DadReadsRomance

The Second Review in Romance Reviews by Dad – why I almost DNFed for the first time.

Hey this one has an evil mom instead of an evil dad.

Medium Used: 50% ebook via Libby 50% audiobook via Hoopla

Ratings out of 5

Overall Rating: 💜💜💜

Sweetness Level: 🍫

Steam Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥

FMC Likability: 🧙‍♀️🧙🏼‍♀️🧙🏾‍♀️

MMC Likability: ⚔⚔

Plot Engagement: 🐉🦄🧜🏿‍♀️

At least 1 bad dad (pass/fail): 0️⃣

**BONUS audiobook narration: ** 🔉🔉🔉🔉🔉

Spoiler Free Review

A Promise of Fire is a high fantasy slow burn Romance story set in a fictional world that has greek mythology. Our story is told from the perspective of Cat who has been a circus fortune teller for 8 years but has a mysterious past. She cannot really read people's fortune (most of the time) but she does have the ability to tell when somebody is lying. An ability highly coveted by royals across the three realms. A special ability that only shows up about once every two hundred years. She is the kingmaker.

Cat's 8 years of peace in the circus are turned upside down when a non-magical warlord discovers she is the kingmaker and forces her to serve him. Beta Sinta is the first non-magical warlord to defeat the minority magical rulers of the realm of Sinta and believes Cat is the key to his family staying in power.

Look I am going to get it right out there. I had some serious problems with the first third of this book. I find nothing endearing about kidnapping. I had 0 sympathy for the MMC for pretty much the whole book. I found him appalling in the first third, annoying in the second third, and merely tolerable in the last third. There is a lot to love about this book. I think the prose was lovely, the world building interesting, the pacing ideal, and the steam hot as hell. It was just that the premise/set-up of the MCs love was a constant taint on all the good for me. That being said, fantasy requires the reader to concede things. If this was a contemporary story I don't think this book could come back from the way Beta Sinta treats Cat in the first Act. Luckily, it is fantasy and while I personally don't forgive his actions I will accept the fantastical concession given for his actions and probably finish the series. **But** it gets 1 chocolate bar for sweetness cause there is nothing sweet about stealing people from their homes.

You may be wondering why I have MMC 2 crossed swords instead of 1. Well okay there are some chapters where I did like him a decent bit and I already kind of lied a bit in the sweetness ranking so I gave Beta Sinta a 2 which is how I actually feel about him despite the amount I continue to complain about him below.

What I liked about this book

• I think I share a sense of humor with the author because the sass, sarcasm, and banter was thoroughly enjoyable for me.
• I like the way magic works in this world. I found it to be fresh but also like that it didn't need 10,000 rules people just had the magic they had kind of like X-Men.
• There is a caring and loving father in this book. A rarity in the genre.
• Amanda Boucher's imagery and prose in general I enjoyed a lot. This is a well written story in my opinion.
• The Slowest of Burns made the very well written steam feel extra spicy.
• The action scenes in this book are really really good. Magic and swords are fun! Books are cool!

What I did not like about this book

• MMC essentially abducts FMC at the start of the story.
• MMC is overly possessive, jealous, and controlling. I get this is a common trope in the genre and I've enjoyed plenty of stories with it but I cannot identify with MMCs that are like this and it ruins a bit of the gush for me when its at the level it is in this book.

Spoilers Review

What I liked Spoilers

Click to reveal spoilers

• The chapter where Cat steals the euphoria by accident is super fun and also the only time Griffon is likable for like the first 300 pages.
• I didn't like that Griffon didn't take no for answer in general but it did make it hit harder when he respects Cat's request to stop being frisky the first couple of times things get steamy.
• Cat throws Cerberus whose been turned into a charm bracelet at a dragon. He turns back into a giant three headed dog and murders the dragon. This is great stuff.
• The reveal at the end that Cerberus was at the circus because of Cat and not Selena aw shucks that got me.
• The overall concept of the Sinta's ruling strategy and Cat's kind of self-discovery that peaceful ruling is possible. Or maybe just the themes outside of kidnapping of the book in general I just liked. God I wish the main character wasn't forcibly tied to her fated lover for nearly half the book it really made everything else not as good.
• Okay but the lengthy grinding through clothes while making out before their first time was 🥵

What I didn't like Spoiler

Click to reveal spoilers

• See second to last bullet of what I did like. Ugh
• Griffon never apologizes for how he treated Cat like come on????!
• I don't understand what value Daphne added to the plot. Like I really do not want to be mansplaining here but this character makes me pissed off as a feminist. Why just add a character you give no time to develop that basically just serves as an example of “crazy x girlfriend” and “girls have to be enemies over shared love interest”? Then she just fucking tries to murder FMC and gets a dagger through her eye? I hate that this was done. I also hate that I hate that it was done cause I don't feel like it is my place to criticize an author who is a woman about this but it really irked me.
• Virgin trope. Was not expecting this reveal that late and it felt unneeded.

Who should read this book?

Well if you don't mind jerky bad boy trope MMCs there is a lot to love here. If you can't look past an MMC abducting an FMC and keeping her tied up for weeks than probably skip this one.

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(This Review was originally published on Reddit in 2022.)