Their Fated Flame (Four Flames Saga Book #1) By: Callie Madden (Book Review)

 ***This review will contain spoilers***

Summary:

I found an ancient artifact. It found me four dragon mates who refuse to let me go. One touch of that carved stone, and my quiet life as an anthropologist exploded into chaos. The artifact was a beacon—calling to dragons, claiming me as compatible, marking me as the last fertile human in existence. Now I'm trapped on their mountain estate with four impossibly gorgeous, fiercely protective shifters who insist I'm their fated mate. All four of them.

Warin—the alpha with molten gold eyes who fights his possessive instincts but can't stop touching me

Torr—the scarred shadow dragon who thinks he's a monster but kisses me like salvation

Demeter—the wild storm dragon who gives me freedom with one hand and claims me with the other

Lennix—the ancient giant who offers partnership while his massive hands promise so much more

They say I need to complete the bonds. Accept their claiming bites, their marks, their knots. Become theirs in every way before desperate rivals kill us all. Seventy-two hours. Four dragons. One impossible choice. Because every unmated dragon for a hundred miles can sense what I am—rare, compatible, valuable. They're coming to take me by force, and my four mates are willing to burn the world down to keep me safe. Especially Kaelen—the obsidian dragon who believes I'm his by right. Who attacked once and swore he'd be back. Who watches from the shadows, planning, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

The claiming isn't just claiming bites and primal need. It's surrendering my career, my independence, my entire human life. It's trusting four strangers who look at me like I'm air and they're drowning. It's choosing between freedom and survival. Between my old life and four dragons who swear I'm their destiny. They'll fight for me. Bleed for me. Die for me. But when Kaelen makes his move, will even four dragons be enough to save me?

This is the first book that I have read that was essentially recommended through Tiktok. Booktok is a huge category in Tiktok and one thing that is really popular is authors creating videos that have to do with their books. The video I came across was discussing the whole fated mates to a dying species of dragon shapeshifters. Now I have read a lot of books that have to do with shapeshifters and mates but none about dragons! The only downside to this series is that they are only available as ebooks. I personally hate reading books online because it's so easy to get distracted on my phone versus having a book in my hands forces me to be more engaging. But this series is the only exception to my reading only physical books rule. 

I am surprised that I have yet to read anything quite like this before. I will admit that I did find a few things repetitive and a few grammatical errors but nothing that deterred me from finishing the book. I am hooked on this series and am excited for the next one! Marina being a hard-working anthropologist and human finds out she's mated to four dragons which is definitely an interesting story, especially, since the dragon shapeshifters are a dying species. I loved the action in this book. I don't know if it's all the Targaryen craze with the dragons but I have been loving all this dragon content and the fight scenes between Marina's mates and Kaelen with his allies were well written. I almost wish that Marina being mated to four dragons that the magic tying them all together would magically allow her to shapeshift as a dragon as well! I thought that it might be insinuating as much but now I'm thinking it might push her to get in 'heat' and allow her to procreate like animals do? Kinda sounds off putting but this is make believe fantasy so nothing is off the table. 

I wish that Marina wouldn't have been so accepting of these four strange men and instead tried contacting to her family, friends or even co-workers. She kept bringing up wanting her freedom yet never thought a phone call or email letting others know she was okay would have been a priority to her. 

Now this wouldn’t be a booktok recommendation if it didn’t have any smut in it…while I don’t necessarily seek out books with the intention of reading smut it certainly didn’t hinder the story development. One thing I have always been frustrated with is when authors prioritize sex scenes over the plot and character development. I don’t need the sex scenes but what I do need is a good story. A good sex scene is essentially, a cherry on top of a sundae. It’s great! But not required. 

Rating:

I'm giving Their Fated Flame 4 stars on 5! I loved this book and am excited to dig my teeth into the next book in the series. I do wish we had a bit more consistency on Marina's part about letting people on the outside know she was okay and not dead in the mountains. I'm shocked how much I've enjoyed reading this book considering it's only available as an e-book.