It pains me to rate this so low, but I do feel like I must be honest. In a sea of similar-sounding Romantasy novels, DRAGONHART does not do anything different than what's already out there. Off the bat, the protagonist felt very young, and as this is not a YA novel, I found her childish behavior (at times) very difficult to like. The worldbuilding felt fairly typical Romantasy, but this was an element I rather enjoyed as the novel itself was very easy to get through. Told in dual POV, the male lead was someone I found a bit more interesting, though the majority of the book is told from the FMC's perspective. I think I would have preferred a better balance there.

All in all, I've chosen to rate this two stars because I did really enjoy the concept, and the writing was accessible if a bit too simplistic. But almost every other aspect fell flat for me. Do I think this book will find its niche? Absolutely. But as there are literally hundreds of better-written fantasy romances out there in the market, I cannot recommend this one for seasoned readers of the genre.

Thank you for the ARC!

Anytime there are dragons automatically adding to my tbr. I was very hopefully for this read. I did like it but it was not an all time favorite. Dragonhart very much gave me Throne of Glass vibes which I loved but then I was like wait no no I couldn’t see myself in the characters shoes and that’s ultimately why I gave it such a low rating. I did find the FMC to be a little too much whiny and felt the romance was fast paced in my opinion. The world building was good just wish the characters were more relatable. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of the book.

Super grateful for the opportunity to read this book!

Dragons are always a blast, enemies to lovers, secret hidden magic, warring kingdoms, and so much more!

I had fun, but couldn’t relate to the characters like I was hoping for! The motivation for decisions the characters were making wasn’t as strong as I would’ve liked. The characters did have growth and had a good journey along the way.

3.5 ⭐️ rounded up to 4 ⭐️
This book had me hooked for the first 40%. I couldn’t stop reading. I loved the storyline with mystery, a bad ass FMC, magic and dragons that we still don’t know if they exist or just an old wife’s tale.
Unfortunately at this point I started to get annoyed at the repetitiveness of ”she is the king’s assassin” ”as the kings assassin she..” it felt like it was written one every page about how she was the kings assassin. I could see past this most of the time and also how immature the FMC was. She’s only 18 so of course she’ll be immature. Totally on brand. But then at the end she made some really weird decisions that didn’t line up with that she actually was such a badass assassin. And the sidekick she picked up was supposed to be ”old and wise” but agreed that it was a good decision… then there was one last thing at the very very end that also felt so weird. That I can’t say anything about without spoil it.
I know that all of this sounds very negative and yes it was but I still loved the storyline. If it had just been worked over a bit more this could have been a 4.5-5 stars!

Thank you to the publisher and author for the ability to read this book. Look. I picked up this book because, hello—dragons in the tiele. That’s an easy hook. You slap a dragon on the cover and I’m already halfway sold. But once I got in? It lost me :(

Let’s start with the pacing. I don’t know what kind of storytelling cardio this book thought I was trained for, but it was either crawling through sand or racing a bullet train—no in-between.

The main character? I liked her! She had the kind of snarky, stubborn energy I vibe with. But I wanted to see her grow, not just be told she did. Her arc felt like it plateaued halfway through the book, and by the end, I wasn’t sure if she had really changed or if we were just supposed to clap because she survived. Surviving is great, but that’s the floor, not the ceiling.

Then there’s the spice. And look—I’m not against spice. I appreciate spice. But when it’s done right. This? This felt like the author was like, “Oh no, it’s been 100 pages, better throw in a steamy scene or the readers will riot.” It wasn’t organic, didn’t really add to the emotional stakes, and honestly, it pulled me out of the story more than it pulled me into it.

Worldbuilding? Solid conceptually. I mean—again—dragons. And the politics and magic system had potential. But so much of it was told instead of shown. I wanted more texture, more immersion, less exposition. There were moments of brilliance, don’t get me wrong, but they were buried under a lot of “let me explain this lore real quick” energy.

Also—and maybe this is just me—but I could not figure out if this book was meant to be a standalone or the first in a series. The ending was like, “Here’s a little closure, and also 10 loose threads that we may or may not address, who knows?” It didn’t feel like a satisfying conclusion OR a proper cliffhanger. It felt like the author stopped writing because they hit their word count and said, “Good enough!”

Now, was it all bad? No. Again: dragons. The banter had its moments. There were scenes that made me smile, characters I genuinely liked, and plot points that could have been amazing with a little more breathing room. I don’t regret reading it. But would I recommend it without a long disclaimer? Mmmm... probably not.

Final verdict? Mid. Not “throw it out the window” bad, but definitely not living rent-free in my head either. If you love dragons enough to forgive pacing issues, thin character arcs, and awkward spice, go for it. If you’re here for tight plotting and emotionally satisfying payoffs... might want to keep browsing.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for the advance reader copy.

The book is based in a world where dragons may have existed and so did magic. There’s an assassin who gets sent on a mission with an advisor from another kingdom and they go on a journey.

For the first maybe 60-70% of the book I don’t think I cared about what the main characters were doing.
I decided to not DNF because I held out hope for the ending and then was unfortunately disappointed.
The romance felt rushed and forced and so did the ending,

I so badly wanted to love Dragonhart, I really did. It gave me TOG vibes and I ADORE TOG, but this just didn't work for me. For one, Aria is incredibly unlikeable. She's childish, whiny, and way too big for her britches. Meanwhile, Hark was... fine. He's plain mashed potatoes when you asked for loaded, ya know? Still delicious but could be better lol. & the chemistry between them was eh.

I wanted to love this book more than I did because the skeleton is there, I just wish there was MORE. The world-building was fine, but all of the happenings felt so immediate from one side of the spectrum to the other. The FMC abhorred the MMC, but then within the span of a dozen pages, they’re falling into bed together with almost no buildup and very little tension. Same goes for her feelings toward magic and dragons. She believed so vehemently that magic and dragons did not exist, but never truly went searching for them.

The novel was written as a dual-POV book, but it was so heavily skewed to Arla’s POV that it made it difficult to truly understand Hark’s mind and his working for things. For an assassin, Arla surely does not pay attention to the things that most people ignore because she gets caught severely lacking in multiple scenes of the book.

While this is a good debut novel, I wish there would’ve been more flushed out scenes to give us more meat to the story. I think we’re missing about 40-50 pages worth of depth.

Thank you Abbie Eaton for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

A good fantasy action adventure, set in a magical world, that will have you on the edge of the seat right from page one.

I wanted to like this so badly but it was a massive miss for me. 😭
It felt too much like a TOG knock off but where it had the potential to blossom and be its own great story… it fell short.

Arla was very much an unlikable FMC. She was so insanely childish it was infuriating.
Hark needed more personality tbh. I just couldn’t love them together or apart and that made it hard to push through this book.

I hate to not like a book but this just wasn’t it for me, I’m sorry. 😞

Thank you to NetGalley, for providing me with an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by early access to this title.I

I wanted to love this book so badly but it missed the mark for me. Dragonhart by Abbie Eaton tells the story of a King’s assassin, reluctantly sent on a mission to a neighbouring kingdom with its ambassador. Of course our MC can’t stand him but she has no choice but to go searching for missing shipments with him, into his home kingdom where whispers of gods and magic trickle through back alleys.
It promised forced proximity, I guess technically it delivered just not in any way that created tension. I could not stand our FMC Arla at all. She was whiny, arrogant, incompetent half the time. I didn’t feel any tension between the two characters, so when they started kissing I was just annoyed.
I was hoping for an impressive magic system but was sorely disappointed. It felt like 10 of the top Romantic Fantasy series had just had paragraphs and tropes copied and pasted into it. I’ve given this 2 stars, only because some of the side characters seemed interesting and I wish their stories were explored more.

This book had me hooked from the premise—enemies to lovers and dragons? Yes, please! The comparisons to Sarah A. Parker and Rebecca Yarros had me super excited, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the hype.

Aria, the main character, came off as pretty childish and just hard to like. Hark, the male lead, was fine but nothing special. The story had so much potential, and the writing was solid, but it just didn’t click for me.

That said, it’s a debut novel, and there’s definitely promise here. I’d be open to checking out what the author does next. This one just wasn’t a win for me, but hardcore fantasy romance fans might still enjoy it!

This book had me hooked from the premise—enemies to lovers and dragons? Yes, please! The comparisons to Sarah A. Parker and Rebecca Yarros had me super excited, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite live up to the hype.

Aria, the main character, came off as pretty childish and just hard to like. Hark, the male lead, was fine but nothing special. The story had so much potential, and the writing was solid, but it just didn’t click for me.

That said, it’s a debut novel, and there’s definitely promise here. I’d be open to checking out what the author does next. This one just wasn’t a win for me, but hardcore fantasy romance fans might still enjoy it!

I really enjoyed Dragonhart by Abbie Eaton. It wasn’t a standout book for me, but it was definitely an enjoyable read.

The story follows Arla Reinhart, the king's assassin, who’s forced into an uneasy alliance with Hark Stappen, an ambassador from a rival kingdom that played a part in the death of her family. As they work together, they uncover secrets that link their kingdoms in ways neither of them expected, and along the way, they begin to form a bond neither could have imagined, even finding love in the process.

The twists and secrets kept me turning pages, eager to uncover more. By around 60%, I was completely hooked. I could definitely see influences from Throne of Glass and Fourth Wing, which was fun.

While I enjoyed the book, I did feel that it could have benefited from a little more emotional connection and chemistry between the characters. Arla was definitely a complex heroine, and I appreciated her journey of self-discovery and questioning everything she thought she knew. However, I felt that the emotional depth in her relationships could have been explored a bit more to make the bond with Hark feel even stronger.

I also liked Hark. Initially, he came across as one-dimensional, but as the story progressed, I found there was so much more to him than I expected, which I really enjoyed. The banter between him and Arla was a highlight for me, definitely adding some fun to the story.

The book is mostly told from Arla's third-person POV, with a few chapters from Hark’s POV. I actually really liked these MMC chapters and thought they added an extra layer to the story.

All in all, I’d give Dragonhart a solid 3.5 stars. It’s a promising start to the series, and I’m definitely interested to see where it goes.

A big thank you to One More Chapter and NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

EVERYONE READ THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW!

Thank you to HarperCollins/One More Chapter and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this advanced copy of Dragonhart. Safe to say, I am obsessed and I hope that this becomes the next big thing in fantasy.

From the beginning, we’re immersed in a world where… maybe there is magic? There are whispers of it, but our main character Arla refuses to believe in it. Her past traumas have jaded her to any good in the world, and have made her despise the Kastonian people, especially its’ very handsome (and infuriating, in her opinion) ambassador.

Then comes the forced proximity, because they’re sent on a mission together. The banter between the two of them throughout the entire journey is witty and fun, I just loved reading those parts.

The world building was great, I love the pace at which we got more tidbits of information. It was never too much, too fast.

I’ve touched on the banter between Arla and Hark, but the tension? SO good. And then the end? UGH.

“I’ll be damned if you make it to the eternal gates and inhabit another world without me getting the chance to tell you: I would have followed you to the next world. And the one after that, and anything else that comes after. I will not pretend either, Dragonhart, because I have loved you for too long to break our hearts any longer.” BYE IM SO EMOTIONAL OVER THIS.

Overall this was a fun, fast-paced fantasy adventure and I’m already SO excited for the next two instalments in this trilogy. Big kudos to you, Abbie Eaton.

After all of this though, I’m so curious to know… what does a sound ‘squeaking’ out of a human sound like?

"There is more than one god, is there not?"
"I can't say I believe in them"
"Then you'd best hope they believe in you"

thank you to NetGalley & One More Chapter for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

all in all, i thought this was an okay book. the author has a great writing style and knows how to plot out a book. i was interested in where the book was going and i even cared about the characters on some level...

where this book fell flat for me is originality. it has so many similarities to other books that I felt deja vu while reading this. i wanted something unique and surprising and instead i felt like i was put in a lull of the same events that have been oversaturated in the fantasy market.

I really wanted to enjoy this book but unfortunately it was a big let down to me for that reason alone. I wont be continuing the series.

what i did like:
- the banter. i admit that while the enemies became lovers far too easily for me, the banter was just as enjoyable during both phases of enemies and lovers. they cut deep into each other rather than waddling around each other's feelings so it wouldn't seem like the characters took it "too far."
- the writing style. i already touched on this a little bit but let me expand a little. the writing is easy to follow and enjoy. there is a good mix of action, dialogue, and description that pulls you through the book without having to slow down. the pacing flowed well, the author utilized good word choices, and all in all she knows how to write well.

i am not against books taking influence from other books but this book just lacked originality or its own spin to it for me and because of that, i gave it a 2.5 star (3 on goodreads due to limitations). of course, to others these similarities could feel nostalgic and be a huge bonus so I still recommend checking it out and hope this book finds it audience even if I didn't fit into that category!

The King’s Assassin, Arla Reinhart, doesn’t believe in the gods and the dragons. Why would she when they abandoned her in her time of need? When mysterious shipments start going missing, Arla is forced to work with Hark Stappen, the ambassador of the neighbouring kingdom who killed her parents. And just maybe she will come to accept that perhaps things aren’t quite as black and white as she had thought they were.

I am OBSESSED with this book! It had so many things that I love: Dragons, Enemies (sort of) to Lovers, Reluctant Allies, (sort of) Slow Burn and an interesting and engaging plotline.

I should note that I did struggle slightly at first to get into this book. It read quite young in the early pages and I had some initial problems connecting to Arla. Arla is a complex character with some very strong opinions, both about herself and others and because of this she isn’t the easiest character to relate to. In contrast, I felt like I understood Hark more quickly and as a result got behind him more sooner. I think this is possibly because there were fewer chapters from Hark’s perspective (so great to see a multi-POV here to help with understanding the motivation of both characters) so it was easier to step back and assess his character in a way that was harder with Arla who I spent the most time with. However, Arla’s character is the one that goes through the biggest change and I really appreciated seeing that change throughout the course of the book. I enjoyed seeing her question things and I think we got a real sense of her loyalty to the people and doing the right thing as the book progressed.

While it was a bit slow to begin with, I was hooked from about the 30% mark. The story was action-packed (which I love) and progressed smoothly and at a good pace. The action was strong and it kept me really invested in what was happening. I liked how the dragons were brought in – they were a key feature of the book but they weren’t overdone and I think there’s a lot of potential for future books. I’m really excited to see what comes next.

I was drawn into the story by the premise and kept in thanks to the action. I had a fantastic time with this and I already want to re-read it.
With thanks to One More Chapter, Harper Collins and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Honestly, sometimes book are just stupid - poor characters, silly worldbuilding, illogical situations. Authors can choose to build a strong female main character through wit and intelligent decision making or they can just have her screeching, doing incredibly bonehead things, being unpleasant throughout: and assume that translates into strength. You can guess which one this falls into rather squarely.

Story: Arla is the King's assassin and does his bidding happily since he saved her after her parents died. But then he asks of her a difficult assignment: find out why badly needed shipments of supplies are going missing. She is forced to team up with Hark Stappen, ambassador from the neighboring kingdom Arla hates because they were responsible for her parents' deaths. Together they will journey to unravel the mystery.

First and foremost, the heroine is dumb as a doornail and about as interesting. She spends most of the time railing against having to work with Hark, though he hardly seems very unpleasant (until pushed beyond patience by Arla's nastiness). Their journey is a plot-by-the-numbers and includes choices and actions by Arla that make no sense whatsoever except to force a deus ex machina set of circumstances. Arla spends most of the book making bad decisions from which she has to be extricated or saved. Don't get me started about how silly the whole "I am the lead assassin to the king though I can't seem to kill anything except any shred of credibility I might have in the position."

The politics and world building felt they were created by an unsophisticated 12 year old. If you are an undemanding reader who doesn't really need a solid grounded plot or likeable characters, then you probably won't mind the shortcomings. But honestly, this book is just silly and it was hard not to roll my eyes every other page. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

Sadly I had to dnf at 46%. I really tried to get into this book and did really like how it was set up but I just couldn't find myself gripped to the plot in any way and the characters weren't really doing anything for me

A page-turning kick-off for a new epic romantic fantasy!

Arla Reinhart is the King's assasin, burning off the anger of her family's murder by a rival kingdom. Hark is the ambassador to this enemy kingdom and they're forced to work together. The unwilling partnership uncovers a lot of secrets from both kingdoms.

Arla was slightly one dementional at times. She is the typical, snarky female assasin. Very similar to Throne of Glass in a few ways. But I love that stereotype so it worked for me.

There's a badass fmc, magic, forced proximity, slow-burn, hate to love and maybe even dragons. Everything you could want in a romantasy.