A Promise of Fire

This book’s been getting stellar reviews everywhere, and no surprise — it’s a delight.

Special snowflake heroines are a dime-a-dozen in Romancelandia and fantasy novels, but how many of them are also slightly maniacal? Not many! When we meet Cat, she’s hiding out in a circus. When our hero shows up (because this is well and truly a romance, so we are H/h ing this), it’s because he knows (part) of who Cat really is: the Kingmaker, destined to alter the fate of nations. He’s the magic-less warlord who just conquered one of the three realms. For the first time ever, a non-magic family controls a thrones, and people have a lot of feels about that. The non-magic majority is thrilled. The magic nobility, not so much. The hero’s feels are that he’d like the Kingmaker to come help a warlord out.

She’s like “nah man” so he kidnaps her, as you do*
*Do not try this at home

Thus our H/h set off on an adventure where he tries to convince her to help his fam, who just want to rule a country, and she tries to escape as she’s terrified her uber-evil mom will come after her. Because Cat has powers everyone wants to control. Super cool powers. Like she can melt people.

This struck all the right chords for me: a snarky heroine, tough but sweet soldier friends, the occasional dragon, super dysfunctional families, super adorbs families, newbie royals who need major help learning to be royal, and romance, obvi.

Not a lot of books leave me craving the sequel, but this one definitely did.

I LOVE this series. The characters are amazing, the world is vivid, and the action keeps you engaged.

I’m a sucker for a good fantasy romance series, and this one is exceptional. The world-building, characters, the dialogue and banter–all great. I hope you enjoy this series as much as I did.

fantasy romance with dragons and magic and secrets oh my! Well-executed enemies to lovers wrapped in an interesting fantasy world.

I devoured the whole Kingmaker series in a week. Great world building, action-packed series.

I have another favorite fantasy series! The world-building, magical concepts, and story started in A Promise Of Fire hooked me early and kept me there. The main character, Cat, hasn’t had an easy life, which means she is particularly unprepared for meeting Griffin, a man with a mission. A man who knows too much about her hidden abilities. There’s a good dose of romance, which I enjoyed. Griffin is one of the good guys, determined to make the world a better place. He’s a likeable character. Another highlight for me was the role played in the story by various Greek gods. All of that was good, but it was the monster battles that glued me to the page. Bouchet writes great magic battle scenes.

I love this series. This is a wonderful beginning to a new series about a world created by the Greek gods similar to Greece but not exactly. Cat is fiercely independent and I loved seeing her learn to deal with people who learn to love her, and gain an actual family.

The books are set in a land called Thalyria. It seems to be based largely on Ancient Greece, with Greek language, Greek Gods (who are real in this world), etc. Half the world is ice and half is desert, or so it seems. Magic is stronger in the regions with ice, and weaker in the regions without. Magic is might in this world…

Our two primary characters are Cat and Griffin. Cat is hiding from her evil family, and has made a home with the circus. She is kidnapped by Griffin, who is a warlord who has recently taken control of one of the three Kingdoms in Thalyria. He wants Cat because she has the magic his family lacks.

Cat takes a long time to warm up to Griffin and his team, but I felt that was understandable considering that he literally kidnapped her, put her in danger and made her leave the only people she loved. Yup, fair enough. They are good guys though, and she can’t help but warm to them. Sometimes she resents liking them, which feels like it fits the situation pretty well! I’ve read other reviews that say Cat is a bit whiny, but frankly, I would be too if I was treated the way she was!

I never felt like the story dragged, even after reading all three books in the trilogy. It’s an epic adventure and story, and so it feels okay that it takes three books to tell it.

There is an enormous amount of world building that has gone on behind the scenes, and the creatures (some are mythical creatures I’ve heard of, some aren’t), the gods, the secondary human characters, etc., are all well described and feel like integral parts of the story. You get enough scenery to picture the scene, but not so much that you feel the need to skip pages of description.

There is plenty of action, and if you’re squeamish, it might squick you out a bit. Even the healing scenes can be pretty gory or squicky in their own right.

The general plot of the story is obvious, but the story doesn’t feel predictable. So many things happen that I don’t expect, and things don’t go how I thought they were going to, and it all adds up to keep me interested and keep me turning the page.

The romance between Cat and Griffin is secondary to what is an epic fantasy adventure story. But it’s there.

The secondary characters are fantastic additions to the story, and Kato is a clear favourite. I’m not sure if that’s because he’s Cat’s favourite or mine. Ha ha!

All in all, it’s a fascinating read, and I rated all three books in the trilogy a solid five stars. I recommend them to anyone who enjoys fantasy or epic adventure stories.

5 RIP-ROARING, FANTASY FILLED, SO MUCH FUN TO READ, OH THE FEELS, STARS!!!!!
Why on earth did I take so long to read this? Lol. Two things, first this book was recommended by another fabulous author whom I love, Nalini Singh, that should have been my first hint and the second thing is I devoured this book all without power at my home due to Hurricane Irma. Lol. I read until my vision blurred and succumbed to that nasty thing we barely need when reading, called sleep. Lol…Now on to my review…
This was a phenomenal read!!!! I loved every minute of it. I did not skip not one word and yet I feel as if I need to read it again and I will. It was that good. Promise! In this great story we have Catalia “Cat” Sinta and Beta Griffin of the Hoi Polloi family. The word building is intense and captures you right away. There are gods involved and different factions that destroy each other just to move to the Alpha position in the family. I adored Cat and loved that she was a survivor, fighter and all around too sarcastically funny for her own good. She has been hiding in a circus for 8 years after running away from her destructive mother, Andromeda, aka Alpha Sinta. She had been tortured for the first 15 years of her life and is still trying to stay ahead of Alpha Sinta who wants her back and will not let her go. Griffin of the Hoi Polloi family has been looking for someone, someone that would change the other families view of them and help them. You see, the Hoi Polloi are without magic and Cat being a Kingmaker can discern lie from truth. So Griffin captures her not knowing all the facts regarding her and her family or powers. As the story progresses we realize that Cat was raised in a horrible, torturous and murderous environment and finds it hard that Griffin’s family and close friends, are too nice. She believes that they will be fodder to their enemies. There is so much action and magic, I absorbed all of it. Griffin and Cat do get together, though she fears his life is forfeit, just by being near her. He says it over and over again, that she is his and will protect her.
“Live together, or die trying?” oh the feels…
I fell in love with Griffin right away, from the very start and the fact that he found everything he ever wanted or needed in Cat. His patience with her and the love he had for her, I have no words for it. It was the very best and I loved that he let her take as much time as she needed for them to be together. His utter faith and support in her was awesome! I found the words captivating and the world building arresting!!! Just a fantastic read, and I am so sorry I took so long to get to this marvelous story. The book does end with another story continuing and I am on to that book now!!!
This book really deserves a 10!! Bravo Ms. Bouchet, Bravo!!!!

It’s always a pleasure when I start a new series that has a good mix of action, romance, and interesting world building. In A PROMISE OF FIRE, book one in the Kingmaker series, Catalia has been living and working as a soothsayer in a circus far from her northern homeland hiding out from an evil queen in whose palace she was raised. She catches the attention of Griffin, known as Beta Sinta, who with his family conquered the southern province of Sinta that had been run by royals who cared nothing for their people except for the taxes they paid and the forced labor provided. Cat has some very strong magical talents including being known as a Kingmaker; she can tell who is lying, but at a great physical cost. The warlord Griffin needs Cat as she is a powerful weapon to help retain his kingdom which has little magic so he takes her, and on the journey to his home, she discovers that though he is her captor, he has many commendable qualities. Cat is far more attracted to Griffin than she wants to admit; their verbal and physical sparing adds a lot of spice to the journey.

This world is set within the background of Greek mythology with the gods and goddesses who control the destinies of magic and non-magic folk alike. Although Cat was raised in abysmal circumstances, she did not let that corrupt her soul, but she certainly has some resulting issues to deal with that affect having a relationship with Griffin. Cat has a lot of secrets and Griffin is determined to know them all. I have seen criticism that Cat is a “helpless heroine,” but I see her as a survivor who has to deal with extremely difficult situations in the past and continuing on to the present. Cat’s story needs to be viewed in the context of her world and society. She is clever, creative, and has a sassy mouth that adds to the fun. I very much enjoyed this tale of adventure, magic, and romance.