Thank you NetGalley and the author for the advance copy!

This was quite a fun read but I'm taking off a star for two reasons. One, the ending. I *hate* the direction the end took so much, but it's also enough to get me to read a sequel in the hopes it gets fixed. The second, it feels like Aemyra was intended to be shown as a bold, powerful woman that I could envision straight out of Celtic legend. Unfortunately, she often came across pig-headed, annoying and juvenile (she's 26, c'mon!). I will say she doesn't come across as bad as Violet in Rebeccas Yarros's Empyrean series.


I loved the world building (though I wish the pronunciation guide was at the front of the book and that we had a basic glossary), the characters and of course, the dragons. The romantic relationship built was also fun for me, though the cliffhanger is killing me. The matriarchal leadership, the diversity, family bonds, ownership of mistakes, culture and fantastical creatures are also wonderful elements in this book.

As angry as I am with the ending, I do hope this does well enough for a sequel because McBride just can't leave us like this!!

First of all thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this eARC!

Hazel McBride gets all the stars in the galaxy for this. 😭😭 I loved it so so much!!

The world is so beautiful and well built, I loved the culture and the matriarchy dynamic! And the DRAGONS!!!! This book is a dragon lovers DREAM and I’m so sad that I don’t have a dragon of my own.

Aemyra is a fantastic FMC, she’s powerful, bold, and unapologetic. She takes no sh*t from anyone and I love her! Her emotions jump off the page and made me root for her right away. She’s confident, but I also loved that she acknowledged when she made a mistake and endeavored to do better. Her heart for her land and her people is so big and she will do whatever it takes to give them the life they deserve.

I LOVED that this was TRUE enemies to lovers, with a slowwwww burn! But when it burns, it burns HOT! Fiorean is absolutely delicious and I’m pretty sure I melted straight to the floor multiple times. The emotion, the chemistry, the angst. Oh my gosh I loved it so much. And the ENDING. It was a gut and heart punch. I am severely unwell, I am in full body pain. Which by the way is what I live for in a book. Give me exquisite pain and emotional torture.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for sharing this ARC!

I really, really wanted to love A Fate Forged In Fire, but I could not get past how annoying the FMC Aemyra was. I can usually find a way to power through but in this case I just have to chalk it up to the fact that this book was not for me.

If you love House of the Dragon, enemies to lovers, slow burn, this one is for you. I enjoyed the story and it was a fast paced read for me. I enjoyed the writing style as well. This is a great read between some heavier books for when you need something good but not gut wrenching. I’m looking forward to reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, Ballantine, and Delacorte Press for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

3.5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️(⭐️)

First, let me speak to the fact that this book has such a great premise with it being Scottish inspired. I absolutely loved the direction the world-building is heading towards and you can tell within the story the level of effort that was placed into creating such beautiful elements of Scottish culture. It is so refreshing to see it represented in the romantasy world and I loved seeing all the little details that brought it together.

Now, let me just say this. This book gives *heavy* House of Dragons in the sense that 1. There are clearly dragons (haha), but 2. Mainly in the sense that two sides of a family— one that has ruled for generations—are now battling for the throne, things very quickly descend into chaos, and that they all possess trademark features that essentially scream royalty.

However, I enjoy House of Dragons so I definitely enjoyed these aspects within the book! I also loved how strong and, fiery (excuse the pun) Aemyra is within the story. She wanted the kingdom and everything she does is attempts towards gaining what she wants and what she believes, deserves. She has a single goal and actively strives towards this in every moment. She is definitely a flawed character with her own misguided beliefs but she does love the kingdom and its people and makes conscious steps to embody a kind and fair ruler when she can.

I found the writing easy to follow and it flowed well. The political situation within the story is also very well thought out and a well written conflict with the concept of another culture trying to forcibly take over (and erase) a current one. I am eager to see this continue to play out in the second book!

This book does end on a cliffhanger (Hazel McBride, if you’re reading this, that was absolutely criminal), but I am very excited to see where this story goes from here!

Publication date: May 27th, 2025
Review will be posted to Goodreads profile here on May 20th, 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/173776789

In all honesty, I did not finish this book and will not be posting reviews for it on goodreads and amazon.

This book had a lot of disappointing points in the 25% that I read through before dnf’ing… but my biggest issue with this book is that I think the author misrepresented the fmc. I *think* that the author meant for Aemyra to be head strong, brave and resilient but what the author produced with a winey, immature, overly sarcastic juvenile of a FMC.
I wish this author the best of luck in the future but this book was just not it.

2.5⭐️

I’m so sad right now because this book was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025 and I wanted to love it. Unfortunately I did not. It’s been a week since I finished because I literally had to step away and try to get my thoughts in order. It’s been days and I’m still so irritated by almost the entire book. I didn’t care for most of the characters, the pacing wasn’t great, and don’t even get me started on the ending😑

Needless to say I will not be continuing the series.

*4.75

UM HELLO?!? THE ENDING ?!?

I'm going to read this again when it comes out. This book was so good. Loved it so much.

This was genuinely enemies to lovers. The FMC was amazing. I loved her, strong and bi. She is also so badass. So so good

Best romantasy book I've read in a while!

Thank you so much for the arc!!! And for sending me a physical copy!!

A little slow in the beginning but once it picked up it started to get really good. I was so frustrated for the main character in so many situations but then felt her grief and pain every time something awful happened to her. And it felt like she couldn’t catch a break. I loved the relationship between the FMC and MMC and was furious how the book ended! It makes me want book two now. Thank you for the arc and chance to read I can’t wait to purchase my own copy in May!

FINALLY FINISHED! This one is an ARC that comes out in May. Amazing vibes
- Scottish/celtic fantasy
- dragons
- so much feminine RAGE
- house of the dragon vibes

It was quite challenging at times due to pronunciation (there’s a guide and I didn’t realize until 60% through, oops)

I also felt like I would finally get into it and the scene would change abruptly.

I think it’s a duology? I would definitely read the second one when it comes out because I have no idea where this is going.

3.5/5⭐️
2/5🌶️

What an absolute treat this was to get an ARC for A Fates Forged in Fire! Thank you to Hazel McBride and NetGalley for this opportunity. I always feel a little nervous about ARCs because I love relying on the reviews of others when choosing books to read. However, I can 100% recommend this book. I purposely didn’t read the synopsis again before starting, so it took me awhile to fully get into it. The Scottish Gaelic was new to me, so I had to guess what the author meant in the first quarter of the book. About 100 pages in though, I was totally hooked.

Things I loved about this book:
The tension and slow burn of the FMC and MMC
Dragons!
The cast of characters and the diversity they added to the plot line
Spice, done well
This is a great blend of fantasy and romance, not too much of either in my opinion.

I’m devastated to see this isn’t out until May. I need the second book stat. I’m so excited to see where the author takes this story.

This book is a must for fans of House of the Dragon and Fourth Wing. It's similar enough to both of these but adds its own twists. Aemyra was a great main character, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire time I was reading. I definitely wasn't expecting the twist at the end and I'm excited to find out what happens next!

*No spoilers review!*

Quick highlights:
-TRUE enemies to lovers
-Magic
-Dragons
-Resistance against a religion/government
-Family drama
-Bisexual FMC
-Pronunciation guide

Read if you like the heart palpitations typically brought to you by Rebecca Yarros, Sarah J Maas, or Jennifer L Armentrout.

If you're looking for a TRUE enemies to lovers, as in, they genuinely hate each other and legitimately want the other to die for a while, this is true to that trope. That means it absolutely includes a slow burn, complete with a dose or 2 of yearning.

World building was done without large info dumps and we always appreciate that! If you're not used to reading Scottish names/locations, definitely utilize the guide in the back of the book!

The end of this one had me STRESSED. I need a physical copy to annotate ASAP. I finished this in the middle of the night because I needed to know what happened... and I ended up feeling like I'd been smacked by a Rebecca Yarros book again! IYKYK!

A huge thanks to Hazel McBride and NetGalley for the ARC of this book! The one downfall of this being an ARC is that the book hasn't officially released yet and I NEED BOOK 2!

I loved this! Aemyra was a fun bisexual lead and though she was reckless in her choices I couldn't wait to see what she did next. Can't wait for next book with more dragons and magic!

A pronunciation guide is included which helps with the Scottish names

‘To become the first queen in centuries, a powerfully blessed blacksmith must use her wits and fire magic to overthrow the corrupt powers ruling her kingdom—while also fighting her growing desire for one of her dragon-riding adversaries—in the first book of a sizzling Celtic-inspired fantasy romance duology.’

A Fate Forged in Fire opens with a sedated beginning, unfurling a slow burn enemies to lovers with a tough female lead. Throw in some magic and of course my favorite mythical mofo’s, dragons! Gahh, Ima sucker for some dragons. Gimme a saddle, hand me a lasso and beam me up!

This was drama-filled, clever and unique. I have wildly mixed feelings about the FMC, Aemyra, not sure if I love her or hate her. But that’s not a bad thing necessarily. At least my emotions are in involved, right..? Religion and politics at play, & ughhh, just typing those two words makes me gurn and roll my orbs, but fortunately it played out well enough. Andddd naturally, it wouldn’t be a romantasy without leaving my ass on a crag, would it?! Noooo, of course not!

So yea, I'll just be over here, dangling and waiting for book two! I can't wait!

Big thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Delacorte Press for this arc in exchange for review!

Pub date: 5.27.2025.

Thank you to Hazel McBride and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.

Aemyra, our fire wielding FMC, has been hidden away in place sight as the lost rightful queen. As news of the king's death arrives - it becomes time to strike back against and claim her place. But the kingdom has been infiltrated by the "True Religion" who demonize magic and taken over by those who will do whatever it takes to stop Aemyra and her family.

Thank you for actually delivering on 'Enemies to Lovers'. I'm still recovering from the whiplash that the ending of this book was, and I genuinely cannot tell how I feel, especially considering how long we'll have to wait for the follow up in the duology.

Read for:
* Dragons
* Elemental Magic
* True enemies to lovers
* A strong but stabby Bisexual FMC with sarcastic banter
* Political and Religious conflict
* Slow Burn Spice

3.5 stars

House of the Dragon meets Kingdom of Ash. I loved it and I’m only sad because I have to wait longer for the next book in the series.

I loved the Scottish setting and the feminist themes of the book. The FMC can be frustrating to read about but she’s at least self aware enough to know she has some growing to do. The MMC is… interesting to say the least, and I’m afraid I need to keep my mouth shut because this is a spoiler-free review. I enjoyed the magic system and the world building. There’s definitely some crumbs to follow for the next books and I can’t wait to see how those play out.

4/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me this e-arc!
Further thoughts to come but OMG that ending! I can’t wait for the next book!

I will say at first the main attraction to me was that it had dragons in it, but I left with an even better story, it was very well written I could feel these characters pain and also their rage. The main character was a force to reckon with I haven’t read too many books with a strong female character but Aemyra is definitely a well written character. The only flaw if even that was that I predicted the ending but I was also suprised at how we got there, things I didn’t think that would happen, happened.

This was my first time reading a book that is Celtic-inspired and it was difficult to get into initially. There was so many names of places, people, and clans that I was getting confused with what was what. I wish the pronunciation guide was placed in the beginning, I was afraid to turn to the back to look at it for fear of potential spoilers. After getting through ~20% of the book, I really started to get into the story. The relationship between Fiorean and Aemyra felt like a true enemies to lovers where at times I couldn’t fathom how they could possibly fall in love. This book is definitely more heavy on the politics of ruling but there was a good mix of fights and action thrown in too. The battle scene at the end of the book was chaotic, but that feels on par with the author describing war as pandemonium in the book. I wish we could have seen the fmc come into her own more and step into her role as a queen more, but I feel like she only got slightly better than how she was at the beginning of the book. Considering how the book ended, I can’t wait to see her grow more in the next book. Lastly, gotta love a book with dragons and dragon riders.