A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride

TL;DR: This one was quite mediocre.
Source: NetGalley – Thank you to the publisher!!

Plot: Girl with powers is trying to become a queen and bond a dragon. Fights follow.
Characters: One incredibly obnoxious main character and a flat cast around her.
Setting: Cold and a norse/celtic (?) inspired. Not a great one.
Romance: Flat and unbelievable.

Summary:

To become the first queen in centuries, a powerfully blessed blacksmith must use her wits and fire magic to overthrow the corrupt powers ruling her kingdom—while also fighting her growing desire for one of her dragon-riding adversaries—in the first book of a sizzling Celtic-inspired fantasy romance duology.

Once a territory built on matriarchal rule and values, Tìr Teine has since grown frail from a long line of fruitless kings. The most recent of which have ruled under the influence of the True Religion, an oppressive group who have steadily poisoned the region with their anti-magic teachings.

Born to rule and blessed by fire, Aemyra has begrudgingly lived in hiding rather than risk her life in court, waiting in anticipation for the current king’s death so she can bond to his dragon, claim her throne, and protect her people. But when the king dies and Aemyra is ready to take what is rightfully hers, her ambitious plan is foiled and she is thrust into a game of vicious politics and plots.

Her biggest adversary is Prince Fiorean, a dragon-rider and one of the most powerful fire wielders in the territory. Cold, arrogant, and blindly supportive of his corrupt family, he is everything Aemyra despises. But as chaos engulfs the court, they find themselves reluctantly entwined, forced to forge an uneasy alliance—one that quickly ignites into something more dangerous than either of them expected.

Behind enemy lines and slowly falling for her so-called adversary, Aemyra uncovers just how far the rot of corruption has spread, and what she may have to sacrifice to claim her throne.

Thoughts:

Sometimes when you’re reading a book you can feel transported and the characters can come off the page as you consume their story. And sometimes you can stare at the page or the screen and be sadly and starkly aware of HOW you’re staring at something and the words are just not hitting. This was that book for me. I was hugely aware of where I was and what I was doing.

Our main character is rage filled and arrogant to the point of obnoxiousness. She has power, yes but she has an abundance of attitude. At the same time the characters around her felt like sketches of ideas. So we had a fire wielding arrogant girl bowling over shadows of people. Then we get romance between Miss Arrogant and the man who killed her family? Make this make sense to me. She seemed largely unphased but continued to spout her attitude.

The dragons were interesting, the idea of the world was neat but since the whole store seemed very focused on this character and the things around her it fell on it’s face. If I’m required to follow her story I’m going to tap out. She’s intolerable and there is nothing around her to keep me going. This was not for me guys, I can’t say I recommend it and I won’t be continuing it.