From Fourth Wing and A Court of Thorns and Roses to Powerless, there's no shortage of existing romantasy series to get into. But for readers looking for something new to sink their teeth into, the first book in a new duology featured in Goodreads' list of the could be the answer.

A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride is a Celtic-inspired romantasy. Tìr Teine was once a territory built on matriarchal rule, but it has been without a female heir for centuries. Aemyra, a blacksmith's daughter gifted with rare fire magic, has hidden in the shadows, waiting for the king to die so she can bond to his dragon and protect her fellow people.

But when her plan is foiled, Aemyra finds herself in the middle of a dangerous game of politics and plots, involving Prince Fiorean a dragon rider and fire wielder who also happens to be her biggest adversary.

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Speaking to Online ahead of the book's publication, Hazel, who has over 70,000 followers and 6.5 million likes on TikTok, discussed how TikTok has helped boost the popularity of the romantasy genre in recent years. "There's always corners of the internet that can be toxic and I think you have to go in with an open mind," she said.

"But as a bookish community in general, they're so supportive and they really do just come together. And I think it is a community made up primarily of women, I think that's what's also helped to give rise to the romantic genre as well.

"It is a genre primarily written and read by women. So it's only natural that we talk about it and recommend it to our friends.

"I think there's a certain safety in it as well, especially potentially when we're seeing a rise of violence against women in our reality, to read a man written by a woman. It's a nice escape to read about these female main characters who are being treated so incredibly well and having all of their needs met. It has this kind of escape of yes, this is our hope, this is what we want, which I think is really lovely."

Being a TikTok creator comes with its challenges too, however, with Hazel explaining: "The way TikTok works, it's not like other social media, like or and [where] people who are seeing your content are like 90 per cent people who follow you so they know your backstory, they know who you are, they won't be so quick to take things out of context.

"Whereas on TikTok you're just fed random videos most often from people you've never seen before. And if that's the only video that they see, they might form a different opinion of it, or the algorithm could feed it to the wrong side of TikTok."

Sharing her advice for other authors on TikTok, Hazel continued: "But I think it's I think it's overwhelmingly positive. But I think any author that's using it needs to protect their mental health and understand that it's okay to have a boundary here, whether that's, you know, I only post a certain amount every week, I only talk about certain things, et cetera."

A Fate Forged in Fire by Hazel McBride is published in hardback at £20 by Renegade Books on May 27, 2025. You can find out more and order it

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