Thank you NetGalley for this ARC!

3.5? I honestly have not been this conflicted after finishing a book in a while...

If you were looking for a Celaena Sardothien & Rhysand romance but without fae- this might be for you. It was definitely giving ToG x ACOTAR

Our FMC is THE assassin- She has a reputation, she NEVER misses with her blades, she reminds everyone how good she is pretty frequently, then proceeds to miss really obvious things and be bested or caught off guard repeatedly.

Our MMC is an ambassador from a rival kingdom- she hates him (because of his kingdom) and he finds her very irritating (to be fair she kind of is). They are sent on a quest together and butt heads the whole time (sorry I mean banter).

There was nothing inherently wrong with this book... I actually really liked the writing and the pacing was consistent.
Did some parts stall and I had to force myself through? Yes- I was promised a dragon so I skimmed the filler/continued descriptions and inner monologues (I'm sure plenty of readers who connect with this story and the characters will appreciate it more than I did).

I was initially sucked in but then I lost connection to the FMC and then the plot started to stall.
At 50% we finally get something to make us feel any type of way for the story and it picks up a little
The 80% area had some exciting stuff- almost felt rushed after how boring in comparison the 30-45% range was.
Bonus points for the ending not being a cliff hanger.


I will say the similarities to ToG & ACOTAR did irk me a little towards the end.

Our FMC is A LOT like Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass- both parents murdered during an invasion leaving her orphaned, she is taken in and trained to be an assassin, becomes the best assassin, loves dresses and fine things, becomes the King's assassin, ends up being the prophesized chosen one.

The MMC and his dynamic with the FMC were quite simialr to Rhysand and Feyre in A Court of Thorns and Roses- he is broody and secretive but never evil, she hates him because of where he comes from, she discovers he is the heir to the place she hates, she saves him, he saves her, she admits to liking him, he admits to liking her WAY earlier, he literally created Velaris- sorry I mean Flambriar, the starry haven hidden in the valley of snow covered mountains that no one knows exists in the North.

Oh and the dragon... I LOVE a dragon... I read this book because it had dragons... this dragon was literally Tairn's sister.
They had the same telepathy bond as Fourth Wing and the dragon's dialogue was the same tone and attitude as Tairn- even down to not really liking the MMC.

Again, maybe it was just me.

I liked the writing, the plot in the middle was a bit slow, and the FMC was annoying/very plot hole heavy- as a whole I enjoyed it but not as much as I would have hoped to.

Arla is officially one of my favorite FMC I have read about. This book hit it off right awayand I love it when that happens. Arla is the King’s Assasin, she decides to become the king’s assasin after she loses her parents in war, and the king taker her in afterwards. She has a very fun rivalry with the mysterious ambassador to the enemy kingdom, Hark. At first, this rivalry felt very much like true hate for each other but when they are assigned to travel and work together, well it definitely gets fun. The banter was there, the tension and we even see some court intrigue.
I was so entertained by Arla’s character because even though she is the King’s assassin, she has a kick for court life. On too of that, she is very cynical with her not believing in magic or the dragon tales the people tend to lean on. It was very refreshing to meet an FMC who’s thoughts and belief flew freely. And she never hid it from anyone, she was honest from the beginning.
I admit that the plot was very well set. I didn’t think I would read about that kind of conflict in this book, or that dragons were for real involved. The enemy kingdom made a great villain and Arla’s king switching sides gave it even more feeling to the conflict. I’m really looking forward to Arla meeting up with her king again after everything that has happened. But more than anything, Hark and Arla’s relationship arc was amazing. From hated rivals to working rivals then allies and then lovers? It was great and definitely had great pace.

Arla Reinhart, the king's assassin, is reluctantly paired with Hark Stappen, an ambassador from a rival kingdom that was responsible for the death of her family. This unlikely partnership uncovers dark secrets between their kingdoms, bringing them closer in ways they never imagined, including love.

The constant emphasis on Arla’s assassin title felt repetitive, as did her intense disdain for magic and the opposing kingdom.

However, once the plot gained momentum halfway through, I found myself completely hooked. Although the side characters have minimal screen time, their witty banter suggests they will play important roles in the future books, and I’m already looking forward to their development. The romantic tension was gradually built up and executed perfectly, especially considering Arla’s struggle to open up, particularly when it came to Hark, whom she initially despises. I appreciated how Arla’s character was portrayed: outwardly tough, yet we see her inner struggles and insecurities through her perspective.

As Arla’s journey with Hark unfolded, I became increasingly invested in the story. Around the 70% mark, when a major twist occurs, I couldn’t help but be moved to tears by how beautifully the moment was written. It felt like a pivotal turning point for Arla, a character who has spent so much of her life in isolation.

Overall, I’m eagerly anticipating the rest of this series. Dragonhart is clearly just the start of an epic romantic fantasy that promises to earn a well-deserved place on the bookshelf once it's published.

Thank you so much to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC of Dragonhart.

This is a great debut novel by Abbie Eaton, it's got all of the tropes we love:
- Forced proximity
- Enemies to lovers
- ... and of course dragons!

It was giving SJM Throne of Glass type vibes in places. Well developed characters with just the right amount of spice!

Dragonhart is a rollicking fantasy story of adventure, magic , enemies to lovers, evil manipulative royalty and dragons .
Arla lost her parents at a young age and wanting to exact revenge on the perpetrators she has fought and clawed her way up to become strong and widely feared as she is given the top position as ‘Kings Assassin’.
Hark is an ambassador for the neighbouring kingdom that Arla hates and has little time for Hark despising him for the kingdom he represents. On the orders of her King she must work with Hark and travel to his kingdom to meet his king.
As their travel progresses all manner of problems and violence occurs, working together they develop a closer understanding of each other discovering things from ancient history to unworldly events putting the citizens of Harks kingdom in great danger.
The story is fast paced and well written with great imagination, I’m not usually a fantasy reader but thoroughly enjoyed this book
My thanks to net galley and publisher for the opportunity to review this book honestly.

The king’s assassin, Arla Reinhart is assigned to work along side Hark Stappen, an ambassador for a kingdom who slain her family. The unlikely duo discover evils between their kingdoms that bring them closer than thought imaginable.

I wanted to love this story too much. It has the all the right tropes and plots but I feel like they weren’t executed well. The dialogue between the main characters felt juvenile, constant bickering to instant love.

The constant reminder of Arla’s title as an assassin was too redundant. As well as her hatred of magic and the rivaling kingdom.

Once the story started to pick up halfway through I was invested. I loved the side characters and the build up of the conflict/resolution.

This book is marketed as fantasy but there is a lack of world building. I wanted more fantasy elements, more dragon involvement. More details on magic, not just a disappearing act.
However, this could lead to a great build up for a second book to introduce the magic more.

Tropes:
🗡️Enemies to Lovers
🗡️Forced Proximity
🗡️Strong FMC
🗡️Dragons and Magic

Perfect read if you loved Assassin’s Blade!

Thank you NetGalley, Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter and Abbie Eaton for the arc!

Dragonhart is the book that I needed after Fourth Wing. It has everything I love dragons, magic, romance and fantasy combined to make a entertaining and utterly breathtaking story. The settings are magical and the romance has just the right amount of spice. The characters develop well creating emotions and you can't go past a book with Dragons!

Following the deaths of her parents at the hands of the neighbouring kingdom, Arla Reinhart has spent years honing her skills to be a fearsome killer. When she's sent on a mission with Hark Stappen, ambassador of the kingdom she despises, it seems likely only one of them will make it back in one piece. But not all is as it seems, and there's a hidden world of old magic, gods and dragons to be discovered.

I enjoyed Arla as a main character, someone who is outwardly very strong but through her perspective we witness her doubts and vulnerabilities. As her mission with Hark progressed I found myself getting more and more engrossed in the story.

I had such a good time reading this book, the main character Arla is so likable right from the start and although she is the Kings assassin, she is flawed and that makes you like her even more. Dragons are gone, magic is gone, the Gods are gone, but Arla doesn’t believe any of it was ever real in the first place. She does know for certain that she hates Hark, the ambassador from the Kingdom that killed her parents. So when the King sends them on a mission together – specifically ordering her not to kill him - she knows she will find this very hard! Action packed from the start and full of lovable characters, this author proves on every page with stunning writing that she is a brilliant addition to this genre.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the digital ARC!

My overall opinion of this book was that it was just average, which is represented by the 3 stars. I know this a debut novel, but I really feel like this could have used a lot more polishing. I struggled to really care about the characters - Hark was fine, but he didn't really have much of a personality outside of sniping at Arla. That's even weirder when you consider we get to see his POV at times, and it mostly amounts to...just him kind of mooning about her and making vaguely bad remarks?

We don't really get to experience him much as a character, even though he's there for most of the book. We just know that he's apparently good at fighting and is handsome (I'm guessing? other characters make this point more often).

Arla is an exceptionally annoying character until probably like...60-70% of the way in. She has a super inflated sense of self-worth, and I'm all for a strong female character but she was just so damn annoying about it. In fairness, her superiority complex is pointed out many times by other characters, but her absolute disdain for almost everyone else was irritating. No one else was remotely as good as her, and the Kastonian's were all horrible people who all deserved to die. Other books would at least have the main character look at children and have some sympathy towards them, if not the other civilians who have no involvement in anything that happens. But not Arla - no, everyone can go die for all she cares!

The hilarious thing is that Arla is pretty freaking bad at her job, despite her ego. She gets followed multiple times by Hark, and other people, and never notices them. She proclaims to make sure she knows everything that's going on, yet doesn't know about something glaringly obvious her king is doing. Probably because she's too obsessed with Hark, even if she won't admit it. She also gets bested, regularly, by other people. So, in reality, she's mediocre at best. The fact that she's 18 makes it even more laughable - I'm really expected to believe that this 18 year old is an assassin with years worth of experience and training? I beg authors to make your chief assassin/spy characters be at least like...28 or 29 to make it believable.

The dialogue was very cheesy at times and often made me want to cringe. The side characters existed - that's pretty much all there is to say about them. The dragons existed, too, for some reason. Why? I have no idea. They're apparently related to the plot, but it was paper-thin. Don't expect any characterisation there, either.

The plot barely exists. We get some vague 'the king is doing bad stuff' and all that, but we never actually find out like...why? Why is the bad guy doing this? If you know, congrats - you know more than me! What benefit will this give? Who knows.

The plot can't be helped by the fact the world building is just...terrible. There's the potential for greatness there, but it doesn't hit anything. The whole world-building basically amounts to this - there were dragons who served the gods, they went to sleep, and magic is disappearing.

That's it, that's the world building. No mention of who these gods are, why the dragons served them and all that. Nope, we're just given the slightest bit of info and expected to run with it. Another issue I have with the world-building is that the time scale is just...laughable. I'm expected to genuinely believe that Arla, and other people, don't think the dragons existed when it's only been a hundred years. A hundred years is NOT long enough for all belief in something as big and impactful as that to disappear.

I'm assuming this is book 1 in a series, but I have no idea how the rest of the series will go because this reads like a standalone that's confused about it=self.

Rating: 3-3.5⭐️

This romantasy novel has all the right ingredients but just falls short in delivering that tension and chemistry I usually love. While the story is engaging, I didn't feel a strong connection to the characters and the spark seemed to be missing in the relationship between Arla and Hark.

Arla has trained her way up to become a soldier and eventually the king's assassin. Her life, filled with violence, has been dedicated to serving the king. Her latest mission takes her to a neighboring kingdom that once took everything from her. To make matters worse, she must travel with the arrogant and egotistical ambassador, Hark, with whom she has always had a strained relationship. As they embark on this mission together, secrets and betrayals come to light, revealing that nothing is as it seems in this world of kings, dragons, and magic.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter Publishing for the ARC copy of this book. I honestly don’t really know what to say about this one… I wanted to love it SO much it is a really fun story… but it is too much like Throne of Glass. It could be completely coincidence but literally Arla=Celaena same exact cocky attitude and mannerisms, Hark= Sam, the king is the reason her parents are dead, she is taken in by a man of power who betrays her by way of trading slaves, King of Hadalyn= Arobynn, Arla ends up flirting with a prince of the Kingdom she hates and blames for the death of her parents LITERALLY Dorian! She and Hark hate each other at first then fall in love in the end.They work together to free all of the slaves and want to make the world a better place. Like the plot is good and if I hadn’t read TOG first I would have given this book 5 starts but there are wayyyyy too many similarities for me to be able to love this book, and I didn’t even list everything that was the same it would take forever. I was just disappointed in this book..

I was surprised at how much I thoroughly enjoyed Dragonhart! It’s light, it’s refreshing, it’s dragons, it’s romance. Everything you want in a good Romantasy.

Arla Reinhart, the Kings Assassin, is an interesting character. She started the book annoying me because she was so good at being an assassin but kept missing things. Like not noticing something or being overly cocky. Just simple things. But watching her growth and change made me love her in the end.

Hark, well Hark. He’s just dreamy and broody and yet loyal. He puts on the show of being better than Arla and how there’s such a competition between the two of them but really he’s a golden retriever.

I was not expecting the roller coaster the story took us on. From assassin, to magic, to secret princes, to dragons, to over throwing kingdoms! I mean talk about a ride. It was a lot but at the same time the story flowed so well that I never felt overwhelmed. It was easy to follow.

And seeing Arla slowly melt her exterior and discover herself truly was good to see. Her relationship with Hark was something I was striving to see the entire time. I hope there’s more romance in the next book!

I will absolutely be recommending Dragonhart to all my fantasy reading friends!

My only complaint was the overuse of the word/phrase “gods”. I think I counted it 4x on one page. But it seemed to slow down by the end of the book.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC book!

Dragonhart is a debut novel for author Abbie Eaton. This is the story of Arla Reinhart, eighteen-year-old overconfident, King's assassin for the Kingdom of Hadalyn. Arla is sent on a secret mission by the King who took her in after she was orphaned during an attack on her kingdom by the warring kingdom next door, Kastonia. Accompanying her is the sneaky, shifty ambassador for Kastonia, Hark Stappen. What Arla discovers during her mission changes the way she views her kingdom, her people, and the legends that have haunted her country since before her birth.

While Dragonhart shows a lot of promise as a first novel, it reads VERY heavily as a Throne of Glass fan fiction with a little Fourth Wing thrown in at the end for good measure. There were many, many elements to this story that were similar or the same as things in the TOG novels (a magic system that has supposedly 'disappeared', slavery, an orphan who turns out to be a secret heir to a kingdom in a sense - there were even phrases such as "rattled the stars". I was really looking forward to reading this novel when I read the blurb for it, so I was pretty disappointed when it felt like I was just reading recycled bits of other stories mashed together. The main character Arla is hard to relate to and the chemistry between the two main characters feels kind of forced. This novel shows a lot of promise for Abbie Eaton as an author, but I hope her next novel feels more original.

Thank you to NetGalley, and HarperUK/One More Chapter for providing me with an eARC of this novel to review.

This had a lot of potential and I was interested in the storyline itself.

However it was sadly one dimensional. I felt that I was being told rather than shown the story. Unfortunately I didn’t connect with the characters and there was no tangible chemistry between them so I didn’t invest in their relationships.

I love female rage but it’s Arla’s only characteristic the majority of the time and it makes her hard to connect with, certainly in the first half of the book.

Also considering she is supposed to be an incredible assassin she’s constantly being followed, snuck up on and bested. I could possibly appreciate her attitude if she really was that good but she’s arrogant, stubborn and rude to a fault making her incredibly dislikable.

There were several plot holes and issues between characters which were frustratingly brushed over.

The pacing is off and the language is very repetitive, it felt like every other sentence contained the word Gods which really was grating before the end.

Overall the book did improve towards the end but sadly not enough to save it for me.

This book was pretty average. I would give it a 3.75. It felt like a lot of things in this book were taken from other books. Arla, the FMC, felt very Celaena coded to me, but it was like taking all the worst things about Celaena and making it the character's personality. I did not like the FMC, she was extremely arrogant and hardheaded, the whole book she was sitting on her high horse and her arrogance got the best of her. She was extremely reactionary, to the point the MMC, Hark, could not even cue her into things because she would mess it up. The whole mission she could not let it go that the Kastonian government slaughtered her parents and took it out on the Ambassador who is only slightly older than her. She was super annoying and sort of ruined the book and even the romance. She was so arrogant she missed the fact that Hark had the same eyes as Elrod, the Kastonian King. It was very obvious that Hark was the heir and she skipped right over it because she was acting like a child. I did appreciate that she was actually good at fighting and not just said she was. The whole premise of the book was that she was going to find the dragons and predictably she did. After spending the whole book making everyone who said that magic, gods, and dragons were real the moment she saw concrete proof that it was real she knew how to get to the dragons. The dragon's personality was very reminiscent of Fourth Wing and that was a bit off putting.At the end when everything is over and Hark professes his love it was very reminiscent of Rhys and Feyre. The secret town that Hark built and hid from the world to protect people and the way he talks to Arla was too similar for me. Also, like Arla who is prophesized to save the world is just going to stay in this secret city and not trying to change the current world. She is just going to forget all those suffer in Kastonia at the hand of Elrod... I mean what was the point of the prophecy then. The ending made no sense, and I felt like the book dragged on to just end like that. I really enjoyed the romance between Hark and Arla but not enough to get over her behavior. The world felt extremely underdeveloped, there was no explanation how the magic worked or how Hark could build a town over the north border and that land belong to no kingdom. I am curious how the series will go, and I think this could have been a big book but Arla ruins it.

Thank you NetGalley and One More Chapter for this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book is ADDICTING. This book centers around a world where the dragons and gods have vanished and kingdoms are on the verge of collapse. Arla is the king's assassin who must partner with her sworn enemy, the neighboring kingdom's ambassador.

The enemies to lovers vibes were real. It wasn't just that they disliked each other, it went a layer deeper because of what happened between their countries.

I highly recommend it.

Thank you NetGalley for the arc!

Overall, the setup of the book is very fun! You have an assassin female protagonist forced to team up with her enemy nation’s ambassador for a mission to stop mysteriously disappearing traded goods. And of course the whispers of magic and dragons that have long since disappeared, what’s not to love?

Although I am a huge fan of enemies to lovers in a Romantasies, I think the change from actual enemies to lovers went both too quickly and too slowly. I was itching for them to get together throughout the first half of this book, but they kept treating each other HORRIBLY that I had no hope. And when they did get together, it felt off putting and unnatural to me. Some plotlines did feel predictable, but I am intrigued to see how this sets up the rest of the series.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

Dragonhart was a great debut novel to quench my Onyx Storm hangover. Arla Reinhart, FMC me of Celaena Sardothien from Throne of Glass. A King's assassin, known for her formidable reputation and quick wit. I will say she was extremely off putting and arrogant but I feel that this gives the author a path to have a really wonderful character arc with her in future books in the series.

The pacing was tough. The first half of the book felt slow and uninvolved while the final quarter felt a bit rushed. Overall though, I was fond of the world building and thought the story has a lot of potential to build off of this first installment.

Solid 3.5 stars and I’ll be picking up a copy when it’s released next month!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, One More Chapter/Harper Collins, and the author for the chance to review this ARC!

Thank you NetGalley! ARC read - releasing in April 2025.
A solid 3-3.5 stars - a good romantasy story just missing some depth and chemistry. This has all the right components, but was missing an element of connection to the characters and fire in the relationship between Arla and Hark.

Arla was taken in as a child by the king, an orphan, she trained her way up to become a soldier and then earned the title of the kings assassin. Knowing nothing but violence, she was happy to lead her life in service to the king. Her newest mission would bring her to a neighbouring kingdom that took everything from her. But what's worse than heading into enemy territory in the cold winter? Having to go with the ambassador whose arrogance and ego drive you crazy. Hark and Arla have always had a tenuous relationship, so why not send them off together on a mission? But as secrets and betrayals come to light, Arla realizes that nothing is as it seems in this world of kings, dragons and magic.