(4.5 rounded up to a 5)

Together We Burn is a stand-alone YA fantasy with romantic elements by Isabel Ibañez. The ebook version is 368 pages. I listened to the audiobook, which clocks in at thirteen hours and is narrated by Ana Osorio. We follow our main character with a first-person point-of-view.

Zarela Zalvidar is daughter of two of the most famous performers in Hispalia; a flamenco dancer and Dragonador (think matador, but with dragons). Their family has run an arena for half a millennium, and she has followed in her mother's footsteps as a lovely flamenco dancer. During their five hundredth anniversary show, the worst-case scenario happens when dragons get loose and her father is nearly mortally injured. The Dragon Guild sets harsh punishments on the family, though Zarela believes someone set up the disaster. To save her family's home and arena, she decides to take her father's place as the next Dragonador. But she needs to find someone to train her. She will do anything to convince former Dragonador--and current dragon tamer--Arturo Díaz de Montserrat to help.

Overall, I had a really good time listening to this book! The world is really cool; I like that it is inspired by medieval Spain. Due to that, there are a good number of Spanish terms used in the book, so if you're not familiar with the language, you may want to pull up Google Translate occasionally. I don't believe that a lack of knowledge about these words would lessen your enjoyment of this book.

I really enjoyed our central relationship as well; the chemistry really worked for me. I am a big fan of the enemies-to-lovers trope. If you like slow burn romances, or a "but we shouldn't" type of feel, this book is for you. There are so many near-kisses I lost count. There's one steamy scene towards the end of the book but it's not super detailed.

I would have loved to see more dragons, and to have a wee bit more development with the magic system and worldbuilding.

Tropes in this book include: enemies-to-lovers, hate-to-love

CW: murder, animal death (dragons), immolation, gaslighting

Special thanks to Macmillan Audio, Wednesday Books, and NetGalley for providing an audio galley of this book for me to review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

The world created in this book was so beautiful and intriguing. I was so ready to learn more and explore the world myself, but for me..I couldn't seem to connect with this book. There were many parts that I had to reread, because my interest was waning. I really wanted to love this one though.

I was dragon-baited. Plan and simple.

First off, I would like to clarify that my rating was initially three stars, but after writing this review out, I realized that I genuinely did not get this book. I tend to base my ratings on how I feel once I hit that last page and absorb that last word, and honestly, this is a book that I just happened to read and will likely forget entirely within a week, but I know I didn't enjoy my time with it despite hoping it would get better.

Dragons are my absolute favourite mythical creatures, and they're an instant selling point for me. Daenerys Targaryen? She's my boo and I wholeheartedly support her in whatever she does. Reading the synopsis back, I do not know why I thought this was a book about dragon riders. But let me tell you, the depths of my disappointment when I understood that that was not case here--it knows no bounds. Straight through to the core of the earth and out the other side. Because this was not a book on the symbiotic relationship between a human and a dragon. No, this was a take on bull fighting, but with dragons.

Herein lies my issue with the book. Every month, a dragon fighter will face a captured dragon in the arena, and will kill it slowly and cruelly for the sake of spectacle. And the main character is completely, absolutely, one hundred percent cool with it. Considering that the prologue and first chapter are similar fatal catastrophes a year apart, it's clear these people are not running a very good business. People are protesting, many are trying to shut them down, and Zarela genuinely does not see the issue. Almost the entire book is her driven by desperation to keep her father's business going at all costs.

We must continue to brutally murder captured dragons because it's our family legacy.

And I hated that. I did not understand how this young and clever woman could not see past this box she put herself in. Why would you not grasp that this business your family is in is awful and destructive and try to figure out a different path forward? I disagreed with almost every decision she made. She dragged multiple people into the issue, and I really wanted them all to disappoint her so she would come to her senses and approach things differently. The solution that does come about is kind of where I gave up on this book. (view spoiler) It was discovered by accident far too late, and was put into action in a way that felt very rushed and haphazard.

I did like some parts of the book. As much as I hated the dragon killing for sport, the Spain-influenced world was really cool. It was super easy to imagine and felt like a very different type of setting. I also really like the character Arturo. He's a dragon hunter slash trainer (which is a pointless position I really don't want to get started on) and I felt like he was the only rational person in the entire book. Plus he's grumpy and broody and has a past. We love that in our love interests.

I'd heard some less than good things about Ibanez's first books from Latinx friends, and now after having such a poor reading experience here, I think I'll be passing on this author in future.

This is my first time reading Isabel Ibañez and I had really hoped to enjoy this one but right from the beginning I felt this book wasn't for me. I'm not a huge fan of books with dragons in them, so I was already off to a bad start.

Absolutely nothing about this book was holding my interest. I didn't care about the plot, I didn't care about the characters. I didn't care that dragons were being forced to fight for money. Nothing about this interested me. There was also some aspect of politics, and thats usually not my jam.

I'm moving on.

Zarela comes from a family of dragonador (think matadors, but with dragons!) and flamenco dancers. A tragic incident leaves her father injured, many dragons dead, and her family's arena in trouble. Zarela fears it wasn't an accident and someone is trying to sabotage their livelihood. She seeks out the mysterious Arturo Diaz, a dragon hunter, to help her learn to be a dragonador.

I have really enjoyed the Isabel Ibanez books I've read so far, so I knew I was going to read this book even before I read the synopsis. When I realized we were getting a book about dragons I was super excited. Overall, I thought this story was unique and I enjoyed many aspects of it. However, I didn't stay as invested in the plot or the romance as I hoped. Sometimes worldbuilding can be tedious in fantasy, but I think I would have preferred more time spent on understanding this dragon/human world at the beginning of the novel. I though the love interest Arturo had a lot of potential at the start, but his character and their romance started to fizzle out for me towards the end.

The narrator has a lovely voice and she was a perfect fit for this YA fantasy. Thank you so much Netgalley, Wednesday, and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

DNF @17%

I wanted to like this, love this even, but it was not meant to be. This was not even good YA and it was just so meh that I could not even make myself continue with it. I love Dragons and magic and all that comes with a story that includes them, but this is just not it. The writing is disjointed, repetitive, and...boring. I never felt anything [even when the dragons are killed] because it just never felt believable. If you are going to write fantasy, you need to make it believable OR you need to make it so the reader is willing to suspend disbelief to believe. That never happened here. What a complete disappointment.

If you are going to have a book that is filled with trauma and tense situations, perhaps you should pick a narrator that isn't a whispery mess. Also, perhaps the narrator shouldn't sound like they were amused or happy when reading traumatizing section about dead dragons and people as it is very disconcerting and truly off-putting. The book on it it's own was not great, but the ill-picked narrator really added to the disappointment that was this book.

If you are going to have a book that is filled with trauma and tense situations, perhaps you should pick a narrator that isn't a whispery mess. Also, perhaps the narrator shouldn't sound like they were amused or happy when reading traumatizing section about dead dragons and people as it is very disconcerting and truly off-putting. The book on it it's own was not great, but the ill-picked narrator really added to the disappointment that was this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing these ARCS in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced electronic audio review copy of this fabulous book! A powerful heroine, great characters, impressive world building, magic, dragons, amazing Latin culture, and action packed plot combine to create an amazing story. What a gift for fantasy lovers everywhere!

Together We Burn is a standalone story that follows a flamenco dancer and daughter of a famous Dragonador (matador for dragons), Zarela Zalvidar. One day her father is injured, and Zarela must take over as Dragonador. To save her family’s legacy, she seeks out the assistance of Arturo Díaz de Montserra, a former dragon trainer. Together the two characters work to try and unlock the mystery of what happened in the incident.

A slow-burn romance grows between Zarela and Arturo as they try to unlock the secrets. Arturo was the more classic grumpy and mysterious character that slowly opens up over time. While this is a more common character type, it was well done in this story, and he was an enjoyable character. Zarela provided a nice balance to Arturo as the tenacious headstrong type who was determined to save her family’s legacy. Their characters and romance follow many YA-type tropes, but they were well-incorporated into the story. There were a few moments where some of these felt forced, but it was not enough to take away from my enjoyment of the story.

I loved the incorporation of historical Spain into the story with the use of phrases and cultural references throughout. The author also did a great job in the creation of the dragons in the story. Each was unique and well-thought out, which I greatly enjoyed. The side characters, such as, Lola, Zarela’s friend, were also well-thought out as Lola brought some nice levity to the story.

Overall, this story was captivating, and I enjoyed listening to it. The narrator for this story did a great job at the pacing and pronunciation to make it easy to understand and follow. As for the pacing of the actual writing, it begins slower as the story sets itself up and goes along at a decent pace. The story does pick up greatly towards the last quarter of the book where I felt it went by a little too quickly. I wish this quicker ending was spread out a little more as it felt a little rushed. The novel was interesting and I am interested to read more from the author in the future!

***Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the copy of the audiobook. The opinions stated in this review are completely my own.***

Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC (advanced listening copy) in exchange for my honest review.

Out: May 31st

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 (4 Stars)
Steam: 🌶/5 (open door seen with minimal description)

Narration: The narration was amazing. The voice kept me interested and with the book being heavily Spanish inspired it worked so well to have a Spanish speaking narrator.

No spoiler review 👇🏻

This is a YA fantasy stand alone. It was really enjoyable. This book is set in a fictional Spain (Hispalia) and is heavily Spanish inspired. Instead of bull fighting they have dragon fighting rings! Flamenco dancing and fights! It was a really cool spin for a fantasy read.

This book follows Zarela, a daughter of a famous Dragonador. She dances flamenco prior to their shows. One night the dragons get loose and kill people/destroy their ring. It tarnished their reputation and turns out someone betrayed them. Zarela must fix her family's reputation, solve what happened, get more dragons and become a Dragonador. She hires a trainer, who used to be a dragon fighter, to help train her. He hates dragon fighting/killing but is willing to help for a price.

This is a fun fantasy read with some romance in the background. (Enemies to lovers I love!). It was a rich world and I loved that there was so many Spanish words and themes throughout.

Reason for 4 stars is that it was a slow start and felt like a lot of the action happened towards the end of the book.

Overall it was an enjoyable stand alone YA fantasy read.

Content Warnings: Gore, burns, violence

Fantastic audiobook. I loved the narrators voice and narration style. Also, as a non-Spanish speaker, it helped me to hear the correct pronunciation for the Spanish words and phrases. Very well done. My full review can be found below:

Eighteen-year-old Zarela Zalvidar is the daughter of famous parents. Her mother was the most cherished flamenco dancer in Hispalia prior to her death and her father is the most celebrated Dragonador. For a time, the family seemed to have it all. Their own arena, their own dragons and flocks of adoring spectators arriving for all of their shows.

After the tragic death of her mother, however, things begin to spiral for the Zalvidars, made worse after another tragedy strikes during their 500th-anniversary show. Zarela's father is seriously injured during the incident, as well as many others, and since it involved some of the Zalvidar's dragons, the family is being blamed. Now they face punishment from the Dragon Guild and could potentially lose their ancestral home, as well as their livelihood.

Zarela must keep the arena running on her own. She has to keep money coming in. In order to do so, she decides she needs to take her father's place in the ring. She needs to become a Dragonador. To prepare herself for the ring though, she'll need training, and more dragons. Therefore, she ends up reaching out to dragon hunter, Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, to basically beg him for his help.

While at first Arturo turns Zarela away, she is determined and not taking no for an answer. Ultimately, after an amazing show of will, he's impressed by her stubbornness. It's clear she's not leaving without a yes. Arturo agrees to help and along with two dragons, they return to Zarela's home to train and prepare for the show.

During all of this, Zarela also has suspicions that the tragedies involving her family and their shows haven't been accidents. She thinks someone is purposefully trying to bring them down and she means to get to the bottom of it.

Sweeping through this intricate and wonderfully-developed world, Together We Burn had me completely entranced from start-to-finish!

I absolutely adored this. It's not a very complicated story, but what's here is beautifully done. It's a story of family, tradition, legacy and a new generations forging their own path while simultaneously paying tribute to those who came before.

❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥

I found the world to be extremely creative. I don't think I've ever read anything quite like it. The whole concept of the dragon fights, that practice, the similarities to traditional bullfighting, was very interesting to read about.

I liked that Ibañez gave her two main characters opposing views on the practice, as that let her give voice to both sides of the controversial issue. Personally, I thought that was handled very well. At first I was a little concerned about that aspect of the story. I mean, even though dragons are fictional, I love them and don't want to see them harmed.

I also enjoyed the characters so much and the mystery that ran throughout. Zarela was a great character to follow and the dynamic between her and Arturo gave the story just the right amount of humor and romance.

Finally, I really loved how this wrapped-up. I am more of a series girl, overall, as I feel some standalones leave me wanting more, but I was so pleased with the way this concluded. I walk away a happy girl!

Thank you so much to the publisher, Wednesday Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review. I can't wait to read more from Isabel Ibañez!!

This fantasy takes you inside the world of dragonador fighting. Heavily influenced by the matador traditions of Spain, this novel looks at one fierce heroine as she fights to save her family's arena after disaster strikes. Zarela, along with her best friend Lola are out to strike a bargain with a dragon tamer, who wants nothing to do with them. But he is their last hope. A little predictable overall as a story, but worth the read nonetheless. The audiobook was beautifully narrated.

I honestly didn't like this book. I knew after chapter 2 or 3 that I wasn't vibing with the writing. If it wasn't for the audiobook, I would have DNF'd. I was just confused.

Narrators Ana Osorio did a great job.

I received this audiobook and book at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Together We Burn offers a colourful and interesting plot featuring dragons and romance that drew me in. The relationship was sweet, but it was expected, and I wished there were more scenes where they disliked each other. Aside from that, the setting and culture described in the story were fantastic. The dialogue contained a few Spanish words, but this does not detract from the experience if you do not speak Spanish fluently. Overall, this was a unique take on the fantasy genre that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Together We Burn was a unique take on a classic YA trope. Instead of bull fighting for entertainment, it’s dragon fighting. After tragedy strikes the MC has to make some changes to save her family’s arena. Enter the grumpy dragon hunter who she pays to train her. I love that this was a standalone historical fantasy, and I really enjoyed the romantic tension. I think the story was pretty simple and the conflict fairly easily/quickly resolved, but it was definitely enjoyable. I would note that it’s a bit steamy for younger YA readers. Narration was excellent.

This was an enjoyable YA fantasy romance with a bit of mystery. Zarela was a great protagonist, and I liked her persistence and tenacious attitude. She refused to back down when her family legacy was on the line and never gave up despite all the odds being stacked against her. Arturo was the poster boy for the grumpy love interest. He was hot, mysterious, gruff, and guarded. The romance was slow burn and slowly peeled back Arturo's layers. The book and romance relied heavily on typical YA romance tropes. They're tropes for a reason, though, and the author executed them well here. However, I did find it a bit unbelievable Zarela got over Arturo's secret so quickly, but I can't give any more info than that because of spoilers. The inclusion of the dragons was really cool, and the idea of dragon fights was interesting. I just didn't really like how most of the characters treated the dragons, and it made me a bit uncomfortable at times to be reading from the POV of someone wanting to learn how to slaughter dragons for entertainment. I was happy with the ending, though, and I liked that it was set up in a way to make the reader think about the cruelty faced by animals in such situations. The general theme of tradition versus change was woven throughout this story, and its exploration was nuanced and complemented the story well. The writing was beautiful, and the audiobook narrator took the prose to an even more exquisite level. The pacing was a bit slow at times, but the intensity of Zarela's character and the wonderful performance of the narrator kept me captivated even in the slower parts of the story. Therefore, I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars.

I received a copy of the audiobook via NetGalley. Thank you to Macmillan Audio!

All thoughts and opinions are my own.

The magic, the dragons, the romance – loved this book! The setting was a unique one for me – I hadn’t read a fantasy with Spanish influences and flamenco dancers before – it was refreshing and I’d like more, please.

There was a good balance of plot and exciting action with the dragons. Loved the idea of dragon fighting (instead of bull fighting.)

Great pacing meant I never had the urge to “skip ahead” to the next scene.

Zarela was a fantastic heroine – strong in her own ways, stubborn, and straightforward. The way she seeks to unravel the mystery of what’s happening to her family’s home with such tenacity, even as her world is falling apart, is endearing. And Arturo is a very swoony enemies-to-lovers love interest. Love a badass who is kind to animals and doesn’t put up with society’s crap.

While I anticipated the end twist, it did not dull my enjoyment of the book. On the contrary it made me want to get there to see how it would all play out. That playout certainly was not predictable.

Ana Osorio did an amazing job narrating it and I’ll likely look up what else she’s done.

I’m sad this was a standalone. I want more.

I'm quickly becoming a fan of audiobooks. If the narrators keep being as wonderful as this one, I'd be tempted to never do anything else but listen. The story itself is a magnificent tale of family and finding truth. The idea of flamenco dancers and dragon fighting was brought to life in crisp detail and masterful world-building. I could see and hear every action as the characters fought against the rising tide that dragged their families down. The thread of truth and forgiveness was spot on and excellently written. I loved the romance and how it tied in with the title. There was a bit of a slow burn/enemies to lovers going on that really heated things up, but I would consider this a closed door romance. The author weaved the backstory into the characters lives with such a delicate touch, yet it pushed each and every reaction and brought the characters full circle.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. I was not required to leave a positive review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Together We Burn by Isabel Ibañez follows eighteen-year-old Zarela Zalvidar who is a talented flamenco dancer and daughter of the most famous Dragonador in Hispalia. People come for miles to see her father fight in their arena, which will one day be hers. When disaster strikes during their five hundredth anniversary show, and in the carnage, Zarela’s father is horribly injured. Facing punishment from the Dragon Guild, Zarela must keep the arena—her ancestral home and inheritance —safe from their greedy hands. She has no choice but to take her father’s place as the next Dragonador. When the infuriatingly handsome dragon hunter, Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, withholds his help, she refuses to take no for an answer. But even if he agrees, there’s someone out to ruin the Zalvidar family, and Zarela will have to do whatever it takes in order to prevent the Dragon Guild from taking away her birthright

Like Woven in Moonlight, I love Isabel ibañez's writing style. However, I didn't find this book as enjoyable as Woven in Moonlight. I loved the audiobook for this story and I enjoyed the world however I didn't enjoy the romance in this book. Overall, it was fine and still want to read more from Isabel Ibañez in the future.

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Wow. This was an amazing book to listen to. Firstly, the narrator has a lyrical voice that brings the characters to life and makes the Spanish words used in the book sound lovely. Secondly, I loved the characters, plot, and twists. I was able to anticipate the main twist (the identification of the villain), but not all of their reasonings. All of the twists were really well written and set-up, so when I wasn't able to expect them, I was able to think back and be like, "dang I should have seen that coming!" All in all, this was a wonderful book to listen to and I look forward to re-reading it after it comes out!

Wow, this was such a great read! I love a good alternative history - never knew my life was missing an 1800's Spain reimagining with dragons. From the start I was drawn into the story. Lately I've been looking for non-European fantasy, as it's something newer for me and I enjou the different foundations to these stories. This is a great example, and I was so pleased with how the foundation of Spain really flavored this story. The narration is absolutely wonderful as well.

While near perfect, there were a couple of minor issues for me. Early on I made an educated guess on part of the ending, but even then, it was only in part, and some of the motivation was well thought out and surprising to me. .Also, i would say most of the story is young adult, but there is some steam near the end. It was tasteful, and ended in a fade to black moment. Because of this I would caution younger readers, or be prepared to skip over - it's only two short scenes that have thr steam. The romance is done well, and it's very much a slow burn that burns with tension.

Those are small criticisms, and mostly personal preferences. Together We Burn is definitely one of my favorite reads of the year. I'm excited to dig into more of Isabel Ibanez's books. Pick this one up at release - you won't be disappointed.

*I received an ARC copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.