Fear the Flames

FEAR THE FLAMES was a great debut fantasy romance and I loved the chemistry and banter between Elowen and Cayden. They're not quite enemies but Elowen is the missing Princess from Amirath and Cayden is the ruthless Commander of an opposing kingdom. They strike up an alliance to benefit each other -- Cayden will help Elowen free her dragons from her evil father and Elowen will use them to fight in Cayden's war.

Together these two are a formidable pair and they understand each other in ways no one else does. They both have horrible trauma in their past and have been living for vengeance for a long time; I know morally gray MMCs are popular right now, but I loved that Elowen was equally bloodthirsty and badass. While they do have a lot in common this was still a slow burn and while I liked the tension I was getting tired of how delusional Elowen was about their relationship. It was so obvious that Cayden wanted her for more than the alliance but she kept taking one step back for every two steps forward. That got frustrating, especially after 70% into the book and of course the ending smashed any progress they made. I won't spoil things but it's a somewhat soft cliffhanger and barely an HFN so we'll have to wait for book 2 for Elowen and Cayden to get their crap together.

Outside of the romance, the world-building was simple but felt complete and easy to understand. The pace did drag a tiny bit in the middle and nothing really happened in between the small missions but for a debut this was really strong and impressive. The side characters were also really great and I loved Finnian, Saskia, and Ryder and I'd love to get more of their stories in future books. The dragons are minimal in this first installment of the series but what we got was fun and I'm looking forward to a lot more of them in book 2.

Content Warning: past child abuse and torture; on page graphic torture

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Favorite Quotes:

Oh gods, I kneed the most feared warlord on the continent in the balls.

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“I hardly recognize you when you look civilized.”

“I can take my clothes off if it’s too confusing for you.”

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"If you are to be my damnation, it's an end I'll happily meet."

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The man who bows and kneels for no king or god doesn’t hesitate to do so for me.