As all first books in a fantasy series, the world building was tedious to get through. That being said once I got through that the story was amazing. The only complaint I had while reading was that this is an ARC read and I'll have to wait even longer for the second book.

Tir Tiene hasn't had a queen in ages and has crumbled under the rule of kings that have allowed the True Religion to take over the land. When the current king dies, Aemyra finally sees her chance to reclaim the throne for her family. She is the first daughter born to her clan and with her fire blessed magic she announces herself the Queen.

Now she is thrown into a world of politics and on the brink of war with the current royal family as well as the True Religion who seems to have a hold on them. But her greatest adversary is Prince Fiorean. She has to fight off his opposition to her rightful throne, and her growing attraction to him. As she gets deeper into his corrupt family, she discovers that they have more in common and might be fighting for the same thing. As the two of them share an unlikely alliance, will they be able to finally bring peace to Tir Tiene or will their plans blow up in a way they never saw coming.

Ending on a cliff hanger has me begging to read the second book as soon as possible.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this book.

It is so, so good. Read it! You will never be the same.

Enjoyed every chapter. It kept getting better and better.

Highly recommend.

Thank you! Netgalley and Delray for my Earc🔥

A story begins long ago where a world is being colonized and brainwashed into being this sexist cult…and whos to save them well that would be the only living breathing dragon queen left in existence!!

I really enjoyed this book it gave me Reign vibes wirh the plotting and scheming of 2 sides but a hatred for the enemies prince turns into some love!! Also gave game of throne with everyone fighting for the throne and all denying claim to Aemyra the rightful ruler that had been hiding right under everyones noses…


I think the political intrigue was amazing! You really take a step behind the scenes of what rulers decide a lot books have a lot of action which i thoroughly enjoy but this explains it more. You also get to experience dragons in this world and i love nothing more than reading about dragons and how they came to pass

I think this is a great book that has a steady pace its not super fast but you really do get to understand the world better even without all the action. There is action its more towards the very beginning and the very end! Im sure we will see a lot more from book 2 about the lovers that are possible enemies and so many political conflicts….i hope Aemyra is victorious she was my absolute fave character!

I suggest this to all fantasy girlies especially if you have watched Reign im currently doing a rewatch ♥️

For fans of:
- A Fate Inked in Blood
- BBC's Merlin
- Fourth Wing

This book follows Aemyra through her journey to free her people and fight back against a malignant religious cult making its way to take over her homeland. Blessed by fire, it is her duty to bond to a dragon to reach her full elemental potential and step into her duty as queen.

This book includes:
- A hidden queen
- dragons, phoenixes, chimeras, and more
- ancestral enemies
- religious extremism
- misogyny in religion
- a mad king
- elemental powers
- soft magic system
- scarred and protective MMC
- Scottish inspired world

This book has a lot of great elements. I love the idea of individuals bonding with magical creatures as a way to symbiotically enhance each others supernatural abilities. The ethnic/religious conflict is very compelling, and I enjoyed the characters once I got into the book. Sadly, I had an issue with the pacing throughout this book. The first half was very slow and felt like it dragged on, whereas the second half felt forced and rushed. The chemistry between lovers, siblings, and friends all felt stilted, and I never found myself truly rooting for Aemyra. Fiorean was interesting enough that I will probably look into book 2 when it comes out, even though he is the irredeemable villain.

This is a little nit-picky, however, I cant STAND the way the author described Aemyra's clothes as satin 50 times in this book. Satin is a modern fabric that is almost always made of plastic. Silk can have a "satin finish" but satin on its own is made of polyester. These details matter when you're writing a fantasy book and it is what takes them from feeling amateur to expert. One use of the word? I would have moved on. But using it to describe her clothes on every occasion? I cannot forgive.

Beyond those criticisms, I do predict that this book will do well on Booktok and will probably become popular with fans of Fourth Wing. I felt like I was supposed to like this one (and honestly I was very close to falling in love with this one in a few parts), but it didn't end up being a great match.

I received this eBook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Hazel McBride, and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted across my socials under the username @tinynightingales, check out my GoodReads profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863
my bookstagram account https://www.instagram.com/tinynightingales/
and booktok https://www.tiktok.com/@tinynightingales?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Overall, A fate forged in fire, is a good first outing for author Hazel McBride.
The start of the book felt slightly slow and tedious. I stuck with it though and am happy to say the tension / action picked up. It is a fairly quick read and the enemies to lovers trope was handeled decently, however, the female lead, Ameyra, was not given enough control in this female lead society.
If not for the spicy romance scenes this would have made a great JF or YA book.
Unfortunately, the characters are not fully developed and the world building needs a bit of work. Hopfully ,these issues will be addessed in future editions .

Thank you to Netgalley and Delacort Press for the ARC of this debute novel.

The last 20 pages really PMO but that’s to be expected when another book is coming

This may become one of the next big enemies to lovers with dragons and I’m here for it!

This was such a captivating story! I loved the banter and protectiveness between the twins. I loved the tension between Aemyra and the prince, truly captivating and had me coming back for more! This is a book I would definitely recommend

Thank you NetGalley and the author for the advance copy!

This was quite a fun read but I'm taking off a star for two reasons. One, the ending. I *hate* the direction the end took so much, but it's also enough to get me to read a sequel in the hopes it gets fixed. The second, it feels like Aemyra was intended to be shown as a bold, powerful woman that I could envision straight out of Celtic legend. Unfortunately, she often came across pig-headed, annoying and juvenile (she's 26, c'mon!). I will say she doesn't come across as bad as Violet in Rebeccas Yarros's Empyrean series.


I loved the world building (though I wish the pronunciation guide was at the front of the book and that we had a basic glossary), the characters and of course, the dragons. The romantic relationship built was also fun for me, though the cliffhanger is killing me. The matriarchal leadership, the diversity, family bonds, ownership of mistakes, culture and fantastical creatures are also wonderful elements in this book.

As angry as I am with the ending, I do hope this does well enough for a sequel because McBride just can't leave us like this!!

First of all thank you so much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for this eARC!

Hazel McBride gets all the stars in the galaxy for this. 😭😭 I loved it so so much!!

The world is so beautiful and well built, I loved the culture and the matriarchy dynamic! And the DRAGONS!!!! This book is a dragon lovers DREAM and I’m so sad that I don’t have a dragon of my own.

Aemyra is a fantastic FMC, she’s powerful, bold, and unapologetic. She takes no sh*t from anyone and I love her! Her emotions jump off the page and made me root for her right away. She’s confident, but I also loved that she acknowledged when she made a mistake and endeavored to do better. Her heart for her land and her people is so big and she will do whatever it takes to give them the life they deserve.

I LOVED that this was TRUE enemies to lovers, with a slowwwww burn! But when it burns, it burns HOT! Fiorean is absolutely delicious and I’m pretty sure I melted straight to the floor multiple times. The emotion, the chemistry, the angst. Oh my gosh I loved it so much. And the ENDING. It was a gut and heart punch. I am severely unwell, I am in full body pain. Which by the way is what I live for in a book. Give me exquisite pain and emotional torture.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for sharing this ARC!

I really, really wanted to love A Fate Forged In Fire, but I could not get past how annoying the FMC Aemyra was. I can usually find a way to power through but in this case I just have to chalk it up to the fact that this book was not for me.

If you love House of the Dragon, enemies to lovers, slow burn, this one is for you. I enjoyed the story and it was a fast paced read for me. I enjoyed the writing style as well. This is a great read between some heavier books for when you need something good but not gut wrenching. I’m looking forward to reading more.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, Ballantine, and Delacorte Press for the e-arc in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

3.5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️(⭐️)

First, let me speak to the fact that this book has such a great premise with it being Scottish inspired. I absolutely loved the direction the world-building is heading towards and you can tell within the story the level of effort that was placed into creating such beautiful elements of Scottish culture. It is so refreshing to see it represented in the romantasy world and I loved seeing all the little details that brought it together.

Now, let me just say this. This book gives *heavy* House of Dragons in the sense that 1. There are clearly dragons (haha), but 2. Mainly in the sense that two sides of a family— one that has ruled for generations—are now battling for the throne, things very quickly descend into chaos, and that they all possess trademark features that essentially scream royalty.

However, I enjoy House of Dragons so I definitely enjoyed these aspects within the book! I also loved how strong and, fiery (excuse the pun) Aemyra is within the story. She wanted the kingdom and everything she does is attempts towards gaining what she wants and what she believes, deserves. She has a single goal and actively strives towards this in every moment. She is definitely a flawed character with her own misguided beliefs but she does love the kingdom and its people and makes conscious steps to embody a kind and fair ruler when she can.

I found the writing easy to follow and it flowed well. The political situation within the story is also very well thought out and a well written conflict with the concept of another culture trying to forcibly take over (and erase) a current one. I am eager to see this continue to play out in the second book!

This book does end on a cliffhanger (Hazel McBride, if you’re reading this, that was absolutely criminal), but I am very excited to see where this story goes from here!

Publication date: May 27th, 2025
Review will be posted to Goodreads profile here on May 20th, 2025: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/173776789

In all honesty, I did not finish this book and will not be posting reviews for it on goodreads and amazon.

This book had a lot of disappointing points in the 25% that I read through before dnf’ing… but my biggest issue with this book is that I think the author misrepresented the fmc. I *think* that the author meant for Aemyra to be head strong, brave and resilient but what the author produced with a winey, immature, overly sarcastic juvenile of a FMC.
I wish this author the best of luck in the future but this book was just not it.

2.5⭐️

I’m so sad right now because this book was one of my most anticipated releases of 2025 and I wanted to love it. Unfortunately I did not. It’s been a week since I finished because I literally had to step away and try to get my thoughts in order. It’s been days and I’m still so irritated by almost the entire book. I didn’t care for most of the characters, the pacing wasn’t great, and don’t even get me started on the ending😑

Needless to say I will not be continuing the series.

*4.75

UM HELLO?!? THE ENDING ?!?

I'm going to read this again when it comes out. This book was so good. Loved it so much.

This was genuinely enemies to lovers. The FMC was amazing. I loved her, strong and bi. She is also so badass. So so good

Best romantasy book I've read in a while!

Thank you so much for the arc!!! And for sending me a physical copy!!

A little slow in the beginning but once it picked up it started to get really good. I was so frustrated for the main character in so many situations but then felt her grief and pain every time something awful happened to her. And it felt like she couldn’t catch a break. I loved the relationship between the FMC and MMC and was furious how the book ended! It makes me want book two now. Thank you for the arc and chance to read I can’t wait to purchase my own copy in May!

FINALLY FINISHED! This one is an ARC that comes out in May. Amazing vibes
- Scottish/celtic fantasy
- dragons
- so much feminine RAGE
- house of the dragon vibes

It was quite challenging at times due to pronunciation (there’s a guide and I didn’t realize until 60% through, oops)

I also felt like I would finally get into it and the scene would change abruptly.

I think it’s a duology? I would definitely read the second one when it comes out because I have no idea where this is going.

3.5/5⭐️
2/5🌶️

What an absolute treat this was to get an ARC for A Fates Forged in Fire! Thank you to Hazel McBride and NetGalley for this opportunity. I always feel a little nervous about ARCs because I love relying on the reviews of others when choosing books to read. However, I can 100% recommend this book. I purposely didn’t read the synopsis again before starting, so it took me awhile to fully get into it. The Scottish Gaelic was new to me, so I had to guess what the author meant in the first quarter of the book. About 100 pages in though, I was totally hooked.

Things I loved about this book:
The tension and slow burn of the FMC and MMC
Dragons!
The cast of characters and the diversity they added to the plot line
Spice, done well
This is a great blend of fantasy and romance, not too much of either in my opinion.

I’m devastated to see this isn’t out until May. I need the second book stat. I’m so excited to see where the author takes this story.

This book is a must for fans of House of the Dragon and Fourth Wing. It's similar enough to both of these but adds its own twists. Aemyra was a great main character, and I was thoroughly entertained the entire time I was reading. I definitely wasn't expecting the twist at the end and I'm excited to find out what happens next!

*No spoilers review!*

Quick highlights:
-TRUE enemies to lovers
-Magic
-Dragons
-Resistance against a religion/government
-Family drama
-Bisexual FMC
-Pronunciation guide

Read if you like the heart palpitations typically brought to you by Rebecca Yarros, Sarah J Maas, or Jennifer L Armentrout.

If you're looking for a TRUE enemies to lovers, as in, they genuinely hate each other and legitimately want the other to die for a while, this is true to that trope. That means it absolutely includes a slow burn, complete with a dose or 2 of yearning.

World building was done without large info dumps and we always appreciate that! If you're not used to reading Scottish names/locations, definitely utilize the guide in the back of the book!

The end of this one had me STRESSED. I need a physical copy to annotate ASAP. I finished this in the middle of the night because I needed to know what happened... and I ended up feeling like I'd been smacked by a Rebecca Yarros book again! IYKYK!

A huge thanks to Hazel McBride and NetGalley for the ARC of this book! The one downfall of this being an ARC is that the book hasn't officially released yet and I NEED BOOK 2!