4.5 Stars!

I LOVED this book! At its core, it has dragons, flamenco dancing, and strong family bonds. The writing was excellent and captivated me that once I got started I couldn't stop.

I reminded me a little bit of the How to Train Your Dragon movie, and I loved the similar approach it took to dragon fighting, training, and eventually how Zarela repurposes it for her own narrative. Arturo is incredible, and I loved how he begrudgingly came to like her because of her stubbornness and dedication to her family. Their chemistry was really well done! One of my favorite quotes was the line: "You keep surprising me... I wish you'd stop."

I will say I definitely saw the twist coming of who was the real villain, but maybe not the exact reason for it. However, even though I guessed who it was correctly, it did not lessen my enjoyment of this book. Highly recommend for an entertaining read with good worldbuilding and great chemistry between the two MCs!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advanced readers copy of this book. This did not affect my view in any way.

Isabel is the QUEEN of fantasy romance. This book felt tiers beyond her first two. The worldbuilding was excellent, the romance felt so real and perfect, and the plotting kept me up reading this book way into the night. All the stars!

The mystery element to the story was very obvious to me so no surprise there but it was still interesting to see how the main character would take the big reveal so the book was not ruined for me because of knowing the truth. To be fair, it is almost impossible for a plot to surprise me anymore since I read so much (I think at least) so that is never a deal breaker if a book is entertaining or not.

I did enjoy the romance of the story, an enemies to lover vibe that was the best kind of slow burn. And yes this was steamy in a few parts, so while this is listed as YA I would be more likely to recommend this to older YA readers (the main character is 18 so technically an adult and she acted completely as an adult in my opinion). I was a little surprised by how independent, headstrong and pushy Zarela was, very much the pursuer in the romance, especially since the time period the book is set in (while being an alternate world where dragons exist) has women as property of men for the most part.

Overall, this was an enjoyable read with romance, heartbreak, action, danger, dragons, magic, suspense and dance. Together We Burn wrapped up nicely and I am pretty sure this is a standalone story, but I would love a companion novel featuring a certain mischievous servant getting into trouble and finding romance. I liked the development of the characters that the author created and I am super interested to read more books by her in the future.

I absolutely loved reading about Stanton riders and flamenco dancing. This books was able to make me feel like I was a part of it. However, overall I felt the plot moved very slowly and did not enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I wanted more from the story than I was given.

Thank you to the publisher, Wednesday Books and NetGalley for this eARC to review.

3.75/5 stars. I'm still currently not finished with this one, although I'm about 60% through. The beginning of the story was incredibly gripping, emotional, vivid, and fast paced. My interest was IMMEDIATELY grabbed. But by around 30% or so, something feels like it's been lost from that magic and that pace. The amount of inciting events and revelations and character relationship development just isn't where I was hoping it would be, so my urge to come back and read just hasn't been there for this book. I do love the premise and the overall plot, but I think it's going to take me a while to get there and actually finish this.

Together We Burn is the latest novel by Isabel Ibañez, and it's a young adult fantasy tale full of dragons, romance, and more. Bonus points: my latest OwlCrate box included a beautiful version of this book.

Zarela Zalvidar is an eighteen-year-old flamenco dancer, yet her fame pales in comparison to her father's fame. He's the famous Dragonador in Hispalia, and someday Zarela wants to inherit his arena and take over.

Unfortunately, things don't go quite as planned. A disaster forces Zarela to step up, protecting the beloved arena from those who would see it taken and permanently altered.

“Dragonfighting is a three-thousand-year-old Hispalian tradition. It’s an art form and part of who we are and integral to our culture. Dragonadores are artists. My father is an artist.”

You guys know that I can't resist a good dragon story. Better yet, Together We Burn is a dragon RIDING story. Yes, please! You can imagine my excitement upon reading that description. Throw in a tale of romance, danger, and intrigue? I'm sold.

However, I feel compelled to say that this wasn't quite the story I expected (or hoped) it would be. It's still a decent read, with many fantastic plot points. But something never really clicked in my head. Maybe I just had too many high expectations for it? I can't say. I can say that I struggled to stay connected to the story, characters included. You'd think it would have been easy, given the circumstances, but unfortunately not.

On the bright side, there's a lot woven into this single story. We're talking dragons, hidden danger, a quest to protect the family legacy, and romance. It means that there will be something for everyone, which is always so much fun.

It's bullfighting but dragons.
That's it.
Little spells here and there but nothing extravagant.

I don't understand how a 17 year old. The only heir to the family name wasn't trained in managing a house or anything NEEDED to be known(other than dancing) because after her father is injured. (Which I don't understand how he was just burned but her mother was destroyed by pretty much the same thing ) but I digress.

How is the the only heir and she's not been taught ANYTHING about running it? The death of her mother is no excuse because she's 16 when she dies that ample time to teach her a little something. 🙄

I did like the end when she's dancing with Red but that's about it.

Also they get a little hot in it but not like full on detailed but that's near the end of it.

Rating: 1.5
I really like the cover of this book and that's about it. I didn't care for the writing and the romance and I hated the main character. This is just about bullfighting but with dragons and the main character is on the side of the animal cruelty against the dragons.

I really wanted to like this book because it was a fantasy set in Medieval Spain. The synopsis was very intriguing because instead of bullfights, it was dragon fights. However, I could not get connected to the characters. They seem mostly detached from the story. Still, the writing is very beautiful, and I love how it incorporated Spanish history and culture with this novel. I recommend this for fans of The Moon Sister, These Violent Delights, and Seraphina!

Thank you so much St. Martin's Press for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

*4.25 stars*

My favorite quotes:
- "'Being a Dragonador isn't actually about killing the dragon. It's living and breathing art, a performance showcasing the fighter's bravery and honor.'"
- "'Do you want to know what surprises me the most? After it happened, I found that I could still get out of bed. The pain of losing someone you love doesn't actually kill you, even though it feels like it should. I could still talk and eat, and at some point, find something to smile about. I miss her every day, but I also forget to think about her for hours. How does that happen? Why does that happen?'"
- "I'm in this arena for my parents. Fighting for our name. Dancing for our legacy."

Together We Burn was an amazing read! I binged this book because I enjoyed reading it so much. It felt like a much lighter and more fun book than my recent reads, which ALLOWED me to read it so fast. The characters and the story definitely made this one of the coolest books I've read this year.

First of all, I loved Zarela's fire and her commitment to her family. Her stubbornness, determination, and love resonated with me. Sometimes, I didn't like her because she was a little rude and was EXACTLY what Arturo thought she was when they first met (a spoiled, high-society girl). But overall, she was a great heroine who I rooted for. I shipped her Arturo the whole book (and it was quite obvious the whole time that it'd be an enemies to lovers, slow-burn romance; I still loved it though). I feel like we really didn't get to Arturo, despite Ibañez's many attempts to convince us otherwise. In fact, all the side characters seemed to be lacking in their fleshing out.

Which brings me to one of the biggest downfalls of this book. Ibañez did a great deal of telling and not showing. The characters' emotions were SOMETIMES expressed through actions versus straight words for them, but oftentimes, they were not. Likewise, we were told the characters' personalities versus being shown them.

I really loved the plot (even though the ending felt a BIT rushed). Everything felt like it was building up to the ending (nothing unnecessary or trivial). I LOVED the twists, especially who the real villain was! I also loved to see that Zarela STRUGGLED. When characters struggle, it makes the whole story that much more real to me. The dragon lore was an added bonus to the story, and the culture described in the book about Dragonadores (relatively bull-fighters but with dragons!) and flamenco dancers was really interesting!

However, while the culture and Spanish-like setting were well-described, the world itself felt . . . out of touch. While mentioned, the other areas of Hispalia weren't fleshed out, which I think was a major downfall. Especially since the source of the story's main conflict occurred in another place (which you don't find out till the end). Additionally, I am confused as to why the Zalvidars' arena didn't get shut down (or have to pay anything) when the dragon killed Zarela's mother and caused a bunch of damage, yet they had to for the disaster on the five-hundredth anniversary.

Overall though, this read wasn't complex but still very enjoyable!

Zarela is the daughter of a famous dancer and a renowned dragon fighter/arena owner. When an accident leaves people dead at one of their shows and all their dragons dead, and her father’s health failing she must go to extreme lengths to save their livelihood and her father. She hires the young and handsome Arturo to teach her how to fight dragons.

I really liked this one. I mean dragons, romance, fighting, murder, how could I not. Definitely worth your time.

Zarela is a flamenco dancer and the daughter of a famous dragon fighter. However, when her father is injured during a show in the arena, Zarela has reason to believe that the arena is in danger. To save her family home, she takes the help of annoying, yet handsome, dragon hunter Arturo. For a very heavy price, he reluctantly agrees to train her to take her father's place as the Dragonador.
It definitely took me half the book to get into it. The world-building is pretty intense and well-done. The idea is original, so props to that. The book just seemed to drag on in the beginning. The pace picked up when the training started. Zarela was a determined young women, who is either really really brave or really foolish. The romance really bumped this book up. It served the Enemies to lovers with perfect angst and tension.
For a slow start, the end was really quick and predictable. Like, you're lying if you say you didn't see that "plot twist" coming from miles away. I would have preferred the standalone to be something longer, like a duology. There were many under-developed concepts, like the magic.
Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5.

Before I get into my review, I'm going to address something that happens late in the book first. There is consenting sex between the MC and love interest. Lots of asking, making sure the other is okay with it and that's great. Should be the norm.

What's not great is him telling her that her first time might hurt.

Barring medical conditions of psychological issues that cause certain reactions, sex should never hurt and someone's first time should also never hurt. The reason sex hurts for first timers, and honestly for people into adulthood who've had multiple partners is because their partner did not do enough to ready them.

I'm talking about foreplay. The reason it hurts is because the person is not relaxed and a certain amount of force has to be used for penetration. And guess what? That's horrid.

This is fiction. We can create dragons and battles, androids and other worlds but when it comes to sex, the same pervasive myths that cause real-world harm are still being fed to readers.

Young women, AFAB individuals are being told from all kinds of media that sex hurts the first time and that's just the way it is. It's not. If their partner takes time to actually do what they need to do then it won't hurt. And this book was doing great until that part. Because it's another book that some young AFAB person will read that's telling them, hey, it'll hurt, oh well.

Stop that. Do better.

Now, on to the rest of the review.

It was a fast read. I enjoyed Zarela's personality and the stubbornness she has. It wasn't impossible to deal with, instead being real. She was a very real character. When it comes to the side characters, they weren't as jump off the page but they each held their own. I enjoyed them.

When it comes to the romance I'm not sure I'd say it's enemies to lovers but there's animosity between Zarela and Arturo. It wasn't the kind of relationship where the love interest goes all mushy after realizing they're in love. He kept his prickly personality and that was actually kind of nice to see.

The conflict in the book is good, keeps everything moving and even though I saw the criminal pretty early, his reasoning for it wasn't what I expected. Although, I will say it was believable and I wont' say anything more about it so I don't spoil it.

Flamenco is a big part of Zarela's life. she dances just like her mother did and when the story starts, although she wants to do her own dances, the people of the town want to see the dances her mother did. She's constantly comparing herself to her and her growth around that is good.

When it comes to the dragons? I was impressed. It was nice to see them portrayed as actually having intelligence instead of as big stupid lizards. And the dragon-fighting was also interesting.

I love the simple and almost comforting way the author writes. I've read some of her previous work and enjoyed it.

This gets a four (4) out of five (5) for me. I'd recommend it to people

I received this eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks to them and the publisher.

I mainly listened to the audio version of this book, but did switch back and forth. For me, the story was better told in audio than in print because so much of the story was the MC's journey to fixing the devastation caused to her family name and business by the dragon attack, that reading it in print, I was tempted to just skim over parts. There were several points throughout the story where I was wondering if what I was reading really even needed to be included. I kept wondering where the author was going with the story and if we would ever get there. I kept waiting for there to be something more, just something. When we finally did get to the real crux of the story, to me it almost felt underwhelming and a bit rushed because it was very much at the last minute. It was an interesting story premise, it just failed to draw me completely in.

Thank you netgalley for the opportunity to read this in advance.

Let me start out by saying that this book might work for you and things might have gotten better. I DNF this at chapter 17 (44%ish) because I could not will myself to finish this.

Some things I disliked
- The main character is unlikeable.
- The romance of Enemies to Lowers wasn't done well.
- The dragon fighting stance the MC had. I understand, given her past, why but it seems a bit risky siding her at the beginning with something so archaic. It's pretty obvious that she is going to change her mind towards the end of the book, rushed even.

I absolutely adored Together We Burn! It was exactly what I was hoping it would be — magical, vibrant, and intriguing. I loved the characters in this book, and the journey they went on together seemed natural and cohesive. Zarela and Arturo challenged each other and grew with each other in a realistic manner, and the way Zarela had so many things competing for her attention in her life was written really well. The dragons and magic system in this world made a lot of sense; they added to the story and I now want to know more about them and how Zarela and Arturo changed the traditions in Santavilla. The one thing that I would have wanted more of was seeing how Zarela processed her grief for her father because it seemed really abrupt, but I was really glad that we got the epilogue. I was also very impressed that when Zarela learned about Arturo’s role in her mother’s death, there was not a forced amount of angst but instead Zarela came to terms with the fact that it was not his fault. Isabel Ibañez wove a masterful plot and I got completely engrossed in this book!

Thank you to Wednesday Books for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Together We Burn is like taking bull fighting plus How to Train Your Dragon plus flamenco plus sabotage plus fight the patriarchy and rolling it into this delectable enemies-to-lovers slow burn with all the best food.

Basically, it's amazing and fun and you need to read it.

Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez is layered and multifaceted; the side characters are well-rounded and the writing is captivating and invigorating. In Ibañez's novels, there exists a perfect balance between imagery, descriptions, plot development, and what is necessary and what isn't. Even when you are not present in the world, it continues to feel luminous and opulent. Zarela Zalvidar, the main character in the novel, typifies 1820's Santivilla with courtship, action, and adventure; it is exquisitely written.

Together We Burn, by Isabel Ibañez, follows Zarela Zalvidar, whose late mother was the most famous flamenco dancer in Hispalia and whose father is the most celebrated Dragonador (dragon fighter). Her family has owned their arena, where they host dragon fights, for generations, but a disaster that occurs during one show puts the future of Zarela's family and their livelihood at risk. With her father injured, Zarela must figure out how to save her family's legacy, enlisting Arturo Díaz de Montserrat a dragon hunter, to help her learn how to become a Dragonador herself.

I went into this book expecting to thoroughly enjoy it, and it exceeded all of my expectations. While I had loved Ibañez's debut, Woven in Moonlight, and it was even one of my favorite reads of 2021, I adored this book even more.

Zarela is a protagonist you can't help but root for. She's determined and stubborn and is willing to do anything to preserve her family's legacy. Despite that, she's deeply unsure of herself, having lived in her mother's shadow her entire life after taking her place performing following her death. Although traumatized from watching a dragon kill her mother, she is still able to find the courage to face, and even befriend, dragons if that's what it takes to save her family's arena.

Arturo is a completely compelling love interest. He's deeply against dragon fighting on a moral basis, but is willing to put that aside temporarily to help Zarela. He's as driven as she is, and they just fit together and bring out the best in each other. I shipped them so much; while every aspect of this book is wonderful, the romance is a particularly well-done element.

Every character in this book feels multidimensional and complex, even side characters who aren't present that often. Ibañez puts the same care into each minor character that she depicts as she does into everything about the book, making the entire world she depicts feel lush and alive.

The world-building is superb; it's a fairly contained story, taking place within the politics of a single city, but the story still feels as important and compelling as any of the broader battle-driven fantasy books that so often dominate the genre. She uses exactly the right amount of detail about the world and government and magic system so that it still feels real and compelling without the reader feeling bogged down with information that, while interesting, has little to no impact on the story being told.

I also just want to take a moment to talk about the dragons. They're so built into the nature of the world that the author creates that they don't even necessarily feel fantastical at all, but rather a logical derivation of the story being told. Beyond that, I was just really happy to read a book about dragons; for such a hallmark of the fantasy genre, I feel like you don't see them that often right now.

I can't recommend this book enough. I loved everything about it, from the characters to the worldbuilding to the plot. Ibañez crafted a truly amazing story in Together We Burn. If you love fantasy, you'll love it, but particularly if you're looking for a really well-done standalone, or a book that takes place in a fantasy world without being an epic or having world-ending stakes. It's the story of a girl doing everything she can to preserve her family legacy (it just has the bonus elements of dragons and magic). I'm giving Together We Burn 5/5 stars.

Together We Burn is a breathtaking fantasy standalone filled with romance, magic, action, and excellent world-building. I sincerely hope Isabel gives us more stories set in this lush, fascinating world inspired by matadors, flamenco, and all of the rich flavors and textures of Spain. Her writing is wonderfully descriptive, and has a cinematic quality that captivated me from the first lines.

I had such a difficult time finishing this book...it was so exciting and enchanting that I needed to savor my first read-through for as long as possible!