It’s August and I’m just counting down the days until fall reaches New England. But I’m grateful for one thing this summer and that’s Sourcebooks Casablanca blessing me with A Promise of Fire by Amanda Bouchet. Seriously, this book is so good and it’s – without a doubt – the best book I’ve read this year. You’ll get a full dose of my squeeing soon, I promise.
With one look at the cover, I knew I wanted do something with Fireball – a cinnamon whiskey that is the culprit for 100% of my hangovers. Fire plays big role in the story as people are throwing fire magic around left and right. There’s also a dragon. But just as Fireball makes me hate myself in the morning, the heroine Cat has a huge dose of self-loathing. It was a match made in hangover heaven! Also, I’d like to note how simple this recipe is. Three ingredients, tops.
Cat, while tough and badass, is really just longing to be loved. As much as she denies it, she craves human contact because boy…this woman has had it pretty rough. I wanted to counteract the bite of the cinnamon with some sweetness, so I chose cider. But I wanted a cider that would keep that cinnamon or spicy feel. Not too sweet, please! And because I have a deep love of boozy fruit, I trawled the local farmer’s market, praying for apples. It’s not quite apple season here yet, so the pickings were slim and when I couldn’t find my favorite apple (Honeycrisp, if you’re wondering), I took what I could get.
The result is very reminiscent of a warm, cinnamon apple pie, though with a little bit of a kick at the end of each sip. The drink is named Chimera’s Fire after a form of magic in the book. It’s often used to imbue arrows in the book. Once the arrow hits you, it sears your skin right off. It’s a perfect analogy. While A Promise of Fire has its sweet moments, it’s not afraid to give you a swift punch in the gut with feels or with fireballs that melt people’s faces off – literally.
Also, we have a giveaway! Big thanks to Sourcebooks Casablanca for offering up five (5) copies to give away!
Plus, the Kingmaker Chronicles website has excerpts if you want to get a peek at chapter one and wallpapers if you’re in love with the cover like I am.
Shopping list
Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey
Hard cider
Apples (optional)
Proportions:
2 shots of Fireball
One bottle of cider
One small apple, sliced for garnish
Modifications and notes:
- I used a bottled cider. If you used cider that is canned, you might want to only use one shot of Fireball.
- Also, depending on how much you like cinnamon, you can use more or less Fireball. I found that two shots is perfect for me. You can definitely taste it, but it’s not overwhelming.
- As I mentioned before, I used a spiced cider – Angry Orchard’s Apple Ginger. Some other great spiced ciders are Woodchuck’s Fall Harvest (seasonal), Bantam’s Americain, Angry Orchard’s Cinnful Apple (seasonal), and Downeast’s Winter Blend (seasonal).
- For some bubbles, ginger ale is a good mixer!
Now to the best part! We have five (5) copies of A Promise of Fire up for grabs!
All you have to do to enter is leave a comment and tell us what sort of magical abilities you’d like to have! Lightning bolts from your eyes? Telepathic communication? Stop time for endless naps? The giveaway will end Sunday, August 7, 2016 at noon, EST, so get your comments in before then!
Standard disclaimers apply. We are not being compensated for this giveaway. Void where prohibited. Open to US/Canadian residents where permitted by applicable law. Must be over 18. Please control any laser beams you may have – we don’t need a Cyclops snafu on our hands. Keep cool and hydrated! We won’t be held responsible for any singed or charred articles of clothing and/or furniture. Any children with magic should be closely monitored.
Good luck!
UPDATE: And the winners are:
ReneeG
Cristie
flchen1
Meghan
M L
Thanks to all who commented and to the winners, keep an eye on your inboxes!
Teleporting, or something like that, popped immediately to mind. Maybe I’d have gone with something cooler if I currently had a car. 🙂
Invisibility. I can think of lots of possibilities with that one.
I’d like to have a chant or word that I could say that would put me into a trance state in which I could do all needed chores in a couple of hours–say, a week’s housework from 9-11 am on Saturday (sans dumpster)–and have no memory of the horror when I’m finished.
Oh, and wings of course.
Transfiguration. I would start off with good intentions, but by the end of the first day, I anticipate the difference in treatment based on appearance would force me to grow a mustache so I could twirl it.
I think apparating Harry Potter would be amazing, especially for very long trips. I also would like something similar to the accio spell to find lost items that fall behind my couch and the like.
I would like to be able to twitch my nose & have a clean house.
Teleportation would be nice. No more commuting, and think of the money I could save on plane tickets!
Seconding everyone saying teleportation. I want to travel but I hate the actual getting to places part.
Also this drink reminds me of my dad, who mixes fireball and angry orchard, and giggles like a twelve year old calling it “angry balls.”
I’d like the ability to fast forward time-which I’d mainly use at work. And the teleporting would be amazing because I hate long plane trips.
FIREBALL! Can’t wait for fall so that I can bust that bottle back out… as to magical abilities, I’ve always thought flying or teleporting would be the way to go if you could only have one. I’m perpetually late, so that would be amazing
I’m with @Laurel on the magical house cleaning.
I was lucky enough to get an eARC of this, and it was really good. I’d love an actual copy. Thanks for the chance.
Telekinesis powers. Just thinking about housework and it happens on its own? Move that load of laundry to the dryer. Boom! Done.
Teleportation all the way. It would make travel much faster when I don’t feel like a road trip. Plus, if I ever need to escape something (a boring party, a dangerous situation, when I literally just embarrassed myself and feel the need to run away), I can just poof out of there.
The stopping time for endless naps would be perfect, but really magic powers to heal and also to get rid of life’s little peeves like making a car engine die after the car ran a red light and almost hit me. The police would be there to give a huge ticket.
I’d like the power of get over it. I find people’s seemingly endless belief that everyone owes them an apology for everything they hear or see that displeases them exhausting. I’d like to be able rap their foreheads and have them get over a celebrity scandal involving people THEY DON’T KNOW or that someone said something derogatory about something, say their home town, and move on to being angry about bigger things, like why do unarmed people keep getting shot? Sorry watched the news this morning then walked in a ridiculous discussion at work. But still, get over it power.
I’ll take the full Jean Grey suite of telepathic powers.
I stayed up waaaayyy too late last night reading this book. Now I have only 45 minutes to get ready and out the door and I’m staring at my Nook thinking “Just a couple of minutes. That’s all. Just to see what happens next.”
Ima be late. That’s what happens next.
Teleportation would be great since plane travel has become such a nightmare – no more airports! But I have to say a healing power would also be great – get rid of all those little aches and pains that crop up unexpectedly as I get older.
Hmm I think I’m gonna go with Telekinetic powers – generally useful, but much less likely to have horribly tragic consequences!
I really don’t need to read minds though! I can do without that one, sounds like a headache 🙂
Flying, always.
Telekinesis, please, with special emphasis on putting bad drivers in their place (stuck in a parking lot with an engine timeout). Boom! you rude jerk.
Flying would also be AWESOME!!
I would like to be able to read most books cover to cover in an hour or less. That way, I might someday be able to get through my TBR list!
Time travel. Yeah, I’d be super worried I’d mess up like, everything like in that Ray Bradbury story, but I’d love to go back in time and unsay the stupid things I said, undo the blunders, and just see my mother again.
Stop time- for endless reading and crafting!!!!!!!
I live in Los Angeles, I would love to be able to fly to avoid traffic if nothing else haha. Someone else mentioned teleportation, which works too, it’s just less pretty 🙂
I wish I had the power to heal myself. I’ve developed a weird lung infection this last year that no one has been able to diagnose or treat and it is really cramping my style! Also, want to get rid of my ridiculously strong allergies to animals so that I can have a pet. However, I’d also happily settle for teleportation as others mentioned. Just think how easy it would then be to knock off my travel wishlist.
I’m with @Laurel and @Katy! It would bring me so much joy to just *think* my house clean. It would free me up for so many other fun projects and books that my life would seem idyllic.
I’m another for telekinesis, for even lazier reasons than making housework easier. Imagine being able to turn off the light without getting up from bed when you’ve been reading before sleep.
I would love the power to be able find all those things that I have put away in a “safe” place which end up in the never to be found again place.
Loaves and fishes. Dream big.
Telekenesis, like 11 from Stranger Things. Girl power to the max.
Ugh so many choices. My superpower would be future travel. Weird. That was difficult! Thanks for the recipe and contest, Amanda!
I always thought I’d like my superpower to be Clinical Depression because nothing would stop a supervillain faster than that, I can tell you from personal experience. But then I thought of something better, or at least more fun:
I would want my superpower to be the Plot Complication. I would have a Plot Device that would pick up villainous plots being plotted, and with my trusty Plot Bunny by my side and my Red Pen of Doom I would complicate them until the villain would give up out of sheer frustration. I even drew a cartoon about it but my kids and I kept coming up with more ways to complicate things so I need to take some time and redraw it.
I would like time travel for my superpower. My clients at my job keep hoping daily I could go back in time and fix things. I’d also like to go back in time and start one of the first hard cider companies. Good stuff and just keeps getting more popular!
Superspeed? There just aren’t enough hours in the day!
I heard about this book on Bec McMaster’s Facebook page, and I’ve already finished it. Because Amanda is right: it’s totally amazing! I second her recommendation. As I already have a copy and prefer ebooks, I’m not interested in the contest…just wanted to put in another good word about A Promise of Fire! I’ve already preordered the second 🙂
@Sionna: Welp, going to have to start using that name now.
@Alex: So glad you liked it! A full review should be going up next week and we can squee our hearts out.
Healing. (Although in any story I’ve ever read, it’s never ended well.)
I would love to be able to teleport or fly!
As long as I am thinking about godlike powers – Abracadabra! I’d like the ability to make my words into reality – with application of will. Doing it involuntarily would be a disaster.