Three and a half
Tamsyn was found as a baby by the Queen and brought up alongside the three Princesses. You would think that's good, admirable even but Tamsyn was literally used as a whipping girl and yet her loyalty is without question. When Fell, a powerful Lord demands to marry one of the Princesses Tamsyn takes her place but Fell is outraged by her deception. He agrees to take her with him but Tamsyn is far from safe as they undertake a hazardous journey !
This promised a lot and yet the couple barely speak to each other which sadly detracts from any possible romance. In a land that has hunted down Dragons and Witches there should be prosperity but the author begins to show things are not that easy. Perhaps I wanted more world building although I found it very easy to understand what was happening. I think that what was meant to be a big reveal at the end was a little predictable but it certainly means that the following book should be very interesting indeed.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

I absolutely loved this book. It had everything that I love in a story. It spoke to the teenager that lives in me still, of dragons, princes and princesses. There was romance and lust for the adult I am now. This part of the story also had a twist in how love is manifested.
It was a rocking adventure and the protagonist was not a meek and mild princess, she was gutsy and knew what she wanted.
It’s been a long time since I read a fantasy like this and I can’t wait to read the sequel.

A Fire in the Sky is the first book in a new adult romantasy series by Sophie Jordan. With plenty of magic and spice this will be a surefire hit!
Our female main character is Tasmyn and she has a life that is the envy of many - a princess of the royal house. Yet, her role is not of a beloved daughter, but instead the 'whipping girl' for any poor behaviour by the biological daughters. Her life is far from easy but she has grown tough and resilient. Two traits that she will need as she becomes the bride of Lord of the Borderlands; not a marriage of love but one of political mechanications to ensure that her sisters are safe from a similar marriage and that peace is kept.
From the opening page, there is plenty of action and likeable characters.
The story is also fast-paced and easy to read.

This book has absolutely destroyed me - and I don’t say that lightly. I’ve not read spicy or enemies to lovers for a long long time as I got sick of the boring predictability of it all, so when I was offered this I was ready to “meh”.

On the other hand, I love magic, dragons, witches….that is right up my street but it’s been ages since I’ve read anything “dragony”, so I was looking forward to that element.

I couldn’t have been more wrong - I devoured this book - absolutely devoured it. From the start it had me gripped - I’m so pleased that it was a bank holiday weekend so I could devote more time to it. The last section absolutely destroyed me, ripped me apart. Incredible. I can not wait for the next book. Literally I cannot wait.

My thanks to Netgalley and Rachel Quin Marketing for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review (and for destroying me)

A Fire in the Sky sounded exactly like the kind of book I would love to read so I was delighted to be approved to read it. While I thought the book was ok overall, I don’t feel that it added anything new or exciting to an already saturated genre. The usual tropes and things rear their heads in most of these books lately and I feel like when you read a lot of books like this they all blur into one. While not for me, I’m sure there are plenty of readers that will love A Fire in the Sky!

I was so looking forward to this book so thank you NetGalley and HQ for granting me an earc!

It's difficult to explain what worked for me and what didn't without giving away too many spoilers. There's not a huge amount of action until the very end. For me, it was light on the world-building, and the twists and reveals were quite predictable. The writing is also heavy with internal monologue and I found the development of the romance lacked much substance beyond the physical.

I loved the premise! Dragons! A rugged border-Lord come to claim a princess, arranged-marriage situation. Yes, yes yes,

It is a quick read, There's a sprinkle of dragons in this one and more in the next book, I imagine. It ends on a cliffhanger, but nothing heart-wrenching, just one that leaves everything open for book 2.

It was written well, however this was a DNF for me. I think I may have read too many books with similar tropes (there is certainly a glut of them in the market currently.)

I will hopefully return to this at some point in the future and attempt to finish this, despite that!

First half of the book was easily a 4⭐️ for me! In total I'd say 3.5-3.75⭐️

𝑺𝒖𝒎𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚

𝘐𝘯 "𝑨 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚," 𝘚𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘦 𝘑𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘢𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘦. 𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘴𝘺𝘯, 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘰𝘺𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘵, 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘦𝘭𝘭, 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳, 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘢𝘭, 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧𝘧 𝘢 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘴𝘺𝘯'𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘈𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨-𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦, 𝘛𝘢𝘮𝘴𝘺𝘯 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵, 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯.


~ 𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘~

I absolutely devoured the first 200 pages of 𝑨 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒌𝒚!
The book opens with a forced marriage and a beautifully written bedding ceremony that struck the perfect balance of spice without veering into over-the-top territory. The immediate betrayal following the ceremony had me hooked, especially as it set up a compelling dynamic between Tamsyn and Fell. The development of their relationship was captivating, and I was eager to see how their bond would evolve, especially knowing dragons would eventually come into play.


𝑯𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝑻𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔

Unfortunately, my excitement dipped when the story introduced dragon shifters.
I’m not typically a fan of shifters in fantasy, and this shift in focus pulled me out of the story. While the plot remained solid, my investment waned as the narrative drifted away from the marriage and more towards the dragon shifter elements. Despite this, the story was still enjoyable, with a cliffhanger ending that left me wanting more answers.

It’s a good read, especially for those who enjoy shifter elements, even if it wasn’t entirely to my taste.

*Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Wow.

I'm not even sure I know where to start. I'll start by saying I will be recommending this book to whoever will listen! If you love dragons, magic, arranged marriage and spice this book will not disappoint!

From the get go, I found myself loving Tamsyn and wanting the best for her. The chemistry between her and Fell was 🔥🔥 and I appreciated it a LOT!

I am chomping at the bit for the next instalment already!

Thank you so much to HQ and Netgalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A hugely fun Romantasy with all of the elements that make this genre so enjoyable including a resiliant, engaging heroine, smouldering sexual tension, fabulous world building and, of course, dragons. Recommended.

I never read Sophie Jordan's Firelight series back in the day but I did recognize the name. As this was an arranged marriage, a trope I enjoy, I thought I would give it a try. Unfortunately I don't think this was for me.

I thought the beginning was of to a good start when we meet Tamsyn. We get a good idea of what her life is like and why she is so passive when it comes to her life and being injected into this arranged marriage. She's always felt that her only purpose was to protect the actual princesses. Fell also was interesting to get to know in the first half of the book. We get a good feel for his character and how his people and lands are important to him.

However once we move outside of the palace walls is where it takes a turn. We go into very cliche grounds. The start gave potential to deal with these cliche's in a different and well written way. It just didn't turn that way. The relationship between Tamsyn and Fell is very forced and that makes sense of course. But there is also this constant thing about their attraction towards one another. What attraction? They barely spend any time near eachother.

Then there is the 'twist' in twofold that is honestly just written so badly. I was rolling my eyes so hard. It wasn't the twist itself that is the problem but how it was done on two occasions. And once you start looking at the second part of it at the end, it doesn't quite make sense why this wouldn't have come out sooner. Trying not to give away any spoilers here.

The love triangle is also forced and all kinds of cringeworthy. Talk about not listening to a girl's boundaries.

All in all I don't think I am interested in reading the next one, despite the dragons. It is a shame becase I think the start had potential.

I honestly loved every second of this, I cannot believe how much I loved and how fast I read it.
I love the characters and their growth throughout and the intricate world building.
I'm just so excited so this review is less than eloquent but, just please please take a chance in this book so we can all talk about it, okay!? It is so so good!

The first 2/3 of this book I found a bit slow and predictable (3 stars). An easy read but nothing amazing. However, the last 1/3 really picked up (5 stars) and now I'll be looking out for the next in the series! I'd not heard of this author before and I'm glad I didn't know anything about her other series (of which this series is a prequel to), as it would have ruined it for me.

Thank you Netgalley and HQ for the earc in exchange for an honest review. I was super excited to start this as what’s not to love dragons AND romance but unfortunately this was not a good read for me and there were many points when I just wanted to give up and not finish.

I found that the writing was repetitive and basic, jumped quickly rather than going in depth into scenes and I found myself getting confused during the supposed action. The same scenes were told with mostly internal monologue that just didn’t add interest to the story. The love interest just didn’t seem all that believable particularly after the bedding scene which was just uncomfortable to read.

It wasn’t until about 40% into the book that there was movement in the story I thought there would be more banter and scenes between Tamsyn and Fell but they barely spoke to each other and when they did it just fell flat and I found myself just not caring what happened next. The book has spice but with no connection between the main love interests this just felt cringey and forced.

I normally love romantasy but this book failed to deliver either a good fantasy or romance for me. I wanted to know more about the dragons and the magic of the world and I’m guessing the next book will delve into that but unfortunately the series isn’t for me and I won’t be continuing.

Quite good fantasy novel - enjoyable enough.

I believe that this type of fantasy novel is nowadays called a romantasy as it incorporates romantic fiction with a fantasy background. This is the story of Tamsyn, the whipping girl of the royal court, becoming involved, not willingly at first, with a seasoned warrior.. The novel contains the fantasy elements of dragons, magic and witches while also developing the romance and sexual exploits of the main characters.. It has various original ideas and the concept works well, leading to further novels according to the author. I found it entertaining and engaging even if there was too much introspection for my liking as the chapters are all first person. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

A superb addition to the fantasy arena, fast paced and with many twist along the way. Tamsyn is the royal whipping girl - part of the family but not really. She is instructed to make the ultimate sacrifice and wed the Beast of the Borderlands but will tricking him to think she is a princess be her greatest mistake? Dragons are extinct, witches are outcasts but magic lives! Fantastic.

I’ve been hearing so much about this book I did a little squeal when I saw the ARC land in my inbox, and thankfully, it did not disappoint.

A whipping girl for the royal family, Tasmyn is using to bearing the brunt of life for her ‘sisters’, but now she’s taking the biggest hit yet; marrying the Beast from the North. However, what feels like the end of life as she knows it, is actually just the start of something very important.

Unlike some fantasy books that can take you a while to get into, this book had me hooked by its talons from the start and I inhaled it in an afternoon. Fell’s broody, grumpiness mixed with his feelings for Tasmyn was wonderful and I thought Tasmyn was a great FMC. Some of the twists were a little bit predictable, but I like that as it makes me feel smart.

I will be counting down the days for book two because I feel like this series is about to explode in the best possible way.

Thank you Harper Collins for the ARC.

Wow...what a book.
That twist, I really didn't see it coming. And now I need the next book and sincerely hope I don't have too long to wait.
I loved seeing Tamsyn's character progress - for her to finally stand up for herself.
I hope we get to learn more about Fell in the next one. I did have my suspicions about him once that twist mentioned above hit.
I'm so disappointed in Stig and hope he will burn.
If you haven't added this to your tbr, you need to!

This started off as your typical romantasy, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing, a royal setting and the brutal lord that comes to visit to claim one of the princesses as his wife, but gets way more than he bargained for.
Tasmyn, isn't technically a royal princess, she's the royal whipping girl.

What to expect
Grumpy broody MMC
Resilient FMC
Royals
Dragons
Magic

Dragons are extinct - or so they thought. This was such a refreshing twist on a dragon book. One that I don't think has been done yet. And I'm really looking forward to where this series takes us. About 50% in I could see where this was going and the twist was semi predictable, but honestly sometimes I find a huge comfort reading books like this.

My only critic is that it actually could be longer! It would help turn the language from NA to epic fantasy with more worldbuilding and a bit less inner monologue, but it wasn't a deal breaker, it meant I read this super fast because it was so easy too.

Of course it ends of a dreaded cliffhanger, like most series, so I'll definitely be eagerly awaiting the next installment.

A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan | Pub Date Sep 26 2024 – 4 stars
#AFireintheSky is the first book in a new series by Sophie Jordan. Set in a world where magic and dragons once existed but are now only memories, the story centers on a girl named Tamsyn. Found as a baby and raised in the palace by the royal family, she serves as a "sister" to the princesses and as their whipping girl. When Fell, The Beast of the Borderlands, comes to the king demanding one of his daughters as a wife, the royal family decides to sacrifice Tamsyn, passing her off as a "real" princess. With no choice, Tamsyn accepts the role. On their wedding night, when the truth is revealed, Tamsyn finds herself an enemy of Fell. But with their marriage already consummated, he has no choice but to take his not-so-royal wife back to his people. The journey to her new home is treacherous, and not all of Fell’s people are pleased with what has happened. When one of them attempts to take advantage of Tamsyn, her true and dangerous nature is unleashed. As secrets come to light, the question remains: will the growing feelings between Tamsyn and Fell be strong enough to withstand the challenges they face?
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The characters are well-developed and likable, with the FMC standing out as particularly unique and fresh. However, I would have liked to see a bit more chemistry between Tamsyn and Fell. The writing is smooth and the story flows easily, making it an enjoyable read. I gave this book 4 stars, mainly because I wanted more detailed descriptions of the world, more interaction from side characters, and felt that some scenes were either too rushed or felt a bit choppy.
Overall, though, I really liked this book and I'm looking forward to the next one to see where Tamsyn's journey leads.

Publisher: @hqstories
Pages: 384

Thank you @NetGalley and @sosophiejordan for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.