I loved this series! Cat is amazing and it was great to see how her character developed. A must read!

Heart of Fire is the third and final installment in author Amanda Bouchet's The Kingmaker Chronicles. When we last left protagonist Catalia Fisk, a powerful Magoi of the bloodline of Titans and Olympians, she and her husband Griffin had won the Agon Games, and defeated the Taran Alpha's. Even though Cat has become the Queen of Thalyna and the entity that is supposed to bring hope to the realm, there have been some twists and some losses along the way. Cat, as we have learned, has some interesting abilities, but it might be her own failings and insecurities that lead to failure.

Cat has the ability to steal magic from others, the ability to tell if someone is lying, the ability to use lightning (which is Zeus's trademark), and the ability to go invisible are great tools to have at her disposal. (She also gets one more pretty cool ability in this story but I shalt not spoil it for you.) Cat, who has enough sarcasm and sass to carry the load, grew up amidst fear and darkness, power games and distrust, but has since found a man who loves her fiercely, unconditionally and reverently even though he is beyond overprotective at times, especially now that Cat is carrying "Little Bean."

Her unique relationship with the Gods like Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Ares and Persephone, have given her the ability to survive situations others would fallen by the way side. But, Cat also has had her destiny guided for her by those same Gods. No matter how hard she tried to escape it, it keeps coming back up in a variety of different forms. She knows that Griffin is the key to her abilities. She also gets a shocking wake-up with some really eye opening revelations from the Gods.

Cat and Griffin have one major challenge remaining; Facing off against Alpha Fisa, Cat's diabolical mother who won't bow down and surrender to anyone, let alone her wayward daughter who ran away 8 years ago. One can expect that Andromeda will do whatever is in her powers to prevent Cat and Griffin from succeeding. Cat is also trying to understand her new destiny. She is Hope in flesh and blood not just some abstract concept. Apparently, Griffin has known about Cat's destiny all along, which is why he went to great lengths to bring her into his family and his plans for uniting the realms under one banner.

Cat literally has the power of Gods at her fingertips, but her insecurities and her worries about hurting or losing those she has become friends and her new family that has accepted her, faults and all have sometimes caused power shortages.
Bouchet never fails to impress at how big she goes with both her world building, her plot, her characters, and her smexy romance scenes. The direct involvement of the Greek pantheon is one of the best moments of the series because it forces both Cat and Griffin to understand what brought them together and what is expected of them.

Central to this entire series has been the so called Power Bid that can reunite the three realms known as Fisa, Tarva, and Sinta into Thalyna. Sinta is where this series began. Fisa will be where it ends. Heart on Fire concludes Cat's journey, her discover of herself and embracing her limitless potential after facing countless trials, physical and emotional. When all is said and done, can Cat and Griffin find their happy ever after? Or, will Andromeda be the thorn that sticks in their claw?

Heart on Fire is the third book (and conclusion) to the Kingmaker Chronicles by Amanda Bouchet. I highly recommend reading the entire series in order, not just because it is fabulous, but also because the background and intricacies of the world Bouchet built requires it to understand this book and fully enjoy the ride.

Who is Catalia Fisa? With the help of pivotal figures from her past, Cat begins to understand the root of her exceptional magic, her fated union with Griffin Sinta, and Griffin's role in shaping her destiny. Only Cat holds the key to unlocking her own power, and that means finally accepting herself, her past, and her future in order to protect her loved ones, confront her murderous mother, and taking a final, terrifying step--reuniting all three realms and taking her place as the Queen of Thalyria. What doesn't kill her will only make her stronger, we hope.

Heart on Fire is a book I was eager to read, but still dreading. I love this world and story, and I was sad to see it end- although I hope the world will continue on in related books. As usual Catalia is trying to figure out her powers, and trying to unite people with as few lives lost as possible. However, there are huge trails ahead and little in way of directions. Griffin is still the stalwart and loving partner, and I loved seeing their relationship grow and change to keep pace with the danger and challenges ahead. I Think both characters grew through out the book, but Cat's inner conflicts and discoveries about herself are the force behind the book. I liked that while so much of the book was her struggling to deal with the gods, fate, and her mother- it never felt like a pity party. Too often a character that needs to face issues of this magnitude ends up feeling too whiny or self involved for me. This did not happen here, instead it was all part of the necessary journey. I was impressed with the amount of twists and turns the story took, and with the amount of mythology that was used. I was surprised several times, and fully invested in the well-being of the characters.

Heart on Fire is a wonderful conclusion to a trilogy. I was very happy with the action and resolution. I only hope that Bouchet keeps writing about this world she has created, because I want to know more about what happens next in the lives of several secondary characters.

FINAL DECISION: A good ending to the trilogy. Although it didn't quite hit the highs of the first two books as it wrapped up the story, I thought it was a worthy end.

THE STORY: Picking up after the events of BREATH OF FIRE, Cat and Griffin now take on their greatest challenge in unifying the three realms. Now Cat must go home and confront her murderous mother.

OPINION: I have loved the world building and complex relationships in this series. This book brings everything (at least regarding Cat and Griffin) to a close as Cat confronts her biggest fear -- her mother.

As the story progresses, the relationship to the Greek Gods that has been present throughout the series becomes explicit as Cat's destiny is fully revealed.  There is less tension and drama in this story as between Griffin and Cat and I think the book suffers somewhat from this. While the action and fantasy is good, I was not as interested in Cat and Griffin's journey.

This book was necessary to finish everything up, but I missed the personal tension that made the first two books so good. Don't get me wrong, this book was not disappointing but rather suffered just a tiny bit in comparison to the other books in the series.

That being said, I really enjoyed the revelations here and seeing Cat and Griffin's relationship become more centered. Griffin is a wonderful partner for Cat and looking back on the series, all the qualities that make him so were obvious. They end up being such a grounded and complementary pair -- and part of the reason is revealed in this book.

WORTH MENTIONING: I hope there are more books set in this world because there seem to be more stories to tell.

CONNECTED BOOKS: HEART OF FIRE is the third book in the Kingmaker Chronicles. This book is intended to be read as part of the trilogy as it follows one couple and their quest.

STAR RATING: I give this book 4 stars.

NOTE: I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in order to prepare a review. I was not required to write a review or to write a positive review. All opinions contained herein are my own.

Review to be posted on January 2, 2018

Absolutely love this series I have read the other 2 parts and I can’t get enough of it. This has all the great elements of a story action, romance, magic, humor,suspense. Cat is one of my all time favorite heroines and of course Griffin is the alpha male we all want to get our hands on. This series gets 2 thumbs up.

Reading this final installment made me like the previous books even less, which is sad. I had had a weird kind of relationship with these books to begin with - I read the first two when I was sick and so I was a little bleary headed and I liked more what they could be then what they necessarily are. I think I also gave the first two a little more credit than they deserved because I thought some of my initial dislike might have been due to the sickness. So yeah, I mostly skim read this. If you enjoyed the first two, you'll probably enjoy this one. I just feel like I've outgrown them, in a way. I read so many amazing books this year and this just didn't live up to those. The possessiveness and hyper masculinity just really isn't my thing and it turned me off the whole book.

Repetitive and tensionless, a far cry from the adventure of book one.

I was so excited to get my hands on this book because I needed to know what happened! What happened is your emotions take a ride on the emotional roller-coaster. You find yourself laughing, crying, getting angry and annoyed, and finally overjoyed. There were a couple of slow parts to the plot but overall the story moved at a nice pace. The book would've been better if there had been an epilogue, but that's just my personal opinion.

I've read all three books in the series and loved them all. Cat is real, fierce, vulnerable all at the same time. Cat and Griffins love is epic. The supporting characters are well developed and interesting. I like the mix of Romance and Fantasy.

This book has serious pacing issues. Despite wanting to like it, I barely got through the first few chapters. The first two books had recognizable structures - a road trip and a rollicking 'coming into your own' set of challenges, but this third one seems completely unsure of its arc.

Amanda Bouchet's Kingmaker Chronicles continues with another fascinating, imaginative fantasy.  Greek mythology is expertly woven into this tale of struggle with horrendous beasts, gods and demi-gods and just plain evil humans.  In contrast with the horrific situations is a group of people some related by blood, many not who built an amazing family and lead a people how desperately need their fairness and strength.

Cat finally comes into her destiny with her full powers as she goes into the biggest fight of her life against her own mother.  Griffin remains the most amazing supportive man who also happens to be a big ole alpha in his own right!  Swoon.

I was on the verge of being tired of Cat's wishy-washy inability to accept her fate and take charge of her powers when she finally saw the light and embraced it.

This book is filled with fights that seem insurmountable, surprising explanations of previous events, godly intervention and love.  Lots of love.

This entire series has had me hooked and Heart of Fire was a satisfying, gripping conclusion.

I have been an enormous fan of the Kingmaker Chronicles and especially Cat and Griffin since I read A PROMISE OF FIRE. I also enjoyed BREATH OF FIRE so much last year. Unfortunately, this conclusion to the series did not work for me, and I ended up giving up on this book around 30%. I don't know what happened but I just didn't feel the same excitement or tension in the story or between the characters. This makes me sad, as I'm always excited when a couple is together and actually works together. But something was missing in this book. I do still love Cat and Griffin though and I wish nothing but the best for them in the future. I'd also LOVE to read books from Beta team, and I'm hoping that's where the author is going, as none of them get their own HEAs. And I would definitely pick those books up, or anything else that Amanda Bouchet writes, but sadly, this just wasn't the series conclusion for me. I'm going to give this 2 stars on the strength of the series alone, but as I didn't finish it, I wouldn't rate it if I wasn't forced to by this system.

A good conclusion to a fun fantasy/romance series. I would love to see a spinoff series with some of the other characters.

When I first came across the Kingmaker Chronicles, I was ecstatic to find a series that seemed to have everything I look for in the fantasy romance genre. I quickly devoured the first two books. A Promise of Fire and Breath of Fire were completely addicting - full of thrilling adventures, steamy romance, great characters, and an intriguing plot. And as sad as I that Cat and Griffin's journey was coming to end, I was so excited to read the conclusion to this series. Nothing pains me more than the fact that Heart on Fire was a major disappointment.

There were three major issues I had with the book that didn't allow for me to enjoy this as much as the first two in the series:

The Characters. Heart on Fire was very much focused on Cat and Griffin, which is fine because they're the main characters and the heart of the story, but the side characters that I had grown to love and care for throughout the series were practically non-existent, and had very little (if any) page time. One of the great things about the previous books was Cat's connections and relationships with these characters, so the fact that they were missing throughout most of the book was disheartening. 

The Plot. My main issue was the plot was that many of the scenes seemed to drag. When I start skimming paragraphs and pages, that is never a good thing. Another problem I had with the story was the final confrontation with Cat's mother. I was expecting way more action and turmoil, especially given all the previous encounters, and yet it was over so quickly and anti-climatically that I wondered if I had missed something.

The Ending. This is where the majority of my disappointed comes from. When I read the conclusion to a much beloved series, I expect to be left with a feeling of contentment and satisfaction. Instead, I feel cheated. The ending felt completely rushed. The story ended so abruptly that I was actually stunned when I turned the last page and was met with nothing. There was no epilogue or final chapter to wrap up loose ends and give closure to the reader. It honestly felt like I was missing a part of the book. It left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Heart on Fire should have been an epic conclusion to a wonderful series but there were too many things missing for me to really enjoy it. I'm going to miss these characters and their stories, especially Cat and Griffin. In the future, I hope there are more fantasy romance novels written as wonderful as these books in the future. Kudos to Amanda Bouchet for writing such an amazing debut series!

4.5 stars

Heart on Fire was a great conclusion to the Kingmaker Chronicles. There was so much going on, and the author had me on an emotional-rollercoaster throughout the book. It was very unpredictable and had a couple of plot twists. What I really enjoyed was the mythology and all the mythical creatures that made an appearance in this series. It is clear that the author Amanda Bouchet has an incredible creative mind, and I applaud her for the world she has created for this series. I was fully connected to all the main characters. I was a part of the team and felt every emotion they did. There were times I couldn't contain my tears and other times I was pumped up for a fight.

"You're the best man I know, and the only man I want. You're a torch, not the dark. I look at you, and all I see is fire and light."

In this book Cat has to confront her evil mother once and for all. It won't be an easy fight, because she is so powerful. I loved how supportive and protective Griffin and the Beta Team were. Griffin is definitely one of my all time favorite book boyfriends. He was an alpha but wasn't afraid to let Cat fight her own fights. There were a couple of heartbreaking scenes, but also many uplifting ones. The writing, storytelling and character development was amazing. The book wasn't perfect in my opinion, because some scenes left me wanting more or didn't have the punch I expected it to have. Especially the ending left me unsatisfied and I still have a couple of unanswered questions, so I need a spin-off focusing on the members of the Beta team. I am not ready to say goodbye to these incredible characters!

Love this series! I thought the ending was a little rushed, I would definitely pick up a fourth installment. I hope she writes more in this universe, there are several characters that definitely need their stories told.

In the conclusion of the Kingmaker Chronicles, Cat has become and intercuts, whiny girl. This installment was painful because watching the fierce vibrant warrior who fights for everything she lives turn into a helpless baby made me want to punch her. She has everything including a huge responsibility of being the origin, but again...she has everything including Griffin by her side. I could have used more kick ass battles and live making and less of the self journey. All in all in was a good conclusion to the story.

This was such an good last book. Wow.

Amanda really knows how to character and world build with her writing. Cat's character arc throughout these three books as been great and very tangible for the reader to understand. Amanda also very cleverly weaved in Greek mythology into each aspect of this story. When I tell you I inhaled this book, I'm not exaggerating. I loved every moment of it.

So why did I just give this last book 4 stars? The ending was rushed. After so much back and forth the last couple chapters were so hurried. What makes it worse is there were unanswered questions in the end regarding a certain someone (which to me is practically a cardinal sin an author can commit at the end of a series). Also I don't know if it was because this was an ARC but there wasn't an Epilogue. Another no-no for me, I mean three books of this story and we don't know what happens in the future???

That being said the story across three book was entertaining and very engrossing. These points did not take away from an exceptionally good trilogy.

Recommendation: READ THIS SERIES. I need me a Griffin...

This was one of my most anticipated books of 2018! So I'm not going to lie I did like this but didn’t love it! It didn't have the feel as the first two books in the series and was kind of a letdown. It started strong enough but I felt the ending was rushed and I would’ve liked an epilogue. I am going to miss this world and characters though, and would love to see a spin off with Ianthe or one of Griffin’s sisters.

Catalia Fisa has much to accomplish in this adrenaline charged, emotionally rich and sometimes heart-rending, roller coaster conclusion to The Kingmaker Chronicles, HEART ON FIRE. Cat faces fierce battles, not all of which are physical, a challenging quest, and finds herself thrown into one particularly dark and difficult ordeal. Together, Cat and Griffin are forging a new world between the three previously separate and often warring provinces of Tarva, Sinta, and Fisa. Cat’s greatest struggles result not only from her seriously evil and vicious mother’s actions, but her own fears and lack of confidence. Cat desperately needs to figure how to use her frustratingly erratic God-given powers which will enable her to be triumphant. Her path to victory comes with many hard choices. In Cat’s realm, doing what is right and honorable is rarely easy and often dangerous. She has the perfect man at her side in Griffin whose love and confidence helps Cat become everything she is meant to be. With his unconditional love and unwavering support, Griffin shows Cat no matter where the journey takes her, he will be right by her side. Her own worries and self-doubt are perhaps the truest enemy if not the most tangible one. Cat sees herself as too damaged to be the queen she is meant to be. Griffin's love and support empowers Cat to overcome self-loathing and crippling uncertainty giving her the strength to take wing and fly.

By embracing her true purpose instead of fleeing it, Cat becomes the embodiment of “Elpis” which means hope; her destiny is to unite Thalyria. She wants people to see life can be good when lived with joy and peace rather than brutality, neglect, and the abuse they have known. Cat must convince herself though as well that the Gods are on her side. However, the Gods are often far from benevolent, Cat finds their interactions less than helpful and frequently maddening. The capricious meddling Gods have quite a few surprises, not all of them pleasant, their master plan for her and Griffin. Cat’s family, those who are blood and those claimed as such, also figure greatly into this epic tale. The harder Cat fights, the more her mother, Andromeda, unleashes her immense abilities as Cat’s most powerful and painful enemy. Soon to become a mother herself, Cat has even more reason to fight with every fiber of her being to establish a new world order.

Cat embodies my favorite kind of fantasy heroine. I love the combination of her courage, strength, stubbornness, and self-sacrificing loyalty thrown together with a little bit of crazy, but laced with humor to lighten a very heavy load. Cat never gives up or loses hope though she may falter in the darkest places. I thoroughly enjoyed this exceedingly well done book. Truthfully, there are some very painful places further demonstrating Amanda Bouchet’s skills as a writer who can elicit all variety of emotions from readers taking them on a journey to places of deep joy interwoven with heartbreaking agony, and other equally intense feelings along the way. The world and characters Amanda Bouchet has created hit all the right marks of action, adventure, and romance. It is such a pleasure to read a very satisfying and well-wrought end to this most enjoyable trilogy. I am left thinking about the characters long after the story has ended and longing for more. I can think of no higher compliment.