Book Review: Heart on Fire by Amanda Bouchet

Heart on Fire
Author: Amanda Bouchet
Series: Kingmaker Chronicles (Book 3)
Publication: Sourcebooks Casablanca (January 2, 2018)

Description: GODS. I’M AN IDIOT.

Without Griffin—and apparently a few meddling Gods—to push me along, I’d still be telling fortunes at the circus, lying about my past, ignoring my future, and living as far away from my tyrant mother as humanly possible.

True understanding thuds into place. Hope isn’t just an abstract concept; it’s me. Flesh and blood me. Griffin knew it all along. Probably everyone did. I’m an idea in human form.

I have the power of the Gods at my fingertips.
The only thing ever stopping me has been me.

My Thoughts: The finale of the Kingmaker Chronicles is action-packed and really puts our heroes to the test. Cat is pregnant, has unreliable magic, and is building an army to defeat her mother who is the most evil of evil villains.

Cat's main problem is that she doesn't have confidence in her magic. All the people around her see her as the embodiment of hope for a new better future but she has her doubts. Those doubts are magnified when she finds out how much the gods have interfered with her life and with Griffin's.

When Griffin's brother Piers calls a god to ask him to take her away from Griffin, she learns that her main protector when she was a child was actually Ares, the god of war. Of course, Piers's actions don't go quite as he thought. He missed the part of the scroll that said "call a god, lose a soul." Since Ares won't take a pregnant Cat, he has to choose between Griffin, who the gods want right where he is, and Kaia, his own innocent younger sister. Griffin sees Piers's actions as a major betrayal of him and his family. When Piers is sent off with Athena, Griffin is angry and betrayed and has his faith in his family tested.

That is only one test the Cat and Griffin have to deal with here. When searching for a potion to make her unreliable magic more reliable, she and Griffin run into her mother who is posing as the hermit and, when poisoning her fails, throws her into a volcano. Only the sudden appearance of wings she didn't know she had save her. However, those same wings fail her when she is sent to Tartarus by Zeus for trying to assume a gods powers. Cat needs to finally believe that she has what is necessary for her magic to work reliably before she can escape and get back to Griffin.

This was a great conclusion to a series that has been filled with action, adventure and romance from the very beginning. I like the worldbuilding and I really like the characters in this series. I love the relationship between Cat and Griffin. Fans of epic fantasy won't want to miss this series.

Favorite Quote:

Griffin sweeps his hands down my arms. His skin is rough, his touch gentle. "Don't doubt us, Cat. Don't doubt me."

I take a shaky breath. "I don't. I just...I'm..." I stop, at a loss.

Griffin lifts his eyebrows. "Inarticulate at the moment?"

Scowling, I thwack him in the chest.

"Overwrought?" he supplies, his mouth quirking up.

I thwack him again.

"Highly emotional?"

Thwack. Thwack.

"Apparently weak, because none of that hurts at all."

I give him the evil eye -- a grumpy one.

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.