As a start this book is 1-1.5/⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️’s for me.

First I’d like to thank Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for sending me this Arc.
I’m afraid this is the worse rating I’ve ever given a book and here’s why.

I read about 30% of the book and felt nothing but boredom.I couldn’t feel any connection to any character mentioned in the book,the plot itself wasn’t what I had expected and would’ve liked.The concept of Phoenixes,riding,and racing programs didn’t interest me at all.Even though I know many people would.

The first 30% of the book had no action or excitement which is why I ended up with the rest of the 70% skipping and skimming.
On the blurb of the book,it was said that there’s the trope of Enemies To Lovers,and unfortunately I found nothing of sorts.
The two character had no interesting interactions,chemistry,or shared any kind of love.

I really did feel guilty skipping so many pages that I know for a fact the author tried her best to write.Though these are just MY opinions and MY thoughts! You might end up loving the book!

This was a really fun YA romantasy, with extremely likeable side characters and a super sweet romance that took a backseat to the captivating plot. It was a very fun read and despite the fear and danger it felt like a cozy book and I truly felt like I was in the friend group. Loved this a lot and highly recommend!

It was a little hard to pick up at first because there is a lot of world building right off the bat. But as the story settles into itself, it is a really great story. The last 50 pages were gripping and definitely make sure you have the time to read it all at once.

Of Flame and Fury is about a young phoenix tamer, Kelyn, down on her luck and in desperate need of money. She learns what she is willing to do in order to get that money, including taking her rival, Warren Couper, onto her racing team, The Howlers, and moving to the capital city for sponsorship from the Cristos Corporation even though her father hated everything they did.

This story is about found family, endangered species, habitat loss and environmental conservation, a deadly disease, shady corporations, and the rebel groups that defy them, with a more dangerous phoenix version of NASCAR and a romance or two.

I liked the fact that phoenixes weren’t pets or like in many dragon stories, telepathic. They were wild creatures with a mind of their own. It doesn’t matter how well-trained you think a wild animal is, it may attack you at any time, Roy. (If you don’t get the reference, look up Siegfried & Roy.)

Savita was my favorite character. Warren is a distant second. Honestly, I didn’t care much for any of the people in this story, but least of all our main character, Kel. Despite that, I did enjoy the budding romance between them. It was probably the best-written aspect of this story.

I wanted to love this story. It should have been right up my alley. Unfortunately, Of Flame and Fury is trying to do too much and fails at almost everything. The worldbuilding tries to be complex and ends up being more of a distraction or thrown at you just before it becomes important. It’s also contradictory. I don’t know how many times I thought to myself, “But you said the opposite a paragraph or chapter ago,” or “Wait, how can they do that? Didn’t x just happen?” or something similar. Also, if their biology works like our biology - that’s not how short memory loss works.

Some of the twists were obvious although I was hoping because it seemed so obvious that it would twist again, but alas, maybe because this is YA, Mikayla wanted to keep it simple. One of the twists though comes out of left field, smacks you across the face, and leaves your ears ringing. And the ending. Points for not waving the magic Deus Ex Machina wand to fix everything! But… if this is a standalone, what’s with that ending?

I was frustrated by this story in the first few chapters but I hate to DNF an ARC. Am I overthinking it? Maybe. Will a teenager be able to parse out most of the issues that I did? Maybe. Will they care? Less likely.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Mikayla Bridge, and Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR)/Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

4.25/5 stars

Essentially F1 with Phoenix’s.

I was very pleasantly surprised with Of Flame and Fury by Mikayla Bridge, especially as their debut! I wasn’t sure if would be for me, but thought the synopsis was fairly enticing, and I’m so happy I was fortunate enough to get an eARC.

Fast paced, Of Flame and Fury will have you on the edge of your seat the entire time. I consumed this book in less than 24 hours it was so unputdownable.

Two years in a row now I’ve fallen in love with a July-release phoenix related book by a debut author that I read as an eARC in June. If I had a nickel for every time that happened, I’d have two nickels. That’s not a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

I kind of wish this book had come out when I was a teen because I could see myself making it my whole personality. Alas, I am an adult now.

For a while this book was hanging out in the 4.5 to 4.75 star range but it was knocked down to 4.25 at the end. Unfortunately, the last 20% wasn’t exactly how I was hoping it would end, but I still think it was very well done. There was also one plot device that was used towards the end that I really dislike. While it was used in a way that didn’t bother me as much as usual, it also decreased my enjoyment slightly.

Overall, a fantastic read. I really hope that people pick this book up because it is absolutely worth the read. I’m personally very excited to see what they publish next!

Of Flames and Fury was such a good debut enemies to lovers YA fantasy. I love how Bridge wove in a little bit of everything into this story – magical creatures, action, surprising reveals, betrayals, and romance. The world building was incredible well done making it easy to picture exactly what we’re reading. I also love that this dealt with phoenixes which aren’t featured enough in fantasy stories. Not only that but Bridge went even farther with phoenixes to create different subspecies. I thought the characters were well developed and interesting including the side characters. The dynamic between Kel and Coup was so well done. The plot moved at a pretty fast pace making this an easy story to binge read all while feeling wholly original. I loved the racing scenes that were woven into the story. The audiobook narration was delightful to listen to. Safiyya Ingar did so well with capturing Kel’s essence, especially her struggles between doing what she feels is right vs what is necessary. The narration was also clear, easy to listen to, and immersive with the emotion and energy Ingar brings to her performance. Overall, this was highly enjoyable, and I’d recommend checking it out.

This was my first phoenix book and it was so fun! I think all the dragon-rider readers need to check out phoenixes next!

This was a very classic YA fantasy book. It felt very familiar for much of it but there was a twist that managed to surprise me. I will recommend my library purchase this and review it for our teen programming.

Need for Speed Meets Phoenixes? Because it's too techy for my brain to say this is very equestrian vibes. I couldn't stop imagining the phoenixes as some illegal street cars. I mean, either route is NOT my vibe.

This follows Kel and her team, the Crimson Howlers. The Howlers end up needing a new rider, enter Warren "Coup" Coupers, her rival. Kel is approached early on in the book, offering employment which Kel turns down until she has no choice but to accept when her home is burned down. That's not even the worst of it, the media is eating up the idea that Kel and Coup are intimately involved so they have to pretend there might be something between them.

What to Expect:
📚YA
📚Fake Dating
📚Third Person, Single POV
📚Rivals to Lovers
📚Found Family
📚Sickness Reaping the Land
📚 Phoenix Racing

The beginning of this book did snag my attention, and I was wondering what direction the book was going to go. At some point, my interest dropped. It started feeling like street racing to me, and I could not get the imagery out of my head. This is a very sci-fi meets fantasy world with all the tech they have. Some things were confusing because bits weren't elaborated on like other magical creatures we were briefly introduced to. I don't know much about this world at all, except that there are phoenixes, sprites, and some kind of sickness. My interest wasn't brought back again until part three of the book, but it's not enough for me to want to continue this series. I also wish books would stop being compared to books like Fourth Wing when the only similarity really is that they ride magical creatures.

This had a lot of interesting elements
• young adult
• phoenix creatures
• fantasy world

A fun plot about phoenix races and riders who navigate this world with a cute romantic subplot that had funny banter and moments.

4.5⭐️ rounded up
I’m discovering I’m a sucker for phoenix books? I was super intrigued by the description for this when I requested it (as well as when I read the theme for OwlCrate’s July YA).
While Kel had a few times where she is a bit self-righteous, her heart is in the right place and she cares for the phoenix well being, Savita’s specifically, above all. I loved seeing the layers to Coup’s character and that reminder that our perception of someone may not actually be who they are. Kel & Coup together? Ugh, the banter and then also enemies to lovers is just great - it being YA the lovers portion is what it is. I also enjoyed the rest of the Howlers team, no matter how little we as readers got to know them. Really nice character building on the racing team and sponsor/ employment dynamic.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the advance electronic copy. All opinions are my own.
Also super excited to see what OwlCrate does for their edition of this 🔥

I enjoyed this story! I will say, I did NOT realize it was YA when I went into it - however it's definitely written to appease that age group.

With that said, I still enjoyed it! This was very different. The enemies-to-(lovers??) relationship had fun banter. Think Fourth Wing... but giant birds... 

This author is new to me, and I will look to more of their writing!

Thanks Net Galley for both the audio/kindle version of this book - it was fun to read/listen together.

I enjoyed this story! I will say, I did NOT realize it was YA when I went into it - however it's definitely written to appease that age group.

With that said, I still enjoyed it! This was very different. The enemies-to-(lovers??) relationship had fun banter. Think Fourth Wing... but giant birds...

This author is new to me, and I will look to more of their writing!

Thanks Net Galley for both the audio/kindle version of this book - it was fun to read/listen together.

Of Flame and Fury by Mikayla Bridge is a romantasy (probably my favorite genre) described as Fourth Wing meets Iron Widow, and is all about a group of phoenix racers. And the cover is absolutely gorgeous!

Kel is a phoenix tamer, participating in phoenix racing with her best friend since the death of her father as a way to earn money. But after losing the other two members of their team, Kel is forced to work with her least favorite person - popular, but reckless phoenix rider Warren Coupers (aka Coup) - and let him near her precious phoenix, Savita. After an accident forces her to work for the head of the famous tech industry Cristo Core, the morality of phoenix racing (and human control over phoenixes in general), and Kel’s own participation in it, is becoming increasingly questionable. And Kel will do anything to protect Sav, even if it endangers herself.

This is set in an entirely fictional world, and the world building for it is incredible. There are four different islands, each with their own magical creature. This book mainly involves Cendor, the phoenix island, and I desperately want sequels involving the other three. I was immediately drawn into the world, and the characters, and although the author could definitely add more, I never felt like this made up world was unfinished or unrealistic.

And of course we love a good enemies-to-lovers story! Kel and Coup have great banter that casually turns from true insults to masked concern. They have great chemistry, and despite their issues to understand each other’s reasoning in the beginning, their change of heart as they get to know each other never felt forced.

That ending though! I love how this story ends; it really feels like exactly how it needed to be. And the final twist came truly unexpected to me. There were a couple instances throughout the middle to end of this book which had me a little confused, and seemed a bit unrealistic, but this twist explains them perfectly, and I love them all the more now because of it.

This is definitely a must read for fantasy lovers (and really for all fiction readers in general). It is the perfect blend of action and fantasy with a hint of romance, and the writing is very well done.

This was another fun fantasy book. It had F1 and So Let Them Burn vibes but with phoenixes (it's also dealing with a corporation instead of a government).

The book was text dense, so it make some of the more intricate information a little more tricky to follow along with the audiobook (I requested the ARC to go along with the ALC, and it helped with those types of scenes). On the flip side there weren't too many named characters to track so it balanced out.

Also really appreciated that this was written as a complete stand alone while leaving room for a possible-somewhere-in-the-world future spin-off.

... but also WTF is going on with her mom?


🎧 Narration was good, but the audio quality was not as crisp and clean to listen to at a higher speed (as my brain usually prefers).

The only CON that stuck in my head was that some of the kissing+ scenes were a little too detailed for a book with under age romance - had they been 18+ it would have been fine, but something was just off listening to it all be described knowing they were kids. That's the only reason this wasn't a 5⭐️ read.

i will say …. the blurb compares this book to Forth Wing and Iron Widow and having read both of those books, i don’t agree. BUT THAT IS NOT A BAD THING!

i thought this book was incredibly unique. the authors world building really drew me in. its intricate and detailed in a way that isn’t too much to process and genuinely so interesting! when can i start my new position as a phoenix biologist??? the author does well developing not just a FMC to care about, but a whole cast in the Howlers. the romance isn’t overbearing, could be a bit repetitive, but i think gave the right amount of longing and playfulness for a YA novel.

what took it away from being five stars; i did feel that the build up to understanding the full scope of the plot was a little drawn out, but in no way would I consider it boring.

if you like intricate world building, found family and magical creatures …. pick this one up!!!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group for the ARC!

Of Flame and Fury started slowly for me, but I was hooked by the middle of the book. I don’t quite see the comparison to Fourth Wing or Iron Widow and ultimately that’s to the story’s benefit. This was refreshingly YA and felt like a fresh take on a fairly saturated genre of mythical beings.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Phoenix racing?!

I really liked Kel and Coup and their relationship and I am anxiously waiting the next book.

I tried SO HARD to get into this, and I was bored the entire time.

Mikayla Bridge's debut novel is advertised as a combination of Iron Widow and Fourth Wing-- one book I really enjoyed and one... not so much (respectfully). I knew going into this, the likeliness of it leaning one way or the other is never zero, and I was optimistic the premise being far enough away from *dragon school* that it'd be more fun. Rather, the merge of technology and fantasy, in this context, feels more like tidbits across media that was too familiar, and, consequently, boring. I don't think this is the fault of "Of Flame and Fury," but rather something I have surpassed that didn't offer me anything new.

Like of course the infuriatingly handsome rival is the love interest (that was promised in the blurb).
Of course tech company bad (this is too real).
And of course the cliffhanger beckons a duology (that I honestly don't care enough for)...

I can't quiet put my finger on what this exactly reminds me of, but it fell short of inspiring. That being said, if you want a sportier take on fantasy (and don't mind slow building tension), this might be a good introduction to fantasy as a whole! What this book lacks in originality (to me), Bridge makes up for in sheer writing prowess that is accessible and well developed.

This was my first phoenix book and it was so fun! I think all the dragon-rider readers need to check out phoenixes next!