Checkmate: This is War (Travis & Viola, #1) (Checkmate Duet)

Cliffhanger!Book 1 of 2Dual POVsViola hates Travis but she has a huge crush on him. He hurt her when she was 13 and she never got over it. To me, since she is 22 years old in the present, it means she is emotionally a 5 year old for holding a childhood grudge for so long. It's pathetic. I'm not a fan of her. Travis is a man whore who enjoys giving Viola a hard time when he can. He's pretty typical for this kind of book.Their love-hate relationship drags on excessively in the book. I skipped chapters and didn't miss a thing by doing it. There is no need for this story to be stretched out to 2 books.There wasn't a whole lot of imagination that went into this book. It's your typical "he's a jerk to her then he adores her" romance. I mention that because 2 award winning authors wrote this book. I expected something better than a run of the mill romance.

This much hyped book has been on my TBR since release day, so I finally decided to give it a try. I didn't get far before I had to DNF it. The hero is a complete @$$ to everyone, especially the heroine. Who wants a hero who has sex with other women, then brags about it to the heroine? How "manly". If that's considered romance, then I need to switch to a different genre.

Let me start by saying I had a lot of hope for this book going in. But neither of the main characters were at all likable. Both were incredibly petty, and immature. Neither one acted the way a real adult acted. I was raised by a single father with many of his buddies around, and I also a brothers. I’ve never met a man who slept around the way Travis did in this book. It was completely disgusting they way he constantly threw his sex life in her face, and she just came across as a shrew. Completely skipped over the sexual scenes with other women and there were more than a few. Actually I skipped over a lot of the main characters interactions too. This book honestly wasn’t very enthralling and definitely not worth buying a second book for. The cliffhanger and everything that led up to it just had me rolling my eyes. Not worth your time.

I almost stopped reading it about halfway through because I can't stand weak Hs. I kept hoping she would wake up and turn things around. Unfortunately, that never happened. Viola is one of the most pathetic Hs I've encountered. I read about 20 books a month and this is one of the very very few where I couldn't stomach her constant weakness. Seriously, how many women who have been hurt terribly by a man/boy in the past, have him flaunt having sex with someone else in his room right next to hers, then just can't resist his sexual advances to her - over and over and over again - then gets mad at him. I'm just not a fan of doormats. Clearly, I'm the exception in wanting to read about women who take charge of their life and don't take whatever crumbs the man whore is willing to send her way. Am I missing something?

Well, I'm exhausted after wading through all the anger and insults that dripped off of every page. Maybe I'm confused...this was supposed to be a romance novel right? And then leaves it hanging...seriously? If you expect me to buy another book...in the words of a rock star "DREAM ON"

She was so nasty. Just got tired of the repetition in that respect. Just when she showed a little humanity to the H the book ended with no true ending. Need to buy the next book in the series to find out the ending. Not sure if I am willing to spend the $$ to purchase. I usually don't buy series- I just missed that when I was reading the reviews on the book.

I picked this book up after seeing a recommendation from a fellow blogger. Unfortunately, this book just was not for me. I made it about halfway through the book before I started skimming to see if things would get any better. That really made me sad since I enjoy a good enemies-to-lovers story.Viola and Travis were incredibly immature. With Travis being 24 and Viola being 22, I expected a little more from these two characters. The horrible, nasty things they said to each other as well as the games they were playing with each other really just started to get old after a while. I didn't feel like I was reading about two adults. The back and forth insult flying felt more like teenage behavior and I was just put off by it.I enjoyed the parts that featured Viola's brother Drew and her friend Courtney. I won't be reading the next book about Viola and Travis, but I'm interested enough in the other characters that I might read their book later on.

So decided to one-click this the other day and sweet Lord, what took me so long to read this! I could not put this freaking book down. I was filled with so many emotions, I was giving myself whiplash! I went from “awwwww how sweet, I love this book” to “wtf is wrong with you!”…..to say my emotions were ALL over this place is an understatement. I spent most of the time hating Travis, I was team Viola all the way and then she’d do something and I changed teams but then Travis would open his mouth (or his pants) and I would go back to hating him. If truth be told, I’m not sure I still fully like him at the moment and that’s what I LOVE about this book! The writing was fabulous and I love when an author can pull you in and make you love a character that you absolutely know you shouldn’t but then they redeem that character and you sigh.This is a must read! But know it ends in a big cliffy! I had to one-click book 2 straightaway. I got no sleep and I’m fine with that!

Viola fell in love with Travis when she was 10 he was 12 and her brother Drews best friend, when she was 13 she overhead Travis and Drew talking about her and it wasn't very nice from that day onwards she became mortal enemies with Travis she couldn't avoid him entirely as he was still best friends with Drew and now roommates with him too. when I was younger I can remember being told if a person was rude and teased you it was because they really liked you this is the case for Viola and Travis they tease each other relentlessly it all comes to a head during spring break when Viola stays at the house her brother and Travis share, Drew is away visiting his girlfriend leaving the two arch enemies alone they bicker and tease all the whilst fighting the attraction towards one another until they end up getting together and let me tell you together they are super HOT!!! they've only just gotten together when there's a spectacular turn of events I cannot wait to find out what will happen next. I loved this book I was laughing one minute then blushing the next as for the ending I was practically jumping around the place not fun for the husband as I was reading in bed and nearly knocked him out of it at one point I was going to tell him to get dressed as we needed to go lol I was soo caught up in the moment Kennedy's writing had me pulled right in. 5 out of 5 stars from me.

Audio review 🎧This was so much more than anticipated! I had a picture in my head of the usual pranks and laughter, leading to love and a quick HEA, but this is so much more! Yes, there are pranks, great banter, hot times and laughter, but there is also a more serious and compelling side to the story. Travis and Viola have a more complex relationship, and Travis a potential pile of c..p heading his way! Lia Langola is such a very good narrator. She drew me in an swept me along throughout! Fabulous!! Bring on part 2! 💖💖💖💖💖

This is an excellent enemies-to-lovers, best friends brother romance story between Travis and Viola. Travis and Viola are childhood friends who fell out over a misunderstanding and have continued feuding into adulthood. These two have a lively and believable relationship. They certainly passionately hate each other and this creates a crackling and electrifying chemistry. Travis does have a colourful love life which makes things very interesting! This book is told in dual pov and ends on a cliffhanger. This is an enjoyable and fiesty read.

OK I'm not loving this book, but I'm not totally hating it. My issue is that I found Travis really immature. He seemed to be shagging every girl he met and that was in between his dalliances with Viola ... I like my hero's to remain with the one women and not all these trysts... I also couldn't really figure out all the hate Viola had.. Yes Travis said some stuff when Viola was younger and obviously Viola who was the smitten kitten got upset, but did that really mean she had to have all that kind of hate. I just felt the hate was unjustified and a little over the top at times. The ending was gripping, I did not see that coming and I hope that Travis wasn't being a bad boy. So of course I will be reading part two to see how it all plays out. I am just hoping that part two is a little bit more worthy for my full five stars and that Viola gets the HEA that she so needs...

OMG! I did not see that ending coming. At. All. I am so glad I waited for both books to be available before reading them or I would be pulling my hair out right now and looking for a new Kindle and quite possibly needing to repair a wall!I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline. The underlying feelings that Viola and Travis have for each other are all consuming. You are drip fed pieces of how they got to that point in their relationship, and when you find out the full reason, it all slots into place.I loved the chemistry between them both. It was evident right from the start. The 'hateful' banter between them both was quite funny at times and the interactions between Viola and Courtney were hilarious too.I would have given the book the full five stars, had it not been for the amount of mistakes that should have been picked up during the editing process. Whilst it didn't detract from the storyline, it did get annoying having to read and reread sentences due to additional words.It has not put me off wanting to dive right into book two right now though. So that is exactly what I am about to do.