I love a dragon book and was really excited to get into this! I just struggled with the character development (moreso the lack thereof). I often find that good characters can really hold a book together and get me so invested, but Arla and Hark just didn’t do that for me here and I really struggled to care about what happened to them.

I do think others will be able to connect with them and will love this, it just didn’t work for me personally.

Thank you so much to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the arc. 🫶🏻

Oh, how I loved the majestic dragons of Dragon Hart! This fantasy debut from Abbie Eaton is captivating. There are plenty of adventures, thrills, surprises and heart-stopping events that kept me on the edge of my seat. The story begins at a slower pace but this allowed me to get to know the lay of the land, the traits of the main characters and the predicaments they face. But as the plot progresses, so does the action and what a wild ride it is!

Yes, the dragons have disappeared for a long a time but we discover the reason and their whereabouts and the promised one that ushers in a new age. Arla Reinhart is the personal assassin to the King of Hadalyn. She was taken in by the Hadalyn King, after her parents were killed by the opposing kingdom. Her painful losses fuel her determination to rid the evil forces that surround her. She has trained and worked hard to climb the ranks and is feared by all for her warfare skills and astute awareness. She is not a believer of gods or dragons, though, for it seemed they abandoned her when she needed them most—to save her parents. This poses some issues and blind spots in her vision. But we know she is going to be challenged and confronted on these points for this is a story about magic and dragons! And the rise of one who will become the Dragon Hart, the leader of these magnificent beasts.

A perilous assignment is set before her when important shipments go missing. This thievery affects the kingdoms welfare and so Arla is asked to restore order. But not alone. She is tasked with hooking up with Hark Stappen, who is part of the kingdom who killed her parents. This intense hatred for Hark and what he represents sets her on edge. This emotional connection and conflict will definitely pose some major issues. Lack of trust being one of them. But she must learn to co-exist with Hark and make plans to save the kingdoms. Arla is forced to work with the arrogant, handsome ambassador, for together they must solve the dilemma that each of their kingdoms have requested of them. It will take them into places of mixed alliances, where they will dine with royalty, fight in taverns, jails and castles. Along the way Arla learns some surprising things about her partner in crime that will cause her to look upon him in a different light. Her adventure will unveil many secrets and cause a transformation in her, too. She will learn more about her heritage: that the blood in her veins is very different than she expected. She will discover her biggest asset and purpose. Adventures with Hark will open her eyes to a world she has never known.

I loved the tension between Arla and Hark, then the attraction but the surprises are delightful. The Dragons are glorious and those scenes sent my heart and imagination soaring. I was impressed with the writing skill of this debut author. The dialogue suits the characters and the construction of the fantasy realm setting is appropriate. This first book is set up well for the continuation of the story of these fascinating people. Book one contains powerful enemies, a tale of revenge, an enemies to lovers trope, a saviour-hero plot, unbelief - belief in magic, unveiling of life shattering secrets, a battle for freedom from slavery, a new call on Arla’s life and the release of dragon power and protection. As mentioned, I loved the dragon scenes as they are gloriously conveyed in stunning detail and are among my favourites in the novel!

This Dragon Hart debut is an admirable imaginative effort that I greatly enjoyed. It will be exciting to see the next segment, too. I, for one, will be willing and waiting anxiously to read this sparring couple’s next adventures. What new kingdom surprises await us? Bring it on, Abbie! 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to One More Chapter and Netgalley for the review copy.

A debut novel with lots of promise. The story line drew my interest. The character dvelopment didn't hold it. I do think Abbie Eaton's story of this young assasin assigned to work with a man she has reason to dislike showed moments of excellence, just not enough of them.

Thank you for the chance to read this ahead of release! Fans of dragons and slow burn and enemies to lovers and intrigue will really like this book. It wasn’t quite for me as I found I wasn’t really invested in the characters/plot but this is likely a personal issue and others would enjoy! I’ll still recommend.

Book Review: Dragon Hart by Abbie Eaton
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
(Tropes: Dragons, Hidden Royalty, Found Family, Slow Burn Romance)

Dragon Hart absolutely swept me away. From the very first page, Abbie Eaton had me hooked with vivid world-building, rich mythology, and a heroine who’s impossible not to root for. This book felt like wrapping yourself in a cozy fantasy blanket—filled with danger, desire, and destiny.

Our main character, Hart, is fiery, flawed, and fiercely loyal. Her journey from self-doubt to self-discovery is beautifully written, and you feel every bit of it alongside her. The dragons? Breathtaking. I could practically hear their wings beat and smell the smoke when they roared. Eaton creates a world that feels lived-in—magical yet grounded, filled with secrets that unfold at the perfect pace.

Let’s talk romance. It’s a slow burn, but so worth the wait. There’s tension, banter, and that delicious push-pull dynamic that keeps you flipping pages long past bedtime. And the found family element? Heart-melting. It reminded me why I love fantasy so much—it’s not just the magic, it’s the people who make the story feel like home.

If you’re into dragon lore, strong female leads, and that perfect blend of action, angst, and affection—Dragon Hart needs to be on your shelf. This was a five-star read for me, and I already know I’ll be thinking about this world long after the last page.

Dragonhart is a fun fantasy debut with all the ingredients I love—dragons, enemies-to-lovers tension, and a fierce heroine who definitely doesn’t have time for feelings (until she does). Arla, a royal assassin, is forced to team up with Hark, the guy whose kingdom ruined her life. Cue snark, slow-burn chemistry, and a magical journey through crumbling kingdoms.

It’s got drama, intrigue, and a bit of spice—perfect if you’re into romantasy with edge. Some parts felt a little rushed, but overall, a solid read!

Dragonhart - Abbie Eaton

I thought this was just okay. The premise really intrigued me but it did fall a little flat.
It felt very similar to other fantasy books but I didn’t fall in love with the characters.
There’s nothing wrong with this book I just didn’t really connect with it.

“Beneath Castle Grey, there are dragons in a slumber so deep, not even gods can wake them”

“When I touch you again, I want you to remember every second of it”

I really enjoyed this book. A well written enemies to lovers fantasy story where the magic dragons held has been hunted and desperately craved for too long, and two people of rival kingdoms have to work together for peace. Only not everything is as it seems. Arla and Hark’s story is intriguing and beguiling and it’s been a pleasure getting through it. It was action packed, it was fast paced and every banter scene was funny and entertaining and I loved it. There were some mild spicy scenes too which are always appreciated. And, as always, when the “fuck it” moment is revealed … I’m a puddle on the floor!!!!
I’m glad I had a chance to read this book and I truly think a lot of people will enjoy it too!!

“And when I bring him back, we’ll storm that city and burn its king to ash”

“She was blood, and fire, and truth, and she would never again be useless. She would never again be that child locked in a dresser, watching her kingdom fall before her”

Thank you to Abbie Eaton, Harper Collins UK, and One More Chapter for providing me with this eARC.

I went into this book with so much anticipation — the cover, the title, and the description all pulled me in effortlessly. The opening had me fully hooked, and I was excited to see where the story would lead.

However, as the plot unfolded, I found myself becoming increasingly distracted and struggling to stay engaged. I kept holding on, thinking perhaps it was because the book is written in third-person — a narrative style that usually demands more of my attention — but the further I read, the more difficult it became to stay immersed.

That said, this isn’t a reflection of the writing itself or the premise, which both held a lot of potential. I personally found the pacing a little too slow for my taste, and the FMC's arrogance and anger began to wear on me as the story progressed. While I’m sure there’s a character arc intended for her, I’m not certain I’ll be able to see it through just yet.

I do hope to revisit this book in the future, when I can return to it with fresh eyes and perhaps a different mindset.

So much potential here, but it fell short for me.
Honestly, Arla might be one of the most annoying fmcs I’ve encountered in a while.
She’s honestly so irritating, and I honestly don’t know how she’s the King’s personal assassin when she is so completely incompetent.
Honestly, she ruined my whole reading experience.
Overall, a frustrating read that could have been great.

Dragonhart by Abbie Eaton offers an intriguing concept with dragons, magic, and a strong central character, but it didn’t fully deliver on its promise for me. The world-building is solid, and there are moments where the story really shines, especially during the action scenes and emotional turning points.

However, the pacing felt uneven at times—some parts dragged while others moved too quickly to feel meaningful. The character development had its highs, but I found it hard to connect with a few of the side characters, who felt a bit underdeveloped.

That said, the author clearly has talent, and fans of fantasy looking for a lighter, character-driven story may enjoy this more. It’s a good foundation, and with a bit more refinement, future installments could really take flight.

Abbie Eaton's debut fantasy romance "Dragonhart" offers an intriguing premise in a world where dragons have disappeared and kingdoms are in decline. The story follows Arla Reinhart, the king's assassin, who partners with Hark Stappen, an ambassador from the rival kingdom that killed her parents.

The world-building has some interesting elements, particularly the mythology around the absent dragons and gods. I enjoyed the journey aspect of the story as Arla and Hark travel across kingdoms, encountering both royal courts and rougher tavern scenes along the way.

Their relationship develops from initial hostility to something deeper, which creates some genuinely engaging moments. The gradual revelation of secrets between their kingdoms adds nice complexity to both the plot and their relationship. What I found most compelling was Arla's internal journey - watching her tough exterior slowly reveal the vulnerability beneath as she's forced to question her long-held beliefs about magic, the gods, and even her sworn enemies.

If you're looking for a fantasy romance with a strong female protagonist and enjoy stories about unlikely partnerships that bloom into something more, "Dragonhart" might be worth adding to your TBR pile!

This book is about Arla who gets sent on a mission with Hark, someone she despises with her whole heart, because she blames him for the death of her parents. But unfortunately they are stuck with eachother on this mission and they have to make it work.

I need to start with that I did not finish this book. I have struggled to read at least 10 chapters to be able to give this a fair chance, but I started to get frustrated and irritated so I decided it was fair for me to DNF this book at 27%. I tried my best but I could not get into this. I will try to explain it the best I can, so here we go.

The first chapter was ok. We got a nice introduction into Arla and the story started immediately. However, it feels like Arla's character is build only on hate. Hate for her job, hate for the neighbouring country, hate for her rivals. She even hates when she likes something. To me this feels very very flat. I get that she is angry, but when angry is the entire personality of a person, it is not ok. What I have read was so negative, even the other characters were angry at the world and it honestly felt like anger was everyones personality. Also, this is supposed to be an Adult romantasy, it feels very very very YA. The way the characters are described, only one or two character traits. The FMC acts and behaves like a spoiled teenager in the midst of their puberty where everyone is against them and it is them against the world. She has a very adult job, but the way she acts she honestly sounded more like a 16 year old than an adult. I have no idea in what age range she should fall, because that is not mentioned in the part I have read. Even the conversations with other characters felt flat and young. They are supposed to be adults but I cannot imagine them being adults.
She constantly acts to violence, she is violence and violence is she. There also is a constant "I hate him" vibe going on and it is being mentioned multiple times per chapter.

I got Throne of Glass vibes very early on, but then a temu ripoff from the original. The story was lacking, we were thrown all around, parts I would have loved to know more about were over in a couple scentences and irrelevant things were dragged out immensly. The pacing is weird. They get their mission very early on in the book. Arla and Hark need to travel a long time, perfect time to get to know these characters a bit more. Unfortunately, they are there in no time and I was thoroughly disappointed by that. Great opportunity missed to build a foundation between these two important characters.

I felt frustrated and irritated probably most of the time. The amount of eyerolls I have done are lost to time. I absolutely did not enjoy this.

However, I do think this book would be a nice read if you don't need a lot of character build. I think this would be great if you just started reading fantasy, this could be a nice read to start. It is not overly complicated and even though I find the pacing weird, it is sorta logical?
Anyhow, I think this is a better fit in the YA section and I think that age group would find this book to be a nice read.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc. All opinions are my own.

Hello! Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this advanced copy of Dragonhart! I read it in one afternoon, it really hooks you. Who doesn’t love a FMC who’s an assassin who worked her butt off to get to where she is. Even willing to stab her hand to prove her loyalty. Then we have our MMC who is more than meets the eye and has more than one secret. I absolute love Arla and Harks banter and fighting and can’t wait to see more of their story together. At first I thought this was going to be a standalone because everything was going so smoothly towards the end, but I’m glad the author left some things unfinished so we can now have a book 2!
Thank you again and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT

One of the best fantasy romance I have read. Arla is one of the best FMC I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Her rage her mistrust....yeah I could write a full dissertation on our girl!!

I loved the dragons and the magic and it felt was made 10 x better with Arla beliving none of it!

Hark was amazing and I loved his POV chapters, the enemies to lovers was done so well.

This was a great debut. The magic and dragon elements were both really enjoyable.

I love an unhinged and stabby FMC, and Arla definitely fits that vibe. I had a like/hate relationship with her. She was selfish and hard to like at times, but I still found myself empathising with her. Her sassy remarks made me laugh, and I liked seeing some growth in her character as the story progressed.

Hark, on the other hand, completely stole the show for me. Every time I thought I had him figured out, a new secret would come to light and totally blow my mind. The banter between him and Arla was hilarious. I'm really excited to see what this author writes next.

Thank you to One More Chapter, Netgalley and Abbie Eaton for my advanced copy

In "Dragonhart" by Abbie Eaton, we visit a world where the dragons and gods have vanished and kingdoms teeter on the brink of collapse. Arla Reinhart, the king's assassin, must reluctantly partner with her personal sworn enemy, the ambassador of the neighbouring kingdom, Hark Stappen. Their journey across both kingdoms unveils a shocking truth that challenges everything Arla believes.

Arla Reinhart is a complicated individual who works as the King's assassin. Her position in court allows readers to explore themes like loyalty, revenge, and doubts about faith. Her conflicting relationship with Hark Stappen introduces an enemies-to-lovers romance that goes deeper than just personal dislike; it also reflects long-standing conflicts between their nations.

If you are challenged by the stereotypical 'strong' female fantasy protagonist who solves everything only through violence, the beginning of the book could give you the wrong impression. Arla isn't just an assassin, she is a more complex heroine despite all the tough situations she is put in.

This book is most interesting for its undercurrent of political and spiritual turmoil. With no dragons or gods around anymore, Arla is reluctant to believe in either even when many others still do. Arla faces questions about her past, her enemies, and her abandoned beliefs about the world that have shocking answers.

Dragonhart is ideal for readers who enjoy character-driven fantasy with enemies-to-lovers romance, complex heroines seeking vengeance, and richly developed worlds where lost magic and political intrigue intertwine.

Thank you to One More Chapter for providing a review copy of this book at no cost and with no obligation. I reviewed this book voluntarily, and all opinions are my own.

I wanted this book to be so much more than what it was. There's a chance that, once I saw the extended title on GoodReads I had a better idea of what to expect, but I still went in hopeful.

What I found was that I wasn't a huge fan of the main character, she was exactly the female main character expected for this style of story: stabby, sarcastic, quick to anger, good at almost everything, but with one reoccurring noteable weakness. With spoiling too much of the story, the biggest negatives to the story were its predictability and the lack of emotional maturity in Arla and Hark.

Positive take aways for me were the themes of justice and morality (the second of which we saw Arla grapple with from time to time), the world (I enjoyed the political tension between the two kingdoms covered in Dragonhart), and the open ending without the need for a cliffhanger to end on.

Overall, this wasn't a favorite read of mine, not because the book was bad, but because it stuck too closely to the tropes inherent to its genre and didn't throw any surprises my way. Between that and my lack of connection with the main character, this wasn't the book for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read and review Dragonhart in exchange for my honest review.

As a huge fan of FW, I jumped at the chance to read this. The story was good, The world building was pretty minimal which was okay. It was a fun read and I did enjoy it, but think it's more NA than I anticipated. Arla was a pretty infuriating FMC at times and not the brightest when it came to her "assassin" skills, but this was a debut novel and I expected it to have some kinks. I do think the story has potential and the author's writing is really good.

Thank you Netgalley & One more chapter publishing for an Arc in exchange for my honest review!

I really am unsure how I felt about this one. There were parts I enjoyed and equally parts I really struggled to get through and found hard to pick it up each day.

🌟Summary🌟
Arla Reinhart fought tooth and nail to become the kings assassin after the gods and dragons abandoned her world and she lost everything. When important shipments go missing that put her kingdom in jeopardy, she’s forced to ally with a man she hates, Hark Stappen. He’s the ambassador to the kingdom she believes responsible for her traumatic loss, and would like nothing more than to kill him. But as they hunt for answers, Arla faces shocking truths of things she long since thought buried and grapples with her growing affections for her enemy.

🌟Review🌟
I thought Arla was very similar to Celeana but with an attitude problem. She constantly talked about herself as the best assassin, but would then undermine herself by pointing out things she overlooked. Her back and forth with her beliefs being challenged and her denying the truth infront of her was tiring. I did enjoy her struggle with accepting help/her independence and the gentle reminder that you don’t have to go at life alone and it’s okay to not do it all. Hark Stappen was likeable, but I had a hard time understanding why he was such a broody arsehole as his back story wasn’t the clearest. The banter and romance between them felt forced and I didn’t enjoy their relationship until the very end.

The world building was complex and I found it hard to understand at the beginning, but became clearer as it went on. There was a lot packed into 400 pages and at times it felt action packed but simultaneously also filler.

I really wanted to love this book as I could tell so much love went into it and I even read the acknowledgements and could feel the authors passion, but it just didn’t fully hit for me. As a debut novel I think this was good and can only get better from here!