4.25 ✨

The bridge kingdom meets throne of glass BUT WITH DRAGONS

I love a good enemies to lovers but do you know what I love more?

• enemies to lovers and back to enemies again
• traitor kings/queens
• and finally dilfs

Does this have all three? Yes.

For the first 20% I was unsure if I was going to love this book or just like it but by 30% I was hooked. At 60% I could not put it down.

Our FMC is a “blacksmiths daughter” but lowkey she is the true heir to throne and wants to take back her queendom. What does she need to rule? Ideally a freaking dragons. Do I love dragons? Yes, I am in my dragon era.

Spice 🌶️ 2.5/5
Enemies to lovers 4/5
Back to enemies? 5/5
Well presented trauma? 4/5

the current market is overflowing with dragon fantasy books, yet Hazel does it so much better. filled with lore and world building you get information at such a gradual pace it never feels overwhelming.
a rich and lush story that pulls you in from the very first moment. aemyra is such a complex and well written character, she makes you feel for her without making her look weak. it has been a long time since i have seen a main character who has flaws and is so life like.
this book is filled with family, a quest for power and political intrigue.
a must read for all, i cannot wait for the second book and continue my journey at aemyra’s side.

A Fate Forged in Fire is a political fantasy novel about dragons, Scottish mythology, and romance.

To start with, excellent worldbuilding. It hooks you from the beginning with it's fiery, life-like characters and medieval setting. It was very fun to experience a book that doesn't just show your typical rebellion, but the diplomatic struggle within court, too.

I did feel, however, that the physical descriptions were sometimes lacking, and I didn't have many clues about the setting around us. Also, certain relationships, such as between the FMC and her father, and also her dragon, did not feel very convincing to me (the latter not given much weight after the initial bonding in my opinion). It felt slightly neglected.

But! Overall, had a great time, very entertaining, can't wait for the next book.
Thank you for letting me read this book.

Tropes you can find are
🔥Mortal Enemies to Lovers
🔥Stabby
🔥Slow Burn
🔥Touch her and you die
🔥He tends to her wounds

This book blew my mind away.
The political intrigues are done in such a way that are not too heavy and they are a good balance with the story.
You need go understand all of that and the intrigues at court to follow the story, but they are so well done and just super fascinating.

Now let’s talk about the main female character. She’s been told all her life that she was going to be queen so she acts the part even if she is only queen in name. And the throne is not even her yet.
All the parts with the priests and how in depth the author goes into the conviction that the women in this society are just view as a meaning to procreate pretty much left me speechless.
Super well done and super emotional. Especially one scene at the end. Once you read the book you’ll know. Where they try to take Aemyra‘s power away as a woman.

Adrian? My babe. He’s my fav character as Aemyra’s brother and how her dragon prefers him to her is so funny 😂

Now let’s talk about our favourite prince. Do we want to punch him for the entirety of the book? Yep
Do we still like him? Yep
Do we trust/believe him? Still not sure

The romance was so so good. The angst. The “touch her and you die “ when they are still enemies. The slow burn. Their dragons that fell in love before them?

A Fate Forged in Fire had me gripped from the opening line. This book is incredible. Exciting, tense and tender in perfect harmony and lyrically written. The spice is so well written and enhances the plot. The characters are engaging, complex and multifaceted. The relationships between characters feels real, and the friendships Aemyra has have you rooting for her all the more. Of course the dragons are a huge selling point for me and I love the way bonds between magic user and magical creature is depicted in this book.
Potential readers should be aware of scenes of sexual assault and child loss.

This is a very generic fantasy romance with dragon riders.

The FMC was insufferable and times and the MMC lacked personality.

I liked the world the author built and love how it centred a Scottish inspired world.

4.5⭐️.
“We are all villains in somebody’s story”

I’ve had mixed luck with fantasy romance recently but I loved this book!!

We follow Aemyra, a young woman living in an historically matriarchal society, despite not having had a true queen to rule them in the last century, which is being threatened by a group called the True Religion, who are looking to subjugate women and those with magic.

“No wonder so many like him, mostly men with no magic of their own, had eagerly converted to the True Religion. It was the only way they could exact control over others, and it was no secret that they despised powerful women.”

I really liked Aemyra as a main character. She is strong willed and passionate, at times a little reckless, but not in the over the top, irritating way that I find some romantasy FMCs are. She’s in her mid twenties, still finding her way and making some mistakes as she goes, but she also shows maturity, particularly as the book progresses, and comes across as someone who is genuinely trying to do the right thing for the right reasons.

“My true inheritance is a quick temper, the ability to forge steel and cure minor ailments. Beyond that, I keep nothing of what I have been give .”

I really liked her relationship with her twin brother, Adarian, as well as her relationship with Fiorean, the MMC. They had great chemistry and banter but it also felt like it went beyond surface level.

“When I met you, I suddenly realised I wasn’t fire at all. I was ice. Decades of living within this court had me crafting an unyielding, impenetrable facade that only your infuriating and downright excruciating presence has been able to crack.”

I wasn’t shocked by the ending but it was dramatic and I can’t wait for book 2!!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-arc of this book.

Tropes

- Forced proximity
- Enemies to lovers
- Bonded dragons
- Dagger to throat
- Touch her and die

Summary

Overall rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 5/5

Spicy rating: 🌶️🌶️ 2/5

I’ve been waiting for this book for what feels like forever and when I finally had it I was scared I’d hyped it up too much in my head. I was right to be scared but for an entirely different reason… this book consumed me in the best way and took over my every waking thought. I loved it from the very first line!

It’s an unbelievable fantasy romance debut. McBride has a really immersive, theatrical and atmospheric writing style that made me forget I was reading (chapter 15 gave me literal chills!). There’s intricate and clever world building without the feeling of a massive info dump but also room to explore more in the coming books. I loved the Celtic inspired world and mythology.

The enemies to lovers romances was GIVING 👏 with edible banter and a slow burn to leave you longing and whilst the romance is more of the sub plot it is not lacking in the slightest. The main plot of Aemyra trying to reclaim her birth right in a crumbling matriarchy, that she’s been groomed and manipulated for her entire life was so intriguing and very Game of Thrones- esque (and by that I mean absolutely no one is safe!) and the twists kept me on my toes until 4am when I finished the book.

As well as the main romance relationship the other characters and relationships felt fleshed out and well rounded. In particular Aemyra and her twin brother Adarian, their relationship felt so real right down to the sibling squabble we get to see. Aemyra is a beautifully flawed FMC making her relatable in so many ways and I adore that she is openly Bi/Queer. She’s stubborn, obstinate and full of rage and watching her learn the art of war and court politics was really endearing!

There’s powerful messages of classism and feminism and honestly the feminist tones of this book made me proud to be a woman in so many ways. Including the awesome midwifery representation 🙌 (given that it’s my profession I was so glad to see it!!)

If my review hasn’t convinced you to read this book then also there’ badass freaking dragons 🐉 and bonding with mythical beasts. What more could you want?!

it was pretty good, but I was expecting more. I wanted the story to flow better, the pacing to be more consistent and the characters better fleshed out. while I’m a big fan of HOTD, this book draws too much inspiration from that world. you don’t even have to squint to figure out which character is the mirror of which character from HOTD.

first things first, the world-building is quite confusing. there is a ton of information being thrown at the reader right from the start, and it was difficult to keep up - especially since so many words are inspired from Scottish Gaelic. while the book does provide a helpful pronunciation guide, I think a glossary would have been deeply appreciated, too. the truth is the constant information that I had to keep up with in the beginning took me out of the story many times. however, it really is a beautiful, complex world.

next, let’s talk about the characters. the main character, Aemyra (Rhaenyra who?) simply doesn’t act like a 26-year-old woman. her immaturity and disrespect and lack of rational thought made her read like a 16-year-old. because of that, I found it really hard to agree with her inner justifications that she is “the rightful queen” and “the only one who can save her people”. she needed to step up more instead of allowing her father to make all of the important decisions. also, she was constantly contradicting herself - one second preaching about wanting women to be free from oppression, free to choose what they want, and the next judging women that weren’t warriors.

on the other hand, Fiorean fell kind of flat, except for a couple of moments when he actually showed basic decency and was immediately attacked by Aemyra (there’s a scene where he apologies to her for his brother’s atrocious behaviour, and she just lashes out at him, which was a very odd reaction to have. very superficial “hate” for the sake of marketing this as enemies-to-lovers). basically, Fiorean needed more room to grow as a character.

all in all, there was a lot of potential here, but once I started seeing all the similarities with HOTD, I couldn’t enjoy this book as much.