A mix of feminine rage, scottish lore and dragons!

Difficult to get into but enjoyable. I hear this is planned to be a massive series so will be interesting to see where this goes.

A Fate Forged in Fire is a compelling and atmospheric entry into the romantasy genre, perfect for fans of slow-burn romance, political intrigue, and fiery magic. Set in a Celtic-inspired world, the novel follows Aemyra, a fiercely determined blacksmith with a hidden claim to the throne and a rare affinity for fire. When her carefully laid plans are shattered, she finds herself forming an uneasy alliance with Fiorean, a dragon-riding prince whose icy demeanor masks his own dangerous secrets.

One of the strongest aspects of the book is its protagonist. Aemyra is a layered and complex character who evolves meaningfully over the course of the story.

This is fantasy/fantasy romance and it's the first in a duology.

Our female main character is the hidden true heir to the throne but when the king is finally killed, his family are not keen to give it up. She's determined to bond to a dragon to increase her power and therefore her chances of winning. But even if she manages that, can she beat both the prince and the religious order which is taking over and hates women.

This has kind of a slow start but does build well once you get into it. The latter part of the book is very tense.

It definitely could have benefitted from a glossary - it only had a pronunciation guide for the gaelic terms and context wasn't always enough to figure things out.

Tone wise, this is very reminiscent of game of thrones, which I did find a bit of a struggle as I don't necessarily enjoy things which have such bleak miserable worlds - many people die violently, and it's just a generally terrible place for women. There's one particular scene with the FMC where I had to put the book down as that was just a lot for me.

If you're a fan of game of throne/house of dragons though, you might love this.

3.75 stars, rounded up.

A new staple of the genre, this was an action packed, romantic, energetic adventure that will leave you thinking about it for days on end once it is finished.

Magic, dragons, lost heirs, enemies to lovers, all things I love. The world was really fun to get into and I love that it’s based on Celtic mythology, something that I haven’t read before.

I can see this one being a staple in the Romantasy genre for many people.

It wasn’t five stars because the FMC was a bit too self absorbed, her cockiness was rude, in a way that maybe tried to emulate classic overly confident FMCs like Aelin or Bryce but it just missed the mark at times. It took me a while to really understand all the terminology used but there was complex world building that the author had clearly taken time to create.

Despite any qualms I had, it’s still got dragons and strong female characters and that means overall I did enjoy it.

This is a Celtic-inspired tale of rebellion, power, and passion introducing us to the fire-wielding blacksmith Aemyra, a heroine born to reclaim a throne lost to patriarchal decay and religious oppression.

Set in the richly imagined realm of Tìr Teine, once ruled by queens and now corrupted by the True Religion’s anti-magic dogma, the story follows Aemyra as she emerges from hiding to claim her destiny. Her plan to bond with the king’s dragon and ascend the throne is thwarted, plunging her into a treacherous court where alliances are fragile and betrayal simmers beneath every smile.

At the heart of the conflict is Prince Fiorean—arrogant, loyal to the old regime, and dangerously compelling. Their enemies-to-lovers arc is both fiery and fraught, adding emotional complexity to the political intrigue. McBride’s prose is lyrical yet accessible, and her world-building is immersive without overwhelming the reader.

What sets this novel apart is its fusion of elemental magic, feminist themes, and romantic tension. Aemyra’s journey is not just about reclaiming power, but redefining it. Challenging the legacy of kings and the cost of silence. The pacing is brisk, the stakes are high, and the emotional beats land with satisfying resonance.

While the novel stands strong on its own, it also lays the groundwork for a sequel that promises even greater upheaval. Hazel McBride has forged more than a fantasy—she’s crafted a heroine worth rooting for and a world worth returning to.

This is the first book in a brand new fantasy romance series that is ideal for readers who are looking for political intrigue, LGBTQIA+ rep, and a slow-burn set in a Celtic-inspired world that has magic, dragon bonding, and feminine rage. This is written in third person, with single POV, and short chapters. It ends on a cliffhanger.

I read this in one sitting because I literally couldn't put it down. This definitely has darker themes and is quite heavy. I noticed a lot of people felt that it was really slow in the first 30% and I have to shake my head because WHAT?! There was so much happening on every page. The writing was well done and the pacing was fantastic. The plot twist felt a little obvious, I had guessed it early on, but it didn't stop me from loudly gasping when it happened. The dragon lore and political aspects of this book were extremely interesting and I can't wait to dive back into this world.

If you love romance with your fantasy, then this one is for you. While the romance does take place, it is not the main plot point. I will absolutely be reading the next book when it comes out; hopefully I can get another ARC because May 2026 seems way too far away!

The Scottish vibes of this books are immaculate - it really helped me get immersed into the world building.
Despite having initial reservations on the FMC I actually began to love her.
The slow burn was really well paced. The magical system/political intrigue and DRAGONS really made for such fun read!
This is my first experience of this author and I can’t wait to read more. Great book for romantasy fans

First and foremost, we have an entitled and somewhat naive leading lady full of feminist rage and a desperate desire to reclaim her birthright. Then we have easy to follow world building, an arranged marriage, an enemies to lovers journey and a lot of political scheming. As an added bonus, we have dragons. Despite some reservations about our main gal, I enjoyed this book more and more as it progressed. The tension, the Celtic lore, the matriarchal society threatened by patriarchal teachings - it all drew me in and, at times, had me seething. I especially loved the cliffhanger ending and the fact it left me with a lingering feeling that there is so much potential for where it will take us next.

Fierce, fiery, and full of heart - Hazel McBride is a blazing new voice in romantasy that needs to be heard!

Five stars from this romantasy girl right here. I devoured this once I hit that halfway mark. It took me a little while to find my footing as there’s a lot of essential worldbuilding dynamics packed into the early chapters - but trust me, once it clicks, it really clicks.

Aemyra is exactly the kind of FMC I love: powerful, flawed, stubborn, and so deeply human beneath all that fire magic. Watching her come into her strength, both politically and magically, was incredibly satisfying. There’s such a rich vein of Scottish culture and heritage running through every page - this is the kind of fantasy that feels grounded in something real, even when dragons are involved.

I need book two NOW!

Gifted with the Goddess’s fire magic, Aemyra has always known she was destined to rule. But Tir Teine has been without a female heir for a century and the corrupt influence of an oppressive religion has been steadily infecting the land. When the old king dies, it is finally time for Aemyra to make her move and seize the throne, and she quickly finds herself thrust into a deadly game of politics and manipulation that she is woefully unprepared for. Throw into the mix the dangerously attractive, cold and arrogant Prince Fiorean, and Aemrya begins to understand the true weight of the crown.

I mostly enjoyed this book. Is it original? Not in the least. But it is pretty well written and contains plenty of action, an incredibly cliched enemies-to-lovers romance and, most importantly, dragons.

Unfortunately, Aemyra was super naïve which made her quite annoying. She was incapable of seeing Fiorean’s point of view on anything and made some very reckless decisions on the assumption that things would sort of just go her way, despite all evidence to the contrary. Most of the other characters, including Fiorean, were one dimensional and light on personality.

It really felt like the romance was the main point of this story, which is fine but means all other areas suffer from a lack of depth and detail. Case in point being the dragons and the way they bonded to their humans. It’s described in the book as a big deal and a special connection, but then the very first people to rock up and find a dragon manage to immediately bond with them. But also the bond seems very tenuous… How has Fiorean been ‘bonded’ with his dragon for 10+ years but needs Aemrya (who has been bonded for a few weeks) to teach him how to connect with his dragon? I don’t get it.

I was lucky enough to get to see Hazel on her book tour and she said that she could always tell in reviews whether someone came to her book with a preference for high fantasy or romance/romantasy. She said that high fantasy readers said things like “this pulled me in from page one” and “it dives straight into the action” and romantasy girlies say things like “slow start but was hooked from halfway” and “it took me a while to get into this but from the 50 percent mark I was obsessed.”

Well slap my ass and call me a romantic because I felt EXACTLY like how she said.

The world building and politicking is just on another level to most other fantasy books. There clearly has been some SERIOUS thought and planning that has gone into the history, society, religions and gender constructs of this world.

This book is the exact reason why we need everyone’s voices in literature. Scottish McBride has been open about being autistic and bisexual, and what she has produced is an immaculate example of nuanced and genuine representation of her culture, heritage and identities. Aemyra is a complex and fiery FMC who you want to succeed while enjoying her snark and intrusive thoughts.

But I’d be lying if I said the first half didn’t drag just a teeeensy bit for me.

The sheer amount of information we’re hit with early on. the politics, the multiple factions, the timelines, made it hard to emotionally anchor myself. While Aemyra is a brilliant lead, it took time for her layers to really peel back in a way that made me feel invested in her beyond the mission.

That said, once it does click - I was all in. The emotional arcs hit harder because of that groundwork, and the back half is a payoff parade of tension, tenderness and top-tier plotting.

Overall, a staggeringly ambitious and unique debut that wears its heart, heritage and hard-earned wisdom proudly. It’s not a comfort read, it’s a challenge, but one that absolutely rewards you for sticking with it.

I’m not sorry if taking off a star for that is basic AF I’m just romantasy girlie who needs her politics with a side of pining, okay?

Firstly thankyou to Hazel, the publisher and Netgalley for my advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The TikTok hype on this book prior to release really sucked me in and I was so excited and grateful to receive an early copy. Based on the authors Scottish heritage, expect a battle for the throne from a secret heir (Aemyra - FMC), dragons, a little bit of spice and plenty of fireworks.

I found the book slow to get going and didn’t particularly feel much inclination to the characters especially in the first 30% of the book. I wanted more from her dragon bond and sometimes found the use of Scottish Gaelic language a barrier to me following the story as it wasn’t explained what these words meant or translated to.

I had a really good time reading this book. The first half is absolutely amazing, I love our main character Aemyra, her personality and spirit are exactly what I look for in a FMC in a romantasy. I’m also thankful that the romance part of this didn’t start instantly, it felt fresh.

However I do think that the book could have done with being multiple POV as in the second half I felt like the book went a little downhill and it felt like something was missing.

Other than that I adored this book and will absolutely be reading the sequel!

I'd like to start by thanking #netgalley and the publisher @dialoguepublishing for a copy of this book.

Dragons always draw me in to a book (and what a time for dragon books) but this one in particular caught my eye with purple dragon scales and celtic details on the cover.

The celtic theme continue through the book with a lot of Scottish inspiration which I LOVED, you can tell it was written by someone who had lived here. Names, placenames, kilts and phrases, all added to it for me.

The story itself is good too. It gets a bit spicy at one point but not too much. The pace is a little slow around the end of the first half but the second half picks up and there is an actual cliffhanger at the end which means I will be on the lookout for Bonded to Beasts 2 to find out what happens.

From the very first sentence, I was hooked. Hazel McBride throws you into a world of fire, fury, and fractured power, and never once lets you come up for air.

Aemyra might be one of my favorite fantasy heroines of the year. She’s unapologetically bold, stubborn to a fault, and so sure of who she is even as the world tries to strip that away. She doesn't ask for space. She takes it. Watching her light up every page with raw power and bite? Obsessed.

The world-building is vivid and steeped in Celtic inspiration, with dragons, corrupted politics, anti-magic zealots, and a matriarchy buried under the weight of a rising patriarchy. I won’t lie,some parts of the lore were a bit dense, but once I found my footing, I was fully immersed. There’s a map. There’s magic. There’s a kingdom ready to burn.

The dynamic between Aemyra and Fiorean? It’s not just enemies to lovers. It’s I will gut you to I would die for you energy. He’s cold, arrogant, blindly loyal to the wrong cause and every moment between them crackles with tension and heat. I ofc am a dark romance girlie at heart so personally my favorite scene was the knife play scene! Hot damn.

That said, I do wish we had more depth from the side characters. Aemyra absolutely steals the show, but I can feel the potential simmering in the background, and I’m hoping book two lets them rise.

Thematically this book does not hold back. It digs into power, rage, religion, and resistance. I wanted to scream half the time because of how real the political commentary hit. I was ready to hurl my Kindle across the room and then immediately pick it back up because I needed to know what happened next.

That ending? Left me feral. I don’t know peace anymore.
I am fire consumed, fate bound, and absolutely not okay.

As a fantasy book this was amazing, the matriarchal world slowly being overturned by a new patriarchal religion, the dragons, the magic system, all of it was intriguing and gripping.

This story follows Aemyra who is a princess in hiding, when the king dies she rises up to take her rightful place as Queen since this world believes in the Goddesses and being ruled by a woman.
However the previous king only had sons and was married to a woman who believed in the new patriarchal religion so of course Aemyra faces hardship trying to claim the throne.
Parts of this story really reminded me of the politics of Game of Thrones, as if Sansa was the rightful heir but had to fight Joffrey for it.
I loved the court politics and elemental magic and out FMC Aemyra was easy to root for because she was fierce and wanted to do right by her people.

Unfortunately for me the romance let this story down, I hate Fieorian whatever his name is, everytime he was on page I was rolling my eyes, he was pathetic and had no backbone, I understand he has a lot of growth to go through but surely the idea is to at least make me like him. It was borderline a bully romance.
The first 200 pages solidified him as a villain to me so when the romance started to happen I couldn’t root for it, in my eyes he is irredeemable.

Slight spoilers:
He kicked Aemyra to her knees to bow to his brother, he allowed his brother to damn near strip her naked, he then proceeded to allow his brother to walk in and see her naked.
They mmc & fmc are also distantly related, with the same red hair that runs in the royal bloodline.

He gave me the ick and I wasn’t able to shake it, so when the ending happened I wasn’t even shocked because I expected nothing else.

Unfortunately I won’t be continuing the series because I don’t want them together, lowkey wish it was a love triangle so I could root for the other guy.

But 5 stars for the dragons as always!

5 stars. Amazing. No notes. I devoured this
Cannot wait to see what else hazel writes!!
Will be posting review on TikTok as well soon

This book was a fun read. There were things I liked about it but there were also things that didn’t vibe with me. But overall I enjoyed it well enough, it’s just not gonna be one that goes down as a fave.

I loved the culture, the matriarchal society and the Scottish influences on the world. It was really interesting to explore and the plot of trying to save the kingdom from a new Misogynistic religion was interesting.

I also liked how the enemies to lovers relationship was done. There wasn’t an instant attraction and time was allowed for the characters to change their feelings towards each other slowly. It felt more genuine than most of the enemies to lovers I’ve read recently.

However I didn’t really feel I was rooting for the main character to become queen. She was impulsive, reckless and seemed to make bad decisions at every turn. She was really easy to manipulate too. This may be a character growth thing and be addressed in the next book, but I just couldn’t see her making a good ruler at all.

I also felt that the creature bonds were a bit inconsistent. They would talk about how you couldn’t make a dragon do anything and how the bond was a mutual relationship and then talk about taming the dragons in another scene. I also would have liked more focus on the bond, but that’s just my tastes.

Overall, I did enjoy it, but there was a lot to complain about.

I was really expecting to love this cause I was craving a good fantasy story with dragons, but unfortunately, it didn't hit like I expected it to. It's good, it just didn't make me feel big emotions or give me the feelings that I look for.

I can't say what didn't work for me. I'm not sure if it was the FMC and how often difficult it was to understand her choices or get behind her attitude, the writing style, or the story as a whole. The dragons were really cool, but I just wasn't invested in this world; I didn't feel transported. That could be on me, so take my thoughts with a pinch of salt and check this book out if it calls to you.