Tag Archives: Endgame

Review: The Castle (Endgame #3) by Skye Warren

Posted on by
Reply

Title: The Castle
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Amber Shah 4/4/17
Length:  230 pages
Series: The Endgame #3′

Overview

FINAL BOOK IN THE TRILOGY!

Safe in the ivory tower…

Gabriel Miller swears he’ll keep me safe. Enemies lurk outside, waiting to strike. An army held back by these walls.

Except some animal instinct warns me the danger is much closer. It’s already here. Is Gabriel my protector or my enemy? Is this house a castle or a cage?

There’s nowhere for me to go, no one left for me to trust.

No escape from a past determined to capture its prize.

My Thoughts

I’ll be honest, it took me a few days to get into the final installment of this series, and i’m not entirely sure why that’s the case. Probably because of life since this story is still very exciting. We know that Jonathan Scott is out there, yet to be discovered and we know that he’s got a vendetta not only against Avery, but the world in general. Gabriel is doing his very best to keep her safe and that means keeping her locked up in the house and when she plays with fire to negotiate time away, we see what the compromise is.

This third and final installment takes us on a path of watching this relationship grow from one that started on false pretenses into one that became something serious and solid, into one that opened up their eyes to how much they were willing to give up for the other in order to survive.

There’s a lot of discussion around who has the power, and of course it ties back to Chess. Avery even chooses to write her paper on the historical role of women and how It ties to the game of chess to show the evolution of who help the power and what the notion of checkmate really means. The idea of the Castle itself, that’s something that holds an important meaning in solving the whereabouts of Jonathan Scott and how they can get to him.

We see Damon Scott as an entirely different person in this story. We know that his relationship with his father isn’t one that is great, so to see another side of him comes out when a woman’s safety is compromised is a sweet evolution. There’s also an interesting twist related to Damon that we get to see as this story evolves and it makes so much sense once it plays out.

There’s death, destruction, lies and anxiety, all on top of passion, heat, sensuality, personal growth and discovery. I’m sad to see this series end, but we know that the story Avery and Gabriel have coming ahead of them has a single minded direction and the closure in the story gives hope. Next up is a spinoff of sorts and I cant wait to dive in. Enjoy!

Review: The Knight (Endgame #2) by Skye Warren

Posted on by
Reply

Title: The Knight
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Skye Warren 1/31/17
Length:  250 pages
Series: The Endgame #2

Overview

The power of pleasure…

Gabriel Miller took everything from me. My family. My innocence. My home. The only thing I have left is the determination to get back what’s mine.

He thinks he’s beaten me. He thinks he’s won. What he doesn’t realize is that every pawn has the chance to become a queen.

And the game has only just begun.

My Thoughts

So many lies in such a short amount of time. When the relationship between Avery and Gabriel started based on less than ‘legal’ means, we knew that things were going to get dicey, but of course as we saw what Gabriel was truly capable of, we really started to despise him.

The naiveté that Avery has is something powerful and throughout this second book, both she and her mother are likened to Helen of Troy – the historical woman who’s beauty brought down countries and empires. It seems as though Helen, Avery’s mother is that woman, she had a power over so many men (and women) that she likely saw her death as a result of that, and the power that Avery has in her youth and allure is just as strong.

We left off the first book with Gabriel throwing Avery away essentially and when Avery is out on the street, she learns that her father has a heart attack, yet another set back as well as learning that her house is now no longer hers and it’s up for auction. The path that this second installment is one of watching how this all plays out, knowing that holding company that has the deed to her house is one that’s owned by Gabriel.

There’s so much uncertainty driving the motivations, and throughout this story we realize that perhaps Gabriel isn’t as evil as we wanted to believe. He’s protective of Avery, even though it seems as though their relationship is doomed. He continues to provide the care for her father even though things are going awry.

Avery learns more and more about her mother’s past and as a result, there are questions that people keep telling her not to search for that she doesn’t listen to. She finds a diary from her mother in the attic and learns some of the sordid past that was just ahead of her parent’s wedding. She searches out her mother’s best friend who reveals unexpected secrets that I think we all should have expected.

Throughout this story as well, we watch Avery stand on her own two feet. She moves into a seedy motel since that’ what she’s able to afford, and we watch her survive. There’s a protector for her in the form of a homeless man named Will who makes an impact on her life in the motel. Harper, the friend from college who’s stuck around continues to provide support and we see what that means for Avery especially when she needs a friend the most.

All this helps her deal with the emotions and feelings that she continues to have for Gabriel. She has this connection with him that’s deeper than her sole physical and sexual experience, and she has a sense that it’s the same for him. How he behaves and what he says makes her wonder if there’s more than meets the eye.

Where this story nets us out is a fire, a lost house, and a future that’s unknown. We have a name, and an identity but this person has gone into hiding and we don’t know when they will strike next, and we have to be prepared. What we do know is that the relationship of ALL our characters and how they are intertwined has changed and we can only hope for the best in how it plays out. On that note, i’m off to find book 3 and see where they go! Enjoy!

Review: The Pawn (Endgame #1) by Skye Warren

Posted on by
Reply

Title: The Pawn
Author: Skye Warren
Publisher/Year:  Skye Warren 10/28/16
Length:  312 pages
Series: The Endgame #1

Overview

Gabriel Miller swept into my life like a storm. He tore down my father with cold retribution, leaving him penniless in a hospital bed. I quit my private all-girl’s college to take care of the only family I have left.

There’s one way to save our house, one thing I have left of value.

My virginity.

A forbidden auction…

Gabriel appears at every turn. He seems to take pleasure in watching me fall. Other times he’s the only kindness in a brutal underworld.

Except he’s playing a deeper game than I know. Every move brings us together, every secret rips us apart. And when the final piece is played, only one of us can be left standing.

My Thoughts

I have to feel just a bit impressed that there’s a book from years ago that I haven’t read (or at least I don’t think i’ve read it before) by an author that i’m a fan of. So that’s what we get with the first installment of the Endgame series. You have the beginnings with Avery, a girl who’s grown up with the means to maintain a specific lifestyle but it seems like there are things taking place behind the scenes that has the chance to jeopardize it all.

We start our story with her at her graduation party, where she’s wearing the right things, and talking to the right people until she goes to find her father, and walks in on a conversation that makes her rethink all that she knew. She goes to run and almost falls down the stairs to be saved by a man that exudes power, and has this appeal that makes her stop and think. Little do we know the role that he will play in her life in the future.

Fast forward a few years when the world has come crashing down on Avery. Her father’s poor business choices have resulted in them losing all their money, and then her father getting beaten to an inch of his life, leaving Avery to take care of everything and herself. Her dreams are dashed and she needs to figure out how to keep her father alive.

Enter Gabriel and the men from the Den. She knows that while unsavory, they can give loans for the right payment terms and she goes in knowing that she has nothing to offer, and learns that perhaps herself is the best thing for her. The agreement ist hat she’ll be auctioned off to the highest bidder for a month and then she’ll get the money that she needs to survive. Gabriel is the #2 in The Den and to watch how he orbits around Avery, how he’s drawn to her and to protect her, well we all know how this will end.

What happens from here is a story that really takes us on quite a few twists and turns. We can only assume that the objections that they have overtly will slowly change into a chemistry and relationship that neither expected. There’s revenge on the part of one, and naiveté on the side of another, and all together, that means that we’ll see combustion, heat, passion and most likely hatred.

Secrets come to light and bonds of trust are broken. What ever path we thought this story was going to go down is dashed when there’s a trade made at the end and that leave us wondering if there’s more revenge than even Gabriel and Avery we’re aware of. So on that note, i’m off to get book 2 and get back into their world. Can’t wait to see who outsmarts whom, and what it means for the other.