This was a very good book but was extremely slow in the beginning and was hard for me to get into. The world building was a little confusing with similar names for similar regions and the magic system not really being explained fully, needing to use context clues to explain the elemental magic.

I took a long break from this book and picked it back up around halfway done. Suddenly she was being married off and it felt like no questions were asked and everything just happened? Overall it was a great book just slow to start. Fiorean was so good until he was so bad?! I loved their chemistry & banter. I will read the next book just to see the revenge arc.

if you enjoy emotionally driven fantasy with rich lore and a bold heroine confronting patriarchy, this story delivers—despite occasional pacing hiccups. All-in-all, very enjoyable!

Hazel McBride’s debut is everything I want in a romantasy—sharp politics, molten chemistry, and dragons with real cultural weight. Set in Tìr Teine, a kingdom warped by a patriarchal “True Religion,” the story follows Aemyra, a fire-blessed blacksmith and rightful heir, as she schemes to reclaim her throne. When her plan goes wrong, she’s forced into an uneasy alliance—then marriage of convenience—with Prince Fiorean, the last man she should trust, let alone fall for.

The worldbuilding is rich and lived-in, especially the clash between goddess-centred traditions and the oppressive faith that replaced them. Aemyra is stubborn, flawed, and fiercely determined; Fiorean is the perfect enemies-to-lovers foil, and their dynamic crackles. Add in dragon bonds that matter politically and personally, and the stakes never let up.

Dark, passionate, and brilliantly set up for the sequel, A Fate Forged in Fire is a blazing start to a series I’ll be recommending to every romantasy reader I know.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

War. Enemies to Lovers. Forced Marriage. Dragon Riders. Slow Burn

Slow start. Took me a bit to get used to the names and terminology.

Once the story started building it kept going and it couldnt be stopped.

Sssllooooww burn because they don’t get together until 70-80% and daaaannnggg!!! You could cut that sexual tension with a knife!!!! And then they do introduce a knife 👀

She is the true Queen. His family wants to kill all her people. Once she bonds her dragon they decide she is to powerful to kill or let go so they decide to marry her to Fiorean. Will he side with the wrongdoings of his family or with his wife?

The men think they can control the women 😡

Who doesn’t love feminine rage, enemies to lovers, touch her and d!e!!!!

First book by Hazel McBride and I am obsessed with it!! Cannot wait to read whats next

“So how can I be fire? If the only thing that makes me burn…is you.”

What a fun read. A matriarchal society, a young queen fighting to claim her throne, and dragons. What more do you need? How about an added romance? Perfection!

Thank you Delacorte Press and Netgalley for the ARC.

So, I wanted to like this book, and I think I did for some part, but honestly, it just read like a standard romantasy tropes with dragons. I saw nothing that suggest the FMC would be a good queen, she was naive and too trusting. The MMC was so bland. The relationship between the two? Felt forced. Honestly, I just couldn't get behind anything in this story. I may pick up book two to see how it plays out, but yeah.

If you like romantasy books, I think you'll love this one, but if you are more of a hard-core fantasy person, then probably not.

Book: A Fate Forged in Fire
Author: Hazel McBride
Rating: 3.5/5 stars (Rounded to 4)

A Fate Forged in Fire is the first in the Bonded to Beasts duology.
It was an intriguing Celtic-inspired romantasy story that combined dragons, an interesting elemental magic system, and lots of banter.
The tension and world-building within the story were also enjoyable to read about and made for a story that was vivid and unique.
Although the story was on the slower side, and the pacing was a little different than other books I’ve read recently, I did enjoy it overall.

This book would be especially enjoyed by those who like having a political element to the fantasy books that they read. There were strong themes of finding one’s identity and living up to their power.
It follows the FMC, Aemyra, who is a powerful blacksmith that begrudgingly lives in hiding instead of the as part of the court throughout her life. She faces hardships when she decides to rise up and claim her rightful spot on the throne after the king dies. Her attempt to do this is ruined though, when it becomes a bitter game of politics and pushback from those who do not want to see her in power. Aemyra wants to go after what she believes she rightfully deserves and refuses to be a pawn for anyone while doing so. Complicating things further, she begins to fall for a dragon-riding adversary who reluctantly becomes her ally.

I did find at times that Aemyra made a few decisions throughout that were impulsive. She would act without thinking of the possible consequences, and I look forward to hopefully seeing her become a stronger character in that sense in the second book. I also hope to see the connection between both main characters develop further, as at times things felt slightly off combined with the pacing. Their relationship was a good example of enemies to lovers, though, which is a trope that I very much enjoy.
I look forward to reading the second book, and I am intrigued to see where the storyline goes from here!

Throughout the story, there were moments of emotional depth and vulnerability from characters.
There were also some heavier scenes that I would advise readers to read content warnings on beforehand.

Thank you to Penguin Random House and NetGalley for the chance to read an eARC of A Fate Forged in Fire.

I adored this book, the dragons, the use of Gaelic, the strong female lead, the reference to religion, the belief that woman are powerful. I loved the slow burn of the romance and even being disappointed in the actions of a character, I hope for redemption in book 2 - although not sure that it's a possibility.
I almost gave this book 5 stars but it took me a while to get into (and then I flew through the rest). Can't wait to read the rest of the books from this world as they are released!

Ugh. I wanted to love it. It seemed off the bat like it was going to be House of the Dragon but a romantasy.

Unfortunately this fell flat for me. In large part because I just simply cannot stand Aemyra. She is … the worst? She’s childish, arrogant, and unjustifiably full of herself. She belittles people while making absolutely asinine decisions.

And worst of all… she behaves like this toward other women:
"Pitiful. These women have no strength."

It was a no from me and kept me from being able to get into the rest of the story.

“When I met you, I suddenly understood that I wasn’t fire at all. I was ice.”

THIS!!! BOOK!!!

This is a 6 star read for me. A perfect score! Reading this book felt the way listening to Reputation from Taylor Swift for the first time felt like for me. I was entranced and in love. I ended this book listening to Helvegen by Kalandra and that was an experience akin to ascending.

I am absolutely gut wrenched at this ending and I am pleading with Brigid herself that things can be fixed. I CANNOT WAIT FOR BOOK TWO!! I WANT IT NOW!!!!

This book has left be utterly empty, I feel like an ant with a bag on a stick. It’s leaving me with that, “Now what?” feeling. GIVE ME THAT SECOND BOOK!!!

I wanted to love this book so much but it overall was not for me.
*Thank you to Netgalley and Random house- Ballnatine for an E-arc.*

A Fate Forged in Fire is the first book in the Bonded to Beast series and I can't wait to read the second book. This was an amazing Celtic-inspired fantasy romance that I could not stop turning the pages until it was done. In this the First Queen must rely on her intelligence for the first time in ages, while also using her fire magic all to bring down the dishonest reign over the kingdom. She also has to fight the growing longing for the dragon rider rival. I loved the creative world bulding in this one a lot and every character in this was amazing. The author wrote this so well and every twist in this was so good. This was an action packed read that I loved so much and would recommend to any reader especially to those who love fantasy romance reads. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/ Delacorte Press for this amazing read in exchange of my honest review of A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride.

I am so glad I was given an advanced reader copy of A Fate Forged in Fire. I have been really into Romance/Fantasy stories and did enjoy this book! I’m finding you can tell when a romance/fantasy is getting thrown every trope, in hopes something will stick, this book is not that.

A wonderful 4 stars to this first novel in the duology! The action was riveting, the tension was palpable, the stakes were high, and I totally consumed the last third of this book in a few hours. I couldn’t set it down and had to know what would happen. I enjoyed the main characters and felt like there will be so much more to learn in the upcoming book. I’m definitely invested for what happens next. What a cliffhanger ending!

One star removed for a slower beginning. I felt like it could have been less wordy and more action packed and exciting at the beginning. I struggled a bit to get into it. But once you get past that initial struggle, the book flies and is fabulous!!

I love books about dragons, I love elemental magic and I love when fantasy worlds are based on the authors own heritage.

This was a fantastic combination of these three things. It was fast paced and I sped through it. I just couldn’t put it down and needed to know what was going to happen next.

Aemyra is not a perfect FMC. She, in fact, has many, many flaws. But what that makes her is real, and relatable. She’s impulsive and honestly, quite a bit of an idiot throughout this book. But is she is a product of her upbringing - and I did enjoy the recognition her father gave that he was a mentor and a teacher but never the dad she needed.

I saw the betrayal of Fiorean coming a mile off, and absolutely in no way is that a criticism. But I am too angry at him right now to compose a summary. He is a bigger idiot than Aemyra is.

One thing I can’t quite wrap my head around is how Fiorean and Aemyra are related. I initially thought her father and his father were brothers, which makes them cousins. And then this gave me the ICK. I know it’s supposed to be Game of Thrones inspired / Targaryen…but there’s only so much potential incest I can stomach in dragon books. I am assuming as no one has called this out within the books by any of the characters, then it’s not cousins - but related distantly, but definitely related in some way. Hopefully the author clears this up in the next book (or just share a family tree please!).

Overall, this was a strong fantasy debut and I am very much looking forward to book 2!

⭐⭐⭐⭐ – Fiery, Emotional, and Utterly Engaging

A Fate Forged in Fire blends passion, danger, and rich worldbuilding into a story that burns brightly from start to finish. Hazel McBride’s characters are layered and compelling, and the emotional stakes kept me hooked. A few moments could have been paced tighter, but overall it’s an intense and satisfying read.

The book started off great but I lost interest before the 50% mark...I tried several times to get back into it but something wasn't keeping my attention. I wasn't captivated by banter or connected with the characters. I tried even reading the ending, but that just made me mad lol...So unfortunately, I didn't read all the way through and finish the book.

Thanks so much to the author and publishers for the gifted copy!

I absolutely fell in love with everything about this book! First read by this author but will not be my last.

3.75 ⭐️ If you liked Game of Thrones, I think you are going to enjoy this one.

In this book our fierce main character, Aemyra, is fighting to get back her birthright, the once matriarchal throne of Tir Teine from the kings in her bloodline and the corruption of the "true religion". All of this enveloped in a slow-burn enemies to lovers romantasy with dragons and courtly chaos.

In this book I enjoyed how Aemyra fought not only with external obstacle but with her own flaws, impulsiveness and arrogance. More than once her pursuit for her goals get deterred by she acting without thinking and then being forced to now get herself out of the deeper hole she placed herself in. I also enjoyed how the plot took us through her developing a deeper connection with her magic, getting bound to a dragon, which was not her an easy task and we could see her determination and courage shine through.

The romance was very intense and politically messy. One thing that I struggled throughout the book was the FMC intentions, to me it wasn't clear why he wanted to marry her until the very end. And even though this is a key part of the story, it sacrificed my enjoyment and connection to it.

Nevertheless, I am very excited to continue with this story, both romantically and plot-wise, see Aemyra go through a personal growth journey and more dragons

Book 2 coming May 2026!

This book was really a whirlwind of emotions. If you enjoyed House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones, but are interested in a romantasy story that explores a matriarchal society fighting back against a religious patriarchal cult that has taken over their kingdom - you should definitely give this one a try.

I think the author did a great job balancing fantasy, politics and romance. There were strong elements surrounding feminism, rage, rebellion, and revenge. At times I found myself very frustrated with the FMC and MMC's choices and then other times I was proud of the character development that occurred as the story progressed. I was very engaged despite these frustrations - and I've said this before but I don't need to agree with every choice a character makes or feeling they have - how boring would that be?

By the end of the book I still didn't know who Aemyra could trust and the ending left me very excited for the next book which completes this duology. There are 5 duologies planned for this series, and I can see where the author left room to further explore the surrounding kingdoms and develop other plot lines she's started to hint at in this first installment. I look forward to learning more about the dragons and bonds in the next book as well. Being of Scottish ancestry myself, I really enjoyed the Scottish Gaelic and folklore included. I downloaded the audiobook, and not only did it help with understanding the pronunciation, the narrator did an excellent job.

🔥 Dragons
🔥 Elemental magic
🔥 Enemies to lovers
🔥 Scottish Folklore
🔥 Marriage of Convenience (Political)

3 🌶️ open door romance

This also has one of my favorite sub-tropes (view spoiler)

Please read the trigger warnings at the start of the book even if you don't think you have any. With our current political climate in the US, there was one section of the book that was pretty distressing to read despite being aware it was coming. The author handles this sensitive topic with respect.

Thank you to the author, net galley, and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Delacorte Press for the advanced reader copy.