In short, I found this book incredibly disappointing. The premise promised a Roman inspired world with dragons. However the majority of the book was a slave x master romance that seemed to lack any naunce. I really hate to give ARCs such low ratings, but this book really let me down. The book discusses a variety of topical themes like sexual assault, colonization, and how autonomy and privilege affect relationships. These themes are critical to incorporate into media, especially considering what's going on in the world right now. The problem is the book doesn't tackle any of its themes well. Full review to come.

3.5 rounding up Firebird was an interesting read for me, I went in knowing a lot of people had issues with it and its central romance. I personally didn’t think it was as problematic as it is currently being made out to be but I will say I do think a lot of the criticisms of the subject matter are very valid.

I personally enjoyed the book for the most part I found the political and the fantasy world building elements intriguing, but my main issue with the book was the fact that I didn’t find either lead or their romance particularly compelling.

Both narrators did a really fantastic job bringing the characters to life, I personally really enjoyed Kale Williams narrator a lot and will probably looking into more books read by them in the future

Let me preface this review by saying that this is a dark romantasy, with gory scenes and some scenes that are hard to read (for various reasons). The main characters have a master/slave dynamic and romance develops. Do I love that? No. At the same time, this story is what I expected based on the warnings at the beginning of the book. It’s definitely not for everyone. I do think that it should have been marketed differently, and the fact that the romance is between characters with a master/slave relationship should’ve been made more obvious.

That being said, I enjoyed the world of this book – with a backdrop of Ancient Rome, the story is one of traitorous bloodlines, power struggles, and rebellion. This world is brutal, and the author did not shy away from it. I found it interesting that the most influential families in the story are dragon shifters and that Malena, the FMC, has some unique, intriguing, and sometimes very useful powers. I also appreciate the fact that Julian hated everything that his uncle, Cesar, and his empire stood for and that he was a big part of the rebellion. At the same time, I wish there had been more depth – both in terms of world building and in terms of the characters and their relationships. The romance came off as pretty instalove despite the dynamic.

The narrators did a great job with the narration, and that definitely made the read more enjoyable.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

CW: master slave, attempted sexual assault (not by MMC), dubious consent (not between MCs) and violence/gore.

Thank you to MacMillan audio and NetGalley for the ALC. All opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this book. I love how the two found each other after so many years. This book was interesting I loved the idea of the dragon shifters. With this being a first book for the series I would love for more as far as the fighting and revolution. The characters are great and you definitely hate Cesar but that's not surprising when he runs his kingdom off slaves and crazy rules. It definitely has the historical elements, I think if you have watched the show Spartacus you will see the same elements in this book. Overall a great book that is well written and I would love to see more.

I really enjoyed this writers voice. It feels fresh and raw in a way I wasn't expecting and that really enhanced the character development for me. This was a really great read for romantasy fans and I loved how the story wove Roman history with this beautiful fantasy landscape. The world Juliette created was brilliant and I am excited to read the next installment. I love recommending this one to our customers.

The audiobook was a bit challenging to get into, which put me off. So, I decided to physically read the book, and I found it to be just fine. It wasn’t particularly groundbreaking to me. I wonder if I had not started listening to the audiobook and just read it over listening, I might have had a different opinion. But unfortunately, that’s all I can say.

The Dacian empath, Malina, is captured in the aftermath of battle where she failed to protect her Celtic adopted family and taken as a slave by the Roman general and dragon shifter, Julianus.

The combination of relationship dynamic and power imbalance between Malina and Julianus with the ancient Roman inspired system of slavery, was too off-putting for me, and I just couldn't get past it to enjoy the fantasy elements of the story. It was also a darker romance than I had expected before I started reading.

Sigh. I was so excited for this one. Master/slave romance just isn’t really my thing. The romance had me feeling…nothing. I liked the fmc alright, and like one other side character. But I just could not connect.

Rating: 3⭐️ – Thanks to Macmillan Audio and Bramble Romance for the audiobook ARC!

Firebird offers an intriguing mix of dragons and Ancient Roman mythology, but falls short in execution. The story follows Malina, a former dancer with witch-like powers, who is taken as a "body slave" by Julianus Dakkia, a morally grey Roman general. The master/slave dynamic, while dark and intense, is uncomfortable and may not be for everyone.

The romance is rushed and lacks emotional depth. The insta-love between Malina and Julian feels underdeveloped, and while their chemistry is there, it doesn’t quite hit the mark. The world-building has potential, especially with the use of Roman gods and mythology, but it’s not fully explored.

Secondary characters and the villain feel one-dimensional, and the portrayal of female characters as mostly subjugated or dead is frustrating. That said, the narration by Blair Dade and Kale Williams adds emotion to the story, making the audiobook enjoyable despite the novel’s flaws.

Firebird has potential but struggles with pacing and depth. If you enjoy dark romantasy with dragons, this might appeal, but be prepared for a slow burn and a problematic romance.

I thought this was very good and I will have to add this to the shop shelves. Thank you for the chance for us to review.

I’m sorry but this book gave me major ick. The concept of the Roman Empire meets a fantasy world with dragons sounded so interesting but the execution fell extremely short. The Master x Slave dynamics were not handled with the care and emotional depth that it needed. This is not a book I would be recommending.

This was one of my most highly anticipated reads of 2025, but unfortunately ended up being my worst read of the year thus far.

The premise sounded so promising, with high-stakes and a scandalous relationship, but the characters had 0 chemistry despite the author trying hard to make their whole fated mate dynamic a thing, which just made the whole book fall flat for me. Even the spicy scenes were lacking. It's like the author knew she had to add spice so she did, but with the lack of chemistry it just ended up being boring to read.

Then there’s the whole slave/owner dynamic—which, despite all the heated discourse surrounding it, wasn’t as dark or scandalous as expected (this coming from someone who reads DARK romance and has read worse power imbalance relationships). Instead, it came across as shallow, more like an attempt to add edge to the story without truly exploring the weight of the theme and really diving into the issue of that kind of relationship.

Overall a disappointing read that the cover and those gorgeous edges led me to believe would be amazing.

Thank you to NetGalley, Macmillan Audio, and Juliette Cross for an advanced listening copy of Firebird in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. I liked the dragon shifter aspect, and the setting, but I wish we had gotten just a touch more world building. There was a lot that was taken from history, but almost directly so, with different names attached to the civilizations. I would have liked a little more depth.

Master/Slave was a major part of this book, which I wasn’t a big fan of. Even if Julian is shown to be a kind man/dragon, it still was jarring (for me) to have such a large power discrepancy between the love interests.

I thought the audiobook was well done, though. The narrators did a great job with the different characters and they are what really got me through this book.

Malina has the power to control emotions. After escaping her village after Romans distorted her village that were high on blood lust. She joined Celtic group to help stop the dragons that were destroying everything and hunger in power. Then along came Julian, a Roman dragon. The people Malina was trying to fight against. And he changed her whole world.

Julian hated his uncle. And is planning to take him and everyone like him down. But as dates were to have it his inner dragon found his mate. And with that changed everything. Making taking down his uncle that much harder.

Enemies to lovers. A slow burn spicy book. It keep me engaged and wanting more.

This book had so much missed potential.

First the content /trigger warnings need to be in the book on page attempted SA and what I would call SA adjacent needs a trigger warning. With that aside, the book just missed its mark. While I love Juliette's writing, I did not like this story. I got to about 75% before I said, dude, this is just not my jam. And that was a stretch because I wanted to like it, I really did. But I found the MMC to be a bit whinny, like just kill Caesar already. He just kept going on and on about how he had these plans, but there was a lot of inaction. I did enjoy Malina. But the slave master thing also was not for me.

While many of the trigger warnings didn't personally affect me the way they might impact other readers, the moments they flagged felt unearned within the context of the story — more like isolated, sensational scenes rather than integrated parts of the narrative. Additionally, the conversation around slave/master dynamics felt inconsistent with the plot and character arcs, causing the final third of the book to feel disjointed and chaotic. By the end, it's still unclear what the primary goal of this series is supposed to be. Overall, the story comes across as poorly crafted, and I would not recommend it moving forward.

This book contains concerning material that made feel too uncomfortable to finish the book. I don't feel comfortable commenting on the novel. I will give it three stars as a neutral non-opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The narration was excellent from both narrators, and the story was engaging, with the perfect balance of magic and steam.

While I absolutely enjoyed this fantasy romance, I do have a few concerns about the possessive nature of the MMC, as well as a touch of Stockholm syndrome. That said, these elements didn’t detract from my overall enjoyment of the story.

I also saw a physical copy of the book at my local bookstore, and it’s beautifully printed. I would definitely recommend this to 18+ friends.

The fantastic start to a new romantasy series set in ancient Rome where dragon shifters rule the land and the heir to the throne is plotting to overthrow his tyrannical uncle. What he doesn't count on is finding and falling for a Celtic witch. This was spicy, full of courtly intrigue and had well developed characters. Highly recommended for fans of Fourth Wing or A fate inked in blood. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital and audio copy in exchange for my honest review. I can't wait to see what happens in the next book!

After further thought (and reading of further reviews, re-listening to the ARC) I've edited my reviews and lowered my rating. I let some things slide on my initial read that I shouldn't have, and while I like the author's writing style, that doesn't excuse specific content choices.

I don't think that some of the things being said about this novel are fair (the heroine and hero don't begin a relationship when she's underage, for example—but we do find out later that he was attracted to her when she was underage, and while there is no logical difference between a 17 and 18 year old mentally, I don't know WHY she wasn't 18; and I'm still not fully convinced that the author was mixing up Romanian or Romani, as some have suggested, as the editors would've have also had to do that? But I'm not an expert, and I took the fact that she is written as Dacian, speaks Romanian, and has a Romanian name at face value) but I don't think the slavery elements were handled with the care that they should've been, I'm not personally against writing a romance in Ancient Rome, and I can see that an effort was made to make the hero's situation more complex, but I don't know that it works here.

Ultimately, I think the prose here is good. It's. very engaging. But this concept needed to be workshopped more. You could've honestly gotten a very similar story, with the same dark romance elements (and this is a dark romance, and I do think that should've been clearer) without slavery. Do I think there's a degree of weirdness to the fact that this probably would've gotten less attention if the slavery had only been in "all but name" instead of explicit? Yeah. But here, I just don't think that it work as well as I initially thought, after further consideration and discussion.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.