A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride is a captivating enemies-to-lovers romance that immediately drew me in and kept me eagerly turning the pages.

Thank you to Net-Galley and publishers for an e-ARC of this story!

Overall I found this to be very middle-of-the-road, relatively similar to so many other romantasy books out at the moment. My two biggest faults with this were our FMC and the pacing/writing choices.

We are meant to believe the FMC is 26 (and I assume the MMC is around there too but it doesn't explicitly say for him) but she consistently acts fourteen. She is overly rude, obnoxious, and immature solely to create a basis for considering this "enemies to lovers". For example, in one of the very beginning scenes, she is chatting with her brother in a tavern after work and she does not agree with something her brother says, so she, mid-sentence, tries to stab her fork into the table -through her brother's hand- to get him to stop talking? Like you twin brother you love oh so much, has a different opinion to you, so you casually try to impale his hand into the table? And her brother just rolls his eyes and changes the subject, but this bitch-awful attitude stays with the FMC from the first to last page, most of the time fully unjustified.

This is not "enemies to lovers", it is "he hates her because she's an asshole, and somehow grows to 'love' her asshole-ness". The MMC isn't anything special either, but at least his actions made sense most of the time, while FMC is petulant and annoying no matter the circumstances. Their chemistry was never believable to me; they never actually get to know each other, they loathe each other one page and are making out the next. [The end twist also felt totally out of nowhere and based on miscommunication, which undermines the character growth they supposedly went through together in the rest of the book.]

My other concern is the general structure of the story. FMC spends most of the story trapped in the castle waiting for her family to figure out the next steps, so we see a lot of her wandering around and arguing with everyone around her, ultimately not accomplishing much. I think potentially adding her brother's POV, who is still outside handling the war strategies and grieving on his own, would not only help us care about her family more, but get a larger perspective of what led up to the final battle. I'm also still confused about some of the general facts of the story: how do all the clans generally interact with each other? Why was her father excommunicated in the first place? How did the religious tyrants manage to convince so many people that actually, women shouldn't be in charge and the magic you're born with is disgusting? We spent a lot of page time watching FMC pick petty fights with those around her and not enough worldbuilding, in a world that could've been really interesting. You suggest there are chimeras and dire-wolves and whatnot, but we never see them! You give us elemental magic, but everyone we interact with has fire power, so we never see the span of the other types of magic! I imagine this will become a series so maybe we will learn mor about the other creatures and magics and clans in following books, but I don't think I will be picking up the sequel(s).

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the eARC!

I was curious about the premise, especially the dragons, but the execution fell flat. The beginning was too slow for my taste. As a frequent fantasy reader I’m used to having a learning curve with each new world however, it felt like there was too much info dumping and the Scottish Gaelic was an extra challenge on top. The plot picked up about halfway through but it was a lot of pushing to get myself to that point.

DNF at 31% no star rating because I DNFed but on NetGalley I will give it a two star as I feel like that’s what I would have rated it if I read it all. I did get this as an ARC from the publisher and the author for my honest review so here we go.

I couldn’t stand the main character. She was one of those “I’m a woman and I should be on the throne but everyone is against me but I’m not actually going to do anything and just feel sorry for myself.” I really couldn’t stand her. She was cocky one minute and then woo is me the next.

The pacing for this book also felt off. Everything was happening too fast yet too slow. I kinda wanted to know what happened to our characters but at the same time the story wasn’t compelling enough to actually push through.

A Fate Forged in Fire is a daring, risk-taking adventure. It melds *true* enemies-to-lovers romance alongside an action-filled political plot that will have you at the edge of your seat.

Aemyra, a blacksmith revealed to be a queen in hiding, must navigate politics, protect her heart, and face dragons, in order to take back her stolen kingdom. Her journey will be an uphill battle, but there is none better suited for the obstacles that will stand in her way.

I liken this work to a cup of coffee, we each have our own preference in type and serve. My cup may not be to your taste, not in the way yours is to you. This is how I took to this book. It’s not quite my cup of coffee, but I am absolutely convinced it will be for many. Maybe for the very person who is hopefully reading this! While I wish this worked better for me as a whole, I did find myself enjoying it in generous sips. Especially that ending! Whew! It ends on such a high note that has me firmly seated for its sequel. I became invested by the final act, and now I yearn to know how it will all end! I have previously read a duology where the first book did not quite work for me, and then I read the final book and it changed my entire perspective of the two works together. I now consider that duology a huge favorite. I will not be surprised whatsoever if this happens here in the future! So do not let my star rating dissuade you in any way from trying this one. For it’s certainly an adventure you should take!

One of my difficulties in reading was learning to embrace its protagonist Aemyra. I envy those who understand her immediately. I genuinely wish I could have felt less frustration at her unyielding stubbornness and blinding pride, as well as her consistent proclamations of being queen, so I could better admire her wit, courage, and strength. Because there is no doubting her bravery. She is not one to turn away any challenge, making her a formidable opponent even when her adversaries have her in their grasp. She is also a very formidable opponent to her newly betrothed husband, and enemy, Fiorean.

I so deeply appreciate a romance that begin with a true enemies-to-lovers arc! This isn’t rivals-to-lovers, Ameyra and Fireon are genuine enemies. They are constantly undercutting the other, throwing physical and verbal jabs, and fighting the clear attraction they mutually share. It has all the set up for a romance to feel addicted to, but this is where I found another bump in the road as I became tired by their cyclical interactions. Their back-and-forth became repetitive, and even when that special something gave way between them, it felt like a two steps forward, one step back situation. A cycle beginning anew. I found myself far more interested in getting to know more Ameyra’s former lover, Sorcha.

That said, I do keep in mind this is a duology, the story is not complete and given what may happen next, I won’t be surprised if I end up shifting perspective on the love story facet. Especially considering what goes down in that jaw-dropping ending! The book ends with such high tension that had me feeling this urgency for more and more!

A Fate Forged in Fire takes risks, it may not land all, but I remain impressed with its courage in storytelling. This is a book whose potential became more and more tapped into as the story went along, and for that, I know I’ll be sticking around for that sequel!

Thank you kindly to NetGalley and Ballantine for this advanced complimentary copy, I leave this honest review voluntarily.

From A Fate Forged in Fire's blurb, I thought I would LOVE this. Unfortunately, this was hard for me to get into, I disliked the FMC, and all around found it a snoozefest.

Well I just finished this book at almost midnight because I could NOT put it DOWN! Now I’m sitting here dying to know what’s next, and knowing I can’t find out 😭 Fair warning, this has a cliffhanger hanger that will have you wanting to rage a little.

This book is such a great fantasy, filled with high stakes, true enemies-to-lovers, and dragons. I could not stop thinking about the story even when I had to do other things throughout the day. Hazel McBride has crafted an amazing first book in an epic series!

Honestly, this was basically just wannabe Game of Thrones with Fourth Wing level writing. It had a lot of textbook romantasy tropes--dragons, royalty drama, morally gray love interest, etc. I never really connected with the main character, personally, and so I had a really hard time getting invested in this story. I did enjoy the sexy parts, though, and for that it gets three stars.

I genuinely enjoyed this book! At first, I had a difficult time reading it due to the language used, but once you get used to it, it’s an easy read. I am a sucker for an enemies to lovers plot and the tension between Aemyra and Fiorean truly delivered. A queen destined to rule a kingdom, a cult of men determined to keep her from her throne..what more could you ask for? Oh, and dragons! This book had it all and I can’t wait to see what Hazel McBride does with this series!

Thank you netgalley for the ARC!

So this book ends on a cliffhanger. Just putting that out there! Anyway, I did like the book. The world building was great and the enemies to lovers was doing its piece! I liked the banter and dragons duh. Aemyra needs to grow on you. The author is meant to portray her as bad ass and someone who could be seen as a queen that is worthy of her crown and doesn’t take sh*t. HOWEVER, that’s not what I got. I felt she was incredibly arrogant and childish. I think the cliff hanger was wild and solidified the NEED to read book 2. Besides the biggest betrayal shocker, I think the spice was cute. I thought this was a great palate cleanser in between rereads. I still recommend and will be continuing this series!


✨Tropes✨
⭐️ Betrayals
🌙 Banter
💫 Slow Burn
⭐️ Dragons
🌙 Elemental Magic
💫 Enemies to Lovers

I had to dnf sadly. The lack of glossary in the beginning was really hard to get over. And I felt like I was flying blind for a bit. I did find the one in the back eventually, but I was bummed to see it only included pronunciations and didn’t include terms for what each thing was in the world building section. I was so lost in the beginning, I truly had no idea what was going on. I didn’t know what half of the words meant and that made it really hard to follow the story. I had such high hopes for this one but I ultimately had to give up because it was only giving me a migraine. I think the addition of important world building information in easy to understand terms would make this much more enjoyable. If an updated glossary was added, I’d love to give this book another try. Thank you!

4.25 stars. I really enjoyed this! Loved reading again about dragons and the Celtic/Scottish lore being used in there, Aemyra was a very hot headed FMC who is trying to do the right thing and be the queen she should but things keep going wrong. I enjoyed the relationships between the minor and major characters and the world was interesting but I would love to have known more. I hope to see that in book 2, I enjoyed the enemies stage and flirtations between her and Fiorean but would have liked less of a quick switch between enemies and lovers. I do think that the quite graphic attempted forced sterilisation scene should have been indicated to be more severe in the content warnings. Overall I'm really excited to find out what happens next in the duology.

I really enjoyed this.

While Aemyra is impulsive and naive in a lot of ways, I understood why given her upbringing. She grew up knowing who she was and being trained to rule while also having the hide and not being equally matched. This kept the story moving quickly and interesting. While she grew as a character throughout the story, I'm hoping to see great character growth from her (and a few others) after the way this book ended.

I honestly have a lot more thoughts and theories, but they quickly get into spoiler territory so I'll leave it at that. This was an action packed fun read and I'm hoping for a second book.

I think readers who enjoy romantasy will love this book! I loved the dragon bonding and the slow burn, the enemies to lovers trope and ALLLL the feminine rage! Elemental magic is also always my favorite as a fellow Avatar: The Last Airbender fan!

I adored A Fate Forged in Fire. Between the true enemies to lovers vibes, the betrayals, the political intrigue, and the pacing of the plot, I quickly lost my footing and was swept away on an incredible ride. I'm not even sure that I was breathing by the time I made it to the last few chapters. I was not prepared for the ending and will not know peace until I have the next book in my hands.

This book only got better as it went. The more I learned about the world and the way that it was run, the more invested I was in the plight of Aemyra and her people. The beginning felt a little slow, but I think the main reason for this was a combination of intricate world building and the vernacular derived from the Gaelic language. I think that A Fate Forged in Fire could have been greatly enhanced by the addition of a glossary to the pronunciation guide at the end for reference. Once the plotline progressed a bit, it became easier to interpret the meaning of the Gaelic words that were used, but I did have a bit of initial trouble getting lost in the storyline while trying to interpret context clues.

I really enjoyed how headstrong Aemyra was and how she wouldn't back down when it came to those she cared about. Her character was relatable through her vulnerability, though she tried her best not to show it. It broke me that though her heart was always in the right place, so many sought to use her and manipulate her time and time again. Hazel McBrides writing evoked a sense of suspense that had me second guessing everything, but yet still caught me off-guard in the end. I loved the way that she incorporated Celtic Folklore into such an incredible story and the complexity of the political strife she created only added to the feelings of urgency and peril that Aemyra was facing. The story only more addictive as the stakes were raised and I finished the last 55% of the book in one sitting. I am completely obsessed with this world and was not ready to leave it.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

A Fate Forged In Fire by Hazel McBride is a third person-POV romantic fantasy with Scottish-inspired worldbuilding. Aemyra is the first woman born to the royal family in generations, making her the rightful heir to the matrilineal line. However, the kings and priests in charge are not willing to cease control. When she is tricked into accepting a marriage with the younger brother of the current king, Aemyra will have to choose between her new lover, Fiorean, and the throne that should be hers.

This review is not spoiler free
The book opens with a series of content warnings and I do really recommend that readers take those warnings seriously. There is a scene towards the end of the book which is a somewhat detailed attempt at forced sterilization and it is very uncomfortable. The way the entire scene is set up makes it even more uncomfortable as multiple priests are in the room performing this ritual as if it’s some sort of religious ceremony to remove evil instead of a violation of body autonomy. I found the scene somewhat triggering on multiple levels so definitely exercise selfcare when reading.

Aemyra and Fiorean’s romance takes a turn about halfway through the book when they are both forced into marrying each other. Aemyra because she is determined to take the throne back, even if it’s by force, and Fiorean’s mother states explicitly that it’s time that he gets married and this is a way for them to control Aemyra. There is an attraction between them when they meet early on in the story but they don’t really act on it besides recognizing that attraction. If it hadn’t been for the forced proximity, Aemyra might not have ever considered Fiorean as he is someone standing in the way of her rightful place as queen and she tends to choose women as partners, including Sorcha, one of her allies and a bar owner.

The coding here is quite heavy. All of the names and worldbuilding terms are either directly taken from or inspired by Scottish Gaelic, there are tartans, and there’s a very obvious allegory of Christianity coming into a society that worships multiple goddesses and oppressing the original faith and culture as well as supporting whatever system will push a patrilineal society. If you know anything about the history of the Catholic Church and the part it played in the colonization of the world, it is very obvious what the True Religion is. The author herself was also born and raised in Scotland, adding a layer of authenticity to the worldbuilding and given the conversations right now in Romantasy and broader fantasy about how minority languages are used, it’s nice to see an author coming from one of those cultures being given space to tell a story that they want to tell.

Content warning for forced sterilization and brief depictions of sexual harassment

I would recommend this to fans of romantic fantasy who love dragons and forced proximity and readers of Romantasy who love Scottish-coded worldbuilding and want to support a Scottish author

What a great first book! This series definitely has a lot of promise. Dragons, a stolen throne, betrayal, love and hate playing a deadly dance, this book has it all! I'm almost sad I got this as an arc, because now who knows how long I'm going to have to wait for the next one.

DNF...I gave it a few chapters but the FMC is completely insufferable and writing style felt very fan fiction-y and not in a good way. You know how fan fiction tends to describe eye color a LOT? Be prepared for descriptions of sapphire and emerald green eyes as well as the slightly disturbing fixation Aemrya has with her brother's eye color.

Speaking of her brother, I honestly lost track of how many times Aemrya smirked and repeatedly belittled her brother, including in front of others. I hope the king's dragon eats her because she is just awful.

A shame, because the whole dragons and Celtic mythology idea sounded awesome.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

⁀➴☾ A queen in hiding, dragons, princes, enemies to lovers, and a throne to conquer? A Fate Forged in Fire was a thrilling ride that makes you crave the sequel! ⁀➴☾

While I did enjoy this novel, there were some key things that happened that I wish happened differently. There is so much assault in this book - I didn't expect it! I wanted to warn you all because there is and if you're not comfortable, please don't read this. I was suffering and in pain for Aemyra. She does get some revenge, but the acts and scenes are still very much present and it leaves you feeling heavy.

All the other things I loved! The dragons were amazing and I loved Aemyra's dragons especially! It was such an intriguing plot; about dragons bonding to royals and how they're each so different from the other one. How each of them have their own language with their rider.

The enemies-to-lovers romance was BANGING. I'm sorry, this is truly an enemies to lovers romance. They fought, drew swords, tried to kill each other MULTIPLE TIMES! It's quite insane but enjoyable for us readers. I'm not going to lie - I didn't know how it would go to love because these two hated each other, so many things were happening and I wondered how they would put that aside and fall in love. I think the circumstances they were into helped the romance develop but now that I finished, I definitely want to see what happens next in book two. I mean.... damn.

༄ I feel a little mixed about this book. Like I truly liked it and after the first 15-20% I was going through it, I was reading so much. Everything that was happening wasn't boring. The first part is rather slow and you get so much information that I got lost for a bit. But after it, everything is good and entertaining. You want to keep reading and finding out what will Aemyra do to get out of these situations. But... there are just some things that *ugh* I wish didn't happen or didn't go that way. I feel conflicted lmao!

Even though, I do really believe that I'm going to read the next book. I think this is a duology so it ends with that one. I hope it wraps up nicely and in a thrilling way. I hope the romance succeeds and everythnig works out for the best lmaoooo. OH YM GOD IM SCREAMING STILL ABOUT THAT ENDING.

My feelings can be summed up like this : I didn't care.
I didn't care about any of the characters, about whatever happened, about the romantic relationship (which is more lust for me). The book isn't terrible, it just clearly wasn't for me.

I didn't mind Aemyra, but she wasn't able to show me why she should become queen (except to get the misogynists away from the throne). Like, the girl barely had any wins! Either she's not strong enough , or she's incapacitated, she falls into a trap, or she needs someone to help her. We should have had more scenes that showed that she does have the capabilities needed to rule.

The mix of matriarchy and misogyny in the worldbuilding didn't fully convince me. Like, how can the True Religion guys get so much power and influence in a place that is so opposed to their values ? They're useful to assert the reign of the male heirs, but also they're anti-magic. Why would the royal family risk associating with them, when they're so against one of the sources of their power ?

Small nitpick : there's a paragraph where Aemyra says : "Women have the power to create life. To sustain it, nurture it. Regardless of magical affinity, the Chosen have forgotten that a woman's base power lies in her womb. Therefore the choice to use that power lies with them." I don't like that such a strong link is made between body parts and gender. Too close to gender essentialist and transphobic bs.

To close on a good note : I really liked that the first thing we know about Aemyra is that she's bisexual 🌈

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.