I had been hearing a lot of hype around the blogoverse about Together We Burn before I got the invite to review it. With everything I had been hearing, I was very interested in reading it. So curious that I went and put it in my To Read pile. So when the publisher sent me the invite, I jumped on it. I am glad I did. This book was a great read!!

Together We Burn had an exciting plotline. Zarela is a flamenco dancer who lost her mother, a famous flamenco dancer when the dragon her father was fighting went rogue and burned everyone in the arena. Disaster strikes again when, during the 500th-anniversary show, another dragon broke free of his bonds and rained carnage on the arena. One of the dragon’s victims was Zarela’s father. He wasn’t killed but was severely injured. That left Zarela to deal with the backlash. Convinced it was sabotage, Zarela starts an investigation. She is also determined to return her family’s arena to its former glory. Her investigation into that day and her quest to bring the arena back are merged when she realizes that the attack was not random. Failing to convince the Dragon Guild that there was foul play behind the attack, Zarela is left with no choice but to fight the dragons herself. But, she only has days to learn. Can Zarela find out who is behind the attacks? Can she save her family’s arena? And more importantly, can Zarela learn to fight dragons and not get killed?

The plotline in Together We Burn moved slowly during the book’s first half. On the one hand, I liked it because it let me learn about Zarela’s background, the background of dragon fighting, and the tragedy of her mother’s death/the arena carnage. But on the other hand, the book started dragging by 40% of the book. But, after Zarela hires Arturo, the book picks up speed. By the end of the book, the plotline was super fast.

What I loved about this book was that the author included a glossary of the different types of dragons and other guilds in Hispalia. I can’t tell you how many times I used that glossary, and I wish every author would do something like that. I found it helpful while reading.

I liked Zarela. Even though she was devastated by what happened to her parents (and remember, it was two different occasions), she rose to the occasion. She was willing to do whatever it took to keep the arena afloat. That included learning how to fight dragons so she could keep her family’s arena. And that meant hiring a dragon hunter/ex-dragon fighter to teach how to survive in the arena. While doing that, she was also investigating what happened at the arena. I found her to be a very well-rounded character who surprised me.

Arturo didn’t become a central character until the middle of the book. He wanted nothing to do with Zarela at first. But, her stubbornness and resolve won him over. He was hard on her, which didn’t surprise me. He needed to teach her the basics of dragon fighting before the event that could save the arena. He also reluctantly became involved with her investigation into the events at the arena. He was instrumental in several key scenes towards the end of the book. The author wiped away doubts about him before the arena scenes at the end of the book.

Several memorable secondary characters breathed life into the book. They added additional depth to the storyline. I will not go into each one, but I enjoyed the flair they each added.

I loved how the author portrayed the dragons. She went from seeing them as ferocious creatures who lived to kill and maim to creatures who were misunderstood and wanted to be left alone. I loved it!!

The storyline with Zarela and the investigation was well written. I didn’t figure out who was behind everything until the author revealed that person. I was completely surprised by who it was and the reasons behind it.

The storyline with Zarela, Arturo, and learning how to fight dragons was interesting. I liked how Zarela convinced Arturo to work with her (the girl is stubborn). But, I also liked how Arturo showed Zarela a different side to dragons. The lessons made me wince, and Arturo was rough on Zarela. But considering she could die, he wasn’t harsh enough. And the twist to that plotline (what Zarela and Arturo figured out and used) was amazing!!

There was a romance angle in Together We Burn, but I was kind of meh about it. I liked that Zarela and Arturo got together but did the author need to discuss it? In my opinion, no.

The fantasy angle in Together We Burn was well written. I liked how the author chose to portray magic (both good and bad) along with dragons. That alone made me want to see more books written in this universe.

The end of Together We Burn was good. There were no twists (other than the dragon fight), and everyone did have their HEAs.

I would recommend Together We Burn to anyone over 16. There are sex and sexual situations (not graphic) and violence.

Dragons. Fire. Love.

This book was a fun fantasy read that brought a world of dragons to life, which I am 100% here for! The story takes you on an adventure to clear Zarela Zalvidar’s family name after a dragon attacks her city, killing her mother, injuring her father, and destroying their stadium. She’s forced to work with an infuriatingly handsome dragon hunter, Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, which is challenging because they despise each other, but as we know, there’s a fine line between love and hate. Time is of the esecnce, since there is someone out there trying to ruin the Zalvidar family name, and she will do whatever it takes, even if it costs Zarela her life.

Have been unable to review due to illness. Review coming soon! This novel looks fantastic and I highly recommend this author to everyone!

Wow. There's something about this book that really made me excited to read it.

The world building was absolutely amazing. I was easily able to picture everything in beautiful detail and I loved it. There was just something about a Spanish, country kind of place that made me interested. I loved the aspect with the dragons and the dancing interest of the main character.

I got a very "How To Train A Dragon" vibe from it, but it was wonderfully done. I didn't see the plot twist at the end and that fully just drew me in even more.

This book had everything I could ever want from a YA dragon loving novel and I would gladly read more from this book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Wednesday Books, I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I absolutely adored this! The story, characters, world-building, pace: it was all very well done. I especially felt like the storytelling was so vivid that I was really transported to Spain for a while. Can highly recommend!

Thank you NetGalley for this arc!
I enjoyed this book it was kind of slow but still kept my interest throughout the story.

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.