every Seraphine and Ransom interaction. The romance was top tier and I couldn't get enough of how angsty things could be and then also SO cute?!

If enemies-to-lovers, found family, morally grey characters, forced proximity, forbidden romance, and an intricate magic system sound like your thing, add this one to your immediate tbr!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
For a YA book, this was quite enjoyable. I understand why this book has been promoted in quite a few Australian bookshops.
The chemistry between the two main characters is addictive and while violent in the beginning, their friendship becomes believable.
I am interested to see where this series leads.

In the underground of the city of Fantome we have two gangs who use Shade Magic to enhance their criminal activities, the Cloaks for their thievery and the Daggers for the assassinations. At the heart of the story is an enemies to lovers romance with Seraphine from the Cloaks and Ransom from the Daggers.

I found this book a struggle to get into and a struggle to keep reading. It read like a young YA but with spicy scenes. So although I was not the right reader for this book I know that there will be many readers out there who will love it.

The Dagger and the Flame could be for you if you like:
- Romantasy
- Enemies to lovers with a quick change
- An interesting magic system
- Main character focused story with a slower plot
- No complicated world building
- A long but easy read
- A touch of found family

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

DNF @ 22%

Sadly this just didn't grip me as much as I hoped, but to be fair, I believe I'm starting to be very picky with YA reads lately, so it could definitely be a me case considering I've seen so much love for this book! I just didn't connect with the characters and felt no investment for the story at all, so I had to DNF before I fell into a slump😭

Thank you Simon & Schuster (Australia) for sending me the ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I absolutely loved this book! I finished it on Friday night and I literally have not stopped thinking about it since! It was a magical from start to finish and I can not wait to see what happens next for Sera and her friends, and especially Ransom who I grew to love.

I will write a more in depth review once I've gathered my thoughts a little more.

The ENEMIES, this was right up my alley!

I love a badass FMC that isn’t afraid of a little dagger action. The dual POV really allowed us to see the character development throughout this book and our MMC growing feelings.

It had an intriguing plot and world building, and a good old city rivalry between the Cloaks (thieves) and the Daggers (assassins).

It’s great for those who love:
- enemies to lovers
- found family
- REVENGE
- a little 🗡️ to throat
- shadow daddy’s 👀

This one hooked me in so fast. Such a good enemies to lovers story. Will definitely be reading more from this author.

The Dagger And The Flame story may for most young adults be extremely enjoyable. It is romantic fantasy with lots of imaginative magic. With the two gangs of the story being termed guilds and the use of many saintly place names in the city of Fantome, it creates something of a medieval Mediterranean atmosphere. The story is seen from the two POVs (sides) of the two main protagonists Ransom, the handsome Dagger assassin and Sera the lovely vengeful Cloak. This morphs into love with shared consequences, as they work together to a lively crescendo. It is good drawn out romantasy, so on the basis of readability for its genre, I give it four stars.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC.

The Dagger and the Flame is set in the magical city of Fantome where we are introduced to two rival assassins, Seraphine and Ransom from opposing guilds known as the Cloaks and Daggers.

Following her mother’s murder, 17 year old Serpahine seeks refuge with the Cloaks hoping to avenge her mother’s death.
She unexpectedly crossed paths with Ransom, the heir of the Daggers who has been instructed to seek her out.

I loved this book so much and devoured it in one sitting. The banter between the main characters was entertaining and there were many laugh out loud moments.

The friendships formed were fantastic and the side cast need to be mentioned as they made the story enjoyable.

Overall a great start to the series and the ending had me wanting more!!

Thank you Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for a copy of the ebook to review.

Absolutely loved everything about this fantasy YA adventure. Had the tropes I love and enjoy when reading fantasy as well as something unique. Always enjoy Catherine Doyle.

It was a little bit of a slow start but after I got into it I ended up loving this book!
I found the characters super loveable, particularly Theo, Bibi, and Val; I just wish we got more of all of their backstories, however, it is looking like that is very likely to come in book 2.
I also found the magic system really intriguing.
There were a few areas where the world building could have been stronger and where the story line felt a little repetitive but was overall a great read and I will definitely be keeping an eye out for book two

I loved this so much the magic system was amazing as well as the characters the way she sets up the information between the two sides and the enemies to lovers side of it so damn good can’t wait to get a physical copy

I was excited to see a new Catherine Doyle book, and the Dagger and the Flame did not disappoint.

This fun and fast paced romantasy had the perfect blend of black magic, political intrigue, personal vendettas, and enemies to lovers romance. Doyle did a wonderful job in building this world and its various factions, whilst creating a captivating, fast paced and easy read. I loved fiery, strong and headstrong Sera, and only slightly less fiery, but reflective and conflicted Ransom. I found the ending entirely satisfying, and will eagerly await the next instalment in this series.

Thank you Simon and Schuster (Australia) and NetGalley for a copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley, and Simon & Schuster for this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ Three stars

In the city of Fantome, the streets are run by two Orders: the Daggers, a group of mysterious assassins who will kill anyone for a price, and the Cloaks, a collective of crafty thieves who can steal anything from anyone. Both control the use and distribution of a magical substance known as Shade while can bend shadows to the will of the person using it. The Daggers use Shade consume Shade so that they can kill anyone by touch alone, while the Cloaks use wear Shade-magic to make items including—you guessed it—Cloaks to render themselves invisible, allowing them to steal easily.
But Shade and its dark magic has a price, and it's not just coin. It's lives.

The Dagger and the Flame follows Seraphine, a newly orphaned 17 year old who seeks refuge with the Order of Cloaks when she has no where else to go, and Ransom, an assassin who is next in line to head up the Order of Daggers.
When Seraphine's Shade-smuggling mother is assassinated, Sera vows to avenge her death, and she'll use her own unique magic to do it—much to the annoyance of Ransom, whose next mark is none other than the farmgirl (as Ransom so often calls her) herself. Sera is so much more than Ransom bargained for, and before long their game of cat and mouse becomes a more volatile game of love, and revenge.

I was really excited to read this book, but it took me a while to get into it. Once the pace picked up and more characters were introduced I felt a bit more swept up in the plot, but not enough.
Unfortunately, there was just too little of side characters that I enjoyed on page, and the side characters that became integral to the ending of the book never made enough of an impact on me to care about them.
In terms of the main characters, I felt that Sera could've been further developed, because I didn't quite connect with her, but I did want more of Ransom's story. I enjoyed how Doyle wrote a broody, quicksilver-eyed boy who'd lost everything, and who'd trained from the age of ten to one day take over an empire of assassins, whether he liked it or not. Though Ransom didn't claim a spot in the MMC hall of fame, he was still enjoyable and often funny.

Which is one of this book's strong points: it had me laughing.
It should be 100% macabre to pray to a woman whose corpse you've just robbed, but it was kind of hilarious that Sera did, after she'd not only robbed the woman's literal skeleton of her personal diary, but also made out with her enemy immediately afterwards while still in the—and I cannot emphasise this enough—TOMB of said woman. A truly bold and altogether out of pocket move. I was disturbed and entertained.

I think one of the issues with this book is that the Sera and Ransom aren't enemies for long enough. They're obsessed with each other straight away, but they're too close to an insta-love kind of obsession for me to feel like this fits the enemies-to-lovers bill. Even when robbing a tomb together it was clear that they were in love rather than enemies at all, so it was hard to buy into them even being accomplices out of convenience when at that point I think Ransom would've done just about anything for Seraphine to even blink in his direction.

Towards the three quarter mark of the book I was already pretty sure that little could make me hungry for a book two. The Shade-magic felt a little too underdeveloped to keep me interested, so I just wanted the main story to wrap up by the end of the book, so I could move on to something else.
Having finished the book, even with it ending as it did, I still feel like the book could have naturally concluded after chapter 44, with Sera and Ransom following through on their plan to run away and probably needing 50 pages or less to wrap things up in a neat bow and give the pair a happily-ever-after. Or unhappily, if that's Doyle's intention.

I think if you enjoy the writing style of Leigh Bardugo, or if you're a fan of books like A Tempest of Tea you'd probably love this book. It just wasn't for me.

3.5 stars

When Seraphine’s mother is murdered, she flees in the middle of the night and runs until she finds refuge among the Cloaks, an underground community of thieves who wield shade-magic. The Daggers behind her mother’s death still have eyes on her thought in the city of Fantome where the young heir to the Order of the Daggers has been tasked with finishing the job. The closer the two get, the more they discover they’re all at risk from a larger threat.

I thought this book was okay. There was definitely some originality to the story which was refreshing and I was taken by surprise as the plot unraveled. There were some great moment between the main characters, but that element was very predictable. I will say this is a true enemies-to-lovers which is much appreciated!

Overall I just wanted gripped sadly! I struggled to keep picking this book up and I’m not sure why. Outside of the main characters I wasn’t particularly interested in anyone else and there was nothing about the setting that stood out to me. I think if you’re specifically wanting a YA romantasy with an assassin/target dynamic you might really enjoy this! I think it has all the parts to make an interesting story but nothing made it stand out in my mind.

This was a fun, fast-paced fantasy read. I loved the banter between the main characters. I can't wait for the next book.

Easy read. It wasn't very memorable or a story I wish to read again or continue the series with but it was ok while reading.

Thank you for letting me read a copy of it.

⭐️ 4/5
🌶 2/5
⚠️ This was more suited for 16+ readers
(Advertised as YA, but I would say NA)

📚 I really enjoyed this gripping fantasy romance where the stakes were high and the tension was tense!

This is a setting where the enemies to lovers are actual enemies, from enemy factions, but who had found comfort and solace within each other.

With war going on around them, they keep finding themselves drawn together, and the possibility of their romance kept me burning throughout this book.

The cliffhanger that we were left on physically hurt me... especially when enemies become lovers, who have to remain enemies - is the cliff I am being pushed off 🥲🥺😭

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🌶⚠️ There were enough mature themes and mild spice in this that I would be getting this reclassified to an upper YA or NA. It doesn't bother me, but it may throw some people off when they didn't expect it.

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Overall, I really enjoyed this and recommend toamyone who loves slow burn, enemies to lovers, war within different magical factions, and forbidden romance.

THIS is what I mean when I say ✨enemies to lovers✨
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me this ARC in exchange of for an honest review.

I WAS BLESSED

Spoilers below
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If she doesn’t stab him, kick in the balls and break his nose all so he can keep coming back for more I don’t want it 😂😂 the way this man was a glutton for punishment and still asked her if she wanted to see his scar from her 😂😂 the banter!!!

*Thank you to NetGalley & Simon & Schuster Australia for sending me a digital copy to review*

This book has all of the things I love; enemies to lovers, a unique magic system, found family, and characters that are well-versed in sarcasm.

In the kingdom of Fantome Shade-magic is a scarce commodity and is used and controlled by two rival groups, the Daggers and the Clocks. Daggers are lethal assassins while Clocks are sly thieves. The story follows Sera who seeks sanctuary with the Clocks after finding her mother murdered. Unfortunately (or fortunately) she is the target of Ransom, the heir to the order of the Daggers, and they are both drawn together while trying to uncover the mystery of the monsters stalking the streets of Fantome.

The relationship between Sera & Ransom had me kicking my feet. I just love when enemies to lovers is done right and by that, I mean one of them almost kills the other in the beginning. Even though Ransom has been a member of the Daggers since he was a child Sera gave him a run for his money which I loved. There’s dual POV so we get to see what both characters really think and feel about each other.

I enjoy stories that have fleshed-out characters and I really felt that with this book. Both Sera & Ransom have their demons and traumas that shape them as well as give common ground to allow their relationship to develop. This also applies to the secondary characters; Bibi, Val & Theo, they’re all interesting and hopefully, we’ll learn more about them. And of course, you can’t forget Pippin the dog who has saved Sera many times

The magic system is not something I’ve seen before which is great and it’s interesting how differently the Clocks and the Daggers utlise shade for their exploits. I’m looking forward to seeing more of what Sera discovered and how that affects the orders as well as Fantome as a whole.

This was a fun book to get caught up in and I can’t wait for the next book to see what happens next.