Ummm wow this book was nonstop, I’m OBSESSED with Cayden and Elowen. I loved their band of thieves and how sassy everyone was lol. Finnian and Elowens relationship was the absolute sweetest. I really loved the entirety of this book, the dragons, the romance, the spice, the tension, the politics! All of it went hand in hand and was perfect. Elowen was hilarious, there were numerous times I actually laughed out loud and the fact she and Cayden continued to tease each other throughout the whole book just added a layer of levity. And the bond that Elowen has with her dragons, I teared up so many times because it was so sweet and heart wrenching. I also really loved Cayden and Ryders friendship they were hilarious. Overall this book was an amazing romantasy, and I cannot wait for the next book!
Thank you so much Penguin Random House for the ARC!

I loved this just as much as the indie version!! I love how we got to see more of Cayden and El and get more background on Cayden.

I'm so lucky to have been selected to receive an ARC of "Fear of the Flames." I first heard about this book in 2023 through TikTok and was eager to read it, but then the indie version was taken down and the re-release was set for this year. I was bummed out but so grateful to receive an ARC! I loved this book so much that I read it in one day—I couldn't put it down. Rivals to lovers is my favorite trope, and it was done so well in this book. The romance and found family elements were beautifully written.

Elowen, I love her character so much—she's fierce, feisty, but also sweet and caring with those she loves. And I can't forget the Commander of Vareveth, Cayden Veles. I love his character—overprotective, broody, unhinged but also flirty and caring. The plot was captivating with dragons, a princess, a commander, and magic; I was hooked from the beginning.

I can't wait to see more of Elowen, Cayden, Finnan, Saskia, and Ryder. I'm so excited for more of this series; I wish the second book was out already because I need to find out what happens next! I'm thrilled to be part of Olivia Rose Darling's journey through this series!

2/5

Thank you to the publisher, NetGalley, and Olivia Rose Darling for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review!

No part of me is happy to be giving this book this review because I’ve been wanting to read it for YEARS, literally since it was being written by Olivia. I never got to reading the indie version (mood reader curse, I’m afraid) but I jumped at the chance to read the newly revised version that’s going out for traditional publishing. Unfortunately, not even the editor could completely salvage this book.

I found the writing itself to not be by any means bad, but rather clearly that of a debut author. There was a lot of detailed descriptions of locations that just sounded like listing everything instead of immersing the reader, and there was a lot of telling us characters did or liked certain things but we never saw these interests on page.

The side characters, for the amount of page time they get, are remarkably well fleshed out and developed, so points there!
But our main character, Elowen? Oh I despised her. She’s written so flatly that the only thing she thinks of is getting revenge on her father. Seriously. All her inner monologue is thinking of how she’ll exact revenge and see her dragons again, but she never actually makes the plans herself for said revenge?? She just lets someone else plan everything she’ll do. And when she’s not feeling bloodthirsty, she either desperately wants to get drunk (I don’t think I’ve read a fantasy that has one POV where the character goes drinking this often??? In multi POVs, yes, but when we only have one POV and she’s not sober for a good chunk of chapters… it’s such an odd choice. I was wondering why they kept going to taverns when they had a heist to plan) or she’s thinking of wanting to have sex. Literally no in between. If Elowen is being written to have a villain arc, this book sets her up wonderfully for it. Her unchecked ambition and desire for more all the time is pretty Macbeth-esque. But I suspect she isn’t going to end up being a villain, so it makes little sense to me why she’s characterized like this.

The love interest, Cayden Veles, has about the depth of a puddle. He spends his time either looking extremely angry or he’s just staring at Elowen. This man is fully obsessed with her, to the point where it becomes his only personality trait. Everything he does is for her, he puts her above everyone else, and just seems to have no personality that doesn’t revolve around Elowen. He is the commander of this country. How was he able to spend 3 days taking care of Elowen after she gets drugged??? Does he not have a job??? The way he spoke to his boss was just ridiculous like that’s not how it works at all?? His dialogue is either a joke about getting into bed with elowen, saying how much he loves her, saying how he’s about to kill some one for her, or how good she looks in his bed. I was just constantly wondering who he was outside of Elowen and violence.

The plot is so poorly developed that I was shocked. The main heist of this book takes up maybe 3 chapters at the 85% mark and is laughably easy for the characters to do. Random monsters of the world pop up for action sequences, and Elowen just happens to run into a cult that gives her the powerful amulet she needs to free her dragons. Everything was so convenient. After they easily free the dragons, the bond was super anti-climactic like she couldn’t even talk to them?? Maybe it’s just me but guys she has FIVE dragons. She should have some cool power too at least.
Also, I have to say again how dumb Elowen is. It’s so frustrating to see her do nothing the whole book. She nearly gets killed TWICE by assassins and always lets someone else do most of the hard work into tracking them down, until she figures out where the mastermind is - a brothel! So then she and Cayden have to pretend to be getting it on (which leads to a confusing scene where he quite literally takes her to the main room of the brothel and they’re like making out fully. And then go back to a private room to actually get each other off and somehow this lures the assassin out????) and the plot feels like tropey scenes stringed together.
There were so many moments that could be amazing if it didn’t seem as if they’d been written for the purpose of being taken out of context to promote the book.
I also am unsure of how this will be a four book series. The plot doesn’t seem to be that difficult to grasp and there is such a lack of dimension to it that I’m not even sure what book 2 will fully be about. The ending of this book is almost laughable in how plainly unrealistic it is, even for a fantasy novel.

The romance was lacklustre. The banter was subpar, Cayden fell in love at first sight so it was the opposite of a slow burn, and the author tried to frame it as a forbidden romance but I just couldn’t buy it. The sex scenes were also really boring and uninspired. I just couldn’t get behind how these characters came to love each other because we’re told that they do instead of seeing that love on page. Love is made out of the small things, and I felt we only got big gestures - nothing that shows how Elowen and Cayden were soulmates on all levels. I didn’t get the quiet devotion or steady presence that I think love truly is. (And I did see the foreshadowing of them being some form of mates.)

The world is interesting but the magic system was so light that it was non existent. Since we’re in a country that has banned magic, we don’t see a lot of it so I was left very confused over how it was used, who could use it, and more. We’re told that there are gods for every element, but the religion is never developed. What were the gods like before they left earth? Why are they worshipped? How are they worshipped?
Everything just fell super flat to me. We’re told these things are there, but I couldn’t immerse myself in the world because we didn’t have any of the little details that truly bring these things to life.

I also found the editing to be poorly done, oddly since this is a traditionally published version of the novel. There were several instances where the characters would be doing something and then the next paragraph they’d be moving into another room or have some object in their hands that they’d be using and I was often confused as to how that object had gotten there or why they were moving around.

I unfortunately won’t be continuing this series, but I am interested in whatever Olivia has plans for beyond this series.

Thank you NetGalley and Penguin House for the blessing that was reading this arc. I read the indie edition of this book last year and it was one of my favorite reads. I didn’t think the story could get better, but Olivia Rose Darling is magic and so is this book. I absolutely love this story, I LOVE the characters, the banter, the juxtaposition of love and violence is top tier. I have nothing but good things to say, this book will probably sit among my favorite reads of the year if not beyond. I can’t wait for the continuation of this series.

How does one find the words to encapsulate what I just read?? This was HANDS DOWN another infinity star read for me. Very rarely do I read a book and know that from page one it will become a new favorite. With Fear the Flames I was immediately taken with this story from the very first phrase. I instantly fell in love with Elowen as a character and with the prose inside this story. The structure of this was absolutely everything I could’ve asked for in a high fantasy novel like this. The world building evolved so flawlessly within the story and provided deeper context seamlessly. This was a book I was so immersed in and forgot that I was even reading and even dreaded the end. This is instantly going on the desert island book list for me.✨

Some of my top reasons why you should read are:
-the most badass female MC
-found family trope
-snarky male love interest that will literally unalive anyone who tests his woman🫶🏻
-golden retriever best friend that you’ll want to protect at all costs (ily Finnian)
-and need I say DRAGONS 🐉🤍

The found family in this story was everything I could have asked for. It quite literally became my safe space. Finnish and Ryder had me absolutely LOLing in the best way possible. This book was so heartwarming and beautiful and ultimately sings to my soul.
If you see me immediately reading this again on release day….you absolutely did 🫶🏻🫶🏻✨

I really wanted to like this one. It was one of my most anticipated books of the year. For me personally, writing can make or break a book for me. Fear The Flames writing style just didn’t clash well with what I like. There were moments that I found the writing and banter between the main characters cheesy and a bit juvenile. If the spice and sporadic curse words were removed, I feel that this reads more YA.

This story hits everything on my romantasy wish list! A strong and capable FMC, a warrior MMC with “touch her and die” vibes, a cast of lovable and hilarious side characters, a heist plot, and dragons! I loved the banter, the chemistry, and everything to do with Elowen’s bond with the dragons. There’s definitely a lot more to the world I’d like to know, and I’m eager to see the direction of the second book!

Thank you to Delacorte Press for my advanced reader’s copy!

The chapters are super short and quick, I literally read the entire book in a few hours and as soon as I finished I wanted to read it again. The found family is *chefs kiss* 🤌🏻 the dynamic between them is so good and captivating, even with some heavier themes the book is still fun.

I can't stop thinking about how much I love Elowen and Cayden (both individually and as a couple), their story is so sad but it's so good to see how they've grown and managed to get through everything. They are easily in my top 5 favorite couples of all time, I feel like they needed each other to be able to completely heal from the past and move on.

The romance is out of this world, from their first meeting I was blushing and kicking my feet bc their chemistry is something else. I literally SCREAMED when I saw that the brothel scene survived, it was one of my favorite scenes in the indie version and definitely one of my favorite scenes in this one too 😮‍💨

I loved that in this one we have some hints of the final plot during the book, in the indie version I felt like it was kinda out of the blue. Honestly for me the best changes were in the last 10% of the book, the improvement was SO noticeable in the last three chapters, if the book wasn't 5 stars before it certainly would be now.

Thank you Dell Romance for the ARC!! ♥

4.25-4.5 ★

I was obsessed with the indie version, so to say the new traditional version was one of my long anticipated reads is an understatement.

- 𝕊𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕥 𝕊𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪 -

Elowen Atarah, the missing princess of a kingdom is forced to leave her dragons behind and live in hiding. That is until she comes across the most lethal Commander the kingdom’s have seen, Cayden Veles, and she’s ready to take revenge with his help. With the reluctant allies, and the help of their 3 friends, they must embark on dangerous heists through enemy territories to free Elowen’s dragons, so the dragon queen may reign.

- 𝕋𝕙𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕤 -

This is 100% my comfort book. Olivia Rose Darling writes such a compelling story in Fear The Flames, with complex and flawed characters that readers can relate to. Words can’t really express how much I love this book, or even why, only that I fell completely into the world and never wanted to come out.

I think the characters really flushed out the plot, both heroes and villains. I found none of them to be boring, but instead with intriguing, complicated backstories that made their character development so interesting. The found family between Elowen, Cayden, Finnish, Saskia, and Ryder was one of my favourites in a story I’ve ever read. Immediately they all felt like one happy family, always looking out for one another, teasing and joking so easily, it felt so natural and realistic.

The romance between Elowen and Cayden? *chefs kiss.* I’m normally an enemies-to-lovers girlie through and through, but their reluctant allies to lovers story is one of my favourites 😭💕 Right from the start they are taken with one another despite trying to fight it, and they will burn down the world to help the other.

The only differences I noticed from the indie to the traditional version were some scenes cut out, and then it made some parts feel rushed. I wish we got to see more of the planning stages with the heists rather than the gang going into them because it often times felt all of a sudden. I also wanted to see a bit more with the dragons during the heist and Elowen perhaps sobbing or at least a little more emotion after not seeing them for so many years, but I still ate this story up and enjoyed every single second of it🫶🏻

I literally need book 2 like I breathe air, I can’t wait to see what happens next after that ending

Definitely recommend this for anyone who likes:

💚 Dragons
💚 Allies to Lovers
💚 Found Family
💚 Forced Proximity
💚 Badass FMC
💚 Badass MMC who is a cinnamon roll for the girl
💚 Easy to follow along world-building

I was so excited for this arc! Im happy that I was approved. I finished this book in like 3-4 hours. It was addicting as it was entertaing, Who doesnt love a bit fo dragons and romance? Its relecutant Allies to lovers. It was paced amazingly, I was highly entertained. I can see this becoming a TV series. I highly reccomend this book to Fourth Wing lovers. The cover is also very beautiful.

I’m so so so grateful to be able to read this book before its release, so I can tell everyone who comes across its synopses or cover to READ IT ASAP.

This book is a perfect beginning to series and ends on a wonderful high building up to book 2. It’s not a cliffhanger but it gets you excited for the next part of elowen and cadyen’s story.

The writing is so incredible and so easy to follow. The pacing is also great and the storyline is perfect. The main characters are so lovable and relatable. The dialogue was great and the communication between the MMC and FMC specifically is just chef’s kiss.

To conclude, everything from the characters and the romance to the plot and writing is great. And I would definitely recommend everyone to read this book. I’m so so excited to see where book 2 takes us.

This book features tropes of:
. Badass FMC
. Morally grey MMC
. found family
. DRAGONS
. Heists and adventure
. Reluctant allies to lovers
. Hurt and comfort

There are too many good quotes to just choose one but Cayden Veres is the book boyfriend of the year.

I absolutely LOVED this book! The found family/friendships and the romance were so perfect and had me smiling and giggling all the way through, and the world-building was so immersive. Also, dragons.

Thank you so much for the ARC!