I'm sorry, but this book is just boring. I wanted to like it because some of my friends recommended it to me and really enjoyed it, but at 20%, it felt like nothing was happening, and I'm sorry, but I have too many books on my TBR to read this much of a book that has nothing going on for it.
I might have tried to give it another chance if I'd enjoyed the characters, but unfortunately, the FMC's pick me attitude got on my nerves realllllll quick.
A Fate Forged in Fire is not the book for me.
Thank you, NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the ARC.

Reading this book was a roller coaster experience. The first quarter was a lot of information that primarily left me confused as to the dynamics of the current conflict, how each of the clans was involved, and how it all connected back to the dragons and their history. Once I got through it, though, and all of the chess pieces started actually moving, the board started to make more sense, and I was able to better engage with the story. Some moments were stronger and more impactful than others, and I constantly teetered between a three and four-star rating.

A Fate Forged in Fire includes some very relevant themes and powerful scenes that, at times, had me on the edge of my seat and/or rather emotional. While I think the story clearly conveyed the overall messages it intended to, I found the FMC to be lacking. She was mostly all talk, and when the action did come, her choices were not encouraging. She even makes a few remarks about how many mistakes she makes, and I get it. I am all for flawed characters, no one is perfect, but she just rarely seemed to be the one making the big power moves or the big takedowns, which I needed to see given what a core theme of the book was.

I did enjoy and appreciate the bi rep, the fact that the story didn’t shy away from real and raw topics, the bond between Aemyra and her brother, Adarian, as well as his character, and the banter between Fiorean, the MMC, and Aemyra.

The “enemies to lovers” got me because I saw the dynamic of the enemies being a near impossible thing to transition out of to become lovers on account of what they’d done to each other, so when it actually hit, I was pleasantly surprised. How the author allowed for it to happen was done well and helped me along as the slow-burn built.

The dragons were not as big a part of this as I had anticipated, which was fine given the history explained, and I think the author left some doors open for them to become more of a main character in the next book.

The ending both did and did not go down as I expected, and some of the final actions frustrated me. Overall, though, I did enjoy the story, but I’m not sure yet if I’ll be seeking out the next book in the series because this one didn’t give me the truly epic vibes I was hoping for.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishers for the digital ARC.

A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride - released 5/27/25

A fast paced fantasy romance with a fire breathing FMC and a morally gray MMC. This has good world building and magical elements, WITH dragons. This definitely had a House of Dragons and Game of Thrones vibe with opposing clans claiming rights to the throne.

There is also political drama in the form of heavy handed religious righteousness. Mostly meaning magic is bad and women are less than.

I recommend this book if you’re a romantasy fan and need some dragons in your life.

Enemies to lovers
Plot twists
Dragons
Magic wielders

If you’re looking for a violent, slightly-gory, slightly-traumatizing tale of dragons, clan wars, and female rage amidst the backdrop of religious extremism (painfully resonant for the current political climate) — you’ll devour this one.

A Fate Forged in Fire is inspired by House of the Dragon, so if you’re part of the Targaryen fan club and are on the hunt for something to fill the void between seasons, this will absolutely do the trick — this is a spicy, twisty celtic House of the Dragon…down to the intra-family romance and all.

The two main characters in this are of the same ancestral line, making them both eligible for the throne of Tir Teine. It also makes them cousins — though there’s no family tree included in this, a little DIY research and a friend’s DMs with the author illuminated the fact that yes, the love interests are related — something that ought to be disclosed in any sort of preliminary TW/CW lists preceding this book in my opinion. It’s hard to root for two characters when you they’ve got the same eye color and hair color due to shared genetics, ya know? Moreover, there are some elements of the romance between them that felt rushed and unbelievable considering the nature of the events of the book, which made it even more difficult to root for these two.

But if you’re able to repress their ancestral connection, and like a quick burn romance, then this is a fun, easy read! This book came to me at the exact right time — I was craving violence, bloodshed, and a reason to be furious with controlling men (hello, luteal phase!), so I devoured this over the course of a few days, and I'll absolutely be picking up the sequel because I must know what happens next.

There’s a bit of a steep learning curve with Celtic names, and the beginning is a little slow to start, but if you can handle a few gruesome tropes, enjoy a headstrong, arrogant chaotic bisexual FMC that can forge a sword and kick your ass, and are looking for a fun, twisty, dragon-y good time, pick this one up when it releases at the end of the month!

Ultimately this was a 3.5 for me — 4 star exciting vibes, but 3 stars for the overly rushed romance and the intraclan lovin'.

Rating: 3.5 ⭐

This book was a lot. I really struggled originally with the pronunciation of some of the words used, having learned after the fact that their was direct Scottish Gaelic within the text which is awesome but took me out of the story a bit every time I had to pause to figure out how to properly read a word or a name. A Fate Forged in Fire is a third person POV as we follow the story of Aemyra and a society that originally was a matriarchy and has been taken over by a group known as the "True Religion" which values a patriarchal society where women are simply for breeding. This felt...very relevant for the times we are currently living in and having a society/world-building that was centered around a revolution to return to a matriarchy was a vibe.

I did find myself getting lost at times, I'm still unsure about the situation between Fiorean and Aemyra being from the same clan but also lovers. If I have a misunderstanding about that situation or not that I missed a clearer explanation somewhere in the book may be on me. Aemyra does make some questionable choices and comments through the book that had me questioning her and totally frustrated. I think this is to help show the reader that she is still growing and has lived a relatively sheltered life in terms of her true role of Queen by her father.

I wanted more dragons. I wanted to see more with the dragons and understand the logic of the levels of being bound to creatures and how they enhanced the magic but was also like an interwining of souls. I also struggled to believe the chemistry between Fiorean and Aemyra, it felt like they truly hated each other and then a random switch was pressed and suddenly they were into each other.

Despite these things, I did enjoy the book I promise! It took me a bit to get into the world and the story, but once I did it was a fun read where I was able to fall into the story, and while I guessed the cliffhanger, I had still been hoping that my guess would be wrong. There is much more than the surface level of the ending scene than meets the eye I think though. A level of manipulation that runs multiple layers and I don't think there are many people left Aemyra can actually trust.

I am excited to see the next book and how this duology concludes. I am left with so many questions and anything that fights the patriarchy is a win in my world.

Thank you so much to Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the E-ARC, all opinions are my own.

This was a very fun fast paced fantasy book with elemental magic and dragons (and other magical creatures). Overall I enjoyed it. I liked the plot of the book a lot, however I was left confused about some of the world building. I know this is a series so maybe that was intentional and we will find out more from the next book. I loved the matriarchal society with goddesses and women inheriting the throne instead of men. And oh boy the True Religion pissed me off with their treatment of women. Definitely lots of feminine rage. So much political scheming and vying for the throne that it reminded me of Game of Thrones. The FMC did make a lot of hasty stupid decisions which annoyed me sometimes. The romance doesn't start til well over half way through the book so while this is a romantasy, the romance is more slow. There is a forced marriage situation and lots of "my wife" situations from the MMC. There were several moments where I audibly gasped. And that cliff hanger was crazy at the end.

You guys approved me for this e-arc in 2024, and since then I have been *struggling* to get through this. I absolutely hate DNFing ARCs, but I gave this one multiple tries, and ended up stopping at about 25%.

I requested A Fate Forged in Fire initially as I had seen the author advertising the book herself and it seemed right up my alley - dragons, fantasy, badass women…however the intro to the book was…disappointing and confusing.

I felt like we were thrown into the middle of a story, rather than the beginning. I don’t know if it was the author’s intention to make the FMC unlikeable/insufferable right from the get go and she has character development later on, but it truly was enough for me to not root for Aemyra during the scenes where she is taking on her role as dragon queen/attacking the kingdom? Or something.

In the same vein, we were kind of dumped with a whole of of information about Aemyra and her true identity, but I feel as if we weren’t really given enough time or story/worldbuilding/lead up to this point for me as a reader to care or even understand what was happening.

I think if the intro to this story was more fleshed out and the characters were likeable, I may have given this book more of a chance.

I appreciate the chance to read + review early, but unfortunately this one was not for me. I hope it resonates with other readers.

I didn't actually finish this. I really like the premise and some of the world building but the characters didn't feel fleshed out enough and I just didn't care about them.

This lovely fantasy novel has all of the beautiful elements of a classic story with magic and bravery. Our main character is a girl names Aemyra who rises from the ashes from being an orphan who has been trained in midwifery and she has a hidden gift for magic which she must hide based on the suspicions of the time period. I will say that this book does have some dark themes so please proceed with caution. Other than that it was a very good story.
I received an arc copy from Netgalley and all opinions are of my own.

A Fate Forged in Fire presents an intriguing premise with a richly imagined world that unfolds gradually and organically—a welcome departure from heavy-handed exposition. The Celtic-inspired setting and the measured reveal of political and magical dynamics offer depth and potential for compelling storytelling.

However, I struggled to stay engaged with the narrative. While I appreciate the author's intent to create a strong female lead, the protagonist often came across as petulant, judgmental, and impulsive, which made it difficult to connect with her or invest emotionally in her journey. I understand she is meant to be quite young, and perhaps that contributed to my disconnect, but the “special girl” trope has been thoroughly explored in the romantasy genre and felt overly familiar here.

As the plot progressed, the pacing grew chaotic and the storyline increasingly difficult to follow, especially given my dwindling investment. The romance also fell flat for me—it veered into insta-love territory, and I found the male lead underdeveloped. A particularly jarring moment was the revelation that he had killed her family, to which the protagonist—otherwise fiery and reactive—barely responded. That inconsistency in emotional tone disrupted the believability of both her character and the romantic arc.

Despite these critiques, I do recognize the care put into the world-building and the broader themes of societal tension and transformation. This book may appeal to readers who enjoy slow-burn romantasy with enemies-to-lovers dynamics, morally grey characters, and female-driven narratives. While I wouldn’t personally describe the book as feminist, due to the protagonist’s judgmental attitude toward other women, I can see it resonating with fans of Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros, and similar authors.

Ultimately, while A Fate Forged in Fire didn’t work well for me, I believe it will find its audience among readers who enjoy familiar tropes repackaged with fresh settings. I appreciate the opportunity to read and review this title.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!
(3rd person POV)


I was not prepared for this beautiful high fantasy novel.

Hazel blew me away!
It has a Scottish theme and a descriptive prose. It reminded me of the Disney movie Brave X House of the Dragon.
There is a lot of Scottish Gaelic verbiage. I’m adding a glossary of words I didn’t know the meanings of in case it helps someone else out.
(Spoilers will be after the glossary words)

This book has some HEAVY, dark, brutal scenes after 70%. It isn’t for the weak of heart. It brought tears to my eyes multiple times for our FMC.

Glossary:

Bannocks- round flat bread
Beathach/beathaichean - beast
Breithday- birthday
Caisteal - castle
Cèilidh- social gathering
Copar- copper
A chuisle- my pulse
Dorchadas- darkness
Duileach- elemental
Fearsolais- light bringer
Fèileadh- kilt
A ghràidh- my love
Sgian-dubh- Scottish knife
Sgillinn- shilling, pence, penny
Simurgh- large mythical bird similar to phoenix
Tartan- plaid pattern
Mo luaidt- my beloved/ my treasure
Òmar- amber color


















SPOILERS BELOW👇🏻





Trigger warnings with spoilers:

Very brutal battle scenes with swords
Lots of blood
Beheading
Loss of limbs
Burning people
Non consensual (attempted) vaginal brutality by priest
Very heavy war scenes towards the end













Spoilers below 👇🏻









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


My scattered thoughts after just finishing the book:

Honestly best book I’ve read this year.

The first 70% is setting the scene for the war and Aemyra is trying to forge her way to the top. She almost gets there and the rug is ripped out from under her feet.

The world building in this satisfied me after reading mid books recently. I loved the Scottish vibe, that was new for me and I was constantly searching for things and asking chatgpt questions.


My poor Aemyra has been through it! (Fan cast as Merida in my head)
She is bonded to the coolest purple dragon that reminds me of the girl dragon in Shrek.
She somehow fell head over heels for the lesser of 2 evil princes.

She lost her adoptive family.

Her dad is the most morally gray character ever written bordering on morally black honestly. That man has a dark side and his sword is even named darkness.


Poor aemyra is convinced Feirean is on her side and hell SO WAS I. The betrayal trope NEVER catches me off guard. I even considered it was a possibility but I swear I thought it was going to be her dad to betray her which he still kind of did going behind her back and making orders. Usually it is the MMC doing the betrayal but I honest to gods did not expect it in this book. CAUSE WHY. How long was he planning this?! Is he still secretly on her side and someone going to overthrow his whole family to keep aemyra safe?! Did they plan this together and she’s in on it? No that can’t be possible….
I cannot fathom a good outcome from this. I can’t justify how he could’ve planned this for the better good. I have no words left. I need to ponder this ending as I wait for the next book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the eARC.

I think this one is my fault because I have read too many romantasy books in a short timeframe. I found myself rushing to get through this, frustrated with our FMC, and not vibing with the book at all.

I won't go below a 3, because I think it is a good book AND is likely better than I am giving it credit for. I need to come back to it.

First and foremost, thank you to the publisher and the author for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review. I loved this story and it was definitely worth the read!

DNF at ~42%.

A Fate Forged in Fire is just another romantasy that feels like almost every other one I’ve read. There’s dragons, a love interest our FMC shouldn’t want, a slow paced plot lacking uniqueness or nothing I could find worth continuing reading for. The plot is lacking - there’s not much in terms of movement or character development, and there’s zero world building. The reader is legitimately dropped into a fantasy world with no background or information regarding the world or our featured characters. I get not wanting to info dump for 50 pages, but the author doesn’t even expand on things or slowly leave bread crumbs about this universe. Basically, I have way too many arcs to read so I’m going to mark this one up as not for me. I’m positive there are people out there who will love this, I’m unfortunately not one of them.

Thank you to Delacorte Press, NetGalley, and the author for sending me an early copy.

first I would like to thank netgalley and the publisher/author for gifting me this book in exchange for a honest review.

its A FATE FORGED IN FIRE release month! I've been super busy but im so glad I got to this book in time before the release. this book was truly unique. the Gaelic influence and Scottish heritage was so cool. I love learning about other cultures and other languages so even though this was a romantasy book, it was totally up my alley. I will say that the first 30% was slow as it was a lot of world-building and war plotting. but once I got past all that I was completely sucked in. I basically devoured the rest of the book in the matter of 2 to 3 days. this is definitely a book for you to try if you like outlander vibes (no time travel-purely for the gaelic aspect), fourth wing vibes (dragons!!), enemies to lovers to enemies (oh its juicy!!), royalty, and magic galore!!

as for the context warnings, there is sexual content (2 ish scenes + a little knife/blood play), an ATTEMPT of mutilation of a woman's womb, child death, grief, parent death, war violence, panic attack, past-parental abuse, and forced drug use (a binding agent for her magic). please be aware of these warnings when reading this book.

overall this was a great book. I truly loved Aemyra and how she was learning from mistakes and the representation of anxiety in her character. Fiorean was an amazing character as well. I loved how he was constantly battling with his feelings and wanting to protect his family. It was amazing to see the chemistry with Fiorean.

A FATE FORGED IN FIRE releases May 27! Grab a copy to support this author!

3.5 stars

This is the first book in a new fantasy series, which starts off strong with our FMC, Aemyra, living life in the slums of their town. We come to find out she is not a peasant, she is actually the true-born heir to the throne, living in hiding right under the noses of the royal family. When the king suddenly dies, Aemyra and her family attempt to overthrow and resume her rightful seat on the throne.. but she is unable to claim the King's dragon and she has to flee to save her life. She then returns and attempts to kill the prince but is subdued and captured by the prince and forced to marry him. The rest of the story focuses on Aemyra trying to get her throne back and we are left with one heck of a cliffhanger to lead into book #2.

I really wanted to like this.. I mean, I did like it enough to finish it, but this was a tough read. The FMC is annoying and frustrating. To me, she comes off very self-centered and over confident. She became even more infuriating when the romance bit came in, it was like a flip of a switch, one page she hates Fiorean and the next she is head over heels and putting all her faith and trust into this guy. I feel the plot was fairly well-written, I'm all for a rebound/comeback kid story, however, there has to be some wins... This felt like loss after loss after tragedy.. a true bummer. Which (hopefully) will be a great set up for book 2. I honestly just felt like I didn't know what the FMC was doing for the second half of the book, she seemed to be off in her own world imagining herself as this great Queen, but it seems like she wasn't doing anything to prove her worth other than continually stating that she is the "rightful heir" and then bonding with a dragon.

Pluses of this book, the world-building was fantastic, I liked the magic system, and I always enjoy a book with dragons and creatures in it. I think this book overall has great potential to be a starting point for a solid fantasy series, I just don't think it's for me. While I more than likely won't read the next book, I hope that the FMC can show more character growth and maturity going forward.

I was provided with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Big thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this opportunity.

I really enjoyed this book! There was a bit of a slow start & the action didn’t really pick up until the end but I think it’s really going to pay off in the second book.

I found Aemyra to be a relatable character that I could connect with bc while she often fell into the fantasy fmc trap of making dumb decisions she was very aware of her own faults & made efforts to make better decisions as she learned & progressed.

I was a little thrown off by the romance at first since they are, in fact, cousins 😂 but given the time period & royalty aspect it makes sense, historically, & the chemistry was surprisingly good so I’m choosing to forgive that detail for now.

There was a good twist in the end & a pretty huge cliffhanger so I will definitely be reading the sequel!

Hazel McBride absolutely blazes onto the fantasy romance scene with A Fate Forged in Fire—a fierce, fiery tale of power, magic, and slow-burning enemies-to-lovers tension.

From the first page, I was hooked. The Celtic-inspired world of Tìr Teine is rich with culture, conflict, and courtly intrigue, and McBride weaves it all together with a sharp feminist edge. Aemyra is the kind of heroine I love—determined, dangerous, and deeply principled. Her fire magic is just as compelling as her will to reclaim the throne that’s rightfully hers. Add in dragons? Yes please.

And Prince Fiorean? Whew. The arrogant, loyal, brooding rival who becomes something much more? He’s exactly the kind of love interest who gets under your skin in the best way. Their chemistry crackles on the page, and watching them circle each other in court politics while trying not to fall was deliciously tense.

The dragon-rider bond system was especially unique—I loved how elemental power, legacy, and personal ambition were all tangled up in this magic system. It gave me Fourth Wing vibes but with deeper political roots, a darker, more traditional fantasy setting, and a plot that charges forward with no room to catch your breath.

This is the fantasy romance debut to watch. I’m already desperate for the next book.

3.75 stars

This is the first new romantasy I've read in quite a while that actually made me FEEL something!

This world was rich with history, wherein the matriarchy used to rule through the power of goddesses using the elements (fire, water, earth, and air), but the True Religion is moving in to take over with patriarchal views. Our FMC, Aemyra, has been born in secret, an heir to the throne, but others have moved in to wrongfully grasp her crown.

In A Fate Forged in Fire, she works with her allies (including bonded creatures consisting of firebirds, chimeras, and dragons) to take back what's her's. While I found her annoying from time to time, I did appreciate having a strong, bisexual blacksmith as our FMC. She made some questionable choices throughout (and would greatly benefit from asking some questions before just jumping head-first into action occasionally).

This also ended up being a true ENEMIES to lovers, not just slight adversaries or rivals. I won't say too much more for fear of spoilers, but I found their dynamic to have a decent amount of development, though the leap into lovers did feel a little sudden.

The cliffhanger at the end is a bit brutal, so look out for that, especially since at the time of writing this, there's no sequel announced yet.

Thank you to Hazel McBride, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Delacorte Press, and NetGalley for this eARC!

Unfortunately, I did not realize some of the content I was walking into when pursuing this ARC, which impacted my reading experience. As a premise, A Fate Forged In Fire is intriguing, but its execution felt a bit off to me. From oddly timed comments from the FMC that didn't seem to align with the story to a confusing plot, I just couldn't connect with this book. It's a bummer, honestly, because I typically devour dragon romantasies. Not so much with this one.