'Chess Raven is a hacker who has grown up with nothing and no one. Her parents died when she was three and her foster care situation turned out badly – very badly. But on her sixteenth birthday, her life is turned upside down.
'Chess learns her mother was Queen of the Fae and her father was a brilliant physicist. The unique blend of her mother’s fairy blood and her father’s humanity gives Chess – and Chess alone – the ability to unlock a mysterious vessel that will unleash unimagined powers – with devastating consequences. Thrown into a new world where nothing is at it seems, Chess must work out who to trust as vying forces race to control her. Or kill her.
'Reunited with her childhood friend Tom Williams, an enigmatic shape-shifting unicorn, Chess discovers love for the first time and is prepared to risk her life for it. But first she must learn to overcome a fear of her own power and stop waiting for other people to save her. She is the one she's been waiting for.' (Publication summary)
'Every choice has a price…
'Being Queen is not all it’s cracked up to be: all pageantry and no power, always lonely but never alone. Chess Raven is starting to realise that perhaps she wasn’t The One after all. Maybe she was just the last resort.
'When an opportunity arises to form an alliance with the royal family in Venice, Chess jumps at the chance to prove herself. But her mission is complicated by the heir to the throne, Prince Victor Grigio, whose heart is set on romance – regardless of what Chess wants. Meanwhile, the sisterhood of mermaids who swim in the Venetian canals offer Chess a deal: find an ancient scroll containing their lost song of freedom and power in exchange for her mother’s life.
'Hunted by enemies both human and Fae, Chess races to find the scroll and unwittingly discovers a family secret that changes everything.
'Brimming with action and mystery and set in the lush magical realm of Venice, The Girl Who Chose is the brilliant second instalment of the Chess Raven Chronicles.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.