Byzantine Gold {Review+Giveaway}

Hello! I am excited to be today's stop for the Byzantine Gold Review Tour! I read the first book and LOVED IT. My review of the first book can be found Here.

Chris Karlsen

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Chris is a retired police detective. She spent twenty-five years in the law enforcement with two different agencies. The daughter of a history professor and a voracious reader, she grew up with a love for history and books. She has traveled extensively throughout Europe, the Near East, and Northern Africa satisfying her passion for seeing the places she read about. A Chicago native, Chris has lived in Paris, Los Angeles, and now resides with her husband, and five rescue dogs in the Pacific Northwest.

Byzantine Gold

A sunken warship from the Byzantine Era carrying an unusual cargo of gold has been found off the coast of Northern Cyprus. News of the valuable cache has attracted the attention of a terrorist cell. They plan to attack the recovery team’s campsite and steal the artifacts. On the Black Market, the sale of the relics will buy them additional weapons. 

Charlotte Dashiell, an American archaeologist, and her lover, Atakan Vadim, a Turkish government agent, are scheduled to be part of the recovery team that brings up the artifacts. While en route to Cyprus, they find themselves caught in the crosshairs of Maksym Tischenko, a Ukrainian contract killer bent on revenge. Charlotte, Atakan and Tischenko share a grim history. As a result, Tischenko is a man who will stop at nothing to achieve his goal—seeing them both dead.

Excerpt

Charlotte answered on the fourth ring. Caller I.D. showed “restricted.”

“Hello.”

“They are called, Angelique tulips. You admired them in the hospital garden in Paris.”

Charlotte froze, holding her breath as she listened to the nightmare voice, remembering how his Eastern European accent rounded certain sounds and how he stressed the last syllables in his words. Called became cawl-d.

Tischenko.

“Everything in time,” he said and hung up.

Charlotte dropped the phone on the table. She turned to Atakan.

The shock must’ve shown on her face. “What is wrong?”

“That was Tischenko,” she said, finding her voice. “The flowers are from him. He was watching me in Paris when I was at the hospital. He—”

Atakan didn’t wait for her to finish. He rushed into the living room, grabbed his gun from the bookshelf, and ran out of the apartment. 

Charlotte followed as he flew down the four flights of stairs to the street.

“Stop.” Catching up to him on the sidewalk, she hooked his elbow with her hand. Fearful an armed Tischenko hid nearby, she positioned herself in front of Atakan, thinking to shield him. “We can’t stand here. He could be anywhere taking aim at you right now.”

“Go back inside.”

“Not without you.” She tugged on his shirt, pulling him toward their building. “Atakan please, let’s leave. Call the Director.”

Atakan shoved her behind him. Silent, his eyes searched the dark doorways of neighboring apartment buildings and parked cars. 

“Atakan please.”

“Get inside.”

She stepped in front of him again. “We stay here together or we leave together.”

An eternity of seconds passed. Neither moved or blinked.

They both jumped and turned at the bellow from the horn of a passing truck. Thankfully, the driver was waving to another coming the opposite direction. He never saw the man in the sling pointing a gun at him.

“Please,” she repeated.

Atakan nodded. He stopped at the building’s entry door and took a last look, surveying the street. “He moves us around like pawns in a private game.”

Review

As expected, this book did not disappoint. We still have the same lovely archaeological awesomeness we encountered in Golden Chariot. I accidentally learned stuff and I wasn't bored. ;) There is still the lovely romance going on between Charlotte and Atakan. It is still progressing and I still love the mess out of these two characters. They are from different cultures and they clash but I love their banter and Charlotte's teasing. They are so great together. One of my complaints from the last book was that we could not get into Atakan's head. (: I am proud to announce that that cannot be said about this book! I was so excited to continue the hunt for the bad guy from the first book. There was some unresolved conflict and it was tackled head on in this sequel. We still get our different POVs from the main characters and the "villians". When it comes to murder mysteries and bad guys, that is a MUST for getting both sides of the story and getting to know the bad guy as well. hehe. The underwater dives and communications between the two main characters was one of my favorite aspects from the first book, so it was great to see more of that. I love love love how they friendship is still evolving! (: Gah, those two. And Atakan has this kind of hot macho man vibe. *wiggles eyebrows* And Charlotte is no simpering weakling either, as we learned in the first book. You know you love that in your badass Suspense/Action heroes!

This sequel definitely did not disappoint. (: I love romantic suspense and Golden Chariot definitely fits the bill for a great Book filled with action, adventure, romance.. and suspense!! Also... the covers for both of these books are fantastic. I could not even fathom another cover for this series. 

Giveaway

Chris will award one randomly drawn commenter at every stop an eBook copy of Golden Chariot (the first book in the series), and one randomly drawn commenter will be awarded a $50 Amazon gift card during the tour. 

Follow the tour and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found HERE or by clicking the banner at the top of the page. Ends March 1st.