Customer Reviews

Heart of the Flame: A Novel (Dragon Chalice)

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3 star:		(1)
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I must admit that the first book of the Dragon Chalice Series, Heart of the Hunter, was not my favorite, mostly because I disliked the heroine. However, the second in the series, Heart of the Flame, was much better. The heroine, Haven, was strong and sweet. Kenrick was strong and caring. Even though he does turn into a jerk for a few chapters toward the end you kind of expect that since he does have the shock of his life finding out Haven's secret. But he quickly redeems himself and turns back into a sweetheart.

The story, about a knight named Kenrick who we first met in Heart of the Hunter, is on a mission to find the pieces of the Dragon Chalice. Kenrick goes to his friend Rand's castle, only to find Rand and his family had been murdered by Silas's minion. While there he finds Haven half dead and begins to care for her. After awhile they soon become lovers and fall in love. Only there is something that Kenrick does not know about Haven and when he finds out...oh well I'll let you read the book.

The story was excellent, definately better than the first, and I can't wait the read the third book in the series.

In the HEART OF THE FLAME, medieval romance author Tina St. John continues her latest trilogy with the second installment featuring the former Templar knight, Kenrick of Clairmont. After spending six months in the dungeon of an evil foe (Silas de Mortaine) who commands and unleashes deadly shape shifters to track down the legendary Dragon chalice, Kenrick is bound and determined to recover the chalice himself and thwart his vile foe's efforts.

Sometime after recuperating from his ordeal Kenrick traveled to the keep of a good friend whom he'd asked to safeguard an artifact that could lead to another part of the Dragon chalice. What he'd found was burnt out desolation, his friend and family having been slaughtered and buried. While there he discovered a woman, more dead than alive - obviously a survivor of the attack whom he rescued and brought to his home to question. The woman called herself Haven but couldn't remember the attack and little else of her own background. Kenrick, desperate for answers and leery of her story wasn't sure whether or not to trust her. As she recuperated Kenrick fought being drawn to the exquisite woman he'd found beneath the rags. She was obviously a lady with a regal bearing and the passion that sprang up between them proved to be as fiery as her beauty.

Although Haven couldn't recall much of the raid she felt sadness and guilt at the loss of her friends. Nightmares of being strangled and stabbed by a faceless enemy were only part of the images and strange feelings that were slowly coming back to her. It wasn't until she met up with a dangerous enemy, that the truth of that terrible night would come as a shock that reawakened her suppressed memories and the horror of who, and what, she was. Loving Kenrick as she did, Haven was torn, knowing that it was she who had brought death and carnage to the people she'd befriended and that to stay placed the very man she'd come to love in mortal peril.

*** As Kenrick and Haven's story unfolds tense excitement is immediately generated by this exciting page-turner that will have the reader hooked from the first page with the mystery of Haven's true identity and lasting through to the very last page. Intrigue, romance, fantasy and the test of a true and selfless love will be sure to please in this sensually packed romantic thriller. This is one of those books that the reader will find hard to lay aside complete with appealing characters and cleverly woven intrigues and a highly anticipated longing for the next installment as good versus evil in the quest for the `Dragon Chalice'. Clear the time to sit down and enjoy this wonderfully exciting and fully enjoyable installment of St. John's latest trilogy. --- Marilyn, for www.romancedesigns.com ---

Because this is the Second book in the series, and I still don't get why the citizens of Anarvin sent to retrieve the Chalice (Seekers and Shape Shifters) are conspiring with the Villain????????
It just makes absolutely no sense to me. It is obvious that the Villain intends to use the Chalice's powers to dominate the world, what is the benefit of helping him??????
Arrrgghhh!!
Quick synopsis, in the surreal world (Anarvin) of magicians and immortals, that forbids entry to any mortal, a princess found a wounded mortal knight just beyond the borders of Anarvin. She brings him into Anarvin gives him a drink from the sacred chalice to heal him and long story short, he betrays her and her people by stealing the Golden Chalice and tries to take it back into the mortal world. But the Chalice bursts into flames and dispenses into 4 separate pieces as soon as it enters the mortal world, and legend has it that any mortal who finds all four pieces will have absolute power. We have a very wicked Villain who is set on gaining absolute power and will stop at nothing to find all four pieces. In the meantime the people of Anarvin have sent Seekers and Shape Shifters to retrieve the cup and bring it back to their world, while the only few other mortals who know about the Legend are bent set on making sure our Evil Villain doesn't get a hold of all four pieces. (The Villain has found only one of the pieces and as of this book, the Good Guys have found Two) What the Good guys plan to do with the last Chalice once they find it first is still unclear, logic would suggest that they should be able to just hand it over to the Seekers of Anarvin, but then Villain has these seekers helping him!!!
Another twist is that only a mortal can physically touch the Chalice and bring it back into Anarvin. But that still does not justify why the Seekers are helping the Villain since he plans to keep the Sacred Chalice for himself.
I'm VERY VERY frustrated with this series that started out with so much promise.
Maybe I just need to take a break from it and some how it will all come to me.

Though the story is well written and very compelling, with the mystery surrounding the Magical Chalice the Author has managed to blend in love stories between various protagonists but I'm much too distracted by the unknowns the give the book a higher rating.

In 1275 Cornwall, England former Templar Knight Kenrick comes to the home of his friend Rand only to see a massacre occurred. Kenrick knows the evil Silas de Mortaine apparently annihilated the family in search of the Dragon Chalice that Kenrick hid in his friend's home. Feeling guilt, Kenrick goes to the hiding place where he hid the chalice, but it is not there. He concludes that Silas has not gained possession of the object that would enhance his dark magic to the point of no one capable of stopping the malevolent wizard.

Kenrick finds an unconscious woman dying from infection. He nurtures her and takes her to the home of his sister and brother-in-law to further heal and to learn what she knows about whathappened to Rand and his family. Instead the woman Haven knows she must escape as soon as she is able to leave. Still as Kenrick questions her, she is attracted to him and visa versa, but she hides a secret that if he learns it will make him hate her, at least that is what she believes.

HEART OF THE FLAME, the sequel to the wonderful historical romantic fantasy HEART OF THE HUNTER, is a delightful tale that stars Kenrick, whose incarceration was the catalyst that brought his sister and in-law together. This time Kenrick's adventures are told even as he feels remorse over the troubles and probable deaths he brought to his friend. Still he courageously knows he cannot fold as Silas remains a danger to the world. Haven is his perfect counterpoint as she adds mystery with what she hides from Kenrick. Fans of medieval romantic fantasy will appreciate Tina St. John's fine novel.

Harriet Klausner

England, Year of 1275
Sir Kenrick of Clairmont is a former Knight of the Temple of Solomon. He spent six months in Silas de Mortaine's dungeon enduring daily beatings and sessions of torture before he had been rescued by his sister, Ariana, and his brother-in-law, Braedon. (Book One) Kenrick is now consumed by the need to locate the Dragon Chalice.

Four magical cups that, when combined, make up the one called the Dragon Chalice. The Chalice is a mystical treasure said to grant its bearer unlimited power. De Mortaine already has one of the four cups. Kenrick possesses one as well. They race to locate the two remaining. But de Mortaine has advantages. He is a wealthy man who deals in dark magic and commands a small army of mercenary, changeling beasts.

Haven is caught up in the battle for the Chalice. She survives a raid by changeling demons, but due to an infected stab wound ends up wandering in a state of delirium at Greycliff, where Kenrick finds her. Haven awakens in Clairmont Castle where a caring Ariana tends her wounds and a raging Kenrick demands answers about the raid that killed his friend, Rand, and Rand's entire family. Problem is that Haven's high fever has scorched her memory of that fateful night. A tenuous trust forms between Haven and Kenrick. He gives her protection while her memory of the horrors she witnessed slowly returns. Passion erupts between the two, but the memories hidden in her past will threaten their bond of trust, if it does not kill them first.

***** Ariana and Braedon, the main characters of the first book, "Heart Of The Hunter", returns as secondary characters in Kenrick's story. You do not have to read the first book to understand what is happening in this one. Yet I strongly recommend that you do so.

Several surprise twists are woven into this intricate tale of dark magic and romance. There is never a dull moment within this powerful epic, so expect no breathing room. Do not begin reading until you are assured hours of uninterrupted time. The talents of Tina St. John will keep you on the edge of your seat and urging your imagination to believe in magic! *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.