Book: Only Flames Remain by Michelle Frohman
Reviewed by Suzy Wickedly Good Reads
Rating: 4/5
What do you do when you're a human raised among the Fae who happens to fall in love with a Fae prince? Apparently, you agree to assassinate a dragon prince. 🔥🐉
Aveline may be human, but growing up among the Fae hasn't been so bad; especially after catching the eye of the Fae prince she hopes to marry. Unfortunately, his mother has other ideas. The Fae Queen has no intention of happily welcoming a lowly human into the royal family. But she does offer Aveline a deal: she'll agree to the marriage if Aveline infiltrates the rival dragon kingdom and kills Prince Sorin. (You know. Just a little favor for your future mother-in-law. Can anyone say suicide mission? 😂) But what's a girl in love supposed to do?
Aveline ventures into enemy territory knowing that accomplishing her mission and surviving it may be nearly impossible. What she isn't prepared for is Sorin himself. Suddenly, killing the enemy prince isn't quite as straightforward as it seemed from the safety of the Fae kingdom, and Aveline begins finding herself caught between the mission she was sent to complete and a connection she never expected to make.
This was a great start to a new dark fantasy romance series. Michelle Frohman created beautiful imagery throughout the kingdoms, and I could easily picture the world surrounding Aveline. The pacing worked really well for me too. There was enough world-building to establish this new fantasy world without making me feel like I was waiting forever for something to happen. And the premise absolutely kept me turning pages. We've got Fae. Dragon shifters. Rival kingdoms. Political maneuvering. An assassination mission. Enemies-to-lovers tension. A slow burn. And one human woman stuck directly in the middle of all of it.
This is the first book in an ongoing series, so don't expect everything to be neatly wrapped up by the final page. There is a cliffhanger, but the world and larger story have definitely intrigued me enough that I'll be continuing on to see what happens next. Dark fantasy romance readers, especially those who like their romantasy filled with dangerous royals, political intrigue, enemies-to-lovers tension, Fae and dragons, this is one to put on your radar.