A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet (#Kingmaker 1) (ARC)

Title: A Promise of Fire (#Kingmaker #1)

Author: Amanda Bouchet

Release date: 2nd of August

Formats:
e-book: 8.23£  
paperback: 13.99£

Where you can buy it: Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com

Plot summary:  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.

 

 

"Have I cheated death again? Hades must be allergic to me"

I'm impressed. "A Promise of Fire" positively surprised me and definitely managed to exceed my expectations. It was a captivating and mesmerizing reading. A perfect blend of action, sizzling romance and Greek mythology skilfully woven together.  Evocative and fluent writing helped to create a mesmerizing world full of enthralling characters, spinning together a fascinating story. 

I loved Catalia whose sarcasm reminded me of my own but Griffin, Carver, Kato & Flynn were a great source of endless fun too. And let's not forget Griffin's sister and family! Their dinners together were so entertaining! I absolutely adored how every one of the characters was intriguing in her/his own right. 

I must say that, in the end, the romance won me over. I didn't like Griffin that much, the masculine dominant type not being really my cup of tea. Sort of. But I ended up liking him and Cat has an item. Although, He kidnapped her but I must say I found him quite agreeable, he never treated her badly and was often very respectful of her. Catalia on her part complained a lot but as - she herself admitted - was never in any real discomfort (except the kidnapping part that is). I was under the impression that most of the time she complained a lot just to not make the Beta team life easy and as reaction to feelings she didn't understand. Given her past, I guess that it is more than understandable. Anyway, by the end I really liked not only Cat & Griffin but also the whole team. It was definitely endearing to see Cat ending up teaching Kato & Flynn, sharing jokes and so on. 

Back to the topic of Cat & Griffin, it was so damn fun to see Cat trying to resist Griffin's charms and her own feelings for him at all costs. And yes, Griffin was maybe a bit insistent but never felt abusive or overwhelming, straddling the line between sheer stubbornness and mischievous flirting. Add the fact that the romance add its own divine reason to be---* Well played Amanda!* 

In addition to everything I have mentioned so far, the book also had a fair amount of action, twists, divine plotting and political intrigue. It was a page-turner up to the very end, almost. Yes, you read it right. Sadly, the whole plot suffered an abrupt stop toward the end due to "make-up scenes overload". Let me explain, throughout the book there was a fair amount of spicy scenes, well written and blended together with good plot and action. However, at some point, at the end of the book, everything stops happening and you find yourself with a chunk of pages full of lengthy make out scenes that separately might have worked perfectly but put together one after another just crashed the overall pace and bored me to death. On me, it had the same effect of an icy shower. 

Overall, "A Promise of Fire" remains a very promising start for what looks like an intriguing and scorching new trilogy. 

I'm already looking forward to know more about every one of the characters (yes, they were that good!), I'm dying to know Cat's secrets and have the burning need to know how the threads will now unravel--I need the second book! (Like now?)

I'll be definitely keeping an eye out for the Kingmaker trilogy as should you! 

Rating: 

3.5 blossoms

- You can read the first 5 chapters HERE