4.5☆

I absolutely loved Fear the Flames! This is everything I want a romantasy to be.

Tropes:
🐉Dragon Princess x Bodyguard Commander
🌸Touch her/him and die
🐉He's grumpy but he's sweet for her
🌸Stabby FMC and MMC
🐉Found family
🌸Only one bed
🐉Well done spice
🌸Strong and sweet FMC
🐉MMC would burn the world for her
🌸Reluctant allies to lovers (this is NOT enemies to lovers)

I was so hooked on this book like my ARC list has gotten so long and I was trying to catch up but I dragged this out for so long because I didn't want it to end. It's really engaging and I was always entertained!

I loved the characters from the minute I met them. Their friendships and relationships feel so authentic and you can truly feel that they would do anything for each other. There is so much love and affection between them, especially Elowen and Finnian. And the banter between them all is great, it felt very natural. And I loved the dragons. Elowen has five dragons!! And her bond with them is beautiful, seeing how she fights for them and how Cayden helps her through the trauma of what she's been through for them was so emotional.

I would say my only complaints were the writing at times felt a bit clunky and the worldbuilding was a little basic. Don't get me wrong, the writing was beautiful for the most part and I highlighted so many things, but at times it felt a bit too flowery or the sentences were way too long and it took me out of it a bit. And I liked the world we saw but I wanted a bit more.

I adored the romance. Trust me when I say Cayden is your new book boyfriend. They are both stabby psychos but support each others stabbiness and they are so sweet with each other. Dragon princess and bodyguard commander? Reluctant allies to lovers? Sweet only for her? Forbidden love? D-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s🫶🏻 and the spice, whew, so good

The ending was really good. I was dreading that it would end on a massive cliffhanger but it actually ends really nicely. It feels wrapped up but there's even more to look forward to!

A new fantasy love! Fear the Flames had me immediately hooked. You've got the lost princess turned queen/badass assassin and the feared commander. Some parts are very Throne of Glass and Game of Thrones coded, but I'm huge fans of both so it worked. The writing flowed effortlessly without unnecessary prose. Read if you like badass FMC, touch her and die, dragons, swoony grump/dangerous MMC. There's a tiny bit of betrayal (of course we all know it just has to happen) but honestly it didn't feel like a betrayal to me, and I hope we move past it quickly in book 2.

If you are a romantasy reader, this book has everything you need! A broody morally grey MMC, a long lost princess looking for revenge, found family, a heist, and dragons!!

This book was on my TBR when it was indie published, so when it got picked up by a trad publisher and I had the opportunity to read an arc, I jumped at it.

The best parts were Cayden and Elowen. Their banter was amazing! Cayden, a grumpy and lethal commander, said the most swoony things. The "he's soft only for her" trope was done really well. The spice was great and I loved their mutual pining and the tension.

The other best part? The dragons of course! They don't come into the story until later on, but I love dragons so much, and I love how these were portrayed.

Overall, if you like romantasy and dragons you will like this book! It was a pretty straightforward story that fits in the genre well. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review!

Fear the Flames didn't end up being the five-star read that I had expected, but a good one none the less. I thought the banter between the two main characters was amazing. The side characters were extremely lovable and funny. In the beginning of the book, seeing the writing style and scenery got me super excited to continue reading, I thought the premise was amazing, however the execution was not what I expected.

Unfortunately, where this book felt flat for me was the lack of politics or world building. We begin the story and are immediately thrown into a scenario where we ultimately are beginning the plot/mission of the book. We receive no background information that supports why this mission is happening and it leads to disinterest and confusion in the main plot. The story felt a bit jumpy as if we were just going from main event to main event and not flowing smoothly between plot points. That being sad, the ending really saved this book for me! It kept my attention and had me on the edge of my seat, not knowing what would happen next.

I did DNF this book at a little over 30% and picked it up a few weeks later to continue. This book is fast-paced and would be a perfect quick read for those just getting in to the genre of fantasy/romantasy. I would love to read the next book and see how the story continues on.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC! All opinions are my own.

I’m obsessed with all the dragon books and this one did not disappoint 🤭 Absolutely loved the storyline and all the characters and cannot wait for book 2! Also this book 100% deserves a SE 😍

I really wanted to like this one and felt like the premise was so promising. But I really struggled with the clunky writing. So much so, there were many times I had to reread sentences and paragraphs to understand what was happening or why it was happening. Unfortunately pretty uninvested by the end.

Fear the Flames by Olivia Rose Darling 🐉🐉🐉
Thank you so much to the publisher for this ARC

This book was quite the ride. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

What I loved: The chemistry between Elowen and Cayden. His protectiveness and determination to help her succeed. My favorite part of the story was their developing relationship, and of course the little nicknames he called her (*swoon*). I also really enjoyed the friendship/familyship between Elowen and Finnian. I wasn’t sure how it would development thoughtout the story but I really came to find Finnian to be so lovable. AND of course the dragon and their relationship with Elowen ( I can’t wait for more of them)

What I didn’t like: The story itself felt clunky and somewhat all over the place. I kept having to ask myself “What are we doing and why?”

This romantasy is spicy and immediately throws you into the beautiful world Olivia Rose Darling creates!

This world was easy to follow; however, I was looking for more from the magic system. It only appeared when it seemed "necessary" or to explain away some events. Truthfully, I was there to experience the witty banter, intoxicating tension, and found family trope so the fantasy element was on the backburner for me. I think if you go into this book with those expectations, you will enjoy reading this story much more than I did at times.

Also, the ending threw me off a bit. I felt that things were wrapped up too conveniently and explained away, and I would have liked to have had a bit more mystery leading up to book 2. It came off rushed and ended more abruptly than it should have.

Overall, I had fun with this read and it is an easy one to get into. Definitely recommend for beginning fantasy readers or romantasy readers looking for something familiar and comforting.


Thank you to Penguin Randon House for the e-ARC! All views and opinions are my own.

I do like the story and the characters, but this version felt a bit more rushed than the indie version. I may read the next book though.

First, thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for a honest review.

I had a lot of thoughts about this book, and it took me some time to pull them all together after I just had to set the book down. The characters felt like copy paste characters from other beloved fantasy/romantasy novels, even in personality and things the other character would also love. (Smut novels? Coffee? I’m confused where we are.) i love a good trope but not when it is overtly thrown in my face as a mark off a trope checklist.

I love debut authors and want to encourage growth and passion to put something out in the world, but this just didn’t feel ready. And I would have loved a flushed out world and characters so much more than just typical tropes.

So little dragons, too much fluff for me personally :(

This book is such a fun time and a great start to a series! This is an easy book to get lost in the story is rich and the found family and lead characters are fleshed out in a way that makes it easy to be drawn into their stories and personalities. Elowen is a great FMC that you can’t help but root for and the romance aspect of this is great but doesn’t overshadow her own personal character development. The action scenes are so fun and the writing flows effortlessly. Can’t wait to reunite with the band of thieves in the next book!

This is an honest arc review!

Thank you so much NetGalley for allowing me to read this.

In the beginning I almost DNFd this book because it felt too cheesy- but LET ME TELL YOU. It passes and I am so glad I finished this book. It go so good, this is a true Romantasy. Both characters are morally grey and I love every perfect and broken part of them. I love their chemistry and banter. I was giggling so much throughout this book, I think it’s the most I ever have! I cannot wait to see what’s in store for the next one!

DNF @ 81%
This book has an awesome premise but it didn’t hit the mark. I couldn’t stand the main characters, I disliked how everything felt too modern even though this is a fantasy world. The dialogue was very choppy and threw me out of the story.
I truly wish that I could enjoy this book but it became hard to want to pick it up.

For me, this book was about a 3.5 star rating. I feel like it wasn't well-balanced. Between romance, spice and plot, I would have liked more plot. If you like stories that jump right into it and you like the brooding sexy male main character, this one's for you. The ending was good and did make me wanna read the next whenever it's out.

First, a big thank you to NetGalley for the ARC of Olivia Rose Darling’s novel “Fear the Flames" – “Five people, all united through revenge, will have to transcend the odds stacked against them and infiltrate the impenetrable castle if they want to reap their rewards before someone reaps their souls. Putting aside their differences to accomplish a common goal because everyone knows…vengeance is a promise signed in blood.”

First things first, if you’re thinking of picking up this book because of the dragons, they don’t show up until much, much later than I wanted. I am hoping we see more of them in the rest of the books because well dragons.
I feel like the market on this was Fourth Wing meets Game of Thrones meets Six of Crows. This was not that.

I definitely wanted to see more world building. It took me a while to find my footing and understand all the concepts. It did feel as though some of the plot points were missing and the main focus was romance. I wanted more dragons, more crime, more action. Instead I got awkward scenes with the two main love interests that felt weird and clunky. I am not a big fan of the insta-love which felt like what this book had to offer. The relationships seemed surface level. I wanted more time developing that.

I wanted more of the male main character. He was everything you want in this role - I would have liked to see more of this point of view. But the female main character was a bit of a “pick me girly.” I definitely needed a break from her point of view and the repetitive cycle that she put us through - I have enough of that and read to escape this.

I was also a little lost as to the main big bad. Where was he - why didn’t they show up at all? I think that this has a lot of potential but just isn’t quiet there just yet.

I received an ARC through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

“Fear the Flames” by Olivia Rose Darling is a NA fantasy debut filled with dragons and a lot of steamy romance. We follow Elowen, the lost princess of a powerful kingdom, but her past is murky and painful for she was imprisoned by her own father when she was only four because of her bond with her dragons and the prophecy of a seer. Elowen escaped her father’s clutches and spent her life hiding in Aestilian, a little kingdom on which she rules. But to have her dragons back, Elowen must cooperate with the dangerous Cayden Veles, commander of her enemy kingdom.

So, I have to admit that I finally understood that these kind of books aren’t my cup of tea. I love good and funny romance novels, but when it becomes so predominant that it overshadows the world building and the magic system, the book looses my attention. Fear the Flames started with an intriguing premise, nothing new, yet still enjoyable. The first 50% of the novel focused on building the right tension between Elowen and Cayden, their chemistry was unmistakable and I enjoyed reading about their relationship. But the second half featured only smut scenes (I have nothing against smut, but it doesn’t have to be soooo predominant) and poorly written action scenes.

The world building was inconsistent, it really left me confused. It was extremely difficult to envision how the world created by the author looked like without a map. All the kingdoms mentioned were interchangeable, since there was no description, no hallmark that could characterise them and it only made the world forgettable and far-fetched.
At the same time, the magic system was focused on Elowen’s bond with the dragons, and yet we don’t see any kind of magic. Even at the end, the dragons are nowhere to be seen, only a few chapters describe them and Elowen together, but there’s no pathos, no thrill in reading about ferocious dragons. That’s the magic system, there’s no other type of magic and I didn’t even really understand how the bond worked. I hoped to read more about the dragons or at least to enjoy a proper heist, but the scene itself felt flat and too fast, it left me eager so unsatisfied.

Fear the Flames is a characters driven novel, that’s for sure. I appreciate the relationship between Finnian and Elowen, I craved to read more about sweet Finnian, but after the first chapters he became a simple background character, just like Saskia and Ryder. I’m sure that his background needed to be explored, it would have deepened the character even more, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Saskia and Ryder didn’t have any kind of depth, they seemed to be created to be mere by-standers in Cayden and Elowen’s story.
Cayden is Elowen’s love interest, a grumpy commander whose goal remains unclear. Even at the end I couldn’t quite fathom what was his purpose, since everything he did, he did it for Elowen. Again, Cayden’s past wasn’t investigated enough and his backstory is still unknown and it prevented me from getting attached to him.
Elowen, on the other hand, had an extremely hard past and I really liked how the author decided to manage her traumas and how she dealt with them. Something I didn’t really appreciate is the fact that the author reiterates the point that Elowen is strong, that she’s like a shadow, etc… and yet we got very few scenes that showed Elowen’s fighting talent or her strength in general. Cayden was always present to save her.

Elowen and Cayden’s relationship was what entertained me throughout the entire novel, especially during the first half of the book. Even though their love story proceeded too fast for my linking, it turned out to be just what I was looking for: a quick and funny romance that helped me to get through a stressful period. I’m not a huge fan of spicy scenes, especially when they’re a lot, that’s why I need to take a break from fantasy romance novels for a while.

All in all, Fear the Flames is an enjoyable debut novel, perfect for fans of Fourth Wings and Throne of Glass.

“You don’t need to surprise me with knives, angel. I’ll bleed for you if you ask nicely.”

I really loved the two main characters Elowen and Cayden. I did, however, think the enemies/rivals to lovers trope didn’t play out how I wanted to - they developed feelings for each other quite quickly. I wanted a little bit more build up to their relationship development. The banter was top tier though!

Parts of the book were a little slow for me, so sometimes I had a hard time getting myself to keep picking up the book and read. However, by the end of the book…. I was screaming because I can absolutely not wait for the second one in the series!

An exiled princess teams up with the last man she thought she could trust in the start of a dazzling and unforgettable epic fantasy romance series.
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This book had me hooked. A baby born with 5 hatched dragon eggs as gifts. They all bond to each other and that’s where the story starts and her nightmare begins. She’s in hiding though at the moment a handsome man in charge is trying to help her get her dragons back. Shes been separated from them since she was little.
They definitely have some good banter and fight training going on. It gets pretty cutthroat and no survivors but the kingdom is at stake.
Was intrigued by the connection that she had to the dragons and all their individual personalities and names.
The romance between Elowen and Cayden is passionate and fiery.
This was definitely a quest to save her dragons and to come out of hiding and hopefully not get killed in the process.

It always makes me so sad when a highly anticipated release ends up being disappointing 😭 This started off strong for me and I LOVED the premise, but then I quickly lost interest the more I read. My biggest issue was the romance; the dialogue was cringey and it was insta-love galore for our MMC. Not to mention, the constant “touch her and you die” was dramatic and repetitive. Majority of this book and the dialogue also felt very juvenile to me, so when the graphic spicy scenes started it felt really out of place and unnatural.

I was interested in the idea of the plot, but it just wasn’t executed well in my opinion and I don’t plan to continue the series 🤷🏻‍♀️

I really enjoyed this debut novel. The main female character had a goal in mind and she did everything she could to reach that goal, not letting anyone stop her. Some of the fight scenes were pretty graphic. The chemistry between the MFC and main male character was great. There was a betrayal by the mmc, but nothing huge. The ending was not really a cliffhanger, which I liked. Overall a nice, spicy fantasy.