4.5 🌟

It feels so amazing to be back in this world with Cayden and Elowen 🥹 this book was everything I needed and more. It immediately picks up from where book one ended and had me hooked from the first page. I just want to say the lore in this one is too good. We learn SO much more about Cayden and Elowen as individuals and about the dragons and the magic system, it was so beautifully fleshed out. The pacing was absolutely perfect I literally devoured this book.

Cayden, Cayden, Cayden. Y’all, the YEARNING?! Omg I was quite literally screeching 🤣😭 Cayden is a man down bad and we LOVEEEEEE to see it. The king of yearning and pining 😭🥹
And I absolutely loved seeing Elowen fight for what she deserves she is one of my favorite fmcs and I just love this world so so much. Ryder, Saskia, Finnian and some new comers that I’m curious to see more of in the next book 🤭 the found family in this series is one of my favorite things ever.

The ending was absolutely crazy I did not see that coming 🫣 & I cannot wait to see where this storyline goes in the next book!

I enjoyed Fear the Flames and I was excited for the second book in this series! I am deciding to dnf at 38% for now. I am having a hard time staying invested in the story and connecting with it. It feels a bit slow to me. While I enjoy the characters, I think I've realized this may not be my favorite fantasy series! Thank you so much to the publisher for the arc!

oh i enjoyed this heaps more than the previous one!! i feel like this had more of a creative direction and it was so much fun to see these beloved characters again!! while maybe not my most favorite fantasy series ever, i would still recommend potentially for a beginner trying to get into fantasy 💫

I would give this 4.5 for the ARC - only reason for the half star is the grammatical errors - usually this does not bother me, but there was a lot of them.

The story overall though is 5/5 stars !! This one absolutely blew me away.

This book nailed the balance between rich world-building, high-stakes plot, and swoony romance. Action-packed, politically charged, and full of DRAGONS. I adored the *fuck the patriarchy* vibes in this one.

The banter was everything, the spice was just right, and that ending? Liv stabbed my heart and twisted the knife. I need the next book yesterday.

This book intense from start to finish!

So much political maneuvering with Elowen and Cayden trying to get as many kingdoms on their side before taking Elowen's rightful throne.

So many little (and big) battles! So much love between Elowen and Cayden, though it had to be worked at after Cayden's little betrayal at the end of Fear the Flames. He takes such good care of Elowen and is honestly just perfect. He would also destroy anything and anyone in the way of his wife.

Since Fear the Flames was all about the heist to rescue the dragons, this one had a lot more of the dragons in it! We got to see a bit of all of their personalities too and I loved all the images of my mind of Elowen being surrounded by 5 dragons!

The ending is a HUGE cliffhanger and also had me sobbing. The next book can't come quick enough!

Read if you love:
-Political intrigue
-Burn the world for her MMC
-Dragons!
-Fierce found families
-"My wife"
-Celestial symbolism and gods/goddesses
-Anxiety rep

Thank you Dell Romance books for the eARC! My thoughts are entirely my own.
Finish date: 4/15/25, Release date: 7/29/25

Great story development and world building. Kept a good pace and I was fully engaged throughout the whole story. I’m just sad that I have to wait for the next one!!!

Oh. My. Gosh. This was the perfect book two. I’m obsessed with this story and these characters. The world building was spot on, the characters are more developed. It’s just so so so good. I can’t wait for more people to read this.

In the highly anticipated follow-up to Fear the Flames, Cayden and Elowen are about to be husband and wife in a marriage of convenience. Elowen is furious about being used by Cayden, and Cayden is determined to win back Elowen’s heart and gain revenge at the same time. Elowen has also been reunited with her beloved dragons and restored as the rightful queen. However, nothing can be easy for these two and they face peril at every turn.

I really loved this sequel as it dove further into the lore of this story. I loved getting more of Cayden’s backstory along with Elowen’s, and getting introduced to new characters and learning more about the dragons and magic. The marriage of convenience was such an excellent addition to this series and the start of the book had such great enemies to lovers banter and groveling from Cayden. I cannot wait for the third book after the cliffhanger of an ending we were left with! Fans of romantasy, dragons, marriage of convenience, found family, and latent magical abilities will love this book.

Thank you to Olivia Rose Darling and Dell for the arc and chance to be an early reader and reviewer.

5⭐️
3🌶️

Thank you NetGalley and Ballantine for the e-arc of this book.

When I got the notification that I received this arc, I literally jumped out of my chair and jumped for joy!!! Fear the Flames was one of my top reads of 2024 and could not wait for Wrath of Dragons 🐉 and it did not disappoint!!!

Book 2 kicks off right where book 1 ended and we see Elowen and Cayden navigate through their new lives of becoming rulers, plotting their revenge against Elowen’s father and kingdom, and their now complicated relationship.

Elowen doesn’t know what to feel. She’s second guessing everything that happened between her and Cayden, wondering if any of it was real. Cayden is doing whatever he needs to prove to her that it was. Their love story is one of my favorite of all time! The devotion they have and how they build each other up to stand on their own while knowing they don’t have to.

We see Elowen’s relationship with her dragons continue to grow as well, learning about each one individually, as well as trying to find out more about their history and connection to the long asleep gods.

We also start to dive a bit more into the gods and how they weave into the story despite the fact they’ve been gone for centuries and very few people still necessarily worship them still.

One thing I love about this series is the found family. It’s one of my favorite tropes for a book. We continue to see the closeness of the core group while adding a few characters I know we’re going to grow to love as well ❤️

The spice 🌶️🥵 ahhhh, the spice! I love how the spice is intertwined in the story without it feeling forced. And there’s a good amount and good quality (also, I always love spice with dialogue going on vs just telling us what’s happening).

This book once again doesn’t necessarily end on a cliff hanger in a sense of cutting a scene off in the middle but rather perfectly leading us as readers to the next book.

I had every feeling possible reading this book! Kicking my feet, yelling at the characters, crying my eyes out, just everything! I didn’t want the book to end!

I have my theories on a few things and interested to see if I end up being correct with any of them come book 3! Haha.

It is safe to say that Olivia Rose Darling absolutely BROUGHT IT with book two. Seeing this arc in my inbox instantly brought me joy. I love this world and its character’s so much. Elowen was just as fierce and bold in book two. I loved seeing her character develop as her revenge arc progressed. I also loved seeing that the banter between Cayden and Elowen was back and better than ever. I found myself grinning down at the pages at each and every encounter they had. This is a fictional couple that will fight fire, water, hell, and earth for each other and I absolutely adore them. Book 2 definitely does focus a lot more on world building and expanding on what we know already. I think the author allowed this to progress in a natural way that did not feel like info dumping. It felt very natural to the story and the sequence of events. That being said, I did feel like due to the need for information that this book was a little less fast paced. Take that with a grain of salt because I do consider the pacing adequate due to the need for this new information.
I will always be a sucker for a good high fantasy filled with dragons and badass female main characters. The only thing that makes this so much better is when it leaves me feeling emotionally wrecked. By the time I reached the last page I knew this one would haunt me for quite some time. For the readers who love a good emotional roller coaster, this one is for you.

Many thanks to the publisher for the e-arc. I’m glad I got to continue in this world and see the characters embrace themselves and their realities. I was a bit surprised with the ending being a cliffhanger, but look forward to reading the next book just as much as I did this one.

4.5! This book was a solid 4 until the end blew me away. I loved getting more information on the world and its Kingdoms, getting to meet new characters like Zarius and Zale, and especially learning more about the magic system. Seeing El discover her magic and then learn how to use it, and then by the end seeing Cayden discover his as well was really satisfying. I'm impatiently waiting for the next book already wanting to know if he gets to bond any creature, seeing how the new characters and their relationships (with S and F) develop and deepen especially in the midst of what is most likely grieving the death(s) of El (and Cayden). The second prophecy was a really interesting addition, and it makes me think more about what the full first prophecy was and what, if anything, was missing. I definitely think book 2 was an improvement to the first book. I read the indie version of the first but then was a bit dissapointed at how much was cut for the republication of it, but I was definitely not dissapointed by this book!

Thanks for the advanced copy of the book. I LOVED this book! Loved getting to see the relationship continue to develop between the FMC and the MMC, the side characters continued to be great! I loved getting to see how the story continued to develop and it flowed very smoothly. I can’t wait to see what happens next!

I was so excited when i got approved for this!! After the ending in Fear the Flames, I was immediately needing book two!! I loved this and had a great time!!