Big thanks to Netgalley and Briar Boleyn for the eARC in exchange for a review.

This is an academy story line, with loose ties to another series Briar wrote (blood of after fae).
Medra 'falls' into what might just be another realm with vampires. She immediately becomes unwillingly attached to a prince who is of course, seemingly already attached.

I loved it. The stream, the betrayal, the friendships. All of it.

5 stars

The vibes of this books transported me to my favourite book world. The world of academic fantasy! I grew up reading vampire academy and House of Night! This book was definitely an adult version of my favourites. It starts with the FMC magically found in an unknown realm with little to no recollection of her past.

The school has two sections. Vampires who rule the world and humans who are used as blood bags. She showed up and disrupted the whole power balance. Her characteristic hair was once of the dragon riders.

The plot thickens when she is forced to bond with him and peak enemies to lovers with forced proximity starts. I cannot stop reading this book. Every chapter ended with the want to know what happens next. I would suggest this books to fans of Dark Fantasy with academic settings and paranormal themes.

Thank you Briar Boleyn and netgalley for the eARC. As always my opinions remain my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hogwarts with vampires and dragons!

Medra miraculously survives a fire, a vampire attack only to be saved by a vampire. She is sent to an elite school for vampires for bearing the traits of an extinct race (dragon riders) but she’s not accepted by many of the High born. Faced with many trials and tribulations throughout, with a slow burn romance, Medra stands true to her values, beliefs and finds herself an awesome group of friends.

The plot was good, very engaging at the start and end but a star dropped as felt the bulk of the middle was a bit slow and in some parts was unnecessary. The world building was simple yet not understated which I enjoyed. The characters were relatable - even down the the mean girls you would find in schools.

Medra (FMC) I loved. Fierce, unyielding and completely authentic. She’s a fearless power house who has great morals which she stands by. The right amount of sass and intelligence - could see me being friends with this one.

Blake (MMC). Very fitting to the plot and I’m sure he’s going to be a an onion having layers pulled back in future books to expose more of his true self. He’s not had an easy life, this much is clear. High expectations on him which aren’t easy to meet but all in all I didn’t dislike him and warmed up to him more throughout the book.

Honorable mention for Florence - she’s just amazing. I loved how kind she was!

I highly recommend this book even if it wanes in the middle a bit, it’s still an excellent read with a great plot and theme. Really looking forward to book 2!

Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book had me hooked in the first couple of chapters. It felt after about 20% it dipped a little but I ploughed through and I’m really glad I did.

The book gives dark academia mixed with fourth wing, Harry Potter and vampires.

The FMC is sooo relatable and the MMC give Draco Malfoy vibes. What more could you ask for.

The world building I thought was very well written. It wasn’t hard to understand and off putting but had you really excited like it was you first day of school

After 20%, the story is fast paced and action packed. There are so many avenues the author could go for book 2 and I’m very excited for it

First it all, thank you to Briar Boleyn and NetGalley for providing me with an arc of this book.

2.5⭐️
Unfortunately had to DNF this book at 35%.

I had such high hopes for this, vampires & dragons - that’s my literal dream. But unfortunately it didn’t live up to my expectations. Maybe it’s because I haven’t read the previous books from the author as I’ve heard the FMC is from another series? I might give it a chance and then hopefully come back to this one. But for now it didn’t grip me enough to continue.

It started out very intriguing - mysterious dragon rider girl appearing in a mysterious vampire world where dragons are extinct and being betrothed to the vampire prince. And although I felt the writing (especially the dialog) wasn’t the strongest I was enjoying it. But then all the school stuff started and oh my god I was so bored reading about her going to every single class and just nothing happening most of the time that I found myself skipping a lot and just skim reading to get the idea of the plot.

This is why I had to DNF because I feel if I have to skip parts of the book for me to be mildly interested, the book is probably not for me.

I can see why so many people love it - it does seem like a fun idea & plot and it might get better in the second half but I just didn’t have the energy to stick around and find out.

I enjoyed this one. I think I had previously read the first chapter and had not gotten into it, as I recognised the very beginning but nothing else. And past that part it was wonderful! This has been a really good example of me needing to be in the right mood to read a book because beginning it a new a while later worked well for me. This book had a lot of twists and turns, the cutest little fluffin (named Neville) and was magical throughout. I can’t wait to see what the second book holds for Medra, Blake and Florence next year!

🧛🏻‍♀️I received an ARC of this book and am leaving an honest review voluntarily🧛🏻‍♀️

Okay I am 70 % through this book and i wanted to leave a review before my time closed but this book is INCREDIBLE. i genuinely believe with the correct marketing this could be the next fourth wing. The setting is incredible and the story is so enjoyable i am loving it !!!!!!!

The chemistry between merda and blake was soooo good. definitely giving xaden and violet. Usually im not a fan of vampires but i feel like it was done sooo well!

I definitely can’t wait to finish this book over the christmas period and will be leaving a review on my instagram !!! can’t wait to finish the rest of the series thank you so much for the arc

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5

On Wings of Blood is a such a great start to the Bloodwing Academy series. I originally wanted to read this because it was stated to be a mix of Harry Potter, Fourth Wing, and Zodiac Academy and that is definitely true! On Wings of Blood gave me major Zodiac Academy vibes with it being a bully romance and different leaders and houses. But the bullying wasn't nearly as heavy as ZA which was really nice.

Medra Pendragon is a badass, stubborn, spitfire of a girl but she is also incredibly loyal and passionate and will do anything for her friends. She's always rising up to every challenge she has to face and will never show weakness to those that look down on her. I'm excited to see her character development throughout the series and how the ending changes how she interacts with Blake and the rest of Bloodwing Academy.

Blake Drakharrow reminds me so much of Darius from ZA. He's a broody and tortured mmc with a big heart that he doesn't know how to act on. He's always trying to do the right thing but goes about it the wrong way. He doesn't have a great family and will do anything for those he cares for. I can't wait to see what he does in book 2.

I'm definitely going to be continuing the Bloodwing Academy series! If you're a fan of dragons, enemies to lovers, vampires, slow burn, and dual POV, this is the one for you!

*Thank you to Netgalley, Starwater Press, and Briar Boleyn for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed are solely my own.

4.5 ⭐️
3.5 🌶️

Thank you to the author and Netgalley for getting a digital arc copy of this book! This book started a little slow but the time chapter 3 came around and probably even before that I absolutely devoured it. It was a book that with each turn of the page just kept getting better and better. I’ve read books with dragons. I’ve read books with vampires… but getting BOTH in this book was definitely what I needed.


Medra’s character growth was executed very well and the tension, spice, & banter between her and Blake was everything I could have wanted and more.

I can’t wait to read book 2 and I am curious which direction this goes as far as love interests. Like is Blake going to be a “tamlin” situation or what?!

I devoured this book and the last chapters I was reading until I couldn’t read anymore.

On wings of blood..what can I say?
I've read all of Briars previous books my complaint really is that I have to wait for the next one!

If you've read the Blood of Fae series, you would have met Medra. To be honest, I remembered her as a mean girl in that book. Until of course, the end, where she sacrifices herself. Little did I know that she would be thrown into another world altogether.

The story itself was good. I kind of expected more especially when compared to the previous series. The first half lagged abit and alot of the lines felt repetitive. I would have loved Blake and Medra to have more chemistry and that intense attraction that normally comes with fantasy. I did find that the latter part of the book picked up quite nicely and really, you would miss it if you didn't soldier on.

Blake was abit meh for me. I think that he would have been better if he didn't take the enemies to lovers so seriously. I mean it really felt like he hated her. And we know in an enemies to lovers, you want that tension. That angst. The longing. The I hate you but I love you vibes. I didn't get that. The drama at the end did make up for it though. Speaking of the end. Am I the only one who wondered if Blake was maybe kidnapped and some stranger played his part? Because surely he would have asked permission? Right? Right. So not cool Blake. But. I. Loved. His. Nickname. For. Medra. Hands down. Little dragon. So fitting especially with her personality.

Overall, I would rate this a solid 3. I was definitely left longing for the next book in the series. And all in all, I really just want to know what happens next.

Thank you Briar, the publisher and Netgalley for affording me the opportunity to read the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
All views expressed are solely my own.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Review for “On Wings of Blood“ by Briar Boleyn. This review will contain minor spoilers.

Oh boy. Let‘s get this started. I absolutely ADORED the first half of this book. I devoured it, ate it all up and was obsessed with the FMC and the love interest. This gave me perfect Harry Potter x Fourth Wings vibes (without a problematic author). The love interest felt like the perfect Draco, which made me giddy at first. The setting was intriguing. The FMC felt strong and confident, which is always a plus, in my opinion. If I could, I would give the first half 5 stars.
Then, in the second half, it gradually changed to the other side. The love interest felt creepy and way too obsessed with her although they only exchanged about 5 sentences. The FMC‘s hatred felt unreasonable and she kept repeating how much she hates him. Once again, they had only exchanged about 5 sentences. The “enemies to lovers“ aspect felt so forced, because of this. The constant repetition of the hate felt too much, too annoying. And then they suddenly became obsessed with each other, while I gotta say his constant thoughts about his obsession with her were also too weird to take serious. His possessiveness felt creepy because, yet once again, they had barely talked. And suddenly he kept referring to her as “his“, although he barely knew shit about her. It was just very unreasonable and very, very unrelatable. Their ‘relationship’ was too repetitive, always the same, so it got boring. But other aspects of the books, like the dragon-rider-aspect was barely mentioned although I felt like it had potential to be more important for the plot. Towards the end, it felt like the author forgot about certain plot points and never mentioned them again. The whole beginning of the book and Orcades-plot were barely explained, I thought they would still be relevant and be explained sometime in the book but that never happened. I just hope they get concluded in the second book.
The characters sometimes felt a bit too black-&-white, too evil or too good without any mixture between them or without on-page character developments. This made it a bit boring again, but I could still enjoy certain conversations.
The writing style was good, I have no complaints about it at all.
Overall, I‘m giving this 2,5 stars. I was motivated to DNF this book, but I pulled through because I loved the first half so much. I am still considering reading the sequel though, because I am still intrigued about the dragon-riders. I will just try to ignore the love interest.

On Wings of Blood is Briar Boleyn’s second fantasy series, featuring Medra Pendragon who has landed cluelessly in a new world filled with vampires and mortals called blightbornes. Unfortunately for her, she is immediately found by a vampire prince and bound to him, against both their wills. Fighting to survive the bloodthirsty adult acedemy they attend together, she has many enemies: those who are jealous, those who want her power, those who want her blood, and those who just hate her, aka her betrothed. Medra makes friends along the way as she finds her new place in this strange world, without her magical abilities.

What I loved about this series are the strong vibes of Harry Potter, especially the Dramione fan fic fandom, mixed with Fourth Wing and Quicksilver. If you like the romantasy genre, this will be a pretty quick and easy read for you.

The book could have done a better job with world building in general, there are some details but it feels pretty flat. The character development was not very strong for the leads, and by the end it was confusing, and possible regression for the sake of future plot?

There were also a few plotholes about Medra’s identity. She is from another world, but she never thinks about it, misses it, or is even questioned about it. She is learning to shield her mind, and still the professor/ tutor sees things from her other world and never brings it up. It really bothered me that she dropped into a new world and never had complicated feelings or tough interrogations. She also apparently lost her powers but she never thinks of it. She even starts self-referencing herself in Bloodwing terminalogy, as a dragon rider, which really just points to her being half Fae. It kind of became my pet peeve. Hopefully this is partially addressed in the next book.

Despite all of this, I really recommend the book. I inhaled it pretty quickly and the vibes are spectacular. While it isn’t necessary the most original book, if you like the genre, you will certainly love this. And that is a pretty crazy cliff hanger to leave us on. Luckily the next book is out soon!

Also points for Orcades. I just freaking love her.

Dark Fantasy book with: Forced bonding, bully romance, vampires, academy, deadly competitions, dragon rider , strong FMC, possessive MMC. I enjoyed diving into this word. I loved learning more about our fiery red-headed heroine and cannot wait to discover more about her mysterious background. While the school year ended, we are left on a cliff hanger wondering what will happen in the next book - thank goodness it comes out at the end of this month!

The only reason this book did not get 5 stars is because it felt like a LOT of tropes were brought into this book instead of focusing on just a few. Regardless the story was entertaining, and I appropriately hated and liked the characters as I should. :-)

So, I was a little confused coming into this because I hadn't read Briar's other series, Blood of Fae, but this was quickly forgotten about once fiery Medra got going at Bloodwing Academy. I won't say too much because once I was immersed I loved that I was blind to this world and the magic systems, it made everything so much more intense. This was the perfect cross between the Empyrean series and Harry Potter so if you like forbidden romance, forced proximity, dragons and you've read copious amounts of Dramione fanfic, this is for you!!

“In my dreams, she wanted me just as much as I wanted her.”

What to expect
🩸Fantasy
🩸Dark Academia
🩸Found family
🩸He falls first
🩸Vampires
🩸FMC is the last dragon rider in a world with no dragons
🩸MMC with Draco Malfoy vibes
🩸Dragons?!
🩸Magic school
🩸Dual POV
🩸Bully romance
🩸Trials
🩸Forced Betrothal
🩸Touch her and Die … literally

As soon as I saw this book featured vampires, a morally complex MMC with Draco Malfoy energy, dragons, and the vibes of Zodiac Academy, I knew I had to read it.

I devoured it in under 24 hours and was hooked from the very first page. The pacing was spot-on, and the world-building was rich yet easy to follow. I absolutely loved our FMC, Medra—she’s fiery, strong, and doesn’t take any nonsense. That said, I wish we had gotten more of our MMC Blake’s perspective. He’s such a layered character! Yes, he’s morally grey and egocentric, but he’s also deeply misunderstood. After meeting Medra, it’s clear he’d do anything for her and always prioritizes the people he loves. Oh, and I loved his nickname for her—“Little Dragon.” Sometimes nicknames can feel off, but this one worked perfectly.

Overall, this was such an enjoyable read, and I’m already counting down the days for book 2. Can we please, please have more of Blake’s POV in the sequel?

Thank you to NetGalley, Victory Editing NetGalley Co-Op, and Briar Boleyn for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

At first I really loved this book and flew through it.
It’s a really easy read and gave me major Harry Potter vibes even to the point with one female and one male best friends where the male likes the female friend. This is a lot darker though.

What made me reevaluate my feelings towards this book was the ending. I felt that the MMC acted a bit weird at the last scene. To the point that that he felt lika a Tamlin. There are other factors that makes me think that he is endgame but it just rubbed me the wrong way. And I read a lot of dark romance and like my MMC morally black.

I think I will give the second book a chance though since I really liked it apart from the ending.

Another thing that threw me off was that the cover seems to be made with AI. You can clearly see it on the dragon. This also makes me question if I should read the next book.

I know all the reviews raved about it, but I just didn't like it. I wasn't pulled in and I was left with more questions as the story established itself than I would have liked. Overall, not my cup of tea.

Thank you Briar for an earc of this! I kept seeing this all over tik tok.

For fans of | Fourth wing | Enemies to Lovers | Villain gets the girl | Romantasy |

Between dragons, and vampires. A war academy, bullies and touch her and die. This kept me wanting more.

The plot was phenomenal. Where a lot of books don't hook me as quickly this one drew me in fast and kept me hooked! Medra was such a badass from the start! I loved her! I can't wait to see what happens next!!

This is the perfect mix of Fourth Wing, Harry Potter and Zodiac Academy. It has hot and scary vampires, dragons, magic and other mythical creatures. If you love all of these things, this book is for you!
Medra Pendragon is, allegedly, the last of the dragon riders... but there are no dragons left. The vampires capture her and she is forced to attend Bloodwing Academy. There she meets the arrogant, cold (and beautiful) vampire Blake Drakharrow 🖤

I absolutely loved this story! It took me a few chapters to get into the plot and the writing, but after that I was completely hooked. This book gave me the ✨️5 star feeling✨️ because I just couldn't put it down and I was so interested in the plot!

Medra is such a strong and caring FMC! She's a badass! Her friendship with two other classmates is amazing to read about! There are also some verrryyy unlikable characters that made some parts are a bit hard to read 😡 I really liked the balance between humorous, heartwarming moments and difficult and angering moments! The plot has some very high stake moments, which I loved!

And the ending!!! Omg I'm actually shocked. I did see it coming from the beginning tbh, but that didn't make it less shocking. I can't wait for the second book to come out, because I know I'm reading it immediately!

Thanks you so much NetGalley and Briar Boleyn for providing me with this arc! ✨️

When Medra wakes up in a land that is not her own, she quickly realizes that she is in trouble. Captured by Vampires, she is told she is the last of the dragon riders, not that any dragons have been seen in years. She is sent to Bloodwing Academy, where she soon learns she is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Betrothed to a man who acts like he owns her and seeks to control her, Medra soon learns it will take everything she has to survive.

Briar did it again! I really loved this book and I can't wait for book two! I really loved that this followed Medra's story after Knight of the Goddess. The tension between Medra and Blake was perfect and I loved the enemies to lovers story line with this one. I can't wait to see what comes next for this story!