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adventurous
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
SPICE: 🌶🌶🌶, RATING: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25, VIBES: ⚔️🔥 Forbidden love, fierce heroine, broody commander, political drama, magic on the edge
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 — and I’ll admit, some of the reviews floating around online had me sweating a little. But when my library had a cooy ready, I decided to see for myself… and honestly? I’m glad I did!
Yes, on paper this sounds like: “Roman commander owns enslaved woman” — but that barely scratches the surface. Julian (our MMC) rescues Malina (our fierce FMC) from a brutal situation and makes her his slave only as a way to protect her and keep her powers hidden. Not once is he cruel or degrading — in fact, this man worships her. He adores her sharp tongue, her defiance, and the way she shakes up his worldview.
Meanwhile, Malina is everything: beautiful, powerful, unafraid to challenge the status quo, and determined to protect those she cares about. Girl’s got brains, backbone, and magic — and I was cheering her on every step of the way.
The world itself? Messy. We’ve got kings, commanders, politics, and some absolute villains who are more than happy to steal wives and wield power with zero conscience (shudder). Julian, thankfully, has both a conscience and the capacity for growth.
Final verdict? This book gave me spice, heart, political intrigue, and two leads I genuinely rooted for. Book two can’t get here fast enough!
TL;DR: Come for the forbidden romance, stay for the badass heroine and the Roman commander getting emotionally wrecked.
⚔️🔥❤️🔥✨👀💥💬👑
This was one of my most anticipated reads of 2025 — and I’ll admit, some of the reviews floating around online had me sweating a little. But when my library had a cooy ready, I decided to see for myself… and honestly? I’m glad I did!
Yes, on paper this sounds like: “Roman commander owns enslaved woman” — but that barely scratches the surface. Julian (our MMC) rescues Malina (our fierce FMC) from a brutal situation and makes her his slave only as a way to protect her and keep her powers hidden. Not once is he cruel or degrading — in fact, this man worships her. He adores her sharp tongue, her defiance, and the way she shakes up his worldview.
Meanwhile, Malina is everything: beautiful, powerful, unafraid to challenge the status quo, and determined to protect those she cares about. Girl’s got brains, backbone, and magic — and I was cheering her on every step of the way.
The world itself? Messy. We’ve got kings, commanders, politics, and some absolute villains who are more than happy to steal wives and wield power with zero conscience (shudder). Julian, thankfully, has both a conscience and the capacity for growth.
Final verdict? This book gave me spice, heart, political intrigue, and two leads I genuinely rooted for. Book two can’t get here fast enough!
TL;DR: Come for the forbidden romance, stay for the badass heroine and the Roman commander getting emotionally wrecked.
⚔️🔥❤️🔥✨👀💥💬👑
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, War
Book was marketed as a Historical Fanatsy with some romance. There was no mention of the colonizer dark romance aspect where a slave falls in love with her master.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Sexual harassment, War
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Firebird was such a captivating star crossed lover/ enemies to lovers story!
It is set in roughly the Roman Empire but had a magical twist. There are dragon shifters and women blessed with magic from a goddess. I found the magically blessing to be quite unique and refreshing, such as the FMC being able to control emotions for a period of time. The debates surrounding what the extents of her powers were or could be were fascinating. I loved her heart and how brightly she burned.
I appreciated Juliette's forward and all of the research she put into this story. The Roman Empire was a gruesome period in history, and she does not sugarcoat it. It was also a period of innovation. Many of those innovations I have studied through my education and love for historical documentaries, I loved seeing so many references.
It is set in roughly the Roman Empire but had a magical twist. There are dragon shifters and women blessed with magic from a goddess. I found the magically blessing to be quite unique and refreshing, such as the FMC being able to control emotions for a period of time. The debates surrounding what the extents of her powers were or could be were fascinating. I loved her heart and how brightly she burned.
I appreciated Juliette's forward and all of the research she put into this story. The Roman Empire was a gruesome period in history, and she does not sugarcoat it. It was also a period of innovation. Many of those innovations I have studied through my education and love for historical documentaries, I loved seeing so many references.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Sexual harassment
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Moderate: Slavery
Minor: Sexual assault
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Firebird the first book in The Fire That Binds trilogy by Juliette Cross. This Roman-inspired dual-POV dark fantasy romance is equal parts dark and romantic. The author does not shy away from the horrors of Ancient Rome. I would check trigger warnings.(There’s also an Author’s Note at the beginning of the book.)
I’m curious about what is going to happen next, and who else’s POV we might be getting in the second book-IYKYK.
I’m curious about what is going to happen next, and who else’s POV we might be getting in the second book-IYKYK.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Genocide, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Minor: Death of parent
a) the marketing kind of fucked this one (if it's slave/slave master, be up front about that)
b) despite saying the FMC is Dacian/Romanian, she was so Romani coded...yikes
c) I didn't think the writing was good, DNF at 10%
b) despite saying the FMC is Dacian/Romanian, she was so Romani coded...yikes
c) I didn't think the writing was good, DNF at 10%
Content Warnings
Graphic: Slavery
challenging
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Violence, War
Booktok and Bookstagram will probably die for this book.
I don’t tend to like to post negative reviews, but this one feels like it's necessary. I’ll start out with the good aspects of the story. The world building is pretty good and using Roman history as a starting point for a kingdom run by dragon shifters is fantastic. I absolutely loved that. I also really enjoyed Malina as a character, much more than the copy and paste stabby FMC that we see in a lot of romantasy stories. I enjoyed her much more than Feyre in ACOTAR.
However, the fact that Julianus is a powerful Roman general who buys Malina as a slave and then they fall in love with each other so quickly is just…terrible. As a plot line I cannot support this book. Especially when Julianus talks about how his dad fell in love with his mom, who was a slave and he immediately went and had her status changed so she would not be a slave. Yet, Julianus does not do this. I thought it was going to be foreshadowing for his own actions, but nope. He keeps her as a slave. Sure, there are other political factors at play, but the power dynamic was disgusting. Definitely not a book for me.
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.
I don’t tend to like to post negative reviews, but this one feels like it's necessary. I’ll start out with the good aspects of the story. The world building is pretty good and using Roman history as a starting point for a kingdom run by dragon shifters is fantastic. I absolutely loved that. I also really enjoyed Malina as a character, much more than the copy and paste stabby FMC that we see in a lot of romantasy stories. I enjoyed her much more than Feyre in ACOTAR.
However, the fact that Julianus is a powerful Roman general who buys Malina as a slave and then they fall in love with each other so quickly is just…terrible. As a plot line I cannot support this book. Especially when Julianus talks about how his dad fell in love with his mom, who was a slave and he immediately went and had her status changed so she would not be a slave. Yet, Julianus does not do this. I thought it was going to be foreshadowing for his own actions, but nope. He keeps her as a slave. Sure, there are other political factors at play, but the power dynamic was disgusting. Definitely not a book for me.
Thank you to the publisher for the eARC. All thoughts are my own.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Slavery
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Murder, War
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Slavery