Kateraina was born FireKin, a true child of power. Her once mighty clan was decimated in the last Great War. Hunted her entire life, Kateraina has struggled to control abilities she barely understands. Her fate screams at her from the nightmares that plague her, a constant reminder of the violence she fears she holds.
Now, if she is to have any hope of survival, she must follow a NightWalker far into darkness and embrace shadows that lurk deep within. She must discover the truth about herself, a truth buried for for over 1300 years. Kateraina must find her hope hidden in the past, or will she face her Future of Flames.
I'm a 30 year old SAHM to three girls and am married to the most amazing man. I grew up in a small farming community in northern Alberta before moving to the "big city" at 20. I write for the same reason I breathe, because it is necessary for my survival. I've been writing since childhood and actively keeping what I write since I was twelve. I love looking back and seeing who I was then reflected in the words I wrote. You can still see who I am now in the words I write today.
Well, well, well! What have we here? First, let me fill you in on the uncertainties that I am certain have caused many to leave this tale untold. Secondly, I will be much obliged to enlighten you on that little mistake. The introduction contains two, fail-safe factors of intrigue: archeology and magic. The descriptions surrounding the opening scene are eloquently styled to draw attention. An adventure makes way from these seeds in the plot, and the story still continues from Seamus' point of view.
This is where reader's might find they are losing interest in the story. Much time is given to the details of Seamus' love and affection for his adopted daughter, Kateraina. These, moments are most endearing, but questions start formulating. Glimpses of Kateraina's lifestyle and demeanor are captured, but a reader's personal interaction with her is limited. I may have read one line actually spoken by her during this period. The story continues on through another's point of view...no, not Kateraina's, Dinan's. This isn't what I expected. At this point, I believe we learn a little more about who Kateraina is and of magic. Even more engaging is what we learn about Dinan, and his unique ability to help this girl.
First, we fall in love with Seamus and his saviors. Then, we fall in love with Dinan. I'm still wondering if Kateraina is going to have a prominent role in this story when...Eureka! At last, Kateraina takes over and the action begins. As the story is being told from Kateraina's point of view, the plot gains depth. From here to the end of the book, I am hooked. Dinan and Kat's bond is written in such a way that I smiled like a fool the entire time. Magic is in every page, the mysteries are becoming clear, and parts of a certain prophecy come to pass.
I've read many books of mages, and species welding the power to control the elenents. I've never read anything about six of these before. It could have been risky, but it served it's purpose well. There are no loose strings in this book. Everything served a purpose. The writing is eloquent, and the storyline is one of a unique quality I enjoy. The different point of view's for the first part of the story were building blocks that ended up helping the plot, more than hurting it.
I still feel strongly about a singular point of view creating more vigorous emotions. In this case, I'll make an exception. The strategy is so meticulous that it helped build emotions of endearment for our character. Also, the book exploded with so much creativity, and is so utterly sweet, I simply can't help myself! I deducted one star. In the beginning, Kateraina's presence needed much more attention. Reader's need to connect with the primary protagonist early on in the story in order to develop a connection to them.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. I now have a new series to follow, and it gave me the inspiration I've needed as of late. Thank you Author Lisa Messier. And thank you Xavier Neal. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm thankful I did. It's just what I've needed!
Well, well, well! What have we here? First, let me fill you in on the uncertainties that I am certain have caused many to leave this tale untold. Secondly, I will be much obliged to enlighten you on that little mistake.
The introduction contains two, fail-safe factors of intrigue: archeology and magic. The descriptions surrounding the opening scene are eloquently styled to draw attention. An adventure makes way from these seeds in the plot, and the story still continues from Seamus' point of view.
This is where reader's might find they are losing interest in the story. Much time is given to the details of Seamus' love and affection for his adopted daughter, Kateraina. These moments are most endearing, but questions start formulating. Glimpses of Kateraina's lifestyle and demeanor are captured, but a reader's personal interaction with her is limited. I may have read one line actually spoken by her during this period.
The story continues on through another's point of view...no, not Kateraina's, Dinan's. This isn't what I expected. At this point, I believe we learn a little more about who Kateraina is and of magic. Even more engaging is what we learn about Dinan, and his unique ability to help this girl.
First, we fall in love with Seamus and his saviors. Then, we fall in love with Dinan. I'm still wondering if Kateraina is going to have a prominent role in this story when...Eureka! At last, Kateraina takes over and the action begins.
As the story is being told from Kateraina's point of view, the plot gains depth. From here to the end of the book, I am hooked. Dinan and Kat's bond is written in such a way that I smiled like a fool the entire time. Magic is in every page, the mysteries are becoming clear, and parts of a certain prophecy come to pass.
I've read many books of mages, and species weilding the power to control the elements. I've never read anything about six of these before. It could have been disastrous, but it served its purpose well.
There are no loose strings in this book. Everything is strategically placed. The writing is eloquent, and the storyline is one of a unique quality I enjoy. The different point of view's for the first part of the story were building blocks that ended up helping the plot, more than hurting it.
I still feel strongly about a singular point of view creating more vigorous emotions. In this case, I'll make an exception. The strategy is so meticulous that it helped build emotions of endearment for our character. Also, the book exploded with so much creativity, and is so utterly sweet, I simply can't help myself!
I deducted one star. In the beginning, Kateraina's presence needed much more attention. Reader's need to connect with the primary protagonist early on in the story in order to develop a strong, personal relationship with them.
I HIGHLY recommend this book. I now have a new series to follow, and it gave me the inspiration I've needed as of late.
Thank you Author Lisa Messier. And thank you Xavier Neal. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I'm thankful I did. It's just what I've needed!
This story starts from the perspective of Seamus an archeologist who finds a woman frozen in ice in Ireland, a very pregnant woman. When he and his team accidently free her it triggers her going into labor and while they don't understand quite what's happening, they know it's improtant enough to protect. This is the first few chapters Seamus and how he came to find Kateraina and raise her.
After when you think you're finally gonna be getting into her head the story throws you into another loop and you learn about Dinan. And it's through him you see more about Kateraina and how he grow to care for her.
When the story ramps up the action you finally see things from Katerainas perspective. You start to get answers to questions you've had since the begining about what she is. You go on an intense adventure with them as they try to understand why she is hunted and what it is others think of her.
Although she has been through so much Kateraina has a strength that makes you want to see her find happiness. She is one of those female leads that you love to love and enjoy seeing as she figures things out.
As a father figure you see Seamus and his true love and devotion for his daughter and his willingness to do anything to protect her.
Dinan is a character you're unsure of at first, but as the story goes along you see more and more of him and his devotion. I loved seeing things from his perspective as he went with what he felt was right rather than what he was told.
There is a journey to this and it's one that sucks you right in. It's the begining of this series and it makes you excited to see what will happen next for these characters.
Fantasy romance is not a genre I usually read, but the premise sounded so intriguing, I had to give this a go. In my attempt to keep this review spoiler-free, I don't want to give too much away, but to rather highlight what I love about this fabulous book.
The writing is powerful, it's compelling and from page one, I was hooked. The opening scene had me feeling like I'd stepped through a portal into a rich, detailed fantasy world. It takes a very talented author of this genre to capture a readers attention from the get go, which Lisa has done brilliantly. The pacing of this story was built to gain momentum, leaving no stone unturned as it draws you deeper and deeper into the world of fire, danger and love and betrayal. I loved the flow of the story, how it kept me captivated. There is danger at every turn for Kateraina. The detail that went into the descriptions of how she controlled her element of fire, and of the other characters was phenomenal. Her connection with Dinan, and the bond they form is so beautifully told.
By 90% and unable to put it down and was reading under the covers of my duvet, so as not to wake my husband! For a book to keep me up till the wee hours, it has to be not only good, but incredible. Wow! That ending and the epilogue have me yearning to step back into Raina's world.
Well done Lisa. I'd highly recommend is book to young and old. Irrespective of whether one is a fan of fantasy romance. I wasn't, but after reading this book and another beautifully written one of the same genre: A Broken Forever (Neveah)—by author Angie Merriam—I'm a newly converted fan.
Cannot wait to slip into the world of book two......
This book could be categorized as young adult, fantasy, but let me tell you, any Old Adult can get lost in this tale of a selfless archaeologist, that stumbles upon a site he can not tear himself from. He must do all in his power to help this woman he sees in a block of ice. When she appears in front of him, he is asked to protect her child with every thing he is. While all is destroyed around him, he does as asked. 19 years later, she is taken from him. Along comes Dinan, he is compelled beyond reason to help this young woman who has been imprisoned for reasons no one will explain. As Dinan becomes to Know Kateraina, the story begins to unfold. I got lost in the tale of mystery and intrigue of Kateraina. The story has a shocking epilogue that leaves you begging for the next book, The Ember. That is where I am headed now, to continue this story. If you love the fantasy world in books, I think you will enjoy this tale. I highly recommend. :)
This book could be categorized as young adult, fantasy, but let me tell you, any Old Adult can get lost in this tale of a selfless archaeologist, that stumbles upon a site he can not tear himself from. He must do all in his power to help this woman he sees in a block of ice. When she appears in front of him, he is asked to protect her child with every thing he is. While all is destroyed around him, he does as asked. 19 years later, she is taken from him. Along comes Dinan, he is compelled beyond reason to help this young woman who has been imprisoned for reasons no one will explain. As Dinan becomes to Know Kateraina, the story begins to unfold. I got lost in the tale of mystery and intrigue of Kateraina. The story has a shocking epilogue that leaves you begging for the next book, The Ember. That is where I am headed now, to continue this story. If you love the fantasy world in books, I think you will enjoy this tale. I highly recommend. :)
I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this book.
Wow! This is not my typical go-to genre but I absolutely loved this book! It is written spectacularly well and the story line is amazing! I'm not one to leave a review with spoilers, but I will say that I shed a few tears when reading certain parts! I love how the POV changes throughout the book, this allowed me to connect with all of the characters involved and really understand them and their actions. This story isn't all about romance, which I think was excellent to build up the story for the books that will follow, it really added suspense and just gave the whole book more substance.
I really can't fault this at all! I thoroughly enjoyed it and can't wait to read more from this very talented author!
WOW what a brillian and unique story.I really enjoyed this book it was so differenet and beautifully written that i found it hard to put down. I wanted to keep reading just to find out what was going to happen and who our main girl really was. I liked the fact that at the start you get the point of view of other charcters that are important to the story. Can't wait to download the second book and find out more.
Was a great book, and I can't wait to read the rest of the series as it comes. The story did start a little slow, but I felt that it was very detailed and intriguing. Leaving you wanting to read more. I usually shy away from books of these types, and I glad I read this.
First of all I loved the fact that the beginning was from a Male's POV. I absolutely understood his broody side. Then it turned into inquisitive, nurturing, and protective. Most books that I read the female mc is already established to be tough not fragile such as this female mc. Definitely a change of direction for me but well received. As she starts to discover her own self, her strength, and her identity I love the way that her trust evolves. Thank you for this great read and I'm excited for their next adventure.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
He either gets to his feet or he stands, he doesn’t stand to his feet! Sorry, I don’t normally nit-pick but this phrase really, really bugged me. And it didn’t happen just once, characters kept on standing to their feet.
Anyway, now that that’s out of the way let’s get down to the review. I received a copy of The Spark in return for an honest review within ten days. It’s the first in a fantasy series and, in my opinion, it’s an interesting premise. It’s a bit different to the sort of fantasy I normally read in a few ways. It’s told in the first person point of view, I’m more used to the third person. Nor is it set on a different world with medieval type technology. It takes place on modern day Earth and we start out seeing things from the point of view of a middle aged archaeologist called Seamus. He ends up as the guardian of a baby (I won’t go into details of how as I don’t want to give any spoilers) and quickly comes to realise that this baby isn’t quite like other babies.
To start with there’s a fairly short section about Seamus and Kateraina when she’s a baby and then we skip nineteen years when he decides to tell her about the circumstances surrounding her birth and him adopting her. Then we skip forwards again and the point of view changes to a character we’ve never even met before, Dinan. Long story short, Dinan and Kateraina end up on the run together. And this is where the story really starts. Sort of.
To me the first half of this book felt forced. It felt as though the author had the idea for the series but had to figure out a way of building up to the story rather than just dropping us straight in where they’d have liked to. Which I admit probably wouldn’t have worked very well at all. I don’t know whether that’s actually the case but for me it felt like it, there seemed to be that obvious point where the writing really picked up, the dialogue felt more natural and everything just flowed more easily. I was struggling with it up to that point, the story was good and I could vaguely see what it might be heading towards but it felt clunky. And yet after that point I couldn’t put it down, everything about it picked up and it became a very enjoyable read.
Unfortunately it was about the last 25% of the book that really caught my interest and it ended on one hell of a cliff hanger! I’m really looking forward to reading the next book in the series, although this one was very slow to really pull me in when it did I was well and truly hooked. And to be fair, it’s far from the first fantasy series where that’s happened. I would actually have preferred to get into Kateraina’s point of view a lot sooner than we did though. She’s the protagonist of the story but we get very little sense of her as a person for a long time. We hear how other people feel about her, how other people see her and her actions, we get nothing of her feelings, how she perceives the world and her strange abilities. We barely even hear her say anything!
So, overall I think this is the start of a series that has a lot of potential and if you don’t mind quite a slow start with a fair bit of jumping around it’s well worth a read. I’ll definitely be carrying on with the series and it’s one I would recommend to people who like this sort of fantasy genre.
We start the story off in a cave with a group of archaeologists who happen to be excavating what they call a live cave. We meet Seamus, who plays an extremely important role in this story. One of the members of his team, Jack, discovers a beautiful, very pregnant woman entombed in a crystal tomb. Seamus immediately feels like he must do whatever he can to protect this angel from any harm that may come her way. Unfortunately while they are trying to clean up around the tomb one of the members of his team cracks the crystal tomb releasing the beautiful angel inside Deirdre, who immediately gives birth to our main character; Kateraina, Unfortunately, Deirdre dies soon after the birth but not before imparting knowledge about a book and a prophecy that Kateraina is meant to fulfill and the ones who are coming that will stop at nothing to get the babe. So Seamus vows that no harm will come to the girl as long as he can help it and keeps this promise but at the cost of his team, who die valiantly trying to save the baby.
It doesn't take long for Seamus to see that Kateraina isn't a normal baby, but instead one who can control fire at will. He does his best trying to raise her on the run from the ones who are after her and on her 19th birthday he decides to fill her in on everything that happened when she was born. Fast Forward a few years and we meet Dinan, a Nightwalker who is extremely angry he's been assigned to babysitting duty in the lower dungeons. Dinan sees something isn't right when one night he walks into Raina's dream and sees her standing tortured over an empty world she destroyed. Wondering what the nightmare means and drawn to Raina in a way he doesn't fully understand they set off on the journey and discover things Raina never would have thought possible. Now I don't want to tell you much more of the plot because I don't want to give the whole story away.
I don't know how to tell you how I felt about this book. The storyline was incredible I absolutely LOVED the premise. The way the story was told however, kind of got to me. I think it was more the development than anything. It just seemed like it had kind of a slow, gradual build up and then BAM we hit the action and it doesn't last very long and its over and leaves me feeling a little unfulfilled. It also had a cliffhanger which always leaves me feeling a little unbalanced. Despite those issues, I would recommend this book to anyone who was looking for a New Adult book and I look forward to reading the rest of this series.
When we meet Kateraina she is being born from her mother, Deirdre in a most unusual way. Due to the circumstances of her birth, she’s being hunted by some very powerful individuals who can bend nature to their will. We find out that Kateraina is also able to do those things. And when it seems like her light is to be put out, she meets a NightWalker named Dinan. Dinan is her only hope for survival and she follows him, because he’s the only one who can help her figure out who she is and why she’s being hunted.
There’s less dialogue and actions driving the story. We’re really in Kateraina’s head for the majority of it. At first we observed her through her father’s eyes then through Dinan’s and when she finally comes conscience into herself, we view the world through her eyes. The story is interesting. I will say I didn’t expect the original SoulSinger to who it was. THAT was an interesting twist to the story. This story is the start to an adventure. It ends on a cliffhanger, but on an optimistic note.
Ms. Messier writes an interesting take on a popular legend. To be honest, I’m interested to see where it leads. Her story blends both the human world and the Donati world seamlessly. And while I’m not as keen on books written where the character is constantly in their head, this is still a good story. So the question is, would I recommend...(https://textuallove.wordpress.com/201...) Read the rest of the review behind the link.
Well, what can I say ? The story starts on an archeological dig where they come across a cavern, The description of the magical cavern where they find 'her' is excellent, I can see and feel it as tho I'm there and find myself breathing as quietly as possible so as not to disturb this room. There's an attack and the story follows the two who survive, Seamus and his soon to be adopted daughter Katerina.
A lot of the story describes the love and devotion Seamus has for Katerina but it's building the foundation of the story. Katerina has no idea who or what she is and when Dinan comes into her life we begin to find out more about her as he helps her find answers to her questions.
This book is a slow build showing the bond forming between Katerina and Dinan and how she affects all those she comes in contact with, building to more action toward the end as "Raina" starts to come into her own. As for the end .... I don't want to spoil it so all I can say is wow, what a finish, it made me want to read the next book.
Future Of Flames (Book One) The Spark By: Author Lisa Messier
SPARKED A NEW FOREVER FAN!!
This is one of those books that start off great and only get better as the story progresses. I love the bond that jumps off the page between father and daughter. Kateraina is a Daddy's girl protected and loved. The journey through Dinan and Kateraina story is fraught with fear, uncertainty, love, anger and strength. Blood does not always call to blood sometimes one heart calls out to another and a family is formed no less important, just as strong as any ties that bind. The cliffhanger at the end of book one was both heartbreaking and hopeful I can not wait to read Author Lisa Messier's next book!! ~~~~~~~~~~Five Stars~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fully Recommend this book 18+up due to adult situations
What a ride!! I loved the book, the writing is good, plot is unique and good action! In this new world you have humans and Donati. Want to know what a Donati is? Then you need to read this book!! Kateraina is a special kind of Donati only she doesn’t know it. But that ok because sexy Dinan is going to help her. Dinan is kind and very understanding in teaching Kateraina. The chemistry between them is hot. You get to ride along with them as they put all the missing pieces together to find out what exactly Kateraina is, while trying to keep her safe from the other Donati.
I recommend this book to everyone looking for something different with a great group of characters. This is a great start to a new series!! Can wait to see what going to happen next, bring on book 2 please!!
I really enjoyed this book. It was a little slow at first but the fantasy of the story kept my attention. Kateraina intrigued me, I loved learning her past and powers with her. Dinan was so protective of her and I found that sweet. I can't wait to read the next one. I want the rest of their story!