I could not put this book down! This story follows our FMC Aemyra who is the first female heir to the throne of Tir Tiene in centuries. She has been hiding in plain sight of the kingdom because her existence is a threat to the male heirs who has assumed the throne due to the lack of female heirs.

Finally, at 26, it is her time to overthrow the male heirs and stage a coup to take back her throne. However, she encounters extreme defiance from the male heirs and the Covenanters who have infiltrated Tir Tiene with the oppressive ideologies and religion.

She is pulled into a war on all fronts- fighting for both her throne and the rights of her people, especially women, who would face extreme oppression under the current King who bows to the Covenanters.

This book has so much amazing content in it! Dragons, romance, high-stakes, betrayal, and powerful abilities. This story does not give you a moment to catch your breath with the constantly evolving plot and fast-paced story.

Our FMC is powerful, resilient, and stead-fast in her goals. The themes of religious intolerance, oppression, and sexism are interwoven throughout this story to support a very impactful narrative.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for their next high-stakes fantasy read with a defiant and powerful female lead! I enjoyed every minute of this compelling and captivating story that I will be thinking about until the second books is released!

Gave me chills at one point. I couldn’t put it down it was an unstoppable ride. If you love fantasy then grab this book and enter a world created by a mastermind.

📚☕️ “For the little girls who were told to put their fires out. Burn them all to the fking ground.”☕️📚

A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride – A Celtic-inspired fantasy romance that truly has it all. The ending will tear your heart out and leave you scrambling to check when book two is dropping. I’m calling it now: this is the next big fantasy series. Think House of the Dragon but with a gripping romantic plotline woven through. It’s the perfect mix of fantasy and high fantasy, beautifully crafted without being overly complicated.

Meet Aemyra, a 26-year-old blacksmith blessed with the power of fire by the goddess Brigid at birth. Hidden away for most of her life, she waits for the moment to rise and reclaim her place as the rightful queen of the Fire Kingdom of Erisosha—a land crumbling under centuries of corrupt kings and the suffocating grip of the true religion. Thrust into the deadly dance of court politics, Aemyra forms a fragile alliance with the cunning Prince Fiorean, a man whose motives are as dangerous as they are enticing. Together, they must navigate betrayal, ambition, and sacrifice as Aemyra fights to restore her kingdom to its former glory. Will she burn away the decay—or be consumed by the flames?

✅ Dragon Bonding 🐉
✅ A badass FMC with all the female rage 💪🏽
✅ Enemies to Lovers with a love interest inspired by Aemond Targaryen 😈😍that will have you SCREAMING & crying
✅ Political Intrigue
✅ Slow burn 🥵

From the author, “⚠️ BOOKS ARE POLITICAL ⚠️ When I say I wrote female rage - I don’t just mean I wrote about a woman who uses a sword. I mean I wrote a book about a woman attempting to repair a crumbling matriarchy from the oppression of a corrupt patriarchal religion. I wrote about a society where queerness was celebrated and women were revered for their ability to create life. Aemyra actively fights for the RIGHTS of her people against the men trying to take them away.”

You’re going to want to add this one to your list. It is available for preorder. 😍

A Fate Forged in Fire is a journey I never want to go on again. The story is at once predictable and thematically heavy-handed. Generally, when the main character is dragged through glass to advance the story, we want to see that character succeed. Aemyra inspires no such warm feelings—she, and just about every other character, for that matter, is wholly unlikable, with an insipid "growth" arc that left me cold. Her brief romance, if we can call it that, felt forced, and it was hard not to roll my eyes during the sex scenes.

If you're interested in a crude facsimile of House of the Dragons with Celtic window dressing, this may be for you.

4.5 ⭐️

Omg this was soooooo good! I’m actually upset to have received the ARC so early because who knows how long I’ll have to wait for book 2!!!! I was absolutely captivated. That ending ????? Can totally see this being a top book for 2025!!

Unfortunately this book was not for me. I did not like characters or their personalities. I did enjoy some of the world building. This is the most difficult time I’ve had rating a book on here. I think the synopsis does not do a good job at telling you what you’re in for. Some people are enjoying this but unfortunately I did not. However, thank you for the opportunity to read and share my honest opinion.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the ARC.

I really wanted to fully enjoy this, and there were some aspects that were great fun. I think the magic system is well thought-out and interesting, and it's always great to see representation of Gàidhlig and Celtic mythology in the publishing world. The main character has a good balance of virtues and flaws, which makes her more relatable than many fantasy characters circulating today. However, this was so glaringly Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon fanfiction that it was hard to see this novel as its own entity, and the similarities made me laugh out loud at times, which I don't think is the intended reaction, if any. Like, there are only a few characters in this book who are wholly original, and the rest are watered-down GOT copies.

The style of writing is just okay. Nothing to really write home about, and I think this book could've used a little more editing and polishing. I almost wish the language was a little more flowery, a little more introspective. But again, this reads like an AO3 fic, so maybe that's a long shot. I'll say this book is well paced at best. If you enjoy smutty romantasy with nothing really innovative going on or adding to the genre and just need some old-fashioned entertainment, then this may be for you. I don't know what I was really expecting, but maybe a little more effort into characterization and originality would be nice. I'd be interested to see if the second book makes more of this effort.

2 stars
Thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Let me be completely honest. I’m struggling with how to rate this. For 90% of the book, I was gritting my teeth, trying to power through. Why? Because Aemyra. I couldn’t stand her. She was everything I dislike in a character: childish, arrogant, and so full of herself. She acted like she was better than everyone else, constantly belittling everyone around her, acting almighty and edgy while making the dumbest decisions. How do you even root for a character like that? Her entire personality felt forced, and instead of coming across as powerful or compelling, she was just insufferable.
"Pitiful. These women have no strength."

That’s how she views other women while she, too, was in their position. Really? Absolute bitch energy. Absolute queen of the pick-me brigade. Sorry, but if you’re going to write a fiery, rage-fueled FMC, at least make her empowering. Women supporting women is a thing, and I can’t root for a character who thinks like this. Girl power above all, biss!
And Fiorean? He had no personality at all. Zero depth. The chemistry between them? Off. Just off.

On top of that, Aemyra’s character was so inconsistent. She’s all rage and edge at the start, but when she “finds out” (view spoiler) What does she do? Nothing. She doesn’t rebel, doesn’t fight back with everything she’s got. She just sits there, bitching about how much she hates all of them and talking about killing them if her magic comes back. With all her fiery attitude, I thought she’d at least try to gouge his eyes out or something. But nope. What happened to all the rage and fiery energy from the beginning? It just didn’t add up.

This book was so hard to get through. The fast pacing and constant name-dropping with no backstory made it impossible to follow or care about what was happening. I love complex fantasy and detailed world-building, but this wasn’t it. Instead of immersing me in the story, it left me feeling lost and frustrated. My brain wouldn’t even let me process the story because of the wreck that was Aemyra’s character. Her chaotic personality overshadowed everything, making it impossible to care about the plot or the world around her.

Oh, and the spice? Nope. No chemistry, nothing special. Just awkward.
To top it off, the dialogue had me cringing:
"So how can I be fire? If the only thing that makes me burn... is you."

I shuddered with disgust.

I didn’t give this 1 star because the dragon fights and the ending were "okay". I kind of guessed the ending but not entirely, so it was slightly redeeming. I initially thought about giving this 3 stars, but nah. After enduring 90% of this book, I can’t justify it.
I know some people will probably love this book, but it’s just not for me.

Aemyra is a young woman blessed with fire magic, who has been hiding in a city to prevent her true identify from being discovered. The city is full of religious zealots that discredit and destroy anything to do with magic and the Goddesses that give that magic. Aemyra challenges the current royalty and their religious fanatics to claim her birthright.

I really enjoyed specific parts of this book: Dragons, Enemies to Lovers and elemental magic. I also really appreciated that the author put trigger warnings at the front end of the book, because there are some doozies in there.

Because I loved the magic so much, I wanted a bit more out of the world building. I also struggled with the pacing as things went from super intense to slow to super intense without the build up for major events.

I am still very intrigued on where this story will go next after an action packed ending.

The Vibes:

—enemies to lovers (no for real)

—dragons

—Celtic-inspired fantasy

—grrrrrl power

Heat Index: 6.5/10

The Basics:

The secret heir to a matriarchal ruling family that has since been taken over by men, Aemyra seizes the moment to take over—and claim a dragon. But staking her claim is one thing; making it a reality is another, especially when she's forced to behind enemy lines and get much closer to her enemy, Prince Fiorean, than she ever imagined.

The Review:

Oh, I'm torn on this one.

To be clear: I was compelled and into this story pretty much the entire time (the ending dragged a bit until it didn't) and I'm definitely going to read the next book. The place we left on left me wanting more, and that in itself is an accomplishment.

I liked a world inspired by Celtic history and mythology, and I liked the idea of a matriarchy. I will confess! I liked the idea of a matriarchy more when I thought the matriarchy was actually in power and not being opposed by patriarchal leaders and religious figures, but. That's just me.

And I guess that's where one of my biggest critiques comes from—I'd love to read a fantasy romance where... it's not even that sexism doesn't exist, I guess. I'm thinking a world wherein it's a given that the rulers are queens, the heirs are princesses, and it's just kind of accepted. The matriarchy is the system, it has been the system, and it's not the story.

The question of whether or not Aemyra can ascend to the throne and defeat the patriarchy in multiple forms (principally the current ruling family and the True Religion, a cult that is pretty much Catholicism and has come onto the scene to supersede goddess-worship) is the story here. Or most of the story. And while I'm not saying I don't get it, and while I'm not saying that's a bad thing, it is... a thing I've seen a lot of in every form of media as of late.

Aemyra is a Capital G Grrrrrl Power heroine, and while sometimes the feminism hits the mark and makes me go "fuck yeah get it", sometimes... it was soapbox-y. Aemyra, headstrong and assertive and tough and good at fighting and not comfortable in pretty dresses, is clearly meant to be The Right Kind of Woman. The feminine women who've been subjugated by the patriarchy are The Wrong Kind of Women, even when they're allowed a degree of pity. I mean, for the most part they just don't have voices, which I found very frustrating.

Women like Aemyra and [spoiler and like, it's debatable]: Good.

Women who wear pretty dresses and get pregnant and raise babies: Sad or bad.

I'm very of the mind that feminism isn't one kind of thing, and in this book, it kinda felt like it was one kind of thing. Except... Aemyra does some real dumb shit. She's not perfect. She's arrogant, she's naive, she shoots before she thinks, she can be rather narrow-minded. And when the story recognizes that while allowing her to grow, it's good. It just needs to kind of reassure me a little more that it's fully aware that Aemyra is, in fact, wrong about some things, right about others, and in way over her head. Because that's the case.

There's also a subtle through-line of Aemyra, despite being the rightful female heir to a matriarchy and surface-level strong, is still being dominated and manipulated by men who appear to support her cause. Like I said, there really aren't many women with actual roles on the page aside from Aemyra (we need to fix that in the next book). It's a sausage fest, overall, and in this book that felt kind of intentional...? Aemyra needs more women in her life, and she needs more women who KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

Aemyra's sort of... girlbossitude at points made it difficult for me to like her. I mean, she was never boring. But I was honestly more intrigued by snakey (or is he?) Prince Fiorean. What can I say? I like a manipulative strategist. I mean, I'd be lying if I said that part of my engagement in the next book isn't really just "I WANT MORE FIOREAN".

Now, on to the romance. It's a bit slow slow slow bOOM FAST FAST FAST. Aemyra and Fiorean are true enemies to lovers. Not "oh I don't like you :(". Like, try to kill each other fairly early on in the book enemies. And when their story takes the turn it does, I was ABOUT IT. Because they do have chemistry, and I did appreciate that Fiorean is kinda like... a morally ambiguous pretty boy.

That said, because that turn happens about halfway through the book, the romance itself has to hurry up and go in order for the book's ending (which I was into, though I'm gonna need McBride to follow through on what felt like another "Aemyra needs to grow up and get the complexities happening here" moment). The chemistry is there, the pacing could use some work.

But again—I'm invested. I have my critiques, but I really did like Fiorean and Aemyra's interactions. And I like the base here. I just think it needs some work to steer away from "grrl boss Dragon Show Lite". It can get there, though! I see the vision.

That said, I do also feel the need to say: There is a really intense sexual assault scene here. It's not gratuitous, and it's not more graphic than it needs to be, BUT I do hope we get some followup there.

The Sex:

There isn't a LOT of sex in this, but what we get is good. Especially the second scene. Want some blood play in your books? WELL. Check this shit out.

I also really liked the fact that Aemyra's bisexuality is right there on the page, and that she actually often has a preference for women. Bi people are not usually 50/50! What a concept!

This was a bit rocky, but entertaining, and the bones are there. I just hope that the second book expands and improves upon what's good here, and goes through with the risks it needs to take in order to really set itself apart from the crowded fantasy romance/dragons landscape.

Thanks to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First off/ thank you NetGally for letting me be a ARC reader for this/
Thank you Random House Publishing!!
Special thanks to Hazel McBride for writing this

REVIEW TIME ✨🥹✨
The book started off a little slow, there was ALOT of world building. The FMC was very well captured and developed. I really enjoyed her seeing her grow to become the fearless Dragon rider she knew she deserved.
There was a little bit of everything for everyone in here, I was left wondering what MMC thought and insight was during the time away from FMC/ Once you get going my goodness YOU CANNOT STOP. I absolutely loved from pages 170-ending. It really picked up and characters really developed. Not to mention there might be a little secret twist in there going on with FMC?! very excited for book 2
✨SLOW BURN
✨DRAGONS
✨WOMEN EMPOWERMENT
✨ROMANTACY
✨ENEMIES-LOVERS-ENEMIES🔥🔥(slowly turning into my new favorite)
THE BOOK HAD IT ALL/

Dear Hazel McBride. I almost threw my ereader so many times reading this freaking (in a good way) book. A million thank yous for whoever at Random House Publishing Group for approving me here through Netgalley.

I was transfixed from page one and when I wasn't reading (curse you, responsibilities), I was thinking about the story at every moment. There was a point where I was so exhausted from the week and just wanted to read, but my eyes wouldn't stop closing and so I considered drinking an energy drink AT NIGHT so I could stay awake-- I HAVE LITTLE KIDS! I was choosing and craving this book more than life's necessities. The pacing was well-done and I found the world building to be VERY easy, but enjoyable whether you are newer to fantasy or you are someone who regularly reads high fantasy. The fact Aemyra is in her later twenties, PROPER enemies-to-lovers (actual swords / daggers to throats NUMEROUS times before lovers occur), with the political intrigue had my interest thoroughly at attention.... all these together was the perfect concoction of what I love for my escapism.


I have shared a review on Goodreads here : https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7019377531
And closer to the publication date in May (about a week or two before), I'll share on my IG : https://www.instagram.com/thenightstandbook/

So much fun! Literally, so much fun!! It was beautiful, glorious and I think that it is definitely one of those thing that is just so much fun. I can’t wait for others to be able to enjoy this as well!

4.5 stars rounded up. The beginning of this book is a struggle, but if you can past the weak exposition, the book rapidly picks up pace and intensity and by the end I loved it.

A Fate Forged in Fire is the first book in a romance duology starring Aemyra, the rightful heir to a historically matriarchal kingdom that has lost its way. Yet while the Goddesses and priestesses support her claim, the current rulers have lost their way, corrupted by a heretical religion that is harmful to women and those with magic. In order to claim the throne and save her people, Aemyra must find a way to take what is hers - but there are a lot of obstacles in the way.

I was constantly surprised by the plot of this book. While I knew it would be a fight to the throne, the type of fight kept changing in a way that kept me on my toes. It was intense and the stakes were always very high. While there are a couple moments that felt a little forced (Two characters sword fight twice and for no reason, the outcome of the second fight is wildly different, even though the person who won the first fight should've been even better prepared for the second), I genuinely enjoyed reading this book. I also think the ending sets the stage for a very interesting and intense sequel.

Character wise this book is also very strong. I loved Aemyra's personality. She is very head strong and really does care for her people, but it also very easy to see that she still has a lot to learn about consequences and strategy. It's clear where she needs to grow before she can be a good Queen which makes the journey there all the more interesting. I also love the way her personality fits alongside that of her twin (restrained, cautious) and the love interest.

And the romance! I personally think this is up there as one of the best done enemies-to-lovers I've read in a while. I get a bit annoyed when characters claim to hate someone but also can't stop going on about how attractive they are. This book does not have that issue, Aemyra genuinely hated this guy at the beginning of the book (to the point that I wasn't even sure he was the love-interest) and it takes concerted effort on both of their parts to build a relationship. Again, I loved their relationship and the mutual trust it was built upon and can't wait to see where it goes in the next book.

While I did come to love this book, it does have some flaws. Personally, I thought that the first 10-15% of the book was honestly pretty bad. It starts out very slow and it takes ages for anything really interesting to happen. This is compounded by the sheer amount of exposition packed into the first few chapters. My biggest grievance is the way the history of the kingdom is explained clumsily in a public play that the Aemyra just happens to stay and watch

And while I loved the chance to read a Celtic-inspired fantasy and learn more about the culture, I struggled with the level of explanation for many of aspects of Scottish culture that were incorporated. I was repeatedly confused by new words and it was often difficult to tell if it was a real Celtic word that I hadn't heard of before or a made-up magic word. If I had been reading a paper copy, instead of a digital one where it was easy to pull up definitions and wikipedia articles, I think this would have been even more annoying. That said, this was mostly a problem early in the book and becomes less of an issue as you get used to the fantasy words.

However, this does lead into another problem. There are way too many peoples and places and not nearly enough explanation to keep them straight. I think this book would benefit from a list of the important kingdoms and the clans and their beathachs (and the cities they call home). Small adjustments like repeating why a city was important, or who it belonged to, or why a person was important would have greatly improved this.

I highly recommend this book to fans of fantasy romance.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me an eARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Holy crap. I LOVED this book.
Extremely interesting world-building.
Masterful storytelling.
The magic system and the dragons 👌🏼
And that ending....
I cannot wait to see where the author takes this!

A Fate Forged in Fire is the first part of a Celtic-inspired fantasy duology that had me hooked after the first paragraph.

The plot moved at a fairly quick pace, which I prefer, and we watch as Aemyra grows into the Queen she was always meant to be. Unfortunately her crown is not so easily attainable, and she continues to have to fight for her family and her life to the very last page.

Thank you for the opportunity of an eARC, and I am eagerly pre-ordering a physical copy to reread whenever I want!

The story centers on a fascinating premise: a world where women rule from the throne while their male counterparts serve beside them. Our FMC embarks on a quest to claim her birthright by unseating not one, but two mad kings. However, while the concept was strong, the execution felt incomplete at times.

The romance was a highlight for me. Enemies-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and McBride delivered on the tension and slow-burn. Unfortunately, the side characters left much to be desired. I struggled to feel connected to them, which detracted from the overall emotional impact. For a book centered on dragons, I also found myself wishing they played a larger role in the story. While the worldbuilding hinted at fascinating lore, it felt underdeveloped, leaving me yearning for a richer, more immersive setting.

Overall, A Fate Forged in Fire shines in its central romance and ambitious ideas but falters slightly in worldbuilding and character depth. If you’re a fan of strong female protagonists, enemies-to-lovers romance, and political drama, this book might just spark your interest.

I had the best time reading a fate forged in blood. I haven’t had this good of a time reading a romantasy like this in awhile. The romance in this book was really well done and I really enjoyed how the dragons were written. Something I really loved about this book and wish we saw more was the kingdom was built on matriarchal rules. In this story line though men have taken over as rulers and we follow Aemyra who is the rightful ruler and her journey of trying to take back the throne. In this sense I can definitely see where the author pulled storylines from game of thrones. I’m giving this book four stars though because even though I really loved it there were a few problems. One problem I had with this and what I feel like I have with a lot of romantasy is something just feels off about the writing, it’s like I can’t tell if the writing isn’t good or it’s just not my style of writing if that makes sense. And then sometimes the plot just goes in directions where I’m like okay this doesn’t make that much sense. For example in this one half way through the book I feel like we were set up really good for a plot like ‘that I created’ in my head but then it took a totally different route which is obviously fine. it’s definitely worth picking up and I can’t wait to see where the author takes this series especially from the ending of this book.

3.5/5

Dragons. Need I say more. No, I don't think so. But I shall.

Something about this writing style and characterization didn't mesh well with me and the styles of writing and character exploration that I prefer. And that's a really difficult thing to explain. I think the best way I can explain it is that you're thrown right into the story (which I don't have a problem with), but when you do that, you need to explain things properly along the way so that it's a seamless reading experience. I felt like I still didn't know what things were even as they were happening/being explained. I think the pacing of the story also didn't help this issue that I had.

Hidden powers, anti-magic regime. FMC captured by the enemy and used by said enemy. All incredibly fun things to read about (especially when dragons and political drama is involved).

Overall, I did think this was enjoyable and I do think many other readers will love this book. There were just some stylistic choices that just aren't my favorite. Maybe, since this is the first in the series, those issues will be sorted out when the world opens up with sequels.

Thanks to NetGalley for the e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! My Goodreads review is up and my TikTok (Zoe_Lipman) review will be up at the end of the month with my monthly reading wrap-up.

Sooo amazing! I really enjoyed it, it was very interesting and I would definitely read more by this author! Such a good book, yall wont regret if u read it!