Game Over by Taylor Keating
The Guardian, Book 1
TOR
Paranormal
ISBN: 978-0765365477
Reviewed by Jo




River Weston is working on the software for a new game she is programming with her team.  Everything in it seems to be going like it should, that is until she gets to the last level and faces the Soul Man himself. For some reason her code just doesn’t work like it should.  River has a dream of helping people with her game and she isn’t going to let a snag stop her and is willing to do anything to find the answer – even if it means giving her soul.  Working every possible minute to find the problem, she is unaware that there is more involved here than a simple video game and conquering the last battle.  That is until she gets pulled into the game herself.

Chase Hawkins is a guardian and a prisoner of the Dark Lord. His spirit was captured by a Dark Lord’s prison that the guardians had totally forgotten about. Over the years of his capture and torture, Chase has never once wavered in his conviction that he would get out of there and back to his body. He knows that if he can’t find a way to escape before that self-conviction ends, then his soul and spirit will become the Dark Lord’s.  Chase has survived every hurt and temptation placed before him until he finds himself in a game with River.

Chase quickly figures out why the Dark Lord wants River and her soul. However, Chase is a guardian and his job is to protect and that is exactly what he will do. River and Chase have to wend their way through the game and face the Soul Man in the final battle that will allow both of them to be released and to defeat the Dark Lord. With souls at risk, Chase and River discover answers to not only each level of the game, but also to their attraction and why danger seems to be reaching for River from several different places at once.  It’s going to take absolute trust and belief in each other for them to survive and see the term – Game Over.

A woman who should not be and a man separated from his body discover love in the strangest place possible – inside a video game. Game Over is a race for strength and truth to overcome the depraved and cruel. River just wants to finish her game without errors.  Chase waits for the minute he can escape his prison and go home to his body.  I could not believe just how fast I became lost in River and Chase’s race for survival.  With each page, I found clues and red herrings trying to figure out who was good or bad and just what was going on between River and the Dark Lord and why. I really loved watching as Chase tried to resist River, knowing the entire time that they would become a couple that just might save a dying and destroyed Earth. Suspense was the background with a perfect trifecta of danger, magic and romance making Game Over a true page-turner and an instant favorite. Joyfully Recommending it is the least I can do while I wait for the next book and the next part of the journey for Chase and River.