For fans of dragons and arranged marriages, then you have to read A Fire in the Sky. I ended up reading it in a few days because I just had to find out what happened. And it’s 100% pure nostalgic fun! Keep reading this book review of A Fire in the Sky for my full thoughts.
Summary
Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it’s her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard…though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.
When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.
The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride…but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.
Magic is not dead…it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
A Fire in the Sky had me texting everyone who had read it with exclamation marks. From the beginning, we have Tamsyn who is a whipping girl for the spoiled princesses. Not going to lie, my enjoyment for the book really began once Tamsyn was allowed to bloom as her own character. We are able to see the ways Tamsyn finds her sense of the truth and herself. Her own strength, her limitations, and her care. A Fire in the Sky has so many of our favorite tropes like arranged marriages and love triangles, and brings it to this fantastical world which I am so excited to discover.
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Because honestly, I feel like I was only really settling into the elements I loved by the end. And then it’s this intense ending. So I’m even more excited for book two which I hope will pick up that moment and keep running. Nothing is ever as it seems in A Fire in the Sky and we’re only just beginning. If you love books with surprises, with gentle hearts and rough exteriors, and the fate of the kingdoms in the balance, then pick this one up! Find A Fire in the Sky on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop.org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.