I don't think that the marketing for this book was done correctly. If I had known exactly what kind of romance this was, I probably wouldn't have requested this. I am not a fan of the slave and slave owner relationship, and was honestly sickened by it. I know that there are plenty of people who will love this, and I am happy for them, but this was not my cup of tea.

I know juliette has written some slightly problematic books in the past but this one takes the cake. I was so excited because them premise of the romance empire but with grading shifters entrigued me. But I couldn’t get it at the slave master situation. And while he treated his slaves better than the rest it was still ick.

Firebird by Juliette Cross started out strong but then faltered in its storytelling.

I honestly tried to read this book, and it just was not peaking my interest. Plus, the master and slave relationship surprised me because it was not marketed as such. It should have been labelled as a "dark romance" instead of just romantasy due to the content. However, I did enjoy reading the myth in the beginning.

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a chance to read this ARC.

There were a lot of parts of this I wish I would have been warned about (that continued?) and some overall ideas that I feel the author should not have written down on paper. I did not know this was a master/slave book and I’m kind of horrified I read the whole thing.

Booktok and Bookstagram will probably die for this book.

I don’t tend to like to post negative reviews, but this one feels like it’s necessary. I’ll start out with the good aspects of the story. The world building is pretty good and using Roman history as a starting point for a kingdom run by dragon shifters is fantastic. I absolutely loved that. I also really enjoyed Malina as a character, much more than the copy and paste stabby FMC that we see in a lot of romantasy stories. I enjoyed her much more than Feyre in ACOTAR.

However, the fact that Julianus is a powerful Roman general who buys Malina as a slave and then they fall in love with each other so quickly is just…terrible. As a plot line I cannot support this book. Especially when Julianus talks about how his dad fell in love with his mom, who was a slave and he immediately went and had her status changed so she would not be a slave. Yet, Julianus does not do this. I thought it was going to be foreshadowing for his own actions, but nope. He keeps her as a slave. Sure, there are other political factors at play, but the power dynamic was disgusting. Definitely not a book for me. There needs to be CWs in this book and they do not exist.

The audiobook narrators were also a highlight for this book. Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC.

I wanted to give this book the benefit of the doubt, but it’s just not good.

I tried so hard to defend the authors choices, but in the end I couldn’t get over the dynamic of the main characters.

She’s his slave. His mate, but still HIS SLAVE. Yes, he doesn’t make her do anything horrible, but still makes her bathe him and do little tasks that he could do on his own. Yes, I understand this is Ancient Rome, but no one wants to read about a woman bending at the knee for a man who fucks her before asking if she’s ok. Who in the end of the book, BASICALLY COMMANDS her to keep her hair down. Like what?!

Not only that, but things don’t make sense in this book and are just thrown in there. The timeline seemed off at points, like things should have been described earlier in the book not in the last quarter. Take her necklace for example, no explanation on how she turned it into a necklace until the last 100 pages of the book.

There was real potential here, too. Ancient Rome and dragons?! Hell yes! I loved the Minerva and Medusa myth in the beginning. The set up was there. It was, unfortunately, just not well executed.

The fantastic start to a new romantasy series set in ancient Rome where dragon shifters rule the land and the heir to the throne is plotting to overthrow his tyrannical uncle. What he doesn't count on is finding and falling for a Celtic witch. This was spicy, full of courtly intrigue and had well developed characters. Highly recommended for fans of Fourth Wing or A fate inked in blood. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!

Loved it!!! This is a DARK romantasy set in the Roman Empire with Dragons, I was hooked!!! BUT I've seen a lot of negative reviews about the slave/master dynamics at play in the romance so I think the marketing needs to switch up a bit to reflect that cause I can totally understand being upset or triggered by that if you don't know to expect it. If that's not a romance you wanna see, I respect that but this is not the book for you! We have Malina, a witch that can read and manipulate emotions, who is captured by Roman Commander AND dragon shifter, Julian, OH and they had met by chance years ago! I am a slut for dragon shifters, ever since I read Heart of the Dragon by Gena Showalter, so this just worked for me. Julian and his dragon are possessive and obsessed and though he's Roman, he's working to undue their awful society! I'm so HYPED for book 2!

3.75⭐️

A Roman empire inspired romantasy but with dragons🙂‍↕️ Yeah, it was no surprise to me that the world and lore of this book immediately drew me in, but honestly I wish there had been more of it! Overall, I did enjoy this book but it will not be for everybody, so please check your trigger warnings before reading - certain parts will be difficult to read through.

This book was definitely more romance-focused on the fated mates love story. I loved both of our main characters, but I was hoping for a slower burn when it came to their romance. The progression of their love story felt a bit rushed and I would have loved to see more angst and tension.

I did, however, appreciate how fast paced this was, especially since my last couple reads have felt so slow. The empath magic, the dragon shifters, the mythology elements, the side characters, the plotting? I ATE IT UP. I also have to say it was so refreshing that this book did not end with a brutal
cliffhanger, which is often the case with romantasy books lately. l’ll definitely be picking up book 2 when it’s out!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bramble for the eARC!

Firebird captured my interest the moment I saw the cover

Then I read the description.

Although I don’t read a lot of historical fantasy, I love history. The thought of journeying to a re-imagined historic Roman Empire with dragon shifters had me sold on Firebird months before its release.

I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced review copy so I could read Firebird before it came out, and it met my expectations and exceeded my hopes. The writing is smooth and easy to follow, so I never felt confused or pulled out of the story. There’s great descriptive detail when needed, and the author does an incredible job setting the stakes for the protagonists and introducing conflict throughout.

There were several things about the story that I really appreciated. For one, Malina is a strong character who doesn’t just accept the way things are. She’d rather die on her feet fighting than live on her knees as a slave in the Roman Empire. She’s headstrong, and sometimes impulsive, which is believable for her age. She’s also compassionate and goes out of her way to help people she cares about.

I love the fact that she makes friends with other women and wants to see them happy.

Julian is an enigma. He appears to be one way, because of his relationship to the emperor and his reputation on the battlefield. However, behind closed doors, we soon see the layers to his character. His house is staffed by people he’s rescued and protected from being executed, and he promptly helps one of Malina’s friends when asked, although there’s no obvious benefit to him to buy a dying slave.

I loved the supporting characters. We get to spend time with characters who are often overlooked in stories, and I loved the attention to everyday activities because it added to the development of the setting.

I was intrigued by their relationship and loved seeing both of them grow over the course of the book. It’s fair to say this book might not be for everyone, particularly because of the master/slave relationship dynamic. However, I appreciated the growth in their relationship and how it evolved throughout the story. This book definitely held my interest from start to finish and had some unexpected developments that kept me guessing about how the story would resolve.

Edited to add this: ***I viewed Firebird as a dark romance fantasy story. I also give a lot of latitude to historical fantasy novels, and do not expect accuracy. The most interesting aspect of the story was the revolution in progress, and how Julian was caught between his beliefs and his need to look like he fully supported his uncle. Some of the criticisms of this book are valid. However, Julian and Malina are not involved when she is a minor. Malina and her sisters are scheduled to dance when she's 17 and Julian arrives. They meet. That's in the prologue. The rest of the story takes place four years later.***

I’ve been a Juliette Cross Stan for years when I fell in love with her paranormal romance series, Stay a Spell. I was thrilled to see her get picked up my traditional publishing and eager to give into Firebird!

I did a tandem read for this one using the e-arc and the audiobook. In typical Cross fashion, the fantasy/magical world building is light and accessible to all types of readers, her heroine is independent, and the steamy scenes are spicy! I could have had a little more world building as I really thought the unique Ancient Rome setting helps this romantasy book stand apart from other new releases. I would caution some readers to ensure they check the content warnings for this book as some readers were surprised by the master/slave romance element. For me, most of the Ancient Rome books or shows that I have consumer helped prepare me for the on-page brutal violence and prevalence of slavery for the period. While I do not think this book is for *all* romantasy readers, I think many will enjoy this new dragon shifter series!

DNF @ 58%

I really wanted to love this book after hearing some really good things about it. In the end though the whole master / slave romance thing just felt uncomfortable and I could not get past it. It would have really been nice if this trope along with the numerous SA triggers had been mentioned in the marketing campaign for this one.

I read a lot of reviews where folks DNF’d because of rhe slave master dynamic but If they had kept reading behind a few chapters I think they would have liked this.

I loved the lore with the dragons and the tie to Ancient Rome, but
I feel like we could have done just a little more world building.

I’ve also heard this described as a dark romance and I wondered if we read the same book. Maybe it was because of the slave : master dynamic but The romance was almost sweet. With a few good spicy episodes.
.
I liked that it wasn’t a cliff hanger but that it did make me want to read the next book.

Overall I liked it 3.75/5

I always love dragon shifters, Magic and a fated mates story so thus book was one I knew I wanted to pick up. I thought the plot for the book was interesting and I was very drawn to the alternate Roman historical aspect. If you are turned off by a master x slave forbidden romance (Colonizer vs oppressed world but fantasy with the “strong” ruling the weak in a cut throat world) I wouldn’t suggest this as a read for you. I am interested to see where the author takes this world and series in the future.

Should have told the consumer it was a master slave romance. Terrible to release in this political climate without any warning. Pretty edges can only sell books for so long! If I could this would get zero stars.

I really enjoyed this read. Side note: Read with caution, check triggers. A handful of scenes could be hard to read due to vulgar or brutal detail. The author’s writing flows beautifully and held my attention the entire book. The intrigue, the danger, the character dynamics are all well written. I loved the Roman aspect, the dragon shifter elements, and the good MMC vs the evil ruler. The romance of some side characters is on the dark side, and due to illustrating the brutality of the Roman conquerors, there are a handful of scenes that are heavy. The romance between the main characters is on the sweeter side of dark and is more instalovey. Although it is sort of a captive x captor relationship, the insta love vibe made it not feel dark or heavy. The brutal side of this war is described in great detail which could be upsetting for readers. It does illustrate the need for a rebellion in this world really well, and sparks all the emotions that would go along with this war and rebellion. This was an exciting read and held my interest the entire time. I feel like readers who loved the GOT or Vikings kind of world would enjoy this read.

This audio narration is perfection.

❤️‍🔥 Dragon Shifter
❤️‍🔥 Roman Conquers
❤️‍🔥 Witch FMC
❤️‍🔥 My Treasure
❤️‍🔥 My Dragon
❤️‍🔥 Conquerer x Captive
❤️‍🔥 Fated Mates
❤️‍🔥 Rebellion
❤️‍🔥 Brutal War

4.5 🌶️ (highly descriptive, open door spice, occurs enough to be a focus point in the plot)
Check triggers (brutal war, brutal ruler, vulgar SA discussed and hinted at, mistreatment of women)

Thank you so much to The NetGalley team at Tor/Forge for this ARC copy.

3.5 stars.

I see Ancient Rome and dragons and I want to read it, I can't help it.

I had a lot of fun with this fantasy romance book, even though some of it came off as cheesy (especially the whole "My Treasure" thing. Also the word "cunny" made me cringe so hard). I didn't go in expecting the deepest world building or anything, and I think that helped me enjoy it more.

The master/slave dynamic seems to be an issue for a lot of people, but I think it's pretty clear that Malina is not a slave except in name for appearance's sake, and there is never any non-con between the MMC and FMC. There are definitely other non-con threats from the villains pretty constantly, though, so there are some pretty dark moments. But the romance itself is not dark at all.

Malina is also a lot more level-headed than many other romantasy heroines out there, and I appreciated that about her.

All in all, the book delivered what it promised, which was Rome with dragon shifters, and some steamy romance, and I enjoyed it.

3.5–3.75 stars!

I actually really enjoyed Firebird by Juliette Cross. This fantasy romance was immersive, action-packed, and surprisingly easy to read. The worldbuilding, set in a version of Rome where humans coexist with dragon shifters, was magical enough to pull me in right away. It reminded me of a lighter fantasy—engaging without being overly complex—and that made it a great escape read.

There’s definitely political intrigue, dragon shifters, fantasy romance, and yes… smut. I’d rate it around two chili peppers in terms of spice. As someone who reads dark romance, I can say these scenes weren’t particularly graphic or dark in comparison to others in the genre. That said, content warnings apply: this story includes captive/captor and slave/slaver tropes, which are not everyone’s cup of tea. Some reviews are harsh because they were surprised or uncomfortable with those elements—so please go in knowing what you’re picking up.

But despite the criticism, I found this book to be beautifully written and entertaining. The romance and fantasy blended nicely, and the audiobook was a great companion to the physical read. If you enjoy stories with a dash of darkness, magical politics, dragons, and romance, I definitely recommend giving this one a try.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this early!

DNF around 50%

When I received this book I was surprised that no where in the synopsis said it was a master/slave romance. That aspect didn’t bother me too much as I do read dark romances, but it also isn’t my favourite. However I mostly just DNF’ed due to being bored of the plot. I had no desire to pick it up, and I didn’t like the way the romance was progressing.

Firebird by Juliette Cross is a fiery, fast-paced romance that’s equal parts magical and emotional. The chemistry between the phoenix shifter and dragon king is intense, and their forbidden love story keeps you hooked. Juliette Cross does a great job building a rich supernatural world while giving us strong, relatable characters. If you’re into steamy fantasy romance with a lot of heart, this one’s a fun, satisfying read.