♾️ stars, I devoured this book!! One of my favorites so far this year! Arranged marriage, dragons, enemies to lovers!!! I will recommend this to everyone I know!!!

I thought this was a great story. Tamsyn, as the whipping girl for the royal princesses, lives a good Stockholm syndrome version of a life. When the Beast of the Borderlands, Fell, comes looking for a bride, the king and queen decide to play a bit of a trick and Tamsyn winds up married to Fell. This is arguably one of the best things to happen to her. This is set in a world where magic and dragons are long dead… or are they? I would definitely recommend to a fantasy reader that doesn’t mind a bit of spice. I’ll also be waiting for the continuation of Tamsyn and Fell’s story!

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the advance reader copy!

Synopsis: As the royal “whipping girl”, Tamsyn was brought up alongside three princesses as their sister, but must be the one to take their punishments. When a warrior known as The Border King from the dangerous borderlands comes to the palace to claim a princess as his bride, Tamsyn will save one of them from this fate by secretly marrying him instead.

Thoughts: TL;DR I wanted more dragons. This story takes place in a world where dragons are supposedly extinct and magic is dead, so a large portion of the book is very light on the fantasy aspect. The main plot line involves the arranged marriage and the dangerous trek to the borderlands that has our main characters warming up to each other. There is some (albeit awkward) spice, and the relationship between them is fairly intriguing with good chemistry. I actually liked where the story ended up going, but wish that it hadn’t been so predictable - I think I knew from the first quarter of the book what the twist was going to be. That being said, I think the set up for a second book is pretty solid and I will definitely check it out.

Read this if you like:
🐉 arranged marriage
🐉 enemies to lovers
🐉 romantasy
🐉 dragons
🐉 dual pov

No one is as surprised as me that I was instantly hooked by this dragon shifter insta-lovey romance set in a world that's a prequel to a popular YA fantasy series. The multi-POV gave us A LOT of internal monologues that bordered on repetitive and a bit unnecessarily dramatic at times, but I ate it up. The novel is short and focused more on fleshing out the characters rather than building the world, but this and the epic cliffhanger made me crave the next book something fierce.

Is it the best dragon romantasy I've ever read? Far from it, but I have a feeling A Fire in the Sky will be even better once the rest of the series comes out.

“𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘐 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥.”

This book swept me away and was just so entertaining. It has some of my favorite tropes including enemies to lovers, arranged marriage and forced proximity!

I think this is the first book I’ve read where the main FMC is a whipping girl.
Raised in an royal household alongside its princesses, Tamsyn has always accepted her fate until the fateful night the Beast of the Borderland comes to the castle and demands one of its princesses in marriage in exchange for his continued protection - only to be deceived with the whipping girl. Things get really interesting fast here.

This story has magic, witches, and dragons in it. The pace is fast moving and with just enough world building to set the atmosphere and tone of the story. The MC’s have such a great tension building up with each other that I devoured the book. I finished it in about a day. I just wanted to keep reading it. Some of the plot twist were predictable for me but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. This is the first book in a new adult romantasy series and does end on a cliffhanger. I definitely plan on continuing with the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for an eARC of this book!

I was so excited about this book, but it fell short for me in several ways. The execution of the story felt underdelivered….and not a lot happens until the very end. I wanted more worldbuilding out of what was promised from the story…but the twists and turns were predictable. There was too much monologue, and it got repetitive.

Overall, I give this book three stars. To be honest, I’m not sure I will continue with the series.

If we are here for only vibes than this book is a full 5 stars. But if we are here for a well written Romantsy I’m sorry it’s only 3 stars. I really wanted to rate this book higher but I couldn’t based off major plot holes and way to predictable of a plot twist that could have been done better. The world it’s self is Amazing but the romance felt rushed and based of sex and the plot was clunky and rushed towards the end. This book had HIGH potential to be a 6 star book but just wasn’t hitting the mark in certain areas. Very grateful to get the e-Arc of this book though and hope she still continues to write the story but just improves in book 2.

What a great read by a great author! I originally found Sophie Jordan with her Firelight trilogy, and I was so thrilled when I saw this book was based in the same world. I really enjoyed this book along with the characters.

Tamsyn is a strong character, and she has had to deal with a lot growing up as the royal whipping girl. What she doesn’t count on or expect is getting married to the Beast of the Borderlands. Once married to him and leaving behind what she’s known her whole life, she travels with Fell and his band of warriors to land unknown to her.

Fell was expecting to marry a princess, and instead finds out, after the fact, that he has married the whipping girl. He takes Tam with him and things get interesting pretty quickly.

I really enjoyed the journey that Tam and Fell take in the first book. I was so excited to see that there will be a second book and I’m eagerly waiting to see when that comes out!

I really wanted to love this! Sophie Jordan’s historical romances are so good, so I was very excited for her romantasy debut. Unfortunately, this was a big miss for me. There was no chemistry between the main characters, and it felt like their whole relationship was built off of sex. There was a lot of repetition as well.

And the twist at the end? 🥲😬 It was truly something. I could definitely see it from a mile away, but the execution was..a little cringy.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I did not like this book. I had such high hopes for it in the beginning because it started off well, but it went down hill quickly. The characters seemed stuck and depressing. The ending was just weird and abrupt. Is there more coming up? Not that I'm reading it, but the ending was just...so...off that if there isn't another book, I'm not quite sure what the point of that ending was.

OMG I loved, loved this book and really want the next one right now. The characters in this book were so endearing and yet also ones you like to love or hate. The storyline was well written and kept you wanting to turn the next page. Some of the twists and turns left you wondering throughout the book how it was going to turn out. Another amazing book from Sophie.

I was very much anticipating this book - I can't get enough of dragons in fantasy. The premise sounded fantastic but, sadly, the execution was sorely lacking for me. On the one hand, I love that romantasy has now become a mainstream genre. On the other hand, however, I feel that it has opened the door for cookie-cutter stories and I'm getting a little bored of feeling like I'm reading the same story over and over again. I really need the romatasy genre to explore new and fresh contexts. My other issue with this one was that I could really tell the author was previously writing young adult. This seems to be a common experience for me. It just did not at all feel like the epic/high adult fantasy that I was wanting from it.

If you’re into dragons and romance, then this is a quick, fun read for you.

We follow Tamsyn, a 'whipping girl' who gets married off to Fell, the ruthless Lord Beast (not a Beauty & the Beast retelling 😂). Their relationship starts off pretty rocky, but they warm up to each other during their long harsh journey to the Borderlands. Along the way, they discover that dragons aren’t actually extinct when Tamsyn goes missing. The chemistry between Tamsyn and Fell is great, with just the right amount of banter, tension, and spice. It’s a quick read at 315 pages, and while I wanted more character development, the fast pacing made it fly by.

Overall, I felt like this book pretty average—I liked the story, but it didn’t stand out from other Romantasy series. However, I did really enjoy Sophie Jordan's writing style, and I’d pick up Book 2 to see where the story goes.

Although there were some things that could have been fine-tuned better, A Fire in the Sky was a fun read! I was captivated by the storyline and Jordan's writing. I liked that this book played with the classic romantasy tropes. I enjoyed Jordan's spin on them. Despite being able to predict the major plot pints, I was pleased with how the story played out. I thought the whole whipping girl plot line was interesting and new. I did struggle a little bit with the world building. I found it wanting. I felt like the politics and geography of the world could have been expanded on more. Luckily, the characters made up for this flaw. I thought Tamsyn and Fell were a cute couple. I liked their tension and chemistry. I hope the next book will delve more into their relationship. I want to see more dialogue and relationship building in the next book. The attraction between Tamsyn and Fell was pretty instant. As a slow burn fan, I was a little nervous at first with their instant attraction. I liked that Jordan still created drama and tension between Tamsyn and Fell. The spice scenes were just enough for the story. I thought Tamsyn and Fell were decent main characters. I did struggle with the repetitiveness of their inner monologues. Tamsyn's monologues could also lean towards the dramatics. I hope the next book will explore more of Tamsyn's history and motivations. I'm eager to see what Fell's chapters are going to be like in the sequel after the surprise ending. The book also featured a third POV from Stig. I had a hard time wrapping my head around Stig. I thought his POV chapters were unnecessary. I didn't buy his sudden declaration of love. I wasn't convinced that he and Tamsyn were close friends. I found the pacing and breakup of the book just right. My favorite chapters were from the crossing section. I thought the "taking care of each other" trope in that section cute. Even though the writing style wasn't the strongest, I found this book very engaging. The ending was exciting and readers will be eager to see what happens in the next book. I did have several unanswered questions at the end. I thought the whole cloud and mist thing was confusing. I hope that and other questions will be answered in the next book. Overall, this was an entertaining and fast-paced book that left me hungry for the next book. Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC.

This is a perfect blend of the drama, sizzling romance, and world building. There’s a deceptive arranged marriage, politics, DRAGONS, betrayal, and oh DRAGONS!!

Tamsyn is a royal whipping girl - the girl who takes all the punishments of her royal “sisters” since royalty cannot be harmed. She’s good at it. She has a sense of pride in her position, instilled in her by Stig. Stig is the captain of the guard who will do anything for Tamsyn, including try to save her from an arranged marriage. Fell is the Beast of the Borderlands, a brute who protects the wild edges of the kingdom. Fell demands a royal wife and he will have one… but deception abounds.

This book is a quick read that has many hard to stomach themes such as a whipping girl, arranged marriage, witnessed consummation, and death. Jordan handles these well. The horrors are highlighted but not glamorized. Intimate scenes are graphic but palatable. It’s been a while since I’ve read a book that was so straightforward with hard themes.

The writing is refreshing, fast-paced, and eloquent. The first few pages pulled me into a chokehold until the very last page. The world building is fantastic. The multiple POV’s really allowed me understand how each character processed the world around them. Fell’s character development is my favorite out of the main three. I’m amazed at how complex this book is for being under 350 pages. The last 25% of the book is pretty much perfect.

I loved the dragons. Can’t say much else without spoiling it. I have never read any of Sophie Jordan’s work, but I will certainly be reading more. I will be screaming from the rooftops about how much I enjoyed A Fire in the Sky.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for an advanced digital copy.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to arc read this book!

Dragons, forced marriage, witches! I loved every second of this book and cannot believe the cliffhanger we’re left on. The chemistry between Tamsyn and Fell is perfect, and I loved seeing her grow as a person.
Book two is going on my tbr!

2.5⭐️

While the book had me intrigued by the end and I would consider reading the follow up, I found myself forcing my way through it. A lot of the book felt repetitive; with thought processes and turns of phrase being repeated from paragraph to paragraph and chapter to chapter. There were times I would find myself skimming the page to skip through the characters rambling thoughts and get back to forward momentum in the plot. There were moments I enjoyed and glimpses of potential for stand out characters but overall, it was just a book I found myself putting down in favor of something else more often than not.

This short fantasy book has been one of my favorites this year! The story really pulled me in, and I really loved the two main characters Tamsyn and Fell. Tamsyn is stuck in an impossible situation as she's married off to a "Beast of the Borderlands", but she holds her own and shows inspirational strength. And Fell is more complex than meets the eye. He's the perfect badass male character that shows gentleness with Tamsyn that even he doesn't expect. The dynamic between them, especially after the marriage twist, was full of tension but also had some really sweet moments. The romance was written so well, with just the right amount of heat.

I also loved how unpredictable the plot was. There were moments that genuinely surprised me, and now I have a ton of questions that I can’t wait to see answered in the next book. Overall, this book had everything—strong characters, a bit of magic, and a lot of suspense. Definitely a series I’ll be keeping an eye on!

Thank you to Netgalley and Avon/Harper Voyager for an eARC of this book!

It took a minute for me to decide how to rate this book. There were definite moments while reading when I was engaged and invested but I almost DNFed around 50%. I stuck it out and overall think the story was just ok.
I enjoyed the build up and set up involving the two main characters meeting, but I spent most of the book searching for their connection after that. I wanted to root for Tamsyn and Fell, yet something in the writing or the plot didn't quite cement them as a couple. Even with a cliffhanger ending I doubt I will be interested enough to continue with the story.
Thank you NetGalley and Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

** I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley**

Rating: 2.5 stars

Plot: This book follows the FMC, Tamsyn, who is a whipping girl for the princesses (when they act out, Tamsyn takes the consequences = whipping). She is given as a bride deceptively to the Beast of Borderlands, Fell who obviously does not appreciate being lied to. Even with the betrayal he seems to quickly become enthralled with her as they travel back to his homelands. In Penterra, there is no magic as dragons are killed off and witches are basically in hiding.

Characters: Tamsyn was written to come out strong anf outspoken at times but her character seemed flat and annoying. She was a more immature character than I was expecting for an adult fantasy novel.

Fell was honestly just a brute who did not have much depth to him.

The characters honestly shared a few sentences the entire time but yet seemed to want to be together long term. Lust vs love ….

The big climax in this book was truly predictable as there were many indications in the beginning/throughout the book.

The book could ideally go through another round of editing as the sentence structures are choppy.

This book is definitely a YOUNG ADULT book with SEX SCENES. The entirety of the book is written as YA within its themes, characters, and plot.

Overall, the plot of this book was a great idea but fell very flat within its characters and execution.