It’s always a toss up. I prefer to go into books without looking at the reviews because I don’t want to get influenced by someone else, but then you find a book like this.

Yes, it’s a master/slave romance. No, I’m not interested in that, and I hate power dynamic issues in romances.

I’m 20% in, and I’m 50/50 on DNFing it. It’s an easy read (made easier by the fact that it’s an audiobook) but every time the MMC and the FMC interact it gives me the ick, and I don’t care about the characters. So far I’ve been able to power through because they haven’t really interacted, but I can tell if I made myself keep going I would either DNF or hate the rest of the book.

Life is too short for books you don’t LOVE.

Format: Audio
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5
3/5 🌶️

🐦‍🔥 Thank you NetGalley & the author Juliette Cross for the early access of the audiobook for Firebird 🐦‍🔥

🏛️Dragon Shifter
🏛️Dual POV
🏛️Roman Mythology
🏛️Fated Mates
🏛️Forbidden Love
🏛️Slave x Master
🏛️Forced Proximity

Synopsis:
Julianus Dakkia, a Roman general and nephew of the emperor, is instantly captivated by a Dacian dancer when he first lays eyes on her. Malina, gifted with magical abilities, can sense that Julianus is a dragon and influence their emotions. Surprisingly, she isn’t afraid of him. Years later, he encounters her on the battlefield and, in a daring move, transforms into his dragon form to save her. Julianus takes Malina as one of his slaves, unaware that he differs from the other Roman generals and harbors secret plans. 💫

My thoughts:
💫I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately, it didn’t quite meet my expectations. The romance and emotional depth developed rapidly, almost as if they were forced to reach a climax within a single page. While I was intrigued by the political intrigue and the dragons, their relationship felt superficial and lacked genuine connection.💫

Wow. An interesting new series (I hope) in a fantasy world based loosely on the Roman Empire … with dragons!

No spoilers: the romance is slow burn, the action is graphic, the world building is really good. The story takes place mostly in Ancient Rome with hints of Julius Caesar. The dragon shifters are in power. And the gods may interfere in the lives of those who worship them.

Duel Narration was pretty good. The female narrator was new to me. She did well expressing emotions. Kale Williams always does a good job voicing different characters and tones.

Read this if you like:
•dark romantasy
•master/slave romance
•history & politics of ancient times

I truly wasn’t expecting the master/slave part of the book and that was a huge storyline. The power imbalance was icky. If you can get past that, you’ll read about a strong MFC. I was hoping for more witchiness vs her just having power. There is spice but I since I didn’t like the power imbalance I didn’t love this. Overall, proceed with caution. Thank you Mac audio for ALC

The whole premise was kind of… 🍪 Cutter. Nothing wowed me about the story. Master/Slave romance, but add dragon shifters.
None of the characters had any real depth either. I wasn’t able to connect w/ any of them except this 1 side character who had only a few lines towards the end… Other than that, they were all come & go.
The 🌶️ scenes were also bland- It was like once they got together, after every inconvenience ✨ spice ✨
And I just feel like there wasn’t any spectacular development between the two. Overall it wasn’t too terrible, but the whole storyline lacked a lot of interest.

Blair Dade & Kale Williams did an amazing job narrating the story though 🎧🤍

I LOVED THIS - i LOVE dragons & i LOVE this book. the dual narration was amazing and i had such an amazing time

The beginning of the this book was enough for me to want to DNF this book. I love dark romantasy but this one wasn’t for me. I have no interest in books about slave and master dynamic. It was an uncomfortable read. I definitely won’t be reading this again. I think the cover is beautiful but this wasn’t for me.

I really think authors need to be better a listing trigger warnings at the beginning of books or even in the description of the book so I don’t waste my time or money. I definitely recommend checking out the trigger warnings before you pick up this book.

TW: rape, sexual assault, slavery, violence

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio and Juliette for the ALC!

Publication Date: April 8 2025
Rating: 🐉

Thank you for the ARC! This wasn’t good or bad. It just… was. It’s a romantasy with dragon shifters, so if that’s your thing you might enjoy this. However, the power dynamic (slave/master) was taken a bit too far. I think a lot of people will have an issue with the fact that the FMC is technically the MMC’s slave the entire book and although he tells her that she’s free, it doesn’t take away from that fact. The language Cross uses in the dialogue was cliche and if you’ve ever read the “mate trope,” you’ve definitely already read a lot of the dialogue between the two main characters. I giggled several times during serious moments because of how cheesy things the MMC said. I wish the author would’ve worked a little harder on building the characters and the world, and making the dialogue more authentic/fresh. Overall, it was an easy read and relatively entertaining, so I’m not complaining!

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year so I was very excited to receive an arc for Firebird!

Overall I really enjoyed this book. I love Roman history so I was very interested to see that mixed with fantasy elements. This book starts with main characters Julianus, dragon shifter and nephew of the emperor, and Malina, an empathic witch and Dacian dancer, meeting when they are younger and instantly being drawn to each other. After parting ways they then meet years later on a battlefield. Julian, as the now brutal Roman general, is shocked to find Malina fighting and helping to defeat the Romans. This causes Julian’s dragon to instantly shift and remove Malina from the danger. Their instincts immediately saying she is his. Thus leading to Malina becoming Julian’s slave to keep her safe and from being sold while they head back to Rome.

For me one of the best parts of the book was the political intrigue we see back in Rome. As the book progresses we begin to learn of Julian’s true nature and his plans to overthrow his dangerous emperor uncle. We are exposed to the dark aspects of Roman history with betrayals, plotting and scheming, and fighting. All this with the addition of dragon shifters and you have a very interesting story. Now I did enjoy the romance between Malina and Julian. I liked the natural way it developed with Malina questioning Julian during her time as a slave. Their connection was strong throughout the book and we finally get to see more of Malina’s power.

I will say there were parts of the book that I felt weren’t fully fleshed out. I assume we will come back to these parts in the next books but with how this book ended I’m really not sure where the story will pick up again. I’m very curious to see what comes next and to learn more about Malina’s magic and her bond with Julian. As well as the plans to overthrow the emperor. This has great potential!

Listen, is this winning any awards? No it is not. Was it fun and I vibed with it? Yes I did.

Let’s start with the good: The world was excellent. Ruthless, brutal, true to Ancient Rome in terms of generalities. I also loved that we got a gladiator battle (!!!). Loved the addition of dragon shifters (who am I?) which usually I’m not the biggest fan. But it WORKED here and it felt epic. The plot was engaging too! I was wondering what was going to happen and worried for the main characters. I loved the dual POV as well!!

Now let’s go into the rougher parts: some areas need more fleshing out (like I want to know more about the gods and rituals). I felt like the romance had hot and cold moments — the insta-mate vibe was not the best to me but at least it was only the MMC’s primal dragon within him. I found that I wish there was more tension over blatant lust on both ends. The writing needed work at times — some more edits would have made this better (ie there were two sentences that had the word “left” 3 times). Sometimes I needed more from the writing overall. It didn’t detract from the story though as I did enjoy it overall.

That said though I’m absolutely continuing! It was a fun time even though there were scenes that made me uncomfortable but I do think the world needed them. I loved the male audiobook narrator — he was superb! The female one was okay: sometimes sounded a bit robotic. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you Netgalley and MacMillan audio for the free alc. My opinions are being left voluntarily. I really enjoyed this audio it was done well its my first by this author and enjoyed their interpretation of the book. I look forward to seeing where this goes next
4
4.5/5☆

This was a highly anticipated read for me this year and I am so grateful to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for the arc of this audiobook. I thoroughly enjoyed this take on romantasy. I haven’t read any romantasy set in ancient Rome and I loved the premise of this. This takes Caesar and the top people in the Roman empire and makes them into dragon shifters, which is why they were so powerful. Our FMC Malina was a simple peasant girl with magic. She has unique empathic abilities, which give her certain powers. Our MMC Julian is a high ranking dragon shifter general in the Roman empire who is Caesar‘s nephew. I love Malina and Julian’s relationship and their story. She is captured, and thus becomes a slave under Julian. Even though this is a captor/slave relationship on the surface because of the society in Rome. Never once did I truly feel that she was actually his slave. He always treated her with the utmost respect and only wanted to protect her. The story is told in dual POV‘s, which is brilliant since it helps the reader understand his perspective. If he didn’t have her as his slave, she would have been raped or killed because of their society. It is clear that even though Julian holds a high rank in this society, he is fighting back to change it and only does what he has to, to survive and to keep others alive and safe. Although she is technically his slave, he never abuses his power, and I never felt as if she was mistreated in any way by him. This does have a few open door spicy scenes. The story kept me gripped from the very beginning and I couldn’t stop listening. I thoroughly enjoyed this and I’m excited for the next book in the series.

firstly, thank you to the publisher for an arc.
updated to also thank the publisher for an alc!

ehh, i had a feeling i’d either love or hate this book, and unfortunately, i did not love it. the writing/world-building was not the best; i think the most interesting aspect of the world-building was in the prologue.

of course, this book has all of the themes/tropes popular nowadays so i don’t doubt that it will find its audience, but it’s certainly not me.

as for the audio, i enjoyed the narration, and think i prefer this book as an audio experience rather than a reading experience.

DNF

I didn't realize going in that this was going to be a romance with a master/slave dynamic, otherwise I wouldn't have picked it up. That's just not something I'm comfortable with and it's not for me. Heads up to other readers, I don't think this is explicitly explained in the marketing. It says it's a dark romance with political elements, but not explicitly that it's with an enslaved woman who is part of a racial minority and the man who is enslaving her. I'm very uncomfortable with that. I received a copy of this book for review via Netgalley, all opinions are my own.

Roman Empire + Dragon Shifters + Touch Her and Die + Fated Mates. 🐉💘

I have a feeling this book is going to fly of the shelves!! The cover is stunning. The story is a fun and easy read.

*Thank you NetGalley for the ARC ! *

I have been so excited for the release of Firebird by Juliette Cross, I loved The Wraith King and the setting of Ancient Rome with dragons sounded amazing.

Malina is a dancer with a secret, she is an empath that can control emotions. Julian is a legendary Roman general and powerful dragon shifter as well as nephew to Cesar. When Malina is captured Julian recognizes her immediately as the dancer he knew from years before and the dragon inside him knows he must keep her.

✨General spoilers ahead- no plot spoilers ✨

I would say this is not a true enemies to lovers. Julian never hates Malina, he is always protective and captivated by her and Malina soon comes to understand Julian with very little resistance. I wanted to see more of the romance between these two. I understand the instant connection but I wish I had the characters struggling more with it and more tension filled interactions.

I loved the world here. The powerful Romans are dragon shifters which helps to create the power imbalance as well as form social hierarchy. The magic and fantasy elements were easily understood without being overly complicated so you could really focus on the plot. I loved the Ancient Rome setting and now I really want to read more. I wish that we got more of Malina’s life in between her first and second encounters with Julian.

I listened to this on audiobook and I thought the narrator’s did an amazing job. This is duel narration with both a male and female alternating with the character’s POV. I think the male narrator especially did an amazing job with the various unique voices, sometimes I don’t like how males narrate women’s voices but that wasn’t a problem at all here. Both did an amazing job of putting you into the world.

I do think I’ve become so accustomed to romantasy series leaving off on major cliffhangers and when this book didn’t it felt odd and incomplete in a way. I kept waiting for the last major plot twist to hit and it didn’t. I think that’s because I’ve become programmed to expect it but it’s not a bad thing that this didn’t have a last minute revelation and major cliffhanger.

I’m looking forward to more books in the series. I feel like this book did a great job of setting up a world and plot that is very compelling.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for an honest re

Read if you like
- dragon shifters
- Touch her and die
- Hidden magic
- Insta-love
- Fated mates
- Ancient Rome setting

The way i DEVOURED this in one go was insane.
I loved the world and I really hope the next book is even better.

I will say that this book with the other languages would be better read vs listened to if you aren't fluent.

I really didn’t know much about this one before going in, I feel like even the blurb doesn’t give much of what it actually is either. So I’ve loved this author in the past (her small towns and Stay a Spell contemporary/paranormal-lite series) and I only knew this was a new fantasy romance from her. So when I received the audio ALC from the publisher, I decided to jump in. Anddddd, I don’t know about this one. 😬 This felt very icky, power imbalance was gross, and maybe it being set in a reimagined Ancient Rome was better in theory than realization.

This is a reimagining of Ancient Rome, where gods, goddesses, mythology of Rome has been reinvented and in this world, Romans share ancestry with ancient titans, dragons, and the gods. This is a dark romantasy and includes a master x slave dynamic between the hero and heroine (the ick I mentioned earlier). Malina is a dancer whose village was invaded by Romans and her clan was wiped out, Julian is a Roman general and nephew to the emperor. Sure he is secretly working with others to rebel against the emperor, but in this whole book we get a whole lot of power imbalance in their relationship if you can call it that. I really didn’t feel their connection or believe they’d have been together if it wasn’t for their setup (which conveniently they’re fated mates too, but that kinda made it worse cause where is her agency in any of this).

Anywaysssssss, I get that it’s going to be a series (which isn’t complete yet), I get that the hero is trying to rebel in his own way, and I get that it’s set in Ancient Rome BUT if we can reimagine it to have dragon shifters why can’t we also reimagine the power imbalance and excessive violence towards women? This book has a lot of on-page violence towards women (think any Ancient Rome movies/shows you’ve seen before) and it’s just not the journey I want to go in. On top of that, the lack of actual world building, the magic (maybe more comes later in the series but it felt lackluster here), the steam (very cringe), and all of his basic dragon possessiveness and “my treasure” thoughts. It just all felt surface level and not enticing. I can see this book getting veryyyy mixed reviews once it’s out and I get it completely. Overall just not it for me, it didn’t read like this author’s usual voice, and needless to say I won’t continue on.

I received an audio ALC, all thoughts in this review are my own.

CW: slavery, rape, sexual assault, violence, relationship power imbalance (master x slave)

Thanks to the author and publisher for the eARC and Macmillan Audio for the ALC. This audiobook had me captivated immediately and I listened to it all in one day! I had to switch to the eARC toward the end because my heart was pounding and I had to consume it with my eyeballs 😂. Fans of fantasy romance and enemies to lovers will eat this up. Dragon shifters in Rome? Yes please.

I especially want to mention the care with which the author handled the main couple’s relationship. Because his soldiers destroyed her village and then her adoptive family. He saves her from a fate he doomed her to. She has to become his slave to survive in his world. These topics are all addressed and discussed by them before their relationship advances and obviously there’s a reason for his actions (mad dragon king, anyone?).

But it’s rightfully a slow burn and Malina is shown actively working through these issues. I loved her resilience and fierceness in standing up for herself and others. And Julian is such a cinnamon roll with a heart of gold I adored him. The way he treated his household and saved them 🥹. His dragon being all possessive 🔥. The touch her and be unalived moment was so perfectly unhinged and violent 🤣.

The premise of dragons in Rome was unique and refreshing. The Roman gods were mentioned as an important part of society but played a minor role in the plot which I was more than okay with, that the focus remained on our main characters.

PSA this does not end on a cliffhanger with Malina and Julian getting an adorable ending. The main overarching plot will continue in the next book and I am so excited with that hint at the end!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Book
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐Audiobook
🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

I devoured this ALC and loved it from prologue to epilogue. The worldbuilding, the wildfire romance, dragons and strong multidimensional MCs all made this a 6-star read for me. Now this is not going to be a book for everyone. It is dark and does have historical enslavement elements accurate to the Roman setting, but if you don't mind reading such themes run, don't walk to pick this book up when it releases on April 8th 2025! I am already pre-ordering the First Edition. It's so beautiful!

I love, love, loved the retelling of Medusa, her sisters and Minerva and the ways it tied into the story. FMC Malina's lore is equal parts beautiful and sad but shows her inner fire and will to keep fighting. While not the strongest physically, she is definitely one of the feistiest FMCs I have read recently. I really loved the way the dragon shifters were described and can't wait to see some art of our MMC and his aunt in her pit. That was a side plot that I especially enjoyed and hope is touched upon again in the future. My mind has already come up with some very satisfying ideas about how that could be finished up. The romance checked all the boxes for me. The devotion, the passion, the protectiveness of both MCs and especially when his dragon speaks. Just yes! Bonus points for all the small details about accurate fashions and fabrics of the times. The end was very enjoyable and not a cliffhanger. And then that very last line....MA'AM! I really hope you are working on book two if you are going to do that to me!

I adore when dual POV is also dual narrated and this was a great example of why. Blair Dade and Kale Williams both brought their characters to life and complimented each other masterfully. I really have to give extra points to Kale because his dragon voice always brought a small shiver of delight down my spine. The narration added a whole additional star to this experience for me with the extra immersion they both added. I really hope they're back for audiobook two!

Thank you Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for an ALC. All opinions are honest and my own.

🔥Fated mates
🐉Dragon shifters
🔥Roman conqueror MMC
🐉Captive dancer FMC
🔥Touch him/her and die
🐉Palace intrigue
🔥Dual POV
🐉Cute pet name for her