John is in Amsterdam with a group of unofficial hunters to find out just why it is that a group of skinheads does nightly battle with the vampires.  Exhausted, John returns to his hotel room only to have the strangest dream about being in a grimy club and meeting a woman who intrigues and excites him.  For her part, Eva has always been in love with John.  As a friend of her parents, she grew up around him and he has always been her secret crush. When Eva sees him in a club looking so much younger than she is used to seeing him, she cannot resist the opportunity to flirt with him.  With all of the tension and power struggles in the vampire world, a relationship between John, a hunter and Eva the only vampire/human in existence, is a difficult if not impossible thing and when you toss in time travel, this relationship may just be more than either of them can handle.

From the moment of her birth, Eva was prophesied to be the savior in that she would bring vampires and humans together and usher in an end to the violence.  That's a lot of pressure to put on a child and Eva feels the weight of it, causing her to participate in petty rebellions.  While she loves her parents, there are times when she resents her vampire father and even revels in defying his authority.  Though Eva is twenty-one, by the end of Blood Hungry, she seems so much younger than that, almost like a girl playing dress up.  Yes, she's a fierce warrior but she recklessly enters situations in which she is outnumbered.

Then we have John.  He's all too familiar with baby Eva because she's the daughter of Elizabeth and Saloman the ancient vampire.  On the day of her birth, John selflessly risked his life to save hers. When he time travels to the future and finds himself attracted to a dark haired beauty, he simply cannot resist. Thoughts of her invade his every waking thought.  Eva however has the advantage of knowing right away who John is, having grown up around him.  When John learns that the woman he has come to care for in the future, is the child he is sworn to protect in the present, he's not quite sure how to handle it.  In the meantime, 40 year old John, (the John of the future) has his doubts about young Eva loving him as he is now and not the young John she fell in love with. Yes, it's as jumbled and confused as it sounds.

We have to pause here for a moment.  John is absolutely not attracted to baby Eva and does his best to avoid contact with her; however, from Eva's memories it's clear that he interacted with her a lot as a child, while in full awareness that he was engaging in an affair with an older version of her.  Treanor justifies this relationship using time travel as a device but it still feels far too much like grooming to me.

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At a family birthday party this week, I looked across a room filled to the brim with people to see my son not engrossed in a hand held device but playing chess with his uncle's best friend. 

A love this quiet fierce game that spans generation, place, time, and culture.  

I will admit to sucking at it myself but I don't have to be good at something to like it. 

Here is a list of wonderful Romance Novels featuring chess, chess players and chess sets.

My lists are never in any particular order. Enjoy!

1.  The Eight by Katherine Neville

Computer expert Cat Velis is heading for a job to Algeria. Before she goes, a mysterious fortune teller warns her of danger, and an antique dealer asks her to search for pieces to a valuable chess set that has been missing for years...In the South of France in 1790 two convent girls hide valuable pieces of a chess set all over the world, because the game that can be played with them is too powerful....

2.  Desperate Duchesses by Eloisa James

A marquess's sheltered only daughter, Lady Roberta St. Giles falls in love with a man she glimpses across a crowded ballroom: a duke, a game player of consummate skill, a notorious rakehell who shows no interest in marriage—until he lays eyes on Roberta.

Yet the Earl of Gryffyn knows too well that the price required to gain a coronet is often too high. Damon Reeve, the earl, is determined to protect the exquisite Roberta from chasing after the wrong destiny.

Can Damon entice her into a high-stakes game of his own, even if his heart is likely to be lost in the venture?

3. Pawn by Molly Joseph

High stakes chess competition has always been a man’s game—until Grace Ann Frasier topples some of the game’s greatest champions and turns the chess world on its ear. Her prowess at the game is matched only by her rivals’ desire to defeat her, or, worse, avenge their losses. When an international championship threatens Grace’s safety, a bevy of security experts are hired to look after her, but only one is her personal, close-duty bodyguard, courtesy of Ironclad Solutions, Inc. 

Sam Knight knows nothing about chess, but he knows Grace is working to achieve something important, and he vows to shelter her from those who mean her harm. When she leans on him for emotional support, attraction battles with professionalism and Sam finds his self-discipline wavering. Soon the complexity of their relationship resembles a chess board, where one questionable move can ruin everything—or win a game that could resonate around the world.

4. You're the One by Alix Nichols

When schoolteacher Natalie meets chess grandmaster Adrien at the Bistro La Bohème, the connection is immediate and real. Romance is in the air -- until life makes a move to test how well they know their hearts...

5. One Night Is Never Enough by Anne Mallory

From the first glimpse he knew he must have her — even if only for a single night . . .

Powerful, ruthless, seductive—the lord of London’s underworld—Roman Merrick gets anything he wants . . . and he burns for Charlotte Chatsworth, a polished jewel in the glittering ton. So he engages her debt-ridden gambler father in a game of chance, wagering ten thousand pounds against one night with the man’s exquisite daughter. And Roman Merrick never loses.

But one night is never enough . . .

Charlotte is devastated to learn that her reprobate father has lost her in a card game to the most dangerous man she’s ever met. With the threat of ruin behind every corner, Charlotte embarks upon a perilous path with the man she cannot forget. But in truth, it’s Roman who has everything to lose—for a game undertaken for pleasure alone soon has him gambling his heart. And love and passion unleashed could bring his great, dark empire tumbling down . . .

6. 74 Seaside Avenue by Debbie Macomber

Olivia Lockhart-Griffin 

Cedar Cove, Washington 

Dear Reader, 

Do you remember Teri Miller? She works at Get Nailed, the beauty salon here in town. Well, Teri got married a little while ago—to Bobby Polgar, the famous chess champion. They've moved into a beautiful house, 74 Seaside Avenue, which has a spectacular view of Puget Sound. 

Teri's my hairdresser, and she confided that something seems to be worrying Bobby. When she asked him about it, he told her he was "protecting his queen," and she got the oddest feeling that he wasn't talking about chess, but about her. 

Rachel Pendergast also works at Get Nailed, and I've heard that she has two men seriously interested in her. I also wanted to tell you that Linnette McAfee, who's Roy and Corrie's daughter, recently left town because her love life fell apart. We all know about that kind of trouble. 

Oh, by the way, Teri says we should come in soon for a manicure and a chat…. 

Olivia 

7. Queen's Gambit by Marie Treanor

The Grand Master of her body—and her fate.

Ever since a jealous wife cursed her, Christi Blythe has lived seven hundreds years of a half life, trapped by day in the black queen of a chess set. She lives only between the hours of dusk and dawn, waiting for the one true love who is willing to sacrifice a vital game of chess to break the curse.

Now, years after she has given up hope, her remote Highland hotel is hosting a chess match between two high-profile Grand Masters of the game. One of them is the brilliant but erratic Russian, Andrei Zuvaran.

Andrei suspects there is something different about the luscious barmaid and her chess set. One hot night with her—and one shocking dawn—confirms it. But he can’t afford to lose this match. Not even to free her.

He’s got more riding on it than money, more than his heart. His next move could cost a life.

8. Game of Kings by Anthea Carson

Something is rotten in the world of chess. Darla Martin is perfectly content to live in Denver, work at a library, and play chess every night. That’s before she meets Mikhail, a mysterious and proud Russian grandmaster. And Maxwell, who is charming and handsome and speaks of dark things. And Fred, who warns her not to look into his eyes. Before she knows it, Darla’s comfortable world is turned upside down.

9.  Miss Gabriel's Gambit by Rita Boucher

Beautiful Sylvia Gabriel has more cause than most to despise the Game of Kings. Chess has been the ruination of her life—ending her engagement, filching her fortune and reducing her to poor relation. But when she finds herself falling in love with chessmaster David Rutherford, the new Lord Donhill, Sylvia stakes her heart, her future and her reputation on the riskiest gambit of all

10. Finessing the Contessa by Wendy Soliman

Lord Robert Forster hopes to meet his match—on the chessboard. He jumps at the chance to cross rooks with the renowned Sicilian widow Contessa Electra Falzone. However, the lovely foreigner's bold opening gambit raises concerns about her politics when she finds her way into his bedchamber, not with seduction in mind, but to steal state secrets.

Electra Falzone has always avoided scandalous liaisons, until blackmail forces her to turn thief and risk her reputation in the arms of the handsome Lord Robert. If her manipulators were threatening only her, she would confess all to her fellow strategist. But given who will suffer if she fails, she can't afford to take that risk.

Drawn to the exotic contessa, Rob won't allow her to be used as a pawn by an unscrupulous schemer. But if Electra is determined to play this dangerous game for reasons of her own, nothing Rob can do will stop her.

Let me know if I missed a Chess Romance you love!

Vote for the best of the best on my Goodreads list: Checkmate: Chess in Romance Novels

This book is SO COOL!!!

Finder of Lost Love is essentially a collection of excerpts from 12 books. In between reading each excerpt, I got another snippet of a mystery needing to be solved and revealed clues to do so.

Once I obtained the clues, I plugged them into the Flashpoint Finds website (http://flashpointfinds.com/), after I registered for my FREE account, and then all kinds of fun stuff happened!

I tasted many different romance flavors in this book, ranging from paranormal to historical to contemporary and everywhere in between. I LOVED many of the excerpts and am in the process of actually buying the full eBooks they came from (some of them are THAT good), while I didn't really care for others.

The excerpts were juuuuuuust long enough to give me a good glimpse of the author's writing style and the gist of the book, but they were short enough that I was never bored or felt burdened by having to read a lot of something that I didn't care for.

But that is the whole point of Flashpoint Finds, and by extension, this book; to introduce the reader to new books and new authors in a fun and different way.

All in all, the concept of this book and corresponding website is BRILLIANT, and I am beyond ecstatic that this is only book 1 of a series that will, hopefully, include many many MANY more!

Blood Prohpecy is book #4 in Marie Treanor's Blood Hunter series. It's book #4 of 6 in total.

After two below average books, book #4 has happily taken the story back towards the realm that book #1 was in. It's sexy and full of adventure and exploration. I never really liked Dmitriu in the other books, he was a bit of an ass and while Saloman trusted him, we never really knew why.

My biggest issue with this story was that it ran in parallel with book #3 for about 75% of the story, which really could have been done away with much earlier. To me, it felt like book #4 was really only the last 25%, and the first 75% was added as sheer padding. I mean, we did get some exploration and information in the first 75%, but it could have been given in a much better way.

The other issue I had, which a few others have mentioned in reviews, is the use of Janine and her apparent pet name throughout the book 'Junkie Whore'. It left a bad taste in my mouth, the constant rehashing of her bad past, it was a few years of her life, it was a mass of bad decisions, but it made her who she was as a hunter, it can't have been all bad. Yet each time it was brought up in the book there was a definite negative connotation. Like Marie didn't want us forgetting that little fact and why Janine was important to the story.

I started this book initially thinking I was done with the series, the previous two books were bad, but Dmitriu and Janine have saved this series for me. I will consider buying book #5 in the series at some point down the track in the hope that this series keeps improving now.

If you're a fan of Mihaela and Maximilian, they don't make much of an appearance in this book, but that kind of worked this time. Istvan and Konrad make cameo appearances.

**Note: I was provided an electronic copy of the book through NetGalley in return for an honest review**

Blood Descent, book #3 in Marie Treanor's Blood Hunters series, is very much more of the same as book two.

I struggled through this one, I never really liked Konrad's character to begin with, and while Maggie was a much more likeable character, she just didn't do it for me.

I hated all the guilt-filled flirting that happened for the first 60% of the book. It was boring, repetitive and just smacked of filler to me.

I did enjoy the scene with Bela in the alley, quite hot!

Again, the same as the last book, the original cast (Michaela and Istavan) carried the story.

I've got book #4 on my TBR list, I am giving Marie one more chance to ensnare me in the Blood Hunter books, if she fails again, that will be the end of my reading this series.

A few thing I noticed:

53% - You took me (by) surprise.
85% - ...her mouth on (delete on, add in) a snarl.

*Note: I was provided an electronic copy of the book through NetGalley in return for an honest review*