A Fate Forged in Fire presents an intriguing premise with a richly imagined world that unfolds gradually and organically—a welcome departure from heavy-handed exposition. The Celtic-inspired setting and the measured reveal of political and magical dynamics offer depth and potential for compelling storytelling.

However, I struggled to stay engaged with the narrative. While I appreciate the author's intent to create a strong female lead, the protagonist often came across as petulant, judgmental, and impulsive, which made it difficult to connect with her or invest emotionally in her journey. I understand she is meant to be quite young, and perhaps that contributed to my disconnect, but the “special girl” trope has been thoroughly explored in the romantasy genre and felt overly familiar here.

As the plot progressed, the pacing grew chaotic and the storyline increasingly difficult to follow, especially given my dwindling investment. The romance also fell flat for me—it veered into insta-love territory, and I found the male lead underdeveloped. A particularly jarring moment was the revelation that he had killed her family, to which the protagonist—otherwise fiery and reactive—barely responded. That inconsistency in emotional tone disrupted the believability of both her character and the romantic arc.

Despite these critiques, I do recognize the care put into the world-building and the broader themes of societal tension and transformation. This book may appeal to readers who enjoy slow-burn romantasy with enemies-to-lovers dynamics, morally grey characters, and female-driven narratives. While I wouldn’t personally describe the book as feminist, due to the protagonist’s judgmental attitude toward other women, I can see it resonating with fans of Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, and similar authors.

Ultimately, while A Fate Forged in Fire didn’t work well for me, I believe it will find its audience among readers who enjoy familiar tropes repackaged with fresh settings. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this title.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!
(3rd person POV)


I was not prepared for this beautiful high fantasy novel.

Hazel blew me away!
It has a Scottish theme and a descriptive prose. It reminded me of the Disney movie Brave X House of the Dragon.
There is a lot of Scottish Gaelic verbiage. I’m adding a glossary of words I didn’t know the meanings of in case it helps someone else out.
(Spoilers will be after the glossary words)

This book has some HEAVY, dark, brutal scenes after 70%. It isn’t for the weak of heart. It brought tears to my eyes multiple times for our FMC.

Glossary:

Bannocks- round flat bread
Beathach/beathaichean - beast
Breithday- birthday
Caisteal - castle
Cèilidh- social gathering
Copar- copper
A chuisle- my pulse
Dorchadas- darkness
Duileach- elemental
Fearsolais- light bringer
Fèileadh- kilt
A ghràidh- my love
Sgian-dubh- Scottish knife
Sgillinn- shilling, pence, penny
Simurgh- large mythical bird similar to phoenix
Tartan- plaid pattern
Mo luaidt- my beloved/ my treasure
Òmar- amber color


















SPOILERS BELOW👇🏻





Trigger warnings with spoilers:

Very brutal battle scenes with swords
Lots of blood
Beheading
Loss of limbs
Burning people
Non consensual (attempted) vaginal brutality by priest
Very heavy war scenes towards the end













Spoilers below 👇🏻









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


My scattered thoughts after just finishing the book:

Honestly best book I’ve read this year.

The first 70% is setting the scene for the war and Aemyra is trying to forge her way to the top. She almost gets there and the rug is ripped out from under her feet.

The world building in this satisfied me after reading mid books recently. I loved the Scottish vibe, that was new for me and I was constantly searching for things and asking chatgpt questions.


My poor Aemyra has been through it! (Fan cast as Merida in my head)
She is bonded to the coolest purple dragon that reminds me of the girl dragon in Shrek.
She somehow fell head over heels for the lesser of 2 evil princes.

She lost her adoptive family.

Her dad is the most morally gray character ever written bordering on morally black honestly. That man has a dark side and his sword is even named darkness.


Poor aemyra is convinced Feirean is on her side and hell SO WAS I. The betrayal trope NEVER catches me off guard. I even considered it was a possibility but I swear I thought it was going to be her dad to betray her which he still kind of did going behind her back and making orders. Usually it is the MMC doing the betrayal but I honest to gods did not expect it in this book. CAUSE WHY. How long was he planning this?! Is he still secretly on her side and someone going to overthrow his whole family to keep aemyra safe?! Did they plan this together and she’s in on it? No that can’t be possible….
I cannot fathom a good outcome from this. I can’t justify how he could’ve planned this for the better good. I have no words left. I need to ponder this ending as I wait for the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC.

I think this one is my fault because I have read too many romantasy books in a short timeframe. I found myself rushing to get through this, frustrated with our FMC, and not vibing with the book at all.

I won't go below a 3, because I think it is a good book AND is likely better than I am giving it credit for. I need to come back to it.

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story and it was definitely worth the read!

DNF at ~42%.

A Fate Forged in Fire is just another romantasy that feels like almost every other one I’ve read. There’s dragons, a love interest our FMC shouldn’t want, a slow paced plot lacking uniqueness or nothing I could find worth continuing reading for. The plot is lacking - there’s not much in terms of movement or character development, and there’s zero world building. The reader is legitimately dropped into a fantasy world with no background or information regarding the world or our featured characters. I get not wanting to info dump for 50 pages, but the author doesn’t even expand on things or slowly leave bread crumbs about this universe. Basically, I have way too many arcs to read so I’m going to mark this one up as not for me. I’m positive there are people out there who will love this, I’m unfortunately not one of them.

Thank you to Delacorte Press, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy.

first I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher/author for gifting me this book in exchange for a honest review.

its A FATE FORGED IN FIRE release month! I've been super busy but im so glad I got to this book in time before the release. this book was truly unique. the Gaelic influence and Scottish heritage was so cool. I love learning about other cultures and other languages so even though this was a romantasy book, it was totally up my alley. I will say that the first 30% was slow as it was a lot of world-building and war plotting. but once I got past all that I was completely sucked in. I basically devoured the rest of the book in the matter of 2 to 3 days. this is definitely a book for you to try if you like outlander vibes (no time travel-purely for the gaelic aspect), fourth wing vibes (dragons!!), enemies to lovers to enemies (oh its juicy!!), royalty, and magic galore!!

as for the context warnings, there is sexual content (2 ish scenes + a little knife/blood play), an ATTEMPT of mutilation of a woman's womb, child death, grief, parent death, war violence, panic attack, past-parental abuse, and forced drug use (a binding agent for her magic). please be aware of these warnings when reading this book.

overall this was a great book. I truly loved Aemyra and how she was learning from mistakes and the representation of anxiety in her character. Fiorean was an amazing character as well. I loved how he was constantly battling with his feelings and wanting to protect his family. It was amazing to see the chemistry with Fiorean.

A FATE FORGED IN FIRE releases May 27! Grab a copy to support this author!

3.5 stars

This is the first book in a new fantasy series, which starts off strong with our FMC, Aemyra, living life in the slums of their town. We come to find out she is not a peasant, she is actually the true-born heir to the throne, living in hiding right under the noses of the royal family. When the king suddenly dies, Aemyra and her family attempt to overthrow and resume her rightful seat on the throne.. but she is unable to claim the King's dragon and she has to flee to save her life. She then returns and attempts to kill the prince but is subdued and captured by the prince and forced to marry him. The rest of the story focuses on Aemyra trying to get her throne back and we are left with one heck of a cliffhanger to lead into book #2.

I really wanted to like this.. I mean, I did like it enough to finish it, but this was a tough read. The FMC is annoying and frustrating. To me, she comes off very self-centered and over confident. She became even more infuriating when the romance bit came in, it was like a flip of a switch, one page she hates Fiorean and the next she is head over heels and putting all her faith and trust into this guy. I feel the plot was fairly well-written, I'm all for a rebound/comeback kid story, however, there has to be some wins... This felt like loss after loss after tragedy.. a true bummer. Which (hopefully) will be a great set up for book 2. I honestly just felt like I didn't know what the FMC was doing for the second half of the book, she seemed to be off in her own world imagining herself as this great Queen, but it seems like she wasn't doing anything to prove her worth other than continually stating that she is the "rightful heir" and then bonding with a dragon.

Pluses of this book, the world-building was fantastic, I liked the magic system, and I always enjoy a book with dragons and creatures in it. I think this book overall has great potential to be a starting point for a solid fantasy series, I just don't think it's for me. While I more than likely won't read the next book, I hope that the FMC can show more character growth and maturity going forward.

I was provided with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Big thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this opportunity.

I really enjoyed this book! There was a bit of a slow start & the action didn’t really pick up until the end but I think it’s really going to pay off in the second book.

I found Aemyra to be a relatable character that I could connect with bc while she often fell into the fantasy fmc trap of making dumb decisions she was very aware of her own faults & made efforts to make better decisions as she learned & progressed.

I was a little thrown off by the romance at first since they are, in fact, cousins 😂 but given the time period & royalty aspect it makes sense, historically, & the chemistry was surprisingly good so I’m choosing to forgive that detail for now.

There was a good twist in the end & a pretty huge cliffhanger so I will definitely be reading the sequel!

Hazel McBride absolutely blazes onto the fantasy romance scene with A Fate Forged in Fire—a fierce, fiery tale of power, magic, and slow-burning enemies-to-lovers tension.

From the first page, I was hooked. The Celtic-inspired world of Tìr Teine is rich with culture, conflict, and courtly intrigue, and McBride weaves it all together with a sharp feminist edge. Aemyra is the kind of heroine I love—determined, dangerous, and deeply principled. Her fire magic is just as compelling as her will to reclaim the throne that’s rightfully hers. Add in dragons? Yes please.

And Prince Fiorean? Whew. The arrogant, loyal, brooding rival who becomes something much more? He’s exactly the kind of love interest who gets under your skin in the best way. Their chemistry crackles on the page, and watching them circle each other in court politics while trying not to fall was deliciously tense.

The dragon-rider bond system was especially unique—I loved how elemental power, legacy, and personal ambition were all tangled up in this magic system. It gave me Fourth Wing vibes but with deeper political roots, a darker, more traditional fantasy setting, and a plot that charges forward with no room to catch your breath.

This is the fantasy romance debut to watch. I’m already desperate for the next book.

3.75 stars

This is the first new romantasy I've read in quite a while that actually made me FEEL something!

This world was rich with history, wherein the matriarchy used to rule through the power of goddesses using the elements (fire, water, earth, and air), but the True Religion is moving in to take over with patriarchal views. Our FMC, Aemyra, has been born in secret, an heir to the throne, but others have moved in to wrongfully grasp her crown.

In A Fate Forged in Fire, she works with her allies (including bonded creatures consisting of firebirds, chimeras, and dragons) to take back what's her's. While I found her annoying from time to time, I did appreciate having a strong, bisexual blacksmith as our FMC. She made some questionable choices throughout (and would greatly benefit from asking some questions before just jumping head-first into action occasionally).

This also ended up being a true ENEMIES to lovers, not just slight adversaries or rivals. I won't say too much more for fear of spoilers, but I found their dynamic to have a decent amount of development, though the leap into lovers did feel a little sudden.

The cliffhanger at the end is a bit brutal, so look out for that, especially since at the time of writing this, there's no sequel announced yet.

Thank you to Hazel McBride, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for this eARC!

Unfortunately, I did not realize some of the content I was walking into when pursuing this ARC, which impacted my reading experience. As a premise, A Fate Forged In Fire is intriguing, but its execution felt a bit off to me. From oddly timed comments from the FMC that didn't seem to align with the story to a confusing plot, I just couldn't connect with this book. It's a bummer, honestly, because I typically devour dragon romantasies. Not so much with this one.

DNF’d at 30%. This one just wasn’t for me. Every single name is “unique” and difficult to pronounce. I found the FMC insufferable. There’s weird family ties to the love interest and I felt confused about the plot basically the whole time.

I really appreciated the opportunity to read and review this ARC!

Finishing this book left me with more questions and a lot of anxiety. I cannot wait for the second book.

It took a good bit to really dig into the plot, but as the first in a fantasy series, I expect that. I found myself loving the Celtic inspiration and while I could never pronounce these cities or names myself, I loved the way it added to the world building and understanding of the territories.

This book was full of feminine rage, plot twists and shocking betrayals. Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen, I was thrown for a loop. Seeing Ameyra grow into a strong influential woman looking to serve her people was a strong point throughout this book. I surely hope we see more growth and independence in the next.

I also have to give a moment of awe for the “my wife” moments. I was a little bit hesitant of Fiorean but watching his character develop and the romance blossom between he and Aemyra was my favorite part of this story. Once the love plot hit, I found it hit hard and I loved every minute of it.

Fiorean’s dirty mouth would have me thanking him for whatever he sent my way.

The first installment in this high-fantasy series introduces readers to a richly built world brimming with hidden dragons, deadly trials, and forbidden bloodlines. The author's commitment to deep lore and expansive world-building is impressive—but it comes at a cost. The pacing drags, especially in the first half, weighed down by exposition and detailed descriptions that occasionally sap momentum from the plot.

Our protagonist, a young woman caught between duty and destiny, is intended to be complex but often comes across as frustrating and inconsistent. Her decision-making may test the patience of some readers, and while character flaws can be a strength, here they feel more like a narrative stumbling block.

Romance simmers on the back burner as a subplot, but it’s underdeveloped and lacks emotional payoff. Readers hoping for a compelling romantic arc may feel underwhelmed.

The book shines most in its tension-filled battles and trials, which offer real stakes and thrilling moments. The hidden dragons and hints of greater powers lurking beneath the surface promise more excitement in future volumes.

Overall, this debut sets the stage for an epic saga but may not be for everyone. Those who appreciate slower-burn narratives and intricate world-building may find something to love, but others might wish it moved just a little faster—and had a more likable lead.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an arc of this book. Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this book at 29%. I was really excited to get into this book after hearing someone talk about it, but upon starting I,t and trying to get into it. I was quite confused. There were excessive amounts of info dumping at the beginning that just weren't making sense to me. Another problem I had was the main character. I was quite excited to read her story from the synopsis, but when reading, I found her to be quite immature and just wasn't enjoying her that much. Overall, this book just wasn't for me, but everyone should still check it out and see for themselves! Thank you again to the publisher and NetGalley for an e-arc in exchange for my honest review!

This was so good. I loved the plot and characters. It was paced perfectly. I didn't wanna put it down and was on the edge of my seat

4⭐️

A Fate Forged in Fire is the first book in a Celtic inspired fantasy duology with elemental magic, dragons, and other mythical creatures (that I’m hoping play a bigger part in the next book!), and lots of strong feminine energy. Erisocia has a history of being led by goddess blessed queens, but without a female heir to the throne in the past century, the slimy “True Religion” has infiltrated the royal houses, preaching that women are the inferior sex, magic is the work of demons, and they must all submit to their Savior, yada yada yada. Then Aemyra enters the chat to bring her country back to the greatness it once was, with Prince Fiorean both hindering and helping her along the way. And say it with me now, FUCK 👏🏻 THE 👏🏻 PATRIARCHY 👏🏻


This book had a very slow start and leaned heavily into world-building — which I usually love – but somehow I still felt lost about their world at the end. There is an entire map that is very detailed, and I’m the first to say that I love maps and refer back to them often, but 90% of it isn’t mentioned at all in the book. Maybe they’ll be important places and landmarks in the next book? Only time will tell.

That said, the FMC was headstrong and relentless, never cowering from a fight. A true hater of oppressive men and I love to see it. The enemies-to-lovers arc is intense (in the best way). Like, very true enemies in the beginning, I wasn’t sure if the love was ever going to play out well. I also really enjoyed the authentic Celtic influences woven throughout, and the pronunciation guide was superrrr helpful because Scottish Gaelic is one hell of a language that I do not understand – although I wish it had been at the beginning instead of the end! I screenshotted it and saved it to my phone for easy access though because I was referring to it every single chapter. I saw the cliffhanger coming but it still definitely has me looking forward to the next book, because without risking giving too much away, what the actual fuck, Fiorean?!

Thank you to Random House Publishing – Ballantine, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Okay, who doesn't like a good dragon series? I sure do. After forged in fire is the first book in a new series. Its a enemies to lovers , war novel about a queen who struggles to become who she was born to be. While she slowly falls for the wrong man

Unique magic and world-building. A dragon romantasy that will alight you.

The tropes aren’t enough to share the explosive ride that is Fate Forged in Fire. Regardless of my knowledge, it didn't prepare me for the book. I was on the edge of my seat, wanting to know what would happen next, and even when I suspected it, it hit me from another direction AGAIN.

My highlight besides Aemyra and the fight for a matriarchy was, of course, Aemyra and Fiorean. I knew they were going to be a beautiful symphony, and I wasn’t disappointed

The way the plot unfolded made my heart race, and I thought I might pass out.

The only question you’ll have after you finish is when is book 2?

(Just kidding, you’re going to have SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS)

This was a fantastic fantasy story with great characters and a well-driven plot. I'd be very interested in more from this author, she has a lot to offer!