Breath of Fire (The Kingmaker Chronicles, #2)

by Amanda Bouchet

[stacey_is_sassy]

I'm about to get real...

First off, I have chatted (online) with Amanda Bouchet and she seems like the nicest and sweetest person. The below comments are not meant to directly attack Ms Bouchet, this is actually more of a reflection on the frustrations of buying books in Australia. It seems like we pay more than double the price of books that are sold overseas and we NEVER (or hardly ever) have access to sales prices offered elsewhere. Sometimes, we don't even have access to the same books.

It has taken me yonky donks to read this book. The first book in the series, I absolutely loved and could not sing its praises loud enough. When the second book was announced, I put in a request to read and review and was rejected. No harm, no foul, you can't win them all. So, I waited for the release and planned to buy myself a Kindle copy on Amazon. Bloody Hell!! $16.99 for the Kindle copy. Wow, I haven't EVER paid that much for a Kindle version. So, I sat and waited, hoping that the price would come down. Months went by and I checked regularly with no changes. Recently, I put in a paperback order (Amazon USA) and out of curiosity checked the price for a paper version and it was $5.98, so I added it. I was a little disappointed though because I don't enjoy reading paper books anymore. Then I had an idea...why not buy the audio version when I had my next audible credit available?

SO, I DID IT!!

It was pretty good but unfortunately, I had my expectations set a little too high. The ending was action-packed, heart pounding excitement. I loved it. Unfortunately, the lead up to the ending was a bit boring. I even took a week off listening because I felt like something more exciting. I can't even put my finger on what was missing. It just felt like Cat had lost her backbone and her confidence. Every so often she'd come out spitting fire, but there were more times where she looked to Griffin or her team to make decisions.

The third book in the series is set to come out soon...ish, but I'm not sure I'll be going on, to be honest. I can't justify paying nearly $17.00 for a Kindle book.