Fourth Wing

Violet Sorrengail was supposed to live a quiet life among books. Instead her mother shoves her into the deadliest war college on the continent, where dragons choose their riders and the wrong choice means death. The slow-burn enemies-to-lovers with the dragon-rider Xaden is the engine; the broader political plot is the chassis. Reads fast, hits hard, and absolutely earns its 4-pepper rating in the back half.