Thank you NetGalley, Avon and Harper Voyager for giving me early access to this book! All opinions are my own.

This feels like the quintessential romantasy book, and I was HERE. FOR. IT. Dragons, magic, witches, a fantasy setting, what is not to love?! On top of that, the characters had such an amazing story arc! I loved how Tamsyn and Fell grew throughout the story, and the twists kept me on the edge of my seat. Definitely a must read!!! 5⭐️

Full review to come but for now I'll just say, "Holy wow, Sophie Jordan. You blew me away. This is one of the best books I've read this year." Also, when is book two scheduled for publication because I NEED TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT!!!

This dragon book was fantastic. I really enjoyed the different take on it. This fantasy romance was incredibly entertaining, fun and just a pleasurable read.

I found the world building pretty thorough and the characters were well rounded and fleshed out. Especially Fell, ha. I loved the interaction between Fell and Tamsyn as well. There was some good action towards the end, and I did enjoy the political subterfuge as well.

And that ending! What? I cannot wait for book two.

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing a copy of this book. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I really enjoyed this book. I love dragons and sometimes they can be done… well, not well. And that was not the case with this book. The reveal was pretty shocking to me, honestly!

This story totally feels like a cinderella/meets beauty and the beast retelling. The FMC is a royal whipping girl (which I didn’t know was a thing until now) which means she is a peasant that was chosen to live among the royal family and take the punishments for the actual princesses' misdeeds. Tamsyn is resigned to her station because it isn’t forever, once all the princesses have been married off, she’ll be free to choose her own path in life. Which might include Stig, the captain of the guard and her only friend, that she’s starting to think she wants to be more than friends with.

Or at least she was supposed to until Fell, the infamous commander of the kingdom’s border forces, nicknamed ‘Beast of the Borderlands, arrives at the palace and demands that he be rewarded with a princesses hand in marriage. The Tamsyn’s world is turned upside down when the court comes up with a plot to prevent any of the true princesses from being tied to the beast, by tricking him into marrying Tamsyn.
The way Sophie Jordan went about world building and establishing the lore for this story was magnificent! Not only do we get magic but we also get monsters too!! I love a good forced marriage trope and Fell is a dreamy MMC, that wedding night scene was🥵 But I couldn’t for a second ever believe that we were supposed to like Stig. Even when I was mad at Fell for being dumb I liked him more than Stig.
I loved that Tamsyn had no idea about her powers and the way they manifested in the book had me screaming girl power, but that being said, there were definitely some things I didn’t enjoy about this book.

I’m gonna be honest, after reading this, I’m still not entirely sure if the main character shifts fully into a dragon or if they look like a human/dragon hybrid because the descriptions of carrying things after transformation still say “I carried … in my arms.” And do not get me started on the fact that every time the FMC shifts she’s automatically hovering off the ground??? Like what?????

I’m pretty sure my love affair with books involving dragons/dragon shifters started with Sophie Jordan’s Firelight series. So when I saw Fire in the Sky, I was psyched!! But this book, although unique, was not what I was hoping for.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for allowing me to write an honest review of the ARC for A Fire in the Sky!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️/5

My review was posted to Goodreads on 9/3/24.
My Instagram review will be posted on 9/5/24.

3.75 for me
For me this wasn't a bad book, but it was not as good as I expected. In a lot of ways, it was okay. It just wasn't a very exciting book even during important moments in the book until the end that is. The book does end on an interesting note that would normally make me want to read it, but I am not really invested in the characters and their story to maybe continue the series.

I didn't hate the characters they were likable enough, but they didn't spend enough time together for me to become invested in them as a couple. They barely talked with one another even during the time when they were on this long journey back home on horseback. I mean I get that He is angry at her for what happened but there was just no groundwork with the limited conversations they did have.

For the writing it wasn't bad but a lot of it was based around internal dialogue even when the MCs were around their own people. Like a side character who has known the FMC her whole life would say something and then the FMC would just have this whole one-sided conversation with herself and then the scene would move on. In some ways I felt like the MCs were just coasting on the plot rather than participating in the plot. I would say a lot of this book was predictable with very few surprises though I will say I did think one thing about the FMC and while I wasn't wrong, I wasn't completely right but for most of the book I kinda could see everything coming.

Overall, I didn't hate the book it was okay, but I wasn't able to become invested in the characters and the plot enough that I will probably not be reading the next story even if it did end on an interesting cliff hanger. The characters were okay but felt like they also like me were just along for the ride when it came to the plot instead of actually participating in it.

This book is about Tamsyn a girl of unknown origins who was adopted by the royal family to serve as the whipping girl for their daughters. Raised like a sister to the princesses anytime they messed up she would receive their punishment. But Tamsyn knowns that her time as the whipping girl will be coming to an end soon as soon her sisters will be married off for political advantages benefiting the kingdom. She doesn't know what that means for her yet, but she is looks forward to having a say in her future soon. That is until one day the beast of the borderlands comes to the castle to talk with the king. The beast of the borderlands protects them from bandits and other undesirables since there are no longer dragons to hunt, and witches have scattered for fear of being burned at the stakes. With all the success the beast Fell has had on he has come calling asking for a reward benefiting all that they have done for the kingdom... Marriage to one of the princesses. Well, the king has better uses for his blood daughters than some classless violent Wildman so he tricks the beast into marring his adopted daughter. A trick that is only discovered after the wedding consummated and there is no turning back. Faced with the humiliation of being tricked Fell takes his whipping bride with him on the journey home. Along the way secrets will come out and things thought to be long lost will reveal themselves because in a world of magic, magic never really dies it just slumbers in secret.

I received an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review from netgalley.

“They were different. And different is always feared.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you netgalley and Avon for the gifted arc.

This book was so entertaining 😌 arranged marriage, dragons, and a twisty plot? Count me in.

I think the world building was pretty well done. It was easy to follow along with and wasn’t very complicated! I loved the setting and traveling with Tamsyn and Fell!

The plot was a bit slow and repetitive, but I was still very entertained! The plot twist with Tamsyn definitely made up for it, because I did not see that coming. Not sure how I feel about the ending, but we will see how I feel about that in the next book 😌

Tamsyn is the Royal whipping girl, which has led to her being fiercely loyal and incredibly strong. I really liked her! I read a lot of fantasy books where the FMC is a well trained, stabby warrior, but that’s not Tamsyn. She’s lived her life in comfort and luxury, but has her own form of emotional strength.

“I was not glass. I did not break. I was bred to survive.”

Typically, I would love a MMC like Fell. Large, broody warrior? Like yes please. But here he was just a little dry. I loved seeing the tension from his POV, but I think he lacked depth outside being a warrior and falling in love.

The romance was scorching (iykyk) 🥵 soooo much tension in this arranged marriage and I was living for it! I adored seeing the back and forth between them as they tried to deny their attraction 😌

“Suddenly, I realized we were two puzzle pieces fitting together.”

Yeesh… this was a ride I couldn’t get off of- like really… just read until it was the end and then was so upset it was the end that I have begun to second guess reading any more series. I can’t stand the suspense! (I mean I can. Obviously. The waiting is just too much when I’m so invested in these characters.)

Tamsyn is the “whipping girl” to her royal family. She was found, as a newborn, by the Queen and raised beside their 3 daughters. When the royal children did wrong, it was unlawful to punish them, so Tamsyn was the bearer of their whippings.

Tamsyn loves her sisters, the Queen, and the King. She sees this as her duty to the kingdom. Her best friend, Stig, has always been there to assure her that once her sisters had grown her life would become hers. However, we meet Fell, The Beast, and ruler of the land to the North, and see this future of Tamsyn’s come to a grinding halt.

In the journey to the North, Tamsyn is faced with confronting the person she is, the building power she feels within herself, and how to fit into this world. All the while we find out that maybe witches and dragons are not as extinct as once believed.

This story is rich with the weight of duty, a history of dragon and witch lore, and sppiiiiiice. If you loved Fourth Wing, When The Moon Hatched, or The Branded you’ll devourrrrr this one.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Need all the rest of this series in my hands ASAP.

Thank you for the #advancedreaderscopy @netgalley and @avonbooks I can’t wait to see where @sosophiejordan takes Tamsyn and Fell next.

#2024bookchallenge80of75
#netgalley
#afireinthesky

I really liked the story of Tamsyn and Fell. From a whipping girl to the Beast of the Borderlands, they have both been tricked into marriage, a sign of their times was to accept it. As they discover more about themselves, dark truths come to light that test them both. A good beginning to a new series I am definitely enjoying.

Tamsyn is the royal whipping girl, growing up as part of the royal family but not royal in her own right. Her "family" delivers the ultimate insult, sending Tamsyn on a journey where she discovers her true self.
The first half of this book was hard to get through. Tamsyn was a contradiction of intelligence and naivete, She seemed to have her wits about her and be the most mature of her royal siblings, but too naive to not realize the situation she was put in sooner. Perhaps it could be explained by her blind trust of her family, but it was a stretch for me.
The second half of this book was so much better. Tamsyn learned the depths of her strength, both mental and physical. At the same time, we saw other characters develop and change, many in surprising ways. The world beyond the palace was beautifully described and the relationships were intriguing. Overall the plot of the story was engaging and left me ready to read the next book in the series, which I hope is to come.

"You are stronger than you realize. Draw from that. Do not be afraid of your power."

This was a great start to a new series by Sophie Jordan. It has everything you could want: enemies to lovers, betrayal, secrets, magic, dragons, & political intrigue.

I like Tamsyn as our FMC. Adopted by the royal family to fulfill the position as royal whipping girl, Tamsyn has been raised as a princess albeit one that takes beatings for the true princesses. She is strong, loving, and bound by her duty. When Fell aka the Beast of the Borderlands marries one of the princesses, he gets more than he bargained for. Is he truly a beast as people say or does he only do the violent things he does for the good of his people?

"Arkin was right. There were many dangerous things in these woods. I just never realized that I could be one of them."

I will say that I felt like we needed just a bit more world building. Things were introduced very quickly with little background especially the revelations at the end. It was hard to follow just how Tamsyn could be what she is and then also to grasp what was happening with Fell.

I didn't want this book to end. I wanted it to be longer. So much happens very quickly at the end and I wasn't ready to leave this world. I want answers. I will for sure be reading more from this series once it's released.

A Fantasy with witches,dragons,magic.
About Tamsyn, the whipping girl and the Beast of Borderlands Fell.
The Beast came to get a princess bride but get the whipping girl instead..
Great drama,interesting story, suspense,twists.
Great cliffhanger.
Looking dto the next.
Voluntarily reviewed.

This story is like 1500s European royalty plus dragons and I am so here for it. We have whipping girls, arranged marriages, needing witnesses for the marriage consummation as well as witches, magic, dragons, and fated mates. This novel was fast paced and kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It hasn't been advertised as a series starter (that I've seen), but I assume we are getting more books with how this left off.

Tamsyn is stalwart and even keeled. I can't wait to see her character arc through more books. I also hope we get to see more of the royal family, particularly the princesses as we move forward.

This was such a fun novel and now I want to go back and re-read Jordan's Firelight trilogy (which apparently just got new covers and are being re-released this month). I highly recommend this book to anybody who loves romantasy books.

Review going live September 9

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read and review this book.
I initially felt A Fire in the Sky had much potential – the premise snagged me from the start. Unfortunately, I never really felt connected to the characters. There were often moments of repetitive information and internal dialogue that seemed to drag the pacing of the story. I also struggled with the mis-matched adult-level of spice for an otherwise seemingly YA-level of writing. My biggest problem with this book was the predictability throughout. This one was a miss for me, but I appreciate the opportunity to review.

Now has me in a chokehold I look forward to buying everything from this author and reading everything she writes! She made such an intriguing story and I cannot wait to find out what happens! I could not put the story down. I started reading it didn’t put it down!!!

3.75/5, Rounded up for NetGalley.

I truly could not put this down. This was definitely my kind of Romantasy book. More of a guilty pleasure kind of read than anything else. I mean, there’s dragons! Need I say more? The writing was a bit repetitive, but it had a fun premise that I enjoyed. Not very heavy on the world building if you’re looking for a quick read. Oh! And there’s some spice.

The story is told from three points-of-view. The first being our female main character, a fiery redhead named Tamsyn. She is the royal “whipping girl.” Raised by the royal family aside their children to take their place in terms of punishment. And to take their place when it comes to marrying Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands. The last main character is Stig, the Captain of the Guard and Tamsyn’s childhood best friend. I was not a fan of him though. He definitely gave Cristen Cole(HOTD) vibes.. Yuck.

The big thing that bothered me was the amount of times the phrase “Moistening my lips” was used. I’m sure there could’ve been another way to say that.. Not usually a fan of instant attraction stories either, but this will get a free pass due to story reasons.

This book could’ve used a little help when it came to the basic writing and its repetitiveness, but I’m absolutely looking forward to the sequel. Especially when this one ended on a cliffhanger.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Avon for an eARC copy in exchange for an honest review.

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan is the first book in a planned romantasy duology. Our main female character Tamsyn is the royal family's whipping girl. Essentially her role in life is to take the punishment of any of the princesses’ misdeeds. Then Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, rides into town demanding a princess for a bride, the duty naturally falls upon Tamsyn to take the place of her beloved sisters.

The connection between Tamysn and Fell is immediate. I can’t say I was fond of the public consummation of their union but understand why it was chosen by the author for the story. Without giving away too much, I thoroughly enjoyed the big character development for Tamysn and, with the way things ended in this book, cannot wait for the next.

Arranged marriage, dark broody MMC, and a FMC on a journey to find out who she really is? I’m there for it! This book was full of twists and turns and unexpected outcomes and kept me hooked from the beginning. I devoured this book and can’t wait for the next one!

✨ Book Review: A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan ✨

In A Fire in the Sky, @sosophiejordan introduces us to Tamsyn, a young woman navigating the harsh world of Pentarra, where dragons are extinct, witches are outcast, and she serves as the Whipping Girl for the royal daughters. As her best friend Stig remains close, she questions her feelings for him. But when the notorious Beast of the Borderlands arrives, demanding marriage to a princess so he can gain more say in the kingdom, Tamsyn is drawn into a dangerous plot that could change everything she knows. Soon she may have to leave everyone and everything she has ever known and wanted behind.

With a captivating mix of romance, fantasy, and intrigue, this first romantasy book in the series sets the stage for a wild adventure. The special edition is beautiful, and I can't wait to see what comes next!

I devoured "A Fire in the Sky" by Sophie Jordan in one sitting—it was that gripping. From the start, I was deeply curious about the FMC’s story. She embodies someone who absorbs trauma, takes on others' issues, and sacrifices so much of herself. Her journey through an arranged marriage in a fantasy world had me hooked, and I was eager to see how she would grow and evolve.
The book is packed with unexpected twists and turns that kept me glued to the pages. It’s fast-paced, and the world-building is done so well that I felt fully immersed in the story. I can’t wait for book 2 to see where it takes us next!

Oh and the cliffhanger in the end really leaves you hanging.

Genre
•Romantasy

Quote
“He was like poisonous berries in the wood, so bright and colorful and sweet at the first taste, but bad for you. Toxic”

🌶️ minimal spice

Thank you net galley, Sophie Jordan, and Avon & Harper Voyager for the Arc.