4.5/5 Stars - rounded down.

I was so excited to get this ARC, as this is one of my most anticipated reads of 2025. Enemies-to-Lovers-to-Enemies is one of my favorite tropes! She is The Chosen One. The Queen to end the tyranny. Except none of her plans work, and she is constantly failing. (Maybe that's a spoiler?)

There were times when the FMC's character and actions weren't in line with her previous traits. Her actions in Chapter 21? Not in line with her fight-The-Patriarchy attitude at all. It almost lost me right there.

I will be picking up a physical copy of this book when it publishes in May, though. I want to know what happens next!

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group, for this ARC.

2⭐️ I really wanted to like this book, a Romantasy with enemies to lovers, a fiery queen, Celtic vibes and dragons… but unfortunately it was very hard to read.

The first part of the book was fantasy focused but the lack of descriptive world building and non-existent character introduction made it difficult to connect with the character or engage with the plot.

Our FMC who was supposed to be fiery, fierce and a strong female leader was instead insufferable, childish and unlikeable. The choices that she made were infuriating and her arrogance and the way she seemed to dislike women made it very hard to read.

The second half of the book was romance focused. The enemies to lovers romance lacked chemistry, but that might be because it didn’t really make sense. He seemed to be focused on being mean to her simply to drive this trope into the story.

This should have been the book for me but instead it felt like House of the Dragon fan fiction.

2.75 stars

Thank you Netgalley and and Delacourte Press for this e-arc.

A Fate Forged in Fire is a steamy enemy to lovers with an arranged marriage, dragons and a fierce fiery queen. First off, I am already biased and love a book that includes dragon, fire and fantasy, but I did not love this. I felt that the chemistry between the main characters Aemyra and Fiorean wasn't very enjoyable. Fiorean did some really bad and messed up stuff to our FMC and she doesn't exactly forgive him but they essentially only a few chapters later jump into bed did not love that. I also felt that the chemistry felt very fake and forced which I was not for. I did love Evander, Fiorans brother because he is just unhinged and crazy and I feel like all fantasy stories need one really messed up crazy villain. While the majority of the book fell flat for me I did love the plot twists. I had an initial prediction for the end that the author talked me out of as the book went on and then for it to actually happen floored me. This author has a gift at giving really good plot twists. Unfortunately, this book just wasn't for me.

A captivating read filled with magic, political intrigue, enemies to lovers.... and so much more.
We follow Aeymera who is the rightful heir to the throne and is determined to claim what is rightfully hers....that is until things go awry. Thus begins a dance of politics and the dangerous game of love.
This book delivered in the world building, the characters were very interesting and kinda hard to like at first but once you get into the flow of the story...wow.
Plot was fast paced and made me put down my phone to stare blankly at the wall a couple of times....especially the ending.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the ARC. Can't wait for everyone else to read this book.

No spoilers:

I need EVERYONE to hear me when I say - THIS is the next big book. I am 100% obsessed. From the first page I was drawn into the world and fell in love with our main character. The world this author created feels so unique and not like anything I’ve read. I absolutely love an angry woman and this book delivers. I’m also a sucker for political intrigue and corrupt leaders being overthrown. I think fans of Air Awakens and When Women Were Dragons would love this.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

I just couldn't stand the fmc. She was rude and entitled. The romance felt forced. It was a true enemies to lovers, they were trying to kill each other the first half of the book and then got forced into marriage. However, I didn't really feel any love between them. The dragons are story were there u just couldn't vibe with the characters personalities.

5/5 ⭐

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine | Delacorte Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is giving House of the Dragon with more politics, more magic, more scheming, and just about as much heartbreak. The tension between Aemyra and quite literally everyone in her life because of her secret, including her twin brother, made me want to keep reading. Their strained relationship with their father came to fruition beautifully in the final stages of the book to give a peek behind the heavily enforced walls of Draeven and made some of his motivations make more sense.

Why you’ll like this book:
The power struggle between the prevailing matriarchal society fights fervently against the oppressive patriarchal society makes for a compelling read. This boils down even to the Bonded beasts, including the dragons, and their fight to restore their own individual societies to prosperity through the restored matriarchal society of their bonded magic wielders. The action sequences are thrilling, the stakes couldn’t be higher, and the tension between our reluctant allies comes to a shocking head in the cliffhanger ending of this book.

I place this book with my top tier reads for vibes and craftsmanship alongside:
The War of Lost Hearts trilogy by Carissa Broadbent
The Aurelian Cycle trilogy by Rosaria Munda
The Curse of Saints trilogy by Kate Dramis

Bonus tip: I listened to the game soundtrack for The Elderscrolls V: Skyrim while reading and it was the perfect complement and highly recommend.

This book was not for me, but it had some interesting things in it.

Themes/tropes:

Old world pagan matriarchal society
Fire breathing stabby lost queen
Bisexual FMC
Feminine rage
Dragons
Whitecloak/Children of the Light style militant religion
She pulls a dagger on him.


Things that didn't work for me:

First half felt like a really long intro.
She makes not smart choices and blames and judges others for making their own choices because she does not agree with them.
Dragon is hardly there, felt like what happened with her dragon was more of a statement to her so called strength but had low bearing on the plot for the bulk of the book.
MMC does not really have distinguishing traits or personality besides being possessive and loving his misguided brother.
Very little romantic chemistry
The ending didn't make sense to me.


Content: forced marriage, misogyny, unsolicited groping, militant close minded religion (felt very White Cloaks/Children of Light from the Wheel of Time series), strong language, explicit s*x

Thank you to Random House Publishing's Delacorte Press and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review is voluntarily written and the thoughts and opinions contained in this review are my own.

I really wanted to like this but found myself not feeling connected to it at all. The initial matriarchal world building and general concept was exciting but the character development and storytelling quickly fell flat for me unfortunately.

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacourte Press for the advanced reader copy.

Once I became adjusted to the writing style, I actually really enjoyed the plot of this story! I actually mostly enjoyed both MMC and FMCs. Dragons, and a unique world, it was a fun time!

If you are looking for a powerful story with an exceptional FMC, true enemies to lovers, a stunning world full of celtic history and lore, dragons, political intrigue, religious persecution, and more, then you are going to absolutely eat up A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride. This book was fantastic and stirred up so much passion and emotion within me; I feel like this book radicalized me in the best way and I absolutely loved it.

I already knew I was going to fall in love with this story when I read the dedication, which is, "For the little girls who were told to put their fires out. Burn them all to the fucking ground."

This story follows our FMC Aemyra, a fire-wielder who has been hidden away since childhood in preparation of reclaiming her family's throne that was usurped by the current King. The current royal family has brought in what is called the True Religion into their kingdom, which is a patriarchal group dedicated to eradicating magic and oppressing women. The True Religion is a direct contradiction to the traditional faith practiced by Aemyra and her people, as they have historically worshiped Goddesses and revered magic. So, Aemyra and her twin brother Adarian have been hiding away cosplaying as regular people while their birth father has been plotting and gathering troops to one day take back their family's rightful place on the throne.
When the current king dies and Aeymyra believes she will be able to take back what is rightfully hers, things do not go quite as anticipated to say the least, and she finds herself in the midst of a dangerous political game within the enemy's court. Aemyra's biggest issue is Prince Fiorean, a dragon rider and powerful fire-wielder, who seems cruel, arrogant and supportive and defensive of his family. So yes he is literally the embodiment of everything Aemyra hates. A series of unfortunate events cause the pair to form an unwanted, uncomfortable and frankly reluctant alliance, but slowly their feelings begin to change and they realize that the corruption within this family may go even deeper than they anticipated.

The enemies to lovers was executed perfectly and did not feel like insta-love at all, which is extremely appreciated. The relationship felt organic and logical and the tension was so good.
I also want to give a little shoutout for the relationship with the dragons that happens throughout this book as well. I also want to give another shoutout for our FMC, she is gritty, strong, outspoken and passionate, while also being extremely vulnerable and I cannot wait to see where her character goes.

This story covers so many important topics that I am barely scratching the surface of, but I truly was so moved by this story and it brought me to tears multiple times. Books like this are so important especially now and I cannot recommend it enough.

This book took me by surprise. At first I thought it was a slow start, but when I hit the 40% mark it picked up for me. I absolutely loved the Viking lore and the dragons! Two of my favorite things combined and very well done! Aemyra’s character is so strong. The way she cares for the ones she loves, the way she goes after what she wants and believes in, absolutely loved. Book 2 cannot come fast enough, I need more!

Thank you NetGalley and RandomHouse Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

I finished this over a week ago, but I didn't have time to put my thoughts to words until now. I loved this book. I. Loved. This. Book.

It felt like Hazel McBride took me gently by the hands, looked me in the eye and said "I know that what they did to Daenerys Targaryen at the end of season eight broke your heart. I wrote this for you." I couldn't help but message her on Instagram to tell her so. I didn't expect an answer, but that she did answer and let me tell her what this book means to me meant so much. Thank you.

I don't want to have to hide my review for spoilers, so I will attempt to be as spoiler-free as possible. Some very minor ones as far as character development goes ahead, because I wanted to give my perspective on this. There is a lot of talk about this in other reviews, and so I wanted to address it and state my own opinion.

For the first quarter of the book, I struggled with Aemyra. I do not like the mean, Nesta Archeron type characters, and Aemyra fell firmly into that category. I almost stopped reading it, but for the worldbuilding and the magic system, I propelled myself forward and I am so pleased that I did. In reading some reviews on Goodreads after the fact, I've discovered that many people didn't like the book for this reason, but I want to assure anyone who is on the fence about reading this that Aemyra DOES develop. She turns her rage into action and she stops judging other women for being more feminine or strong in a different way. She learns about them and learns to empathize with them and care about them. At the start, she has some pride and also some prejudice (yeah, I did that), but she outgrows them. Hazel McBride does not treat her readers like they are stupid and she shows us this through Aemyra's thoughts and actions rather than tells us outright. It's subtle, but it is there. If you don't give her a chance to develop and you hold onto your perceptions of her from the beginning, it's easy to miss.

But like people, characters deserve a chance to grow up. To learn. To be better. And Aemyra does. I do have some issues with her relationship with her twin. She never really atones for how mean she is to him at the beginning (even though she was aiming to get under a certain prince's skin more than she was aiming to hurt him), but I have hopes that we'll see some of that in book two. I do have TWO gripes, but we'll see if they are resolved by the time the series concludes.

The magic system in this story is amazing. The dragons, guys. THE DRAGONS. The feminine rage. The steamy romance. The matrifocal world. The SCOTLAND OF IT ALL.

I couldn't put this book down and I haven't felt that way about a book in so long. I've literally been shoving it down the throat of everyone I know. EVERYONE READ IT.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide an honest review of A Fate Forged in Fire. I really enjoyed this novel. Characters have so much depth and personality. For lovers of Dragons, House of Dragon, Game of Thrones style books. There was a true enemies to lovers and Celtic lore really made this one unique. Thank you.

I'm calling it quits at 4%.

I loved the opening passage. It confirmed that the MC, Aemyra, is queer right out the gate, which I thought was awesome!

However, shortly after when Aemyra is helping a woman deliver a baby there is a line about how she "felt her soul respond with an echo in the very part of her that understood what it was to be a woman"....I think I understand what the author is going for here but it feels icky to me. Not all women are capable of having children. Not everyone wants children, and not everyone who gives birth is a woman.

I continued reading.

Ameyra is definitely unhappy with her position in life, which is 100% valid, but she then proceeds to make her brother feel like crap for enjoying what he does. This didn't contribute to the dnf it was just annoying.

The final straw was in chapter two when Aemyra is fixing a knight's chain mail that was damaged while out hunting. The MC states that based on the size of the mail, the knight was probably mistaken for a pig.

So yeah, I have no interest in finishing this.

Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an ebook ARC in exchange for an honest review.

IT SUCKED ME IN!

Is this the best literature ever written? No. Was it a good story that sucked me in almost instantly? Yes.

The world-building at the beginning of the book is slightly confusing; however, if you read a lot of fantasy, you know that is normal. The plot, though, was great. This book has enemies to lovers, betrayal, dragons, magic, and heartbreak. It's everything you are looking for in a fantasy.

Aemyra was a slight pain in the behind though. I wanted her to be more powerful and more cunning. She got herself into a lot of messes. I need the next book now. I need to know what happens with Fiorean, and if that plot twist at the end was his plan all along. Also, are there more dragons out there?

The writer left us with many unanswered questions and a plot twist we didn't see coming. In my opinion, that is one of the things that makes a great story and makes us want more!

To be completely fair and honest, this book was difficult to get through for the first 65%. Therefore I am struggling to give this the correct star rating. Aemyra is an interesting character to see the world through, due to the fact her personality is quite abrasive at times...maybe obnxoious even? She lacks the grounding that most individuals her age would already have inherited. She attacks the world as if it is her world only and we are only living in it. All in all, this makes it difficult to connect with the main character and continue reading through only her perspective.
The world building in this novel was also quite fast and not as well carried out in my humble opinion. I felt as if names and places were either dropped too casually with no explanation or quite literally too fast for me to notice. I never once felt immersed into the story or connected to any characters. This was an attempt at complex world building with a subplot of romance, that quite literally fell so flat. Moreover, the romance felt very shallow and only backed by lust - no deep connection.
The dragons were a nice touch, but it felt like hitting a box with a check mark to meet cultural trends than to actually add to the story to develop it. This is sadly a book full of tropes, and no actual story.

Overall, I just couldn't get into this book. I feel the author had written the same thinfa over again just in different words honestly felt I was in college again reading a classmate's paper. I feel bad because I had such high hopes for this story!!

Fantastic book; the end was a cliffhanger I really did not see coming. I would have loved a little bit more of a buildup in terms of relationship but still very much believed Aemyra and Fiorean had genuine feelings for each other. Thank you for allowing me to read the ARC!

4 stars⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A Fate Forged in Fire
By Hazel McBride
Release Date: May 27, 2025

Hidden heir,  Enemies to Lovers, He falls first!
Honestly,  I really enjoyed this book even though the beginning kind of dragged on.  I think the story could have used more showing then telling. At times I felt like it was really predictable. I really did enjoy the story. I can't wait for the next one.

Thank you Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine and Netgalley for this E- Arc!
( Will post on Goodreads once it is out)