Rating: 2 stars out of 5

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.

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.

Sales Links:  Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon

Book details:

ebook, 2nd Edition, 294 pages
Expected publication: July 25th 2016 by Dreamspinner Press (first published 2009)
Original TitleCheckmate
ISBN 1634774639 (ISBN13: 9781634774635)
Edition LanguageEnglish