Happy Release Day!
A Fire in the Sky is the latest release from Sophie Jordan and it's really good!!!
The book is set in the same world as Ms. Jordan’s YA Firelight series. Everyone’s definitely all grown up in this adult romantasy😉
You don’t have to read the previous series to know what’s going on in the book. Ms. Jordan does an excellent job fleshing out this magical world of intrigue.
About the Book
New York Times bestselling author Sophie Jordan returns to the high-stakes, sweeping world of dragons, romance, and drama first evoked in her bestselling young adult Firelight series, in a brand-new epic adult romantasy series.
Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying.
But human lust for power is immortal.
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.
Excerpt
I was invisible to them, but they were not invisible to me. I saw and heard everything and the fury pumped hard and fast inside me, battering inside my veins like a storm. My father intended to give one of his precious daughters to the Beast of the Borderlands in marriage.
One of my sisters.
I had never felt such rage, such helplessness. All my life it had been my duty to protect the princesses of Penterra. To be flogged in their place was a privilege ... At least that was what I had been taught.
Outraged breaths fogged from my lips as I glared directly into the ice-pale eyes of the man who thought to claim one of them.
Scant inches separated us, the air hot and crackling between us. His dark hair reached his shoulders, the sides braided close to his scalp. I could practically feel his breath through the flimsy barrier. I studied his hazy face through the fibers of the canvas, taking comfort that he could not see me in the darkness of the damp corridor, and yet…
Why had he stopped directly in front of the painting?
Why was he staring at me like he could see me? As though he was on the verge of reaching through the canvas and touching me? A fever rippled over my skin as I imagined those big hands closing around me.
It was impossible, of course. He could not know I was there.
The men began to disperse, the regent reminding them that a grand feast awaited. Several minutes passed before I felt composed enough to exit. With a push, the painting swung out like a door and I stepped down into the room, my slippers sinking into the rug covering the stone floor.
Turning, I made certain the painting was back in place with no hint that it had been disturbed. Satisfied, I turned around and walked directly into a wall. A hard wall with arms and hands that came up around me. A wall that possessed a deep, rasping voice. “I see this palace comes equipped with spies.”
The Beast.
Instantly I was assailed by the scent of him that I had noted earlier in the Great Hall. I was awash with it—with him. My nostrils flared. Wind and earth and horseflesh. And that indefinable something else.
Heat rippled over me, igniting my skin. I arched against the great slab of him, against pulsing, immovable muscle. I pushed my palms into his solid chest, desperate to break free.
I was fire. My entire body warmed at the contact, and fear clawed up my throat.
His eyes weren’t narrow slits any longer. They blasted me, wide and alert, battle-ready. This close, without a hazy barrier between us, I could see they were the color of frost, pale gray with a ring of darker blue. Gratification gleamed there. He’d sensed I was behind that painting and now he’d caught me.
“I am not a spy,” I said in a raspy voice I did not even recognize as my own.
“No? Who are you then?” Those eyes roamed my face and flame-red hair. His gaze lingered there, on my hair. The unusual color featured largely into the torments of my childhood when children of the court would call attention to it as a visible reminder that I was truly not one of them—that I was not a real princess, just a stray taken in by a generous king and a queen with a soft heart. “What are you?”
What was I? What was he?
His eyes absorbed me in a way no one ever had before. I was largely overlooked in the palace. Except when a whipping was required or when someone felt like ridiculing me for my ungainly height or my unfortunate hair or my dubious parentage.
Then, unbelievably, the brute lifted a hand.
I flinched.
He paused, his eyes communicating something to me. I could not say what, but I eased slightly. He waited a moment longer and then brought his big hand closer, touching a lock of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers gently, experimentally.
I felt a rumble then, and realized it was coming from me inexplicably, from my chest.
He released my hair. It fell back against my neck in a whisper and the iron bands of his arms came back around me, circling tighter, bringing me closer. My fingers flexed against his leather tunic like a kitten kneading its paws, unable to resist, unable not to move and explore.
“The question is … do you spy for yourself or someone else?”
Moments passed before I could speak. “I am … no one.”
He made a sound: part laugh, part growl. “Oh, sweetheart, you’re someone … something.”
I shivered despite the heat engulfing me.
“Unhand me,” I ordered.
Adapted from A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan. Copyright © 2024 by Sophie Jordan. Reprinted courtesy of Avon Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers via People Magazine - March 29, 2024 issue.
My Review
This is my first Sophie Jordan read and I am quite impressed.
Tamsyn is a whipping girl in a luxurious palace court. Raised alongside the King and Queen’s three daughters, Tamsyn is punished for the princesses' misbehaviors and has since she was a small child. It’s supposed to be a position of honor in the palace, but she’s basically a glorified slave.
When warriors from the north come to visit the palace in a celebration of appreciation, the leader–The Beast of the Borderlands–has plans of his own. In recompense for the protection his clan of warriors provide the kingdom, Fell demands one of the King’s daughters to wed. He desires a position close to the king to effect change in Penterra for the better.
The King doesn’t want to give away one of his precious daughters to this barbarian so he and his advisor devise a plan to bait-and-switch with Tamsyn. I mean, she was raised up with the girls, so she’s technically a princess, right? Oh what a tangled web we weave…
What an exciting ride of mystery and masterpiece.
The book includes an interesting storyline, colorful worldbuilding, a strong heroine with unknown origins and unbreakable will, and a fierce hero with a quiet tenderness, steel core of loyalty, and unwavering sense of duty.
I thoroughly enjoyed the narrative, the characters, and the lore. The story leaves readers with just enough juicy tidbits to keep us salivating for more!
A Fire in the Sky is a delightful read and I can’t wait for the next book!
FTC Disclaimer: I voluntarily read a copy of the book generously provided by the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way influences my thoughts or feelings about the book or the content of my review.
Purchase Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple Books
Kobo | Google Play | Harper Collins
About the Author
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Sophie Jordan grew up in the Texas hill country, where she wove fantasies of dragons, warriors, and princesses. A former high school English teacher, she’s the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author of more than fifty novels. She now lives in Houston with her family. When she’s not writing, she spends her time overloading on caffeine (lattes preferred), talking plotlines with anyone who will listen (including her kids), and streaming anything that has a happily ever after. Learn more about Sophie and her books at www.sophiejordan.net
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