This book is going to have me in a chokehold. As this is just a sample of the book, I can't speak to the entire thing but what I've read has me HOOKED. Phoenix racing???? Sign me up!

I cannot wait to read the rest of this book! The descriptions of the different phoenix species including their behavioral qualities were great. I will need someone to illustrate Savita immediately! Who knew phoenix racing could be so captivating?

I'm anxious to see where the book goes from here and how the relationship between Kel and Coup evolves.

I really appreciate reading a fantasy book with a fresh subject like the phoenix!

Absolutely fantastic chapter sampler! Really hooks you from the get go! I'm going to go preorder this now and can't wait for the rest of the book!

This has me SO excited for this book! I needed it!! An interesting premise I'm hooked on the sampler alone!

Phoenix racing is already such an interesting premise for a book, but this sample gives us a peak at so much more going on in Cendor. I'm definitely going to need to get my hands on the full book!

Very unique, brutal, futuristic world with phoenix riding instread of dragons! It’s a neat spin on a beloved theme and dips into sci-fi elements as well. High stakes, vivid imagery, and an interesting start to an exciting new book!

I enjoyed this sampler from "Of Flame and Fury," I found myself definitely wanting to read more! I will make a note to look back for the completed book to find out what happens to Kel and Dira and Coup! I think that this book will definitely be popular with Romantasy readers.

My main issue is that Kel's reasons for hating Coup at the beginning feel pretty shallow and unbelievable. I would have liked it better if she was more neutral about Coup. Additionally there were a few sections with strange wording such as sentence fragments starting with the word "but." I also found the sentence about "the clink of the cups" being far tooo similar to Oska's screams was strange.

This sample chapter had me so interested!' I requested to read the whole book as an ARC and got approved! Cant wait to finish it!

Of Flame and Fury is an upcoming YA fantasy that follows Kel and her teammates who are desperate to secure victory and financial gains through racing. The exciting part? They ride Phoenix's. Desperate to continue racing, Kel teams up with the aggravating Warren Coup.

This was a fun sample read. I enjoyed the introductions to the characters and Kel's Phoenix, Savita. You can feel the rivals to lovers vibe between Kel and Coup, so that'll be an interesting situation as it further develops. The story so far is good—I like the idea of the Phoenix's and how they have a much bigger purpose than just racing.

This was a good sample and I can see this being a popular YA fantasy book. Thank you, NetGalley and the pub, for the opportunity to read a sample of this ARC.

Ok I knew this was a gamble, and I was right, it’s going to be hard to wait till July to get the rest of this little gem! It’s got Fourth Wing vibes for sure!! No dragons be we have Phoenix riders!! I only got the first 10 chapters but Mikayla’s easy writing style drew me in and hook line an sinker! So of course all I can do is mark my calendar for release day and swoop me up a copy to continue the journey of Kel and Coup!

Kel and her friends have a racing team which they use the winnings to survive. Coup is a cocky gorgeous rider that Kel can’t stand but somehow (wont tell) gets backed into a corner and has to team up with him in hopes they can win some races and she can save her home.

Thank you NetGalley and Mikayla Bridge for the free sneak peek for a honest review!! Can’t wait to read the full version of this one!!

I got a approved for the full ARC so I'll ne reviewing that! I'm excited to dive in.

Thanks netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!

This of flame and fury chapter sampler makes me anxious for the entire book! I cannot wait to read the entire thing as this sampler was enthralling and quite enjoyable.

In a world where phoenix racing can bring fame and, critically, fortune, Kel is desperate to win to stave off financial ruin. But even with a star phoenix, that's not an easy task, and she's left with the question: how far is she willing to go?

I read a ten-chapter sampler of the book, which is more than enough to introduce Kel and her teammates and to get a sense of the perils of the world she lives in. Kel and team are all teenagers, operating more or less without adult oversight in a wildly dangerous sport—phoenix racing is not just a matter of speed and skill but one of dodging obstacles designed to kill. Kel says that pheonixes are "godly creatures meant to be feared and protected" (loc. 135*) but also that because they are "continually captured for [racing] and killed on tracks, their population was dwindling" (loc. 662); I'm not sure how these two things are balanced—how widely phoenixes are viewed as godly—but I hope this dichotomy of Kel caring so deeply for her phoenix but also being heavily involved in a sport designed to kill both humans and phoenixes is explored in depth as the book goes on.

This is very very clearly set up as an enemies-to-lovers story—Kel knows Coup from the racing circuit, and she can't stand him (mostly, I think, because he's willing to take bigger risks than she is, and is more likely to win). I've never been one much for enemies-to-lovers stories (give me mutual respect and cooperation!), but I imagine that this will go over very well with readers who are fans of I-can't-stand-him-so-why-do-I-want-to-kiss-him YA romance.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing this preview through NetGalley.

*Quotes are from an ARC sample and may not be final.

Thank you NetGalley for this sample ARC. I truly loved the short snipped I got for this book and can't wait for July!! I have struggled after finishing Onyx to find a fantasy book that can grab my attention and isn't hard to follow. This book cured me of that and the cliffhanger that I finished on is going to have me counting down the days until July! The banter is good, the storyline is good, the characters have depth. I truly felt like I had stepped into a Star Wars podrace series but with phoenixes.

This was such a fun read for me, the sample I was given of the first 10 chapters already has me hooded on Kel and Savita's story. The race in the first story the immediate action. took me a second to realize where our main character was but that could have been my fault. There was a mistake on page 7. On the last paragraph it mentions " Kel shifted ba ^pck, eyes raking the track." that was something I did want to bring attention to, just so you guys knew. Overall Great story can't wait for July!

This Chapter Sampler covers around 100 pages of the book, which I assume should be around a quarter to a third based on the expected length.

Initially I didn't understand where the Iron Widow comp fits (I get Fourth Wing because of the romance and the phoenixes / dragons being intelligent and having a unique relationship with the riders). Now I assume it's because both Iron Widow and Of Flame and Fury are more YA sci-fi than YA fantasy, but because of some odd prejudice that "YA sci-fi doesn't sell" they're usually marketed as YA fantasy or science-fantasy.

We have a world where the only fantastical element so far are the phoenixes, except that it feels very dystopian sci-fi. We have television, tablets and pulse guns. We have greedy corporations and warmongering government that also destroys natural environment for profit. I think people who miss the ye olde YA dystopian vibes will enjoy this book.

The positives:
- the writing style is very accessible and while typical for YA SFF, it's in 3rd person which is more uncommon in YA, so far it was single pov of the protagonist Kel
- the friendship between Kel and Dira is really nice
- the worldbuilding is interesting with multiple breeds of phoenixes with unique properties, there's also a bigger world beyond the initial location for example we see Kel's mother being on a different island

The negatives:
- this is another YA book I'm picking recently that opens with random named throwaway characters we had no time to get attached to and who most likely won't be important to the plot later and they exist only to create a vague sense of "danger" and "loss"
- it takes long to get the plot rolling: in 100 pages we didn't even reach the end of the blurb! This part:
"As tensions rise on and off the track, Kel's home is mistakenly burned down, and she’s forced to take a job from a mysterious tech mogul with an unsettling interest in her phoenix, Savita. This sets in motion a conspiracy that threatens everyone Kel cares for..."
We just cut off at the "Kel's home is mistakenly burned down" and meeting the "mysterious tech mogul". We don't even get to the part where she takes the job! I really hate books where it takes a long time to cover what's mentioned in the blurb because I already know all that will happen anyway. Get to the new part!

And finally, the relationship between Kel and Coup... The log line says "enemies-to-lovers romantic fantasy". Yeah, they're not enemies. The rest of the blurb calls Coup "an arrogant rival" and that's a bit more appropriate. However, this utilizes a YA trope I personally dislike, i.e. when the fmc "hates" the mmc for an unspecified reason just to create fake tension. Okay, he's cocky, he's handsome, he's a show-off, but that are typical traits of a YA mmc. Why does Kel hate him? Because she's jealous of him? Because she blames him for her team's loss? (Hey, it's a "deadly competition" btw, those things are written into it.) He does tell her some really mean lines like how she has "a stick up her ass" but it's hardly unprovoked. On the other hand, he constantly makes gestures not just to impress her, but to ingratiate himself to her, and she just keeps thinking how he pisses her off.

Finally, I did not enjoy the "evil government / corpos vs the idealistic poor environmentalists" trope, maybe it gets some nuance later on, but in every YA SFF it's always an evil king / emperor / government / organization holding power vs the poor oppressed good rebels / witches / insert group we're supposed to take the side of. The division is very black-and-white and obvious. I would hope the rest of the story will show some subversions of the trope or add some nuance, but I very much expect the "evil corp" will stay exactly that or be even worse than expected.

I will read reviews of the full to find out whether it's worth it for me to pick the rest of the book.

Thank you Netgalley, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and Farrar, Straus & Giroux Books for Younger Readers for this Chapter Sampler.

A big thanks to Mikayla Bridge, the author, Macmillan Children's Publishing Group, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this sampler scene from the upcoming novel Of Flame and Fury, which after reading, I am very much anticipating! I thought this was so intriguing and it definitely made me put it on my TBR to read as soon as I can. I mean, phoenix riders, how cool is that?! The descriptions were really beautiful and I can't wait to read more. I really liked the characters and the overall idea of the plot. I want all the phoenix racing!!

I can't wait to read the whole book because this sampler was amazing!
Phoenix racing,a taste of rivals to lovers...tech/cyberpunk vibes...I need more.
Thank you to netgalley for this sampler,

Of Flame and Fury by Mikayla Bridge starts with an action-filled scene and it sets the tone well for the book! I thought it was a nice touch to add the snippets about Phoenixes and subspecies in the beginning. The descriptions where well done in general to aid the reader in feeling like we are there within the story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for the sampler, and I am leaving this review voluntarily!

I devoured this and can't wait to read the entire book. With a exciting and unique start, and beautiful cover, I'm sold.