Only A Game of the Heart

When Ciarra signed on to play the role-playing game Ambrosia Tavern, she only expected fun and stress relief. What she found was a character that called to her heart. The online relationship that developed between her and Ryan “Orion” fulfilled a need in her; so much so that their relationship fell over into real life. As petty jealousies conspired against Ciarra and Ryan, their relationship underwent the first of many tests. Can these two people, who obviously care for one another, find the truth in reality and discover that their feelings are more than just a game?

Only A Game of the Heart combines the fantasy element of online role-playing games with the reality of everyday life in a unique and entertaining plot. The author’s use of Ambrosia Tavern to offer insight into the past and its relevance to the present is original and an enjoyable deviation from pedantic flashbacks and long narratives. The role-playing game is also used to enhance and explain the motivation and emotion of the characters. The plot is balanced with humor and deeper emotions. Ryan and Ciarra are both very strong-willed, caring characters that may have some readers wanting to slap them upside the head so they can see what their hearts already know. But as the story progresses, readers will be willing to allow them their faults as it leads to some pivotal scenes. Whereas the primary characters are Ciarra and Ryan, the story would be incomplete without the addition of their friends and family. The secondary characters are an integral part of this story and! without them the evolution of Ryan and Ciarra’s relationship would lose something. At times redundant, the friends’ interaction with each other offers a periodic and entertaining reprieve from the emotional turmoil of their love lives, while at the same time giving deeper insight into the characters. Added to the tumult of emotion the characters are experiencing as they adjust to the reality of a relationship outside the Internet is an eroticism that will have readers hoping that such well matched people are able to find a common ground.

Reviewed by: Amanda