Checkmate

All for Love #1

by Nicki Bennett, Ariel Tachna

All for Love: Book One

When sword for hire Teodoro Ciéza de Vivar accepts a commission to “rescue” Lord Christian Blackwood from unsuitable influences, he has no idea he’s landed himself in the middle of a plot to assassinate King Philip IV of Spain and blame the English ambassador for the deed. Nor does he expect the spoiled child he’s sent to retrieve to be a handsome, engaging young man.

As Teodoro and Christian face down enemies at every turn, they fall more and more in love, an emotion they can’t safely indulge with the threat of the Inquisition looming over them. It will take all their combined guile and influence to outmaneuver the powerful men who would see them separated... or even killed.

Genres: Historical, M M Romance, Historical Fiction, Romance, LGBT, Historical Romance, Adventure

294 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Growing up in Chicago, Nicki Bennett spent every Saturday at the central library, losing herself in the world of books. A voracious reader, she eventually found it difficult to find enough of the kind of stories she liked to read and decided to start writing them herself.

Reviews

[Alyosha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars

Best part of this novel was its beautiful cover. The head hopping at the start was dizzying and the story could have been much more compact.

[Erastes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow. Just look at that cover. I’m not generally a fan of Ann Cain’s hand drawn covers, but I’ve probably only seen the more yaoi ones. This is utterly brilliant and has everything that a gay historical needs. Yes, there’s flesh but it’s not representative of “men shagging” it’s more relevant to the story. It has depth. Bloody brilliant and standing ovation from me. My top cover of the year.

Although I did enjoy the story as a whole, the main thing that stopped this book getting a much higher mark–which with a hard edit it would have deserved–was the head hopping. I can usually bear it (although I know most readers dislike it intensely) with two people, but this hopped between however many where on the page, which was often 3 people and caused my head to hurt at times, and made for some really difficult reading.

Christian realized he had not brought his valise into the room with him. Sighing against the inevitable, he wrapped the cloth more tightly around his waist and opened the door. He hesitated when he saw Teodoro and Esteban standing there, but there was no help for it. He needed his clothes. Without speaking, he crossed to his bag and rummaged through it for a clean shirt and breeches.

His already hard cock throbbed against Teodoro’s breeches when Blackwood entered the room clad only in a bath sheet, his bare chest and limbs even more alluring than the Spaniard had imagined them.

As you can see, the head-hopping here causes definite confusion!

It also made it very difficult to get to know the characters–it’s hard to get inside the head of someone when they only have one paragraph, one reaction and then you are whizzing over to everyone else in the scene. To be honest it made the book almost unreadable, as the POV even broke away from Teodoro in the middle of an exciting sword fight, completely spoiling the scene, to leap into Christian’s head who was elsewhere at the time.

The mercenary’s conscience surprised me – I wouldn’t have thought he’d have cared whether his client’s story was true or not – he was being handsomely paid. I would have thought that a hired sword would have one loyalty – the the highest bidder. Granted he was attracted to Christian from the first but not enough to immediately feel guilt that he was kidnapping Christian, not saving him from unnatural practices.

There were a couple of things that jarred, such as a horse travelling 400 miles in 5 days, and the mention of a Grand Tour which didn’t exist until after the Restoration, but other than that the history seemed pretty solid to me, so no complaints there.

Overall, it’s a good story with a tender romance, exciting moments, enough hurt/comfort to assuage the hardest heart – and if you can get past the confusion of the dizzying head hopping you’ll probably enjoy the book, but it makes it a not-read-again for me, I’m afraid.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Using The Three Musketeers as inspiration Teodoro and Christian must work together to stay safe. Their love is not approved of by the Inquisition. Christian's father is head of the English delagation working on a treaty with Spain. Opponents of Spanish King Phillip are trying to derail the negotiations and want to use Christian as a pawn. Teodoro has been hired to bring Christian to them but when he learns the truth he wants to make it up to Christian and help keep him safe. I enjoyed these men. At first they are on opposite sides but quickly realize they have been lied to. Christian grows into his aristocracy and cannot be seen as a child by his father after his adventures with Teodoro, Raul, and Gerrard to save the negotiations and protect King Phillip. Lots of action and adventure and swordplay. At the end of the story we get a glimpse of the French Musketeers. I cannot wait to read the sequel, All For One.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good historical read. Kept you on your toes

[Lena Grey · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In life, unlike chess, the game continues after checkmate.” ~ Isaac Asimov

Teodoro Ciéza de Vivar of 'Checkmate' by Nicki Bennet and Arial Tachna, has one main concern—supporting his son, Esteban. Anything else, including his own pleasure, takes second place. His occupation as a mercenary is a dangerous one but it pays well; for Teodoro, it's worth the risk. When he's hired to find Christian Blackwood, son of an English nobleman, Teodoro sees it as an easy job, over and done with swiftly. What he doesn't realize is that retrieving Christian will engage not only his sword, but his mind and his heart as well.

Teodoro accomplishes his mission, getting Christian away from Hawkins, his bodyguard, but wounds him in the process. After hearing that Christian's father sent him away for his own protection and learning that St. Denys, the man who hired Teodoro to 'retrieve' Christian, is the one Christian needs protection from, Teodoro understands Christian is in trouble. He will not leave him unprotected until he can eliminate the threat, so Teodoro takes over as Christian's bodyguard. After making preparations for Hawkins to be taken care of, Teodoro brings Christian back to Madrid with him. From the start, Teodoro and Christian have a strong attraction to each other, but honor prevents Teodoro from propositioning Christian; he thinks he has nothing to offer Christian and that there is no way Christian could possibly want someone so far below his class.

Teodoro's son, Esteban, is not happy when Christian insinuates himself into their home and, apparently, into the heart of his father as well. With patience and consistency, Esteban comes to see that Christian isn't there to usurp his position or take Teodoro away from him and begins to trust him. Esteban also sees how much happier Teodoro is with Christian around. With the help of his best friend, Raul, Teodoro obtains evidence in writing of St. Denys association with conspirators in an attempt to assassinate the king of Spain when he meets with the English Negotiator, who happens to be Christian's father. St. Denys is condemned and executed, but that's not the end of their problems. There is another coconspirator out there to be taken care of. Before Teodoro can present his evidence, he is arrested by soldiers of the Inquisition charged with Sodomy. It's obvious to all that the man working with St. Denys is to blame for alerting them because he thinks it's a way to get rid of him. His family and friends agonize over what will happen to Teodoro and desperately search for a way to save him, because, generally, no one escapes the Inquisition’s clutches.

I thoroughly enjoyed this swashbuckling tale and fell in love with the characters. Teodoro having a son was a nice twist. Raul added a touch of the exotic; the mystery surrounding the man was intriguing and his dedication to Teodoro was admirable. Teodoro and Christian's miscommunication about their attraction gave them time to get to know each other better before jumping right into bed. Teodoro and Esteban as well, didn't give Christian enough benefit of the doubt, assuming that he was just a spoiled, privileged child, instead of the fair-minded, not condescending man he actually was. If you like swords for hire, hot sex, despicable enemies, intrigue, betrayal, and a happy ending, then you may enjoy this book. Thanks, Nikki and Ariel, for the exciting story. I'm looking forward to reading more of the series.

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.

[Riva · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook Review

I loved, loved this historical romance set in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition. I actually listened to the 2nd book in the series first and was so intrigued with this couple, wanted to listen to their story. This is a very different book than the second. There is much more romance and intrigue than in the 2nd book. Teo is a mercenary who accepts a job to kidnapped what he thinks is a spoiled English Lord. What he finds is a wonderfully grounded young man who is being used as a pawn in the English/Spanish peace negotiation. Set this with the backdrop of Spain during the Spanish Inquisition; not really friendly to gay men during that time, and it made for a wonderful story. Teo is a protector by nature and Christian is forced to become more than his station in light of the danger they both face. The narrator is a favorite and he really does a wonderful job bringing these men to life; complete with Spanish and English accents.

[Siobhan Muir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second story I've read by Nicki Bennett and Ariel Tachna, and I liked the interaction between Teodoro and Christian, especially complimented by Raul the gypsy and Teodoro's son Esteban. This story is set in the time of the Spanish Inquisition where being different meant death and most of the characters were either bi or gay, so it was a large blade hanging over their heads. What felt a little unrealistic to me were some of the supporting characters and how easily they accepted that difference in such a time, and I was constantly waiting for something to go wrong with someone close to the MCs, especially with the brothel proprietess. There were some excellent nail-biting moments throughout with regards to the Inquisition and a little B&E. Overall a decent read and a nice love story, but I would have liked a more vibrant suspense subplot. 3.5 stars

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Swashbucklers and swordfighting and true love, you cannot beat this book. The best books let you step into another world and forget yours...I enjoyed my trip into Teo and Christian's world and hope to go back soon.

[nisie draws · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could not finish this book! I gave up about 1/3 - 1/2 of the way in. I can't stand stories where the protagonists spend the whole time pining after each other when they both got the hots for each other! SO OBNOXIOUS! JUST FRICKLE FRACKLE ALREADY!

[Elaine White · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book – Checkmate
Author – Nicki Bennett, Ariel Tachna
Star rating - ★★★☆☆
No. of Pages – 294

Cover – Intriguing!
POV – 3rd person, multi POV, omnipresent
Would I read it again – Probably not.

Genre – LGBT, Historical, Magic, Spanish Inquisition, Romance, Adventure, Hired Sword


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine



This was an interesting read and I'm of two minds about it.

On one hand, it's really, really long, with not a lot to show for that length. I mean, about 40% was about the adventure aspect and the other 60% was the romance, which I'm not sure was strictly necessary. But, saying that, a lot of my issues with the book were because there was a lot that wasn't “strictly necessary”. On the other hand, I did enjoy the overall story, but it's not something that I'd rave about to a friend or bother to read the next two in the series, either.

First off, the omnipresent POV. I've got a lot of experience with it, but this time it was just unnecessary. Half of the omnipresent POVs – by which I don't mean when whole scenes or chapters were occasionally dedicated to one character – were pointless and added nothing to the story that couldn't already be known or shown through their actions and words. Here, I'm specifically thinking about St Denys, Esteban and the times when Teodoro and Christian are in the same scene; we don't need both their POV's.

Omnipresent, in this case, is a problem for two reasons. 1 – we get told things twice; once in one paragraph that is Teo's POV and again in Christian's POV which is the next paragraph, literally. 2 – one paragraph reveals something to us which, in the next, we're not supposed to know. It makes it hard to follow the story and keep track of what each character knows or thinks. Particularly when the two MC's often have alternating paragraphs; Christian, Teodoro, Christian, Teodoro. When you get into a rhythm of that, it's okay to follow, but more often than not, it happened for one solid chapter, then changed format in the next and again in the next. It was constantly confusing and difficult to keep track of what POV the paragraphs were supposed to be told in, when not immediately made clear, until halfway through the paragraph/scene.

Half the space taken up by this constant repetition and re-experiencing of a situation through both (and sometimes triple, when Esteban is involved) sets of eyes makes the book much, much longer than necessary. It's also pointless. Half the time we already know what is going on, who feels what and so forth. I'd much rather the author(s) showed us these varying perspectives in either one whole scene/chapter dedicated to one character's POV or by SHOWING us through their words and actions. This constant telling grew old very quickly.

St Denys, as a baddie, was tame and boring. I mean, we got one chapter which included his POV (unnecessary) and after that, he was referred to as this big, bad villain, but he was never seen and did nothing that actually put the characters at real risk of danger. The same could be said for the el conde de la Rocha, who was nothing except an off-page tool to spur on the action, but only entered the story for about a page.

And, quite honestly, St Denys POV at the beginning ruined part of the story – as did the blurb. How? Because the big revelation of St Denys plotting to kill the King is a major plot arc, which is haphazardly thrown into the blurb, so that it's neither a surprise or all that shocking to the reader when the “big revelation” is made. Which jars with the fact that the author(s) make it very clear throughout the story that this is supposed to be a huge surprise to the readers. Except that St Denys' POV and the blurb remove all mystery, giving far too much away in a story that, shockingly, goes to painstaking lengths to keep this information from us until the big reveal. It makes absolutely no sense.

On top of that, there were no translations. This book is littered with Spanish phrases and not one of them is explained. There also isn't a glossary anywhere in sight, that I could turn to while reading. If I were to highlight all the Spanish terms, to look them up later, I'd be highlighting half the book. Instead, I chose to remain ignorant and look up the most confusing (in that they held some sort of meaning to the characters) when I was done. If I hadn't done that, I would have been putting this book down every five minutes to check Google Translate. As it was, the scenes would have made so much more sense had I known what they were talking about, but I've never even flirted with Spanish, so I had no hope in hell of ever guessing what all those curse words and endearments meant.

To keep going with the negative, but be a little more brief with it -
there were continuity issues, e.g. someone was standing, but was talked about as though they were seated
spelling and grammar issues, as well as mis-placed punctuation. (A good example is when Esteban and Gerrard are both, at different points, mentioned as “the Esteban” and “the Gerrard”)
unbelievable abilities, in terms of being interrupted in flagrante after a big build up (and one MC with a lot of serious injuries), only to immediately jump up, with no problems, and be able to talk freely. Also an issue is their ability to be free with movement, have sex and jump out of bed with no issues, after being tortured with whipping and the rack, at least.
facts were skimmed over that were important. Often they weren't mentioned at all, until well after the fact, when it was thrown in as though we should have known it already. (the best example is St Denys)
there was so much sex that I got sick of it. I literally began skim reading the sex scenes to get to the next big of dialogue or storytelling, because one they got together it was excessive and...again...unnecessary.
the story ends at 94%, with the cover, blurb and excerpt of book 2, cover and blurb of book 3 and a long list of books by the author(s) that I could just as easily look up online, if I were so inclined. Which I'm not, at the moment.

~

Overall

I could absolutely sum up this book with one word – unnecessary. The actual plot was great, as were the characters, but the execution of putting those two things together didn't work. The biggest issue was the omnipresent POV, which caused a lot of the more serious problems I encountered. On top of that, the actual plot aspect – the threat to the King – was so easily resolved that it almost felt...you guessed it...unnecessary, to have a book of nearly 300 pages tell the story. I mean, I could easily have cut 200 of those pages without impacting the story at all. That's how little drama, danger etc there really was, though it was all made to feel very important and dangerous. It just...wasn't.

Though I enjoyed it, it was more along the lines of – Meh. I could have not read it and been just as happy with how I spent my day, but reading it didn't exactly kill me, either.

In another POV, this could have been fantastic, without all the head hopping and repetition, without the excessive sex and the over-exaggerated danger. I'm giving it a 3 because I enjoyed it and, overall, Christian was my favourite character, but the fact that I didn't understand 30% of the words in the book (which were Spanish) really detracted from that enjoyment. On top of the other issues, nothing over a three would have been appropriate.

And, no. Sorry, but I won't be reading books 2 and 3. I'm happy with how things ended, even for Raul, so I don't feel there's a need to read about his story in book 3 and I barely saw a glimpse of the main character for book 2, so I'm not really sure why I'd be super excited about going ahead to read about a guy who had about three lines of dialogue, was introduced at the end of the Epilogue and had no impact on the story or me, as a reader, whatsoever. Even if I was interested in Raul, I wouldn't be tempted enough to force myself through book 2 just to get there.

[SHUCHI · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unexpected pick from a fave genre of mine in romance historical and if coz its m-m I said why not give it a try. Nicki Bennett & Ariel Tachna are new authors for me, but what a delightful read they provided, with a historical backdrop of Spain and English political tensions. I was just craving to read a book that comes with swashbuckling Spanish swordsman, rescuing a English dude in distress ;).

Narration isn't awesome, Peter M. Brooke is a new narrator for me, yet he has done a commendable job in providing voice variation to the characters, both the main and the supporting ones.

If you have a penchant for historical m-m romance, with age gap thrown into it and of course, some really smexy scorching between-the-sheets action, you will like this one.

[Misty]

*DNF*
(28%)

[CB]

New, not read yet -saving for retirement

[Free_dreamer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Review.

Now I’m usually not all that interested in historical novels, especially if they’re set in Europe. But something about the blurb for “Checkmate” grabbed my interest. Probably the fact that Teo is a mercenary. I do like my mercs. Either way, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to broaden my horizon a little. Unfortunately, I really didn’t like this book all that much.

The beginning wasn’t that bad. The first 20% or so felt like about 4 stars, with a little too much jealousy between two strangers. But once Teo and Christian got together, it just kept getting worse.

Both MCs seemed extremely possessive from the start. They essentially only met hours ago, under less than ideal circumstances, yet they’re instantly attracted to each other and also instantly extremely jealous and possessive. A little bit of jealousy is perfectly fine by me, but just like in RL, I find such extreme possessiveness very off-putting. It just didn’t make sense to me. I’m willing to get behind a bit of insta-lust, but this felt a little too close to insta-love for my tastes.

Something else that bothered me from the beginning was the constant head-hopping. If the authors had limited the POVs to the two MCs, that might have been okay. But virtually every character, no matter how minor, seemed to get their say at some point. Keeping track of whose thoughts I was reading got old really fast.

After much woe about unrequited love that isn’t actually unrequited, and some meddling by a well-meaning best friend, Teo and Christian finally get that the attraction is mutual. I had hoped that now we might be able to concentrate on the plot a little more. But instead of the constant pining we now got constant sex. And sadly, that sex didn’t do anything for me. To be honest, I was so annoyed after a while I just ended up skipping the sex scenes. They felt extremely cheesy and drawn-out and just really not all that hot to me.

I didn’t particularly like Christian. He read like a typical poor little rich kid, with daddy issues and a dead mother. Why do rich characters in romance always have to have issues with their parents? Does being rich make you a bad parent? His insecurities and Teo’s reassurances were seemingly endless.

At one point, Teo has to face charges for comitting sodomy. There’s a bit of torture here, but nothing explicit. I actually liked that part, because it was something very realistic and I hoped the rest of the plot might get a little more realistic as well. Unfortunately, I was once again disappointed.

Instead of trying even harder to keep their relationship secret, the two of them throw caution to the wind. They hug and kiss in broad daylight, in plain sight of anybody who might look out a window and then proceed to have tedious sex in a barn. That was one of a few serious face-palm moments for me.

The ending wrapped up nicely and everybody gets their HEA without any real trouble. And I was glad that this book was over.

“Checkmate” just pushed all the wrong buttons for me. I hate overly jealous and possessive people, in RL as well as in stories, and the writing style just didn’t really agree with me. I am still glad I read this book though, because now I know once and for all that typical romance novels just aren’t for me.
If you’re on the look for a nice, fluffy love story with a historical backdrop, by all means, go for it. You might just enjoy this.

The cover by Reese Dante shows a chess board and a headless male figure, probably Teo. I think it looks really good.

[Sammie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an OK read for me; inoffensive but not memorable. The underlying plot (political intrigue and assassination attempt) was decently executed, though not particularly riveting. The majority of the story takes place from the comfort and safety of Teo's home. The only real times when they weren't there was in the beginning before Teo kidnaps Christian, for a brief moment later when Teo is imprisoned by the Inquisition and Christian and Raúl must go rescue him, and then towards the end when they're wrapping things up. This makes it seem like not a lot happens.

The summary suggests a slow burn romance that draws Teo and Christian closer together as the story unravels. In actuality, Christian has a hard-on (literally) for Teo from the moment Teo first kidnaps him. At the time they first meet, Christian believes Teo has killed his bodyguard and is now kidnapping him for whatever nefarious reasons, so the fact that he's even noticing/becoming aroused by Teo in this moment is, in itself, disturbing.

I found it equally disturbing that the first time they have sex is immediately after Teo has been rescued from the Inquisitors. He's battered and bleeding from multiple wounds on his person. Christian even briefly questions if a bath might be too much for Teo to handle. The need to "finally become real lovers" trumps Teo's need to recover and not bleed to death—or even just be cleaned after days of confinement—and so caution and baths are thrown to the wind in favor of sex.

From this point on, too, the story then seems to be more concerned with the sex than with the underlying plot, with the chapters being primarily Teo and Christian having sex with brief interruptions to move the story forward.

I found there to be no chemistry between Teo and Christian. The narrative constantly tells us how aroused they are around each other, and Teo's friend Raúl eventually makes an appearance to act as the magical friend who's sole purpose is to state the obvious to bring them together. But none of these things makes up for the fact that there's no real heat or emotional connection between the two. The slow burn implied by the blurb was discarded in favor of immediate lust and gratuitous sex.

I actually thought there was more spark and chemistry between Teo and Gerrard, Christian's bodyguard from the beginning of the book. They might as well have been flirting throughout that fight.

Additionally, this story is labeled as an historical and takes place during the Inquisition, a time when being homosexual would have been especially dangerous—in fact, Teo is imprisoned by the Inquisition on accusations of homosexuality. And yet, Teo and Christian being gay is only ever an issue from the perspective of the villains. No one who is close to Teo or Christian (or is otherwise a "good guy") is ever bothered or angered or otherwise reactionary.

Also just... so much head hopping. I think the audio actually made it more noticeable and harder to follow. So too the fact that, in the beginning, Teo is referred to by different names depending on which POV the narrative had hopped into at a particular moment.

Performance:
This was my first book by this narrator. Overall, I found the reading to be satisfactory, though at times it seemed like he was either unfamiliar with or not comfortable with pronouncing the Spanish words that peppered the narrative and dialogue. I did like the voicing of the characters, and the inflections used to convey tone and emotion within the dialogue. In this, the book was an enjoyable reading experience.

[Mollien Fote Osterman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Checkmate
Series: All for Love Book 1
Author: Nicki Bennett and Ariel Tachna
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Reviewer: Mollien
Release Date: July 25, 2016
Genre(s): Historical M/M Romance
Page Count: 294 pages
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Blurb:

2nd Edition

All for Love: Book One

When sword-for-hire Teodoro Ciéza de Vivar accepts a commission to “rescue” Lord Christian Blackwood from unsuitable influences, he has no idea he’s landed himself in the middle of a plot to assassinate King Philip IV of Spain and blame the English ambassador for the deed. Nor does he expect the spoiled child he’s sent to retrieve to be a handsome, engaging young man.

As Teodoro and Christian face down enemies at every turn, they fall more and more in love, an emotion they can’t safely indulge with the threat of the Inquisition looming over them. It will take all their combined guile and influence to outmaneuver the powerful men who would see them separated… or even killed.

First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, 2009.

Review:
An interesting, and exciting tale from the time of the Spanish Inquisition. This is a action packed novel full of sword fights, torture, and sex. I am so happy that I didn’t live in Spain in the 1600’s. The Plot of this story is based on deception when our hero, Teodoro Ciéza de Vivar is hired to bring back an English Noble who has run off with his male lover. When Teodoro finds Lord Christian Blackwood all is not what he was lead to believe. The truth is that he was hired by a man who has plans to kill the King of Spain and implicate Christian’s father in the assassination. Now Teodoro must not only keep Christian safe, he must uncover the plot to assassinate the King of Spain and in the process save Spain. The chemistry in this book is hot. Teodore and Christian have a deep attraction for each other from the start which Teodoro tries to resist in an effort to keep Christian safe from the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition. Some things are impossible to resist and Christian is one of them. This story is fast paced with many interesting characters. Great ending for this book with another book to follow. There is an intricate character development of these characters that takes place in a time hopefully never to repeat.

SCORES on a scale of 1-5 Stars rate each of the Following 5
Categories
PLOT: 4 Stars
CHEMISTRY: 5 Stars
PACING: 4 Stars
ENDING: 5 Stars
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 5 Stars



Review Copy of Checkmate provided by the Dreamspinner Press for an honest Review. Reviewed by Mollien from Alpha Book Club

[Chris Jeffreys · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I understand when other reviewers became annoyed at the authors' desire to use undefined Spanish terms throughout this book. If I wanted to read a book in Spanish, I would have studied the language! Do we really need to use the Spanish word "el cura" when priest will do very nicely? I take it that the authors are attempting to show that they are worldly people and can throw in bits and pieces of foreign language to annoy readers. (But, that's just it -- the writing style is annoying with no real purpose.)

Here is a thumb nail summary of the story. (I have intentionally left out some spoilers from this summary.). Christian is the son of an English nobleman who is negotiating a treaty with the Spanish at the time of the Inquisition. A member of the Spanish side hires a mercenary, Teodore (or Teodoro depending on where you are in the book) to kidnap Christian to use as a bargaining chip in the negotiations. When the mercenary catches Christian, he learns that the story that caused him to kidnap Christian was a lie. In response, Teodoro wants to help eliminate those who want to kidnap Christian. Of course, along the way, Teodoro falls in love with Christian (which can be a fatal attraction during the Spanish Inquisition.).

There is a lot of time spent building and relieving the romantic tension between the two main characters; and I join the echoes of other reviewers who found that this portion of the story needs major editing. The build-up could have been shortened to one sentence -- "Teodoro and Christian desire each other deeply, but the fear of being attacked from those who seek to destroy Christian requires that their relationship remain platonic." That one sentence sums up a lot of useless text.

The story continues and ultimately it is Teodoro that is kidnapped by those who are conducting the Inquisition: the charge against him is being a sodomite. Christian saves him, but not before Teodoro is beaten to within an inch of his life. There are a lot of ridiculous activities that follow Teodoro's capture and release by the members of the Inquisition. But that is what fiction is all about, right?

The story ends with two main characters going on a quest to save the Spanish king's life. I won't talk about that plot twist here other than to say it was the most interesting part of the book, and, if it were expanded, it would have been a better story line than the one that was written.

In short, this is a book that has far too many plots and sub-plots. If the authors pared down the novel to one main story with one major subplot it would have been far more successful. I rank it at 2.5 stars.

[Joyfully Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Joyfully Jay review.

3.75 stars

Checkmate is a historical novel replete with wonderful scope and excellent characters and a great premise that…well, it bored me to tears. And I hate saying that! There is so much about this book that works! The authors have done a wonderful job of creating a historical sense of time and place and giving readers the essence of Spain during the 17th century. Teo and Christian are well-developed, dimensional characters that seemed vibrant and suited to one another. They are occasionally flat, but these are momentary blips and generally all of the characters, even secondary ones, fit into the world the author has created. The plot is well thought out, though an excess of sex scenes between Teo and Christian occasionally hinders it. They’re passionate to be sure, but their romantic interludes do go on a bit longer than necessary.

With so much to recommend it, what went wrong? Despite the general thoroughness of the plot, it tends to lag. There are long periods of time with little action and only surface exposition between the characters. Much of the book, while written well from a technical standpoint, feels extraneous and easily a quarter of the text could be trimmed without affecting the plot. The overall tediousness of the pacing really choked the life out of what should have been an excellent read. Additionally, the conversationalist language leans toward the flowery and excessive, which disappeared during the wider narrative. Had the authors simply toned down some of this, the characters would have felt more natural and yet another dimensional layer would have shown through. And as for the chess connection? It’s almost non-existent. It’s mentioned on a few occasions, but the title is perfunctory rather than connected.

Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.

[Jay · Rating 3 out of 5]

SlashReaders: For the most part I liked this book, I thought that the writing was well done and not over the top. The balance between plot and sex was a little off towards the end of the book but it is what it is. That is neither here nor there in the end, this was not one of those books that completely throws out plot for sex; so in that regards it is good.

Truthfully my biggest issue with this book, is that the authors tried to do too much. However, each element was well integrated into the story and had a point that was integrated with the characters and the plot. So perhaps, this isn't so much a bad thing because if they had tried to do less it would have been.... Simple. Lol.

Some of the plot points and the ending were rather predictable but I feel more as if that is simply a matter of these two authors getting a handle on things. I would be quite willing to give some of their future works a whirl because I think they will progress in a good direction. They have strong characters, a decent amount of plot that is played in and so we shall see.

All that rambling being said, I enjoyed the book. If you don't mind some angst resistance to the attraction--btw the surprise hook up at the end made me laugh, it was more comic than serious for me at that point but unexpected by then--until eventually they give in, get interrupted and more uncertainty ensue before final copulation has fun. In some ways this is a novel about finding one's self. There is plenty of sex at the end--to the point that I got bored with it--but if that's what you're looking for it is there.

Then enjoy and support these two writers, so that we might see what they come up with in the future. :)

[Mari Cardenas · Rating 5 out of 5]

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie in exchange for a fair and honest review. ***

"Love, like most of life, is one big chess game. Most people are simply too shortsighted to see it."

Teodoro Ciéza de Vivar is hired to "rescue" Christian Blackwood and bring him back to his father. When he finds Christian, he discovers that it is all a plot to kidnap Christian to influence the negotiations between Christian's father and the King of Spain. As they work to uncover who is behind it all, they have to fight against hired mercenaries and the Inquisition, while Teodoro fights not to give into the feelings Christian arises in him.

Christian is a great character, and I loved seeing him mature and become a strong, resilient man as the book progressed, capable of doing whatever he needs to in order to save his loved ones. And Teo was stubborn and difficult, but still quite likable. I loved the way their relationship evolved, not too fast or too slow, but just perfect, despite the circumstances they found themselves in.

Wow, just wow! Historical romances are a particular weakness of mine, well-written, detailed, realistic historicals even more so and this one was all that and more. It was a passionate, intriguing, engaging romantic suspense that kept me riveted to my kindle. I just devoured it, falling in love with the characters as I followed their adventures. Ariel Tachna and Nicki Bennett, I just can't wait to read more in this fantastic world you both created!

Highly Recommendable!

Rating: 5 Stars!!!

[Suze · Rating 2 out of 5]

First half was probably more a 2* as I didn't really get into the story.
Once Teodoro found evidence of St Denys's treachery, the second half seemed to have more purpose and that was probably closer to a 3* for me. So perhaps a 2.5*
However, the quick changes of pov, by paragraph made this hard work. I wasn't fully drawn into the story anyway and this didn't help - though it made skim reading next to impossible as you had to keep your wits to id whose pov it was.
The story is set in the times of The Inquistion and the dread and terror of that, and the general time do come across. I did think Christian was not so discreet as he should have been considering Teo had already been punished once.
I did win this as I probably wouldn't have chosen to buy this. There are two other books continuing the tale and taking in other historical venues of the time so I'm sure historical lovers will enjoy.

[Aredhel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's 3.5 actually. I was really torn between giving this book 3 stars and 4 stars, but it was just..well..too sweet for my taste.

The main characters are beautifully drawn and very handsome. On their way toward their happiness they faced some rather dangerous perils. However everything worked out too smoothly and when I was less than half through this book I already knew that the ending would be of a "happily ever after" kind. It's not that I didn't like it, but it was too predictable.

Moreover, the beginning was too rushed. It just scooted by and somehow reminded me of a famous Latin saying "veni, vidi, vici". And in this case it wasn't in the favour of the book.

[Janean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as part of my April Comfort Zone Challenge, recommended by Kathleen. I would not have picked this book on my own - that being said, I loved the story. It has all the elements I love in a good historical romance - intrigue, danger, romance. Teo and Christian were interesting apart and together and the supporting cast of characters were compelling as well. I would love to read more about Raul. Overall a very satisfying, good read. Thanks Kathleen!

[Wren · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this (especially because it's a long book and I'm always whining about how there aren't enough of those), but I ended up skimming a lot. The characters were fine, but didn't engage me, really, and I couldn't get immersed in the plot. Maybe it was the time period? 1600's Spain.

[Meggie · Rating 3 out of 5]

First time I read Checkmate was nearly 5 years ago. Today I decided to listen this story in an audiobook edition. Hm, mane plot was personally bland and boring. On the other hand, I really disliked Christian as a character, he was pushy and annoying. And really, all sex scenes between Teodoro and Christian were, so not sexy. I was happy when the story ended. BORING!

[Trisha Harrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very good book and it was a nice read. But there was just something missing for me and that is why I am only giving it 4 stars. I cannot put my finger on why I did not love it, but I just didn't. Maybe it will grow on me, but I doubt it :)

[Idamus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe 1.5 stars, I was bored a lot, but did finish it.

[Lillian Francis]

I read the second edition. It makes me wonder what changes took place apart from a new cover because my concerns seem to reflect those of readers who read the the first edition.
Disclaimer: I love historical stories and Ariel Tachna's writing. This should have been a perfect fit for me, but it wasn't
Cons:
The multiple povs gave me reader whiplash. Literally every character in a scene had their own paragraph of two. And almost every paragraph was a different pov. This made reading hard work. It also stopped you really getting to know the character. I wouldn't have objected to multiple pov if it had been restricted to a scene at a time and the five main characters.
The pining and unrequited love went on for......ever. The constant doubting and not being good enough, or being seen as hired sword/helpless child/a purse (insert where appropriate) got tiring quickly.
Even worse when they finally got together they had sex ALL THE TIME! On page, for pages and pages *yawn* Days after being released from the inquisition's clutches they were at it like bunnies. Even though Teo's back had been flayed to a bloody mess! I admit I skimmed all the sex scenes after the first; most were completely irrelevant.

Pros:
There is an excellent plot beneath all the rest of it.
I think the characters and their development would have been interesting had we stayed in their pov long enough to get to know them.

This book was too long. They should have cut all but maybe three sex scenes. The pages saved could have been put to better use at the beginning of the book, showing the journey back to Madrid and building up the trust and attraction between Christian and Teo. These are the things I would like to have seen addressed in the second edition rather than just whacking a new cover on it.