Adrienne Woods

Firebolt

Joemel Requeza

Regina Wanba

Lacy W

A special thank you goes out to Netgalley and Fire and Quill Publishing for allowing me to read this eARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

tw: use of the word g*psy, parent death

 Hold on to your seat, kids. You are in for a ride.


Oooooh boy, do I have a lot to say about this book. Like a lot. There were things that really rubbed me the wrong way but there were a lot of positive things too. But, I'm sad to say, this will be a bit of a negative review because this book really rubbed me the wrong way. 

I think of the the biggest things that upset me about this book was it had sooooo much potential. I mean a ton of potential! I believe wholeheartedly that this could have been the next Harry Potter, with the bits of magic and the dragons. I don't say things like that lightly. In fact, I hardly say that. So imagine my disappointment when it fell flat. 

Let me break it down. Elena was the MC and alright, as far as MCs go. She's 16 years old, hasn't had an easy life and is dealing with trauma from witnessing her dad's death. She is then thrown into the world of Paegia, where she thought it was just a story and discovers that dragons exist. Needless to say, Elena wasn't coping well. But I don't blame her. She drove me nuts sometimes but I remember her trauma and cut her some slack. Even though she was really boy crazy. Maybe I'm just old but that was kind of annoying. 

Her roomates, Becky and Sammy (a dragon) were awful. I wanted to scream. They knew of Elena's trauma (the headmaster didn't exactly keep it a secret) and yet they laughed, yes laughed, at her fear of dragons. They called her weird for constantly searching the skies and cowering whenever she thought she saw one. After a while, they got better but I never forgot how they treated Elena in the beginning. 

There was a lot of girl hate in this book and it often seemed to be for no reason or it was over Lucien, the love interest. Yes, I know they are teenagers so I know girl hate would happen. But I really thought at the last 20% or so, that the girl hate would have led to a huge character arc but nooooooope. I was rewarded with the same old from the first part of the beginning. Over it. 

The way the world was built was confusing at times. It happened pretty fast, which was how Elena learned about the world. It was frustrating how we were almost expected to know everything (because Becky and Sammy were b words whenever Elena's ignorance of the world showed) and it was especially frustrating how Elena was expected to know everything. The master of the school nearly let her fail and I wasn't impressed with how they just threw her in and didn't help her deal the trauma she was facing. I don't like to diagnose people but I think Elena had PTSD and it was never talked about or dealt with. That could have been amazing rep for those that have PTSD. A real missed opportunity there. 

There is more I could go on but I'm tired. The funny thing is, despite all my complaints, I want to read the next book. The plot and the dragons were just interesting enough that I want to keep going. Plus, there was an ARC so everything I complained about could have been changed when the book was published. So I'll keep going.

Savannah Winchell

An Arc was provided via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I would like to start out by saying that I DNFed this book at 20%. It was so full of tropes I literally could not handle it. Not only that, but the writing was subpar at best and contained some problematic elements that I'm tired of seeing in YA. This book is so far behind where YA is now and even here years ago that I don't really see a point in continuing.

I'm honestly so mad right now that I've made this list of stupid stuff. Some day I'll make this coherent, but for now, enjoy.


STUPID FUCKING TROPES
Random Hot guy who is a dick and is described as having “sun kissed skin”
Obviously our MC gets a weird feeling in her gut after looking at him once.

Hot girls are always sluts and bitches bc they are dating the hot guy

It must be explicitly stated that our MC is a virgin bc girls are only of value if they haven’t been “deflowered”

There’s anther “dreamy guy” who is the opposite of Blake the other super hot guy. Is this a love triangle? Yes. Yes it is.
This guy is also a “…prince for real.”

Also the hot guy is some rare mystical dragon bitch that only mates for life. You can bet your ass MC is “the one” so its actually super good that she’s still a virgin.


Why Will No One Tell Elena Anything?
All of the adults push off the explaining to fucking teenagers WHO DON’T ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS.

“Swallow Annexes are good at healing cuts and bruises,’ Becky said simply, as if that offered any real explanation.
Swallow Annex? The term sounded Greek and dangerous, and I decided against asking for translation.
BITCH WHY THO??? YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT

“It’s the coliseum.”
“Do they fight there too?”
She huffed, “You could say that.”
ANSWER THE DAMN QUESTION

“He’s verautiful, but such a dick.”
“Verautiful?”
“Combination of very handsome and beautiful.”
THIS IS THE ONLY THING EVER EXPLAINED IN A TIMELY MANNER AND ITS STUPID AS FUCK.

Also all of Elena’s friends laugh at her lack of understanding of the magical world even though its there job to educate her and the don’t do shit.
No one felt the need to tell Elena that dragons could turn into people until she was in public and made a fool of herself because these people are dicks to people with trauma. It is stated numerous times that Elena’s friends “laugh at her expense” due to the ignorance that they induce.

“The only things you need to know are that magic and dragons exist.”
HAHAHAHAH OKAY COOL. I GUESS ILL TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT. THANKS FRIEND

Elena’s Dad is an Idiot
“Ever since I could remember, Dad and I had been on the run. From what? Beats me.” WHY WOULD THIS KEEP HER SAFE YOU STUPID FUCK

“I wanted to take you out for a nice dinner and maybe ease into things.” 
THIS IS UNCOMFORTABLE AND FREUDIAN AND IS MADE WORSE LATER ON WHEN ELENA SAYS THAT THE LOVE INTEREST LOOKS LIKE HER DAD LOL


Bad Writing:
“For the love of blueberries, no sixteen-year-old should live this way!” WHY THE FUCK???

“I pushed my face pushed against the cool glass…” POORLY EDITED

“…but evil radiated from its aura.” HOW DO YOU KNOW

“The water cleared and rinsed my body mentally and physically.” UGH

“I gigantic castle rose majestically in the distance… Two of the [turrets] had a million windows right to the top.”

“She looked at her watch and jumped up. “Yikes, is that the time?” She grabbed her backpack with one hand and my arm with the other.”

“The sword had a golden hilt that curled up the divine blade with a lion’s head emblazoned on the hilt.”

After telling Elena (who has no training), Professor Mia makes her spar and embarrass herself in front of the whole class bc Mia is a dick to students.

“I now understood why they called wielding a weapon the art of dueling”?????

WHY ARE ALL THE MEALS BASED ON WHO CAN SOLVE RIDDELES???


Why Can This Girl Not Stand? She’s def gonna be a badass warrior later.
“…and the first step I took left my toe tangled in the wide leg of my jeans. I tried to regain my balance but with wildly flailing arms, I came crashing down.”

“My shoe got caught in one of the gaps and I smacked down hard in a huge puddle.”

“It made me tip over like a bowling pin.”


Home Girl is an Idiot
“Why am I afraid? Dragons aren’t real?” YOU JUST SAW DRAGONS

“A fancy chandelier cast a majestic glow. I was sure now that magic existed, and it was somehow responsible for this magnificent bedroom.” 
DRAGONS DON’T MAKE MAGIC REAL, BUT FOR SOME REASON A COOL ROOM DOES


Dragons are in the FBI and also invent all technology for some reason. Also the Bermuda Triangle. COOL


What even is the dialogue?

“A city close by that the students would call ‘awesome.’”

Dragons. Right. Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales, and sixteen-year old Elena Watkins was no different. Until the night a fairy tale killed her father. Now Elena’s in a new world, and a new school. The cutest guy around may be an evil dragon, a Prince wants Elena’s heart, and a long dead sorcerer may be waking up to kill her. Oh. And the only way Elena’s going to graduate is on the back of a dragon of her own. Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales. Now it’s time for Elena to believe – in herself.

Lottie oliver

Hey Guys!!

So I have been trying to work my way through these Netgalley reads. Trust me there are a few.What I like about Netgalley is that you will find some hidden gems like this series.

Ill give the a quick synopsis.

Synopsis: Dragons. Right. Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales, and sixteen-year old Elena Watkins was no different.
Until the night a fairy tale killed her father.
Now Elena’s in a new world, and a new school. The cutest guy around may be an evil dragon, a Prince wants Elena’s heart, and a long dead sorcerer may be waking up to kill her. Oh. And the only way Elena’s going to graduate is on the back of a dragon of her own.
Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales. Now it’s time for Elena to believe – in herself.

It sounds great. I love the synopsis as it is so catchy and just wants to pull you in and make you fly on your own dragon. It was however a bit sketchy at the start. I found it hard to follow at first but after a wile it picked right up.

The first 7-8 chapters almost felt like there were to many ideas to get down on the paper. Once there were out that things started to smooth over. Almost like a bumpy start.

The character introduction was lovely and smooth. It wasn't to much description and it wasn't to little. Some people put all the information there at once as if were never going to meet that character again. This was the opposite. Adrienne Woods left out enough that she can make the characters grow as the story progresses.

She has started to make a new world that, for humans in her story, would be hard to comprehend. They would go insane if they new what was beyond The Wall. Adrienne has done a great job of showing us how they would loose their minds and Elena was starting to loose hers at the start.

There are a couple of things that do bother me, like the unconditional love when Elena is so young and this would be her first boyfriend, that and it happens so quickly. But this is also a good point, she has smarts and won't do anything she does not want to do. It is nice to see Elena having friends when you know that the only person that has really had her back before was her father.

There's not much that needed improving just the odd bit here and there. The pace is great, you get a good sense of time moving and the school year passing by. The character development is also that's very well done. The only thing that really needed a bit of smoothing out were the first 7-8 chapters but even then, in the grand scale of the book it wasn't much of an issue.

On a good note, I have already started the second!! Now the first it not available to buy in print for off most places but the last few have been. I've added a link below that will take you straight to the pages for the series.

As a conclusion I have given it 4 stars! I can already see the improvements in the next book and cannot wait. Thank you very much Adrienne Woods.

Leelynn Brady

Find this review and more on my blog Sometimes Leelynn Reads

“ The leaves of change will come at last, when the fate of two heart's bond is cast. Souls intertwined and hearts no longer torn, through their love Paegeia will once again be born."

So I should start by saying that usually I really love books about dragons... But that's only if it's written really, really well. I actually hadn't really heard of this book before until now, and that was because I decided to join a series buddy read on Goodreads. I saw the brief summary on this, and I was so excited to read this.

I was kind of let down.

For starters, I felt like Elena was such a damn crybaby. Don't get me wrong, I understand that she's going through such a life change - with her dad being murdered, and finding out that her dad was a FREAKING DRAGON - but the more she learns about Dragonia and all that stuff, it's like she's still, for the most part, pretty clueless. You would think that the more she's in this Academy for dragons and dragonians (not the same thing, by the way) that she would start catching on to what she's being taught. But nope. That's not the case at all.

You can even tell that the rest of the kids that she interacts with are pretty over her lack of knowledge from the get-go. They are constantly sighing and saying "Duh, Elena" and all that jazz. Maybe it's just kids being mean as heck, or maybe they just need the main protagonist to get it together! I loved the sarcasm though from Becky and Sammy though. I love those girls.

Also, what's with Elena being so Lucien crazy so fast? It's like she can't even function without him at times. That annoyed me very fast. Sorry Elena, but I need you to get it together real quick if I'm going to invest a lot of man hours in this series.

If you notice, these are my thoughts about how the main character behaves, not the author. For the most part, the book is alright. I just really, really, really do not like Elena right now. Hopefully, she gets better? Here's hoping she does.

Southern Today Gone Tomorrow

This book started out fast past, and held so much promise for adventure and dragons, however it left far more questions than answers and while I kept wanting to read, I was never satisfied.

Jessica Nottingham

I gave up at about the 60% mark. I really tried, but there are just too many things about this book that were driving me crazy.

Time to move on.

Firebolt

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