A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet Blog Tour

A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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.

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I freely admit that I was quite captivated with the cover when I first saw it and the interesting description sealed the deal. How could I not say yes to this blog tour? I also freely admit that I was a bit worried that the romance part would take over the story, but thankfully it was not the dominant part of the book. Although I had some issues with it. But, more about that later.

A Promise of Fire is the first book in the series about Catalia "Cat" Fisa (Btw Fisa in Swedish means farting and I was a bit amused by that) who the last eight years have been running away from her past and her terrible mother. Now a warlord has found her and decided that she is what his family's newly conquered realm needs since she is the Kingmaker. She doesn't go with him willingly instead he kidnaps her with threats of hurting her friends. What he doesn't know that she is protected by the Gods themselves...

I must admit that I came to like Cat quite a lot while reading this book. She had a terrible childhood and have many scares (physically and psychically) from that. And, all she wants is to stay away from her mother. Enter Griffin, a man so infuriating that she can't help starting to like him and his team of men that would fight and die for him. I do love the banter throughout the book, the book was much more amusing than I thought it would be. Also, it was way darker than I had expected. But, what really made me enjoy this book was the Greek mythology that was incorporated into the story, for instance, is Cat's friend Selene the mistress of Hades och Cat herself is protected by Poseidon. As the story progress, you realize that Cat has a purpose and that the Gods seem to have a plan for her.

Now, as I mentioned in the beginning of the review was I worried about the romance part and yes there is a lot of sexual tension between Cat and Griffin all through the book, but I can't say that it bothered me that much. It was a bit refreshing to have Cat not giving in early on in the book to Griffin. However, I found Griffin to be a bit stereotypical when it came to being a male hero. With his attitude and his jealousy. And, that's fine if that's what you are looking for, but for me is this just the kind of male that bores me a bit when I read books. While Cat felt multilayered with all her problems did Griffin tend to play the typical strong male lead. And, that was just too bad. Also, there is a very explicit sex scene in the end of the book, and frankly it went on just a bit too long because, in the end, I grew bored with it and just wanted it to be over so that the story could continue to progress.

All and all did I like this book and I would definitely recommend this book to people that like to read fantasy romance and I definitely want to read the next book!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy for an honest review!