Review: On Wings of Blood by Briar Boleyn

Name: On Wings of Blood
Series: Bloodwing Academy #1
Author: Briar Boleyn
Publisher: Starwater Press (Indie)
Format: Kindle (through unlimited)
Genres: Dark Academia, New Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
Noted Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Arranaged Betrothal, Found family, Bully romance, Slow burn
Spice Rating: Explicit & Plentiful 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Rating:

Synopsis: Goodreads
I didn’t sign up for this.

A half-fae in a school of highblood vampires? That’s a recipe for torment.

I’m Medra Pendragon—last of the dragon riders, or so they tell me. Funny thing is, there are no dragons left. Not a single one. But somehow, that hasn’t stopped the vampires from deciding I’m worth capturing. Now I’m stuck at Bloodwing Academy, where the highbloods run everything and blightborn like me? We’re just blood in their veins, pawns in their games.

But that’s not even the worst part. Enter Blake Drakharrow. Cold, arrogant, and way too gorgeous for his own good. He’s been tormenting me since the moment we met, and now, thanks to some ancient ritual, we’re betrothed. He acts like he owns me, but I’m not going down without a fight.

Bloodwing isn’t just a school—it’s a battlefield. Highbloods fight for power, and if you’re weak? You’re dead.

Between deadly competitions, lies that could get me executed, and a dragon-shaped secret looming over my head, all I have to do is survive. Easy, right? Except I’m starting to think the real danger isn’t the academy—it’s what I’m becoming in this twisted game of power.

And Blake? He might just be the one who pushes me over the edge.

They think they can control me. They think they can use me.

But they have no idea what they’ve awakened.

Review:

“He leaned back against the table, then gestured to all of the books in front of me. “What are you reading about, anyhow?”
“Just researching ways to kill you,” I said sweetly. “Vampire Murder Methodology 101.”

How did this happen? I chose to read a bully romance? I loved it? Who am I? Is this because secretly I loved Draco Malfoy? And Blake definitely gave Draco Malfoy… Maybe…

On Wings of Blood was popping up everywhere, and other than the bully romance aspect I was totally sold on the premise from the first time I heard it. Then it was chosen as a book club book and I thought here is my chance! No excuses no!! And then I didn’t get to it in May… But something was calling to me at the start of June and said I just had to read it…

Blake and Medra consumed my every waking moment. If I dared pick up a different book to read, I was thinking of Blake and Medra. Tried to listen to an audio book while doing chores and I had to stop because all I wanted was to read On Wings of Blood. The only reason it took me as long to read as it did was because work was manic that week and so I had very limited time to read during the day and then when I got home I was exhaused so I made my way through a couple chapters at a time and read it over 5 days. Agony. I wish I had started this on the weekend so I could have consumed in one go!

I, along side a lot of people in the book club, were somewhat confused by the sheer AMOUNT of things that were going on at the start of this book, and then again later when Medra was just seemingly never trying to get home (seemingly just accepting what she was experiencing as it for her). I mean you should see some of the notes I made in my kindle… wait, let me show you:

But I either looked past it, or ignored the confusion (not sure which) because I got over it pretty quickly and decided that it was all good! I did find out later that there is possibly a series / book BEFORE this one that kind of explains some of the confusions from the start so I may have to look that up.

Personally, the confusion was why I dropped .5 stars, but other than that it was brilliant. The vibes were there, the banter was there, and even though there are chapters where I hate Blake (and Medra respectfully) I still love him. I’m totally here for this story and I can’t wait to find out how this all resolves. I’m not sure if this is planned to be a trilogy / series but either way I will likely dive into book 2 in July regardless of whether the prompts allow for it or not.

“Sometimes the problem is that we don’t see ourselves the way others do.”

Reading With Tyler