"It's here. The space somewhere between your heart and your soul that speaks to your beathach. "

The fmc in this book is hard to digest. She's selfish, a bit of an air head, and has a superiority complex that she's the chosen one. These are all things I actually liked about this character. Her character flaws and fallibility give her a sense of humaness and make you doubt if she will be enough. It gives me Sansa vibes from Game of Thrones, leaving me hopeful that her arc will be just as epic as hers.

The story itself is simple; a crown stolen, an evil king, and a quest to do what's right for the relm, but the way it's written always leaves you turning the next page. From the magic system, to the dragons, to the banter between the mc I was always hungry for more. I can not wait for book two.

A big thank you to netgalley and Hazel Mcbride for the free arc I received in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Renegade Books for the arc.

It took me a minute to understand the world and the motives of the main characters but once I did I was fully invested. The characters are well built, with their development through the story being realistic given their backgrounds and personality. The plot was well put together with foreshadowing hidden throughout. The ending was predictable but still extremely fun. I will definitely be picking up a finished copy (already ordered) and cannot wait for book 2.

Not gonna lie, I had a hard time getting into this but the ending was pretty good. However, the journey to get there is HARD. I feel like there were a lot of names mentioned and some of them weren’t really explained . Like complex world building is great but I think it needs to be completely thought out so the readers don’t get lost. Aemyra is pretty cool..we all love a feisty FMC! I didn’t feel the chemistry between her and Fiorean though! This reminds me of House of Dragons but without all the incest. 😂 also it has dragonssss! ❤️❤️❤️

Overall, I enjoyed this and can’t wait for the next one!

Big thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC! ❤️

3.75 ⭐️

First I want to thank Random House and NetGalley for letting read an ARC for this.

Let me first say, I first started this in November and just finished it in March. Not that I read it for 5 months but I started it and after the first couple chapters, there was just sooo much to digest and I just wasn’t mentally prepared to go into all the world building that second, so I put it aside until now.

But recently it’s started making its way through booktok and once I saw that Goldsboro edition, I was ready to try again and I’m glad I did!

Like I said above, it takes time to get into, there’s a lot of plot quickly and can be confusing at times. But power through it’s worth it. I think this is a great romantasy, heavier on the fantasy. It really was true enemies to lovers which I appreciated also, I just wish we went more in depth on the MMC because felt like we didn’t really get to know him, but I’m hopeful for the next book.

Overall, I do recommend you reading this.

What the actual FUCK?! But in such an amazing way! I loved this book and the only thing that kept me from reading it all in one day is work. Absolutely amazing! Celtic inspired romantasy, with true enemies to lovers, forced proximity, elemental magic system, magic animal bonding, healthy amount of feminism, and a dash of spice! This is the first book in a duology so it does end on an enormous cliffhanger, which is why I am already absolutely fiending for the next book.

I did receive an eARC of this from netgalley and decided to leave this review after absolutely devouring this amazing book 🥰

This book will probably fill that fourth wing hole in a lot of people's hearts. I didn't finish fourth wing because it was so cringe and hard to read. This was much easier to read however felt like I was just reading a bunch of tropes thrown together. Felt like the author had a checklist and she just needed to check them all off. Enemies to lovers with the prince of the bad guys? Check. Bonding with a dragon? Check. Fire powers that make her feared? Check. And ultimately betrayal in the end to set up book two? Check. This was predictable to an uncomfortable level. Can see why people have been having about it already but just like with fourth wing it didn't click well with me. Ok writing and a pretty basic plot mixed with a FMC that's arrogant and stubborn to such a point that I roll my eyes a lot. Was just meh. Thanks Netgalley for an early copy.

I have a lot of mixed emotions about this book. It has all the standard checkboxes for something I would like, but I oddly felt invested in none of it? I wasn't wanting to drop everything to read it, and I found myself dreading picking it up to continue.

To start with what I liked - I thought that the dragon fights were well done and exciting. I also thought the enemies to lovers was ACTUALLY enemies to lovers, which is a frustration of mine with a lot of other books. They tried to kill each other multiple times and truly hated each other. I also love a good dragons story, and I enjoyed how the bonds between dragon and rider were done here.

I think a main complaint that I have is that I don't particularly love any of the characters. I thought that the main character, Aemyra, was INSUFFERABLE. She is 26 but acts like a teenager. She was cocky and arrogant with hardly anything to back up this personality. She is supposedly this strong, capable character and I felt like the opposite was true the entire book. I also thought the world-building was messy and not well fleshed out. I hope this improves in future novels as this series could really be interesting and fun.

Ultimately, I recommend this book to those who really enjoy the romantasy genre. As seen in the many glowing reviews, there are a lot of people who ate this book up. I just think I am growing out of the genre as a whole.

Thank you to Netgalley and Delacorte Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

and i so wanted to love this too: bi powerful FMC in an enemies-to-lovers. but... no. FMC was honestly an awful character: childish, arrogant, reckless, constantly claiming she's super powerful and smart while.... being completely the opposite and that's probably partially to set up her growth arc for this and the sequel, but it just made this book an irritating reading experience. MMC was generally fine (flawed but worked). other characters were pretty good too, esp the villains and the dad (who honestly you can just throw in in the villains). but the FMC being a char i don't like made this just a SLOG. i might still read the sequel cause hopefully that'll be better and the prose was not bad, but yeah. 2.5 stars, ig. tysm for the arc.

5 ⭐️ WOW I am so glad I got the chance to ARC read this and I cannot wait for all my romantasy girlys to have this book in their hands because I know they’re going to EAT this up. 👏 This is for fans of House of the Dragon, our MMC and his brother give Aemond and Aegon. Our FMC is a blacksmith and she is the most baddass, strong, and growing character. I’m obsessed with her and love that she’s also Bi! We never get a bi FMC in romantasy so thank you for the representation! 🏳️‍🌈

❤️‍🔥 The romance in this is a TRUE enemies to lovers. Like they are legit trying to kill each other on multiple occasions. They have the best banter and tension of two enemies forced into an arranged marriage. So many of my favorite romantasy tropes like knife to throat and sparring scenes.

🐉 When I say I want a book with dragons, THIS IS WHAT I MEAN. We get all the best dragon scenes from trying to find one bond to it, to learning how to fly and battle with it. The Dragon battle scenes are the best!

My only complaint is that I don’t have book two in my hands immediately after finishing this🥲

This book sounded right up my alley and I'm beginning to wonder if I should just stop trying ARCs and wait for the finished book to come out.
I didn't connect with the characters in this book and thought it tried a little too hard throughout. The worldbuilding was fine enough, but I really didn't care for how the story went. Our main character is just all over the place and was not easy to root for. The pacing seemed hard to follow as well, and maybe the finished book will have a glossary which would make it easier. However, as a whole this was not the book for me. I would have done 2.5 stars but rounded up to 3.
I wanted to like this book more, but really had to push to finish, and sometimes life is just too short for that.
Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

"So how can I be fire? If the only thing that makes me burn ... is you."

Hi. Obsessed. OBSESSED. I went into this blind and this had quite a few tropes that I'm obsessed with. This is a slow burn of mortal enemies to lovers. I also was caught off guard with the ending and totally understand the mortal enemies aspect. This gives a very big Game of Thrones/House of Dragon vibe with a heavy scottish tweak and a romance to it. I'm not even mad. I loved so many of the moments. Push through just a slow beginning [this is going to be your world building, just deal with it] and it'll jump quickly into everything else.

Like guys who catch daggers in the air? You want to read this.
Flirty but deadly little banter? You want to read this.
A female who is set on saving her kingdom no matter the price? YOU WANT THIS
Betrayal and moments that question if we pushed things a bit too far? YOU WANT TO READ THIS FRIENDS.

The world building of this book took some time getting used to, especially with the Celtic mythology. Once you get past that, it’s an entertaining fantasy read.

The tension between Aemyra and Fiorean was definitely the highlight of this book. They’re truly enemies to lovers. It had a great balance between attraction, hatred, and of course longing.

The political aspect made this book intriguing, along with the magic systems in place. Hopefully the bonds between the dragon and rider will be further explained and deepened. I’m looking forward to more world building in the second book.

If you’re wanting a fantasy with dragons, betrayal, and romance then this will be good for you!

-Romantasy
-Enemies to Lovers
-Slow Burn
-Dragons
-Single POV

Thank You to NetGalley, Hazel McBride, and Random House Publishing for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to rate this 5 stars by the middle of the book, as much as the beginning plot took awhile to speed up (and the FMC was truly an asshole for a good chunk of the beginning of the book). The romance in the middle ESPECIALLY made me want to rate it 5 stars, their UST to RST was sooooo full of tension and so hot.

And then the major plot twist of the end hit me in the face, and I was back to 4 stars. :/ Also there’s an attempted, almost completed, sexual assault/torture scene upon the FMC near the end of the book that I was very much not prepared for (and didn’t appreciate).

My kingdom for a romantasy book that doesn’t rely on a 3rd act romance betrayal (or attempted sexual assault!). Literally any other character can be involved in the betrayal, I just don’t want it to be part of the romance plot. :/ and I would love to not have sexual assault in my romantasy books.

Will I be reading the rest of this series? Probably, just to find out how things get resolved. Do I have high hopes that this romance doesn’t end in tragedy? Not really. :/

“Aemyra had been forged in fire, but a queen would rise from the ashes”

Rating: 3.5
Spice level: 2.5

Read if you like:
⋆ Hidden Heir
⋆ Enemies to Lovers
⋆ Slow-burn

A Fate Forged in Fire is a betrayal filled romantasy with an amazing new book boyfriend, and DRAGONS. (Did I mention dragons?) It combined both the vibes of my favorite book series and show: Throne of Glass and Game of Thrones (House of Dragon)!!
While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I do believe the ending was a bit slow near the 80% mark, however picked back up after a chapter or two and I could not put it down! As well as the fantasy aspect was a little lacking, I wish we had more in depth descriptions on how the magic system worked and the world.

Thank you to Net galley & the author for the ARC <3

This book is written well, it kept me engaged for the most part. The middle dragged a little, but the ending made up for it.

This romantasy book has everything that I hope for as a reader, from action packed adventure, to an intense slow burn romance, and a feisty FMC. The banter between the main characters is hilarious and creates a real connection and attachment to them. I love a good enemies to lovers romance, and this book did not disappoint. It contained a lot of the cliche tropes that I'd expect to see in a romantasy book, but the author really made it their own and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride. Thank you so much for this review copy, I'd highly recommend A Fate Forged in Fire to anyone looking for a good romantasy read!

3.5
House of the Dragon meets The Legend of Korra… let me explain.
A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride is the story about a girl named Aemyra living in a world that values a matriarchal rule, but has lacked a female ruler for over 100 years. Aemyra is the daughter of an outcasted prince who attempted a failed coup onto the throne. Now, with her father’s help, she is thrust into a bid for the throne as the only female decedent born in decades. Her rule being contested by a drunken king, and his scarred younger brother with eyes for her.
In this world, there are magic wielding element benders called “Duileach”—of which Aemyra wields fire. Beyond the use of elemental bending, this reminded me a lot of the Legend of Korra (namely season one) because there is a battle of beliefs brewing in the background. We have the Duileach (benders) using their magic, while the “True Religion” (non benders) argue that there is a divide in power amongst the people. We have a villain, Athair Alfred who sort of acts as Amon in this story, but is not the founder of this religion. Beyond this, it doesn’t hit too much in the classism between Duileach vs non-Duileach as much as The Legend of Korra did, but the divide reminded me of that.
As for House of the Dragon, we have the character of a young man becoming king on the curtails of his father’s deteriorating mental health. He is introduced as a drunk, reluctant to rule the throne, but begins to display the same madness as his father, which gave me King Aegon vibes. His younger scarred brother who is way more competent gives Aemond/Deamon energy. And our MFC Aemyra is a mix of Rhaenyra and Rhaenys. Sprinkle in some Alicent, Criston Cole, and Otto for the secondary cast. There are also dragons presented in this book as well, though their bond with their rider is not as present as something like “Fourth Wing” for people who are looking for the talking dragons.
The story follows Aemyra’s fight for the crown as the rightful heir, where she must maneuver the inner workings of this court that she is not accustomed with, whilst fighting off the growing influence of the “New Religion”.
The rest of this review will discuss my thoughts and the shortcomings of this novel, but will be going into spoiler territory, so please yeet yourself out of here if you don’t want to be spoiled.
Aemyra, and most of the people of her land, follow the religion of “The Goddesses”, while a new religion is on the rise to combat this. The “True Religion” is run by a group of “Chosen Priests” that have entered the royal family and turned them against the matriarchal beliefs of the Goddesses. I really enjoyed this idea of the book, but I do have to admit that it felt a bit underutilized. We don’t have information on what the common folk think of the Duileach. We don’t really understand why the True Religion is fighting against the ways of the Goddesses, nor do we get an idea of what each religion sanctions or scrutinizes. We never really see a juxtaposition between these two waring ideals, which was a shame.
We are introduced to elemental magic, but we don’t have a chance to really see it flourish in this world until the very end. We even have a cast of characters that have sworn fealty to Ameyra by way of her father banding them together, but we never see them until the end of the story, practically in one line delivery. This would have been a great opportunity to do some found family narrative, but because we separate Aemyra from her brother and father, we never see these people really caring for her. Why are they fighting for her beyond the fact that she is a woman and rightful heir to the throne? They don’t know her—her father chose them, so there is no connection between her and them.
Aemyra is separated from her brother and father and sent to the court where she’s forced to marry Fiorean. During her time there, she rarely attempts escape, rarely thinks about her brother or father, and doesn’t show any interest in ruling the kingdom beyond it being her birthright. She doesn’t really stand up against their rule, the encroaching believes of the New Religion, or show the audience that she will be a good ruler. She is more focused on her annoyances towards Fiorean, and being followed by the family. A partial ‘whodunnit’ plot is given to us when their heirs to the throne mysteriously turn up poisoned, but Aemyra isn’t actively trying to solve who is trying to kill these kids. We have her bond with the only female dragon that has been in hiding for decades, but then proceed to never see said dragon because we need Aemyra in the court, helpless to fight back. Though I enjoyed the way the forced marriage was presented, I fear this plot line took away from the importance of showing Aemyra being a competent ruler.
Her trust in Fiorean does seem a bit abrupt. I think we should have seen more of Aemyra’s compassion for the common folk, her ability to solve political strive and issues from within, and showcase her ability to outperform the current monarchy in ruling this kingdom. It should have been evident to everyone around, the Aemyra is the better ruler because of the person that she is, not because she’s the prophesized woman. It really devalues her as a character, and devalues Fiorean’s affections for her, when he starts to inevitably fall for her. When she eventually meets back up with her father and gang, with Fiorean, they question her ability to rule considering she’s put trust into her enemy. She meets this apprehension with an abrasive attitude saying things like “Am I not your queen?” or “I am the queen”, rather than showing humility and admitting that they haven’t seen her for half of the book and understanding their concern, but assuring them that she is in control.
Because we wanted to build a relationship with Fiorean via forced marriage, we were robbed of storylines like 1.) Aemyra being a leader amongst a rag tag group, 2.) her navigating her father’s overreach of undermining her decision making, 3.) the issues these opposing religions are causing the common folk, 4.) her use of her fire magic, and 5.) her bond and relationship with her dragon. I feel as this book should have been book 2 in the series, and the 5 points above should have been book 1. We will see how McBride furthers the plot of this land in the continuation, but it did seem a bit surface level in this one. We need more backstory on these religions, we need to see more struggles that are being caused by these waring religions to the people of this kingdom, and we need to seed Aemyra being a better ruler to those around her.
Thank you to author Hazel McBride, the publishing company, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review this ARC!

A Fate Forged in Fire, the anticipated romantasy by Hazel McBride, delivers a thick tapestry of world-building and a passionate enemies-to-lovers trope, albeit with a rocky start. The novel enchants with its Celtic mythology influences, dragons, and a hidden heir trope, capturing fans of intricate fantasy worlds. The pacing is initially sluggish, which can be challenging for readers eager to dive into action and emotion. However, perseverance is rewarded as the narrative picks up momentum midway, drawing readers deeper into its intrigue-laden plot and character dynamics.

Aemyra, the fiery female protagonist, annoyed me quite a bit. I was exasperated with her as often as I admired her. She struggles to assert herself and figure out the basis for her leadership besides her father saying she is supposed to be queen. For me, it left her feeling entitled, but that was more dispelled later on as her character had more time to develop. Her chemistry with Fiorean, the mysterious and emotionally scarred love interest, adds layers to the narrative, offering moments of intense connection amidst the broader political and magical turmoil. I loved the true enemies-to-lovers aspect of their relationship; I feel like so often in romantasy, that trope gets used for people who kinda don't like each other, but that is not the case here. For me, that was really satisfying.

The story flourishes in its vibrant matriarchal society setting and well-crafted mythos. As someone who loves Celtic history and culture, it was a treat to feel so immersed in this world. The worldbuilding was impressive, if occasionally convoluted. It also didn't help that I had just read Onyx Storm before this and struggled to keep the dragon lore separate between the two!

As a side note, the cliffhanger for this book had me wishing I could throw it across the room. Hazel McBride, that was cruel and unusual punishment and I want the next one now.

This debut was fantastic. The queen of fantasy is here. This book did not disappoint, you need to pick it up!

3.5⭐️
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for an eArc of A Fate Forged in Fire.

A Fate Forged in Fire is Celtic inspired fantasy romance. The story follows Aemyra (FMC), a blacksmith with fire magic, determined to reclaim her kingdom. However has to work with her enemy Price Fiorean after some complications with her plan. The enemies-to-lovers dynamic between Aemyra and Fiorean is definitely one of the highlights of the book, though it takes time to truly develop.

The world-building was okay and a tad bit confusing. However as the story progressed, the world and its rules became clearer, making it easier to get immersed in the plot.
This a slow slow burn and I enjoyed the tension between the characters. Some parts of the book I felt had unnecessary filler info. The inclusion of dragons and the complex societal conflicts (with a goddess-worshipping culture vs. a patriarchal religion) added a lot of depth to the world.

Despite these issues, I’m intrigued enough to continue the series and see where it goes.