Image and blurb from Goodreads
Title:
A Promise of Fire
(Kingmaker Chronicles #1)
Author: Amanda Bouchet
Publication Date: August 2nd, 2016
Category/Genre: Adult Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Catalia "Cat" Fisa
is a powerful clairvoyant known as the Kingmaker. This smart-mouthed soothsayer
has no interest in her powers and would much rather fly under the radar, far
from the clutches of her homicidal mother. But when an ambitious warlord
captures her, she may not have a choice…
Griffin is intent on bringing peace to his newly conquered realm in the magic-deprived south. When he discovers Cat is the Kingmaker, he abducts her. But Cat will do everything in her power to avoid her dangerous destiny and battle her captor at every turn. Although up for the battle, Griffin would prefer for Cat to help his people willingly, and he's ready to do whatever it takes to coax her…even if that means falling in love with her.
Griffin is intent on bringing peace to his newly conquered realm in the magic-deprived south. When he discovers Cat is the Kingmaker, he abducts her. But Cat will do everything in her power to avoid her dangerous destiny and battle her captor at every turn. Although up for the battle, Griffin would prefer for Cat to help his people willingly, and he's ready to do whatever it takes to coax her…even if that means falling in love with her.
Buy Links: Amazon
4.5 “Greek Mythology meets KickAss Heroine” Stars
Hello,
2017! That's how we get things started!
Although I bought this book months ago, and had been wanting to read it for months before that, A Promise of Fire ended up being my first read of 2017 and I couldn't be happier about how my reading year started.
If this book is any indication of how 2017 will be, then I'm in for a great reading year.
I loved a lot of things about this books.
First, the whole Greek mythology influence gave me major feels. I'm crazy about this kind of thing, especially when authors manage to put some unique elements into the story to make it fresh. I got Xena, the Warrior Princess and Hercules, the Legendary Journeys feels (yeah, I'm that old), but I was still intrigued by some of the new things Amanda Bouchet brought to the story. LOVED, loved, loved the world-building, and I'm eager to continue to live in it.
Another huge plus was Cat. She was freaking amazing. Girlfriend knew how to take care of herself and flat-out refused to be treated disrespectfully. I know some reviewers had problems with Cat falling in love with the man who kidnapped her (no spoiler here, since this happens pretty early on), but I actually think the way things were handled made a lot of sense.
Look, Griffin isn't getting any best boyfriend awards, but he wasn't a bad person, either. He didn't take Cat because he was evil, he did it because he thought it was the only way to help his people. Not that it makes it okay. Kidnapping is always going to be bad. So Griffin deserved every nasty thing Cat did to him while he mantained her as his prisoner. Plus, Cat didn't make it easy on him. She didn't simply fall in love with him and gave in to these feelings while he held her captive. She fought with everything she had, she told him again and again that she wasn't okay with the situation and showed him as much.
She didn't start falling for him until he started showing her his true self. And even then, she made sure he worked VERY hard to gain her trust and her love. Things did not happen overnight, and Cat did not fall in love with her captor. She fell in love with the man he showed her once she was free.
Griffin was loyal to his friends, family and his people. He wanted to be a good leader and he wanted to implement changes that were good to his people. He was intense, possessive and a little (or a lot) caveman, but he was good at making other people feel loved, cared for and important. He had many flaws, but he also had many traits that showed that he was a good man. I felt myself falling for him as Cat did.
The tension between Cat and Griffin was extraordinary. I LOVED how Amanda Bouchet took her time building it to the point where things exploded, and only then, gave them and us what he wanted. And it was hot AF. That's all I'll say.
Aside
from the awesome main characters, Amanda Bouchet created kickass side
characters I fell in love with immediately. The Beta Team? OMG, I need them in
my life. All three of them. I want their love stories, their friendship, their
loyalty. I want them to please not die or I'll cry. I want them all to find
their happy ending, and I'm already shipping them hard with other great side
characters. I even love side characters I haven't even met (in this story, at
least), like Poisedon and Cat's crazy mother, who's bound to be one of my
favorite villains since she's batshit crazy.
Talking about Cat's mother, I could already tell early on where Cat's mysterious backstory was going (although we didn't get confirmation on that in this book, but how can it be any different?), and I'm more than ready to see how the truth will impact Griffin, his people and his relationship with Cat when it comes out. All the lies and secrets created the perfect atmosphere for the rest of the series.
With this amazing world-building, extremely likable cast of characters, insane sexual tension and enough tension to keep you turning page after page, this book was highly entertaining and addictive. I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel, because I'm sure I'll be halfway through the story and wishing it doesn't end, just like it happened with this first book.
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