CAPTURE ME by Anna Zaires ♥ COVER REVEAL

Title: CAPTURE ME

Author: Anna Zaires

Genre: Dark Romance

Release Date: December 8, 2015

Cover by Najla Qamber Design

Photo by Lindee Robinson Photography

Models: Sarah Stroven and Adam Stroven

 

Blurb

A new dark romance series from the New York Times bestselling author of Twist Me

She fears him from the first moment she sees him. Yulia Tzakova is no stranger to dangerous men. She grew up with them. She survived them. But when she meets Lucas Kent, she knows the hard ex-soldier may be the most dangerous of them all. One night—that’s all it should be. A chance to make up for a failed assignment and get information on Kent’s arms dealer boss. When his plane goes down, it should be the end. Instead, it's just the beginning. He wants her from the first moment he sees her. Lucas Kent has always liked leggy blondes, and Yulia Tzakova is as beautiful as they come. The Russian interpreter might’ve tried to seduce his boss, but she ends up in Lucas’s bed—and he has every intention of seeing her there again. Then his plane goes down, and he learns the truth. She betrayed him. Now she will pay.   NOTE: Capture Me is the first book about Lucas & Yulia and has a cliffhanger-ish ending. It’s a long novella/short novel of approximately 45,000 words (about 200 pages) and is a spin-off from the Twist Me trilogy. It’s not necessary to have read that trilogy to enjoy Capture Me, but the book does contain major spoilers for books 2 and 3 of Twist Me.  

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Excerpt

Author’s Note: This is from Yulia’s POV. For those of you familiar with the Twist Me series, this scene takes place in Moscow, when Lucas & Julian were there to meet with the Russian officials.   He steps into my apartment as soon as the door swings open. No hesitation, no greeting—he just comes in. Startled, I step back, the short, narrow hallway suddenly stiflingly small. I’d somehow forgotten how big he is, how broad his shoulders are. I’m tall for a woman—tall enough to fake being a model if an assignment calls for it—but he towers a full head above me. With the heavy down jacket he’s wearing, he takes up almost the entire hallway. Still not saying a word, he closes the door behind him and advances toward me. Instinctively, I back away, feeling like cornered prey. “Hello, Yulia,” he murmurs, stopping when we’re out of the hallway. His pale gaze is locked on my face. “I wasn’t expecting to see you like this.” I swallow, my pulse racing. “I just took a bath.” I want to seem calm and confident, but he’s got me completely off-balance. “I wasn’t expecting visitors.” “No, I can see that.” A faint smile appears on his lips, softening the hard line of his mouth. “Yet you let me in. Why?” “Because I didn’t want to continue talking through the door.” I take a steadying breath. “Can I offer you some tea?” It’s a stupid thing to say, given what he’s here for, but I need a few moments to compose myself. He raises his eyebrows. “Tea? No, thanks.” “Then can I take your jacket?” I can’t seem to stop playing the hostess, using politeness to cover my anxiety. “It looks quite warm.” Amusement flickers in his wintry gaze. “Sure.” He takes off his down jacket and hands it to me. He’s left wearing a black sweater and dark jeans tucked into black winter boots. The jeans hug his legs, revealing muscular thighs and powerful calves, and on his belt, I see a gun sitting in a holster. Irrationally, my breathing quickens at the sight, and it takes a concerted effort to keep my hands from shaking as I take the jacket and walk over to hang it in my tiny closet. It’s not a surprise that he’s armed—it would be a shock if he wasn’t—but the gun is a stark reminder of who Lucas Kent is. What he is. It’s no big deal, I tell myself, trying to calm my frayed nerves. I’m used to dangerous men. I was raised among them. This man is not that different. I’ll sleep with him, get whatever information I can, and then he’ll be out of my life. Yes, that’s it. The sooner I can get it done, the sooner all of this will be over. Closing the closet door, I paste a practiced smile on my face and turn back to face him, finally ready to resume the role of confident seductress. Except he’s already next to me, having crossed the room without making a sound. My pulse jumps again, my newfound composure fleeing. He’s close enough that I can see the gray striations in his pale blue eyes, close enough that he can touch me. And a second later, he does touch me. Lifting his hand, he runs the back of his knuckles over my jaw. I stare up at him, confused by my body’s instant response. My skin warms and my nipples tighten, my breath coming faster. It doesn’t make sense for this hard, ruthless stranger to turn me on. His boss is more handsome, more striking, yet it’s Kent my body’s reacting to. All he’s touched thus far is my face. It should be nothing, yet it’s intimate somehow. Intimate and disturbing. I swallow again. “Mr. Kent—Lucas—are you sure I can’t offer you something to drink? Maybe some coffee or—” My words end in a breathless gasp as he reaches for the tie of my robe and tugs on it, as casually as one would unwrap a package. “No.” He watches as the robe falls open, revealing my naked body underneath. “No coffee.”    

About the Author

Anna Zaires fell in love with books at the age of five, when her grandmother taught her to read. She wrote her first story shortly thereafter. Since then, she has always lived partially in a fantasy world where the only limits were those of her imagination. Currently residing in Florida, Anna is happily married to Dima Zales (a science fiction and fantasy author) and closely collaborates with him on all their works. After graduating from the University of Chicago with a degree in Economics, Anna spent eight years on Wall Street analyzing stocks and writing research reports. In 2013, she became a full-time author, pursuing her lifelong dream of writing romance novels. Dima Zales is the love of her life and a huge inspiration in all aspects of her writing. Every book Anna writes is a product of their unique collaborative process. In addition to reading and writing, Anna enjoys drinking tea (coconut oolong, anyone?), watching addictive TV shows, and discussing book ideas during long walks with her amazing husband. She loves hearing from her readers, so please don't hesitate to contact her through her website or connect with her on Facebook, where she hangs out way too often. Also, please visit her husband and collaborator, Dima Zales, at www.dimazales.com and check out their fantasy & science fiction books.  

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Identity Crisis by Rochelle Paige - REVIEW

IDENTITY 

          CRISIS

by Rochelle Paige

A true criminal mystery with a lot of sexy.. ;)

So. Have you ever thought or even daydreamed about being that lucky girl in your favourite book where she wins the lottery when it comes to the guy? Once or twice the most?... Liars!

Well, be careful what you wish for..

That was the simple misfortune mixed with a dream come true for Delia. 

Every girls dream is to be swept into the arms of a man like any one of her favourite stories. Leaving the boring or uneventful life behind, and having a sexy stranger become their future everything.. And if you're like me, reading so many New Adult/Romance books with endless amounts of drool worthy, sexy, strong alpha males can only lead to a *frowning* mindset when we fall back into reality. As the saying goes men in books do it better - EVERY FUCKING TIME! Excuse my French but wouldn't you agree?! Here we are reading/writing out dream stories and all we are asking is for reality to be a little kinder when it comes to those creatures called men ;)

With Identity Crisis you definitely see how the above wish can both be a gift and a curse...

For Delia, she never thought that her unrealistic but hopeful dream of meeting the main characters that she writes in her own books, will come with anything but an easy going life.. Not. At. All.

My jaw almost dropped open as I got my first look at him. If I had to conjure up an image of an intruder, he was the last thing I would come up on my own... He had tall, dark, and dangerous down to a tee. When I looked into his eyes, they seemed to be filled with an honesty and determination that didn't make any sense.

Make a wish and it might just come true.. Good Luck..When you wake up one morning to what you think will be just another boring, normal day of having your dream at a mere pen-to-paper, but then it's anything but that!

Stolen identity

Possible conspiracy theory

Murder

and don't forget the main, an incredibly hot ex-navy SEAL!!

I think the navy SEAL part had me.. or you know, the murder aspect too but let's get back to the important part. Navy. F. SEAL. Need I say more? Well, I will so... Keep up haha ;)

Blaine, a fictional character were even the name speaks more volumes than anything really. So having an extremely good looking guy break into your house, saying that you're in danger, and that you should trust him (did I mention his an ex Navy SEAL? Trust basically comes along with that right?) to keep you out of harms way because someone stole your identity and the person who was pretending to be is now dead?! It's like your favourite book being played right in front of your eyes.

"I wouldn't wait too long if I were you," Brody warned. "A woman like that? Some man is bound to come along and sweep her off her feet if you don't pull your head out of your ass and do it first." 

MINE 

I was stratled by the thought as it rolled through my head, I'd been attracted to her since the first moment I'd laid eyes on her... There wasn't a chance in hell I wanted to ever see desire in Delia's eyes when she looked at him. I wanted it for myself, even though I felt like an asshole for feeling like this.

I think the one part that I loved about Blaine's character, aside from the immediate attraction of his protectiveness towards Delia, was around the idea that he actually & genuinely CARED. It wasn't like one of those characters were he has that cavemen part of him drive his instincts. No. I mean, he wasn't a boy by any means. All man! Yup. Definitely, all man.

But back to the point. He knew that he cared about Delia from the moment that he realised she would be someone permanent in his life. That's nothing new in a romance story.

BUT. What was different here is the fact that Blaire trusted Delia's own point of view when it came to figuring out where to go with the case.

Yes he was a hell of a lot worried about her safety.

Yes he didn't want to put her in any sort of danger.

And yes, they fought about what he wanted her to do versus what was best for all three of them surviving (the third person being Blaine's best friend - Brody - who I also loved. He added that humour element that I couldn't help but always stupidly grin at). 

BUT the bottom line was, even though he was an ex-Navy SEAL and knew every possible way to go about a case like this, he still showed how much he cared, trusted, respected & valued Delia's ideas. 

I haven't seen that aspect in many previous books which is one element that made this book addictive + lovable!

Fun

Addictive!!

Mysterious

Easy to read

Understanding

Sweet but sexy

Fate

Intense but adorable

Balanced

Truthful

This story really did have a great balance when it came to making the reader believe what was happing. I mean, Rochelle Paigeso easily and enviably made a transition between capturing the serious side of a mystery-murder with that of the lighter notes of Delia & Blaine's relationship for instance. She inserted humour at all the right places. That made the story so much more interesting than it already was.

There was only one small bit that made me rate it 4.5 even though I am still thinking whether it does justice to how well this story was done.

I didn't really like how much detail went into explaining every part of the case. The information behind what they had to do, who they had to contact and what they needed to do in order to make the plan work, wasn't really something I loved reading. But then again, I knew that it was an essential part of the story so it wasn't so bad. It's just seemed to slow down parts of the story, but again, it was only a slight personal dilemma. 

Overall? I would read this story again, in fact, don't be surprised if you see it on my reading list sometime soon. 

I adored how the author made the main female character strong minded but not in the sense that she knew everything, wanting to take offer and always argue about her opinion etc. No. It was a different sort of mentality that showed off being smart, interesting, vulnerable enough but not helpless and an overall woman who just wanted to have a caring, possessive, sexy and equality strong minded but fair boyfriend.

Blaine & Delia were a perfect match.

They had their dark and sad backgrounds, which often made me tear up especially listening to Blaine and Brody's tragic encounters..

Anybody and everybody, no matter what book genre you lean towards, will enjoy this book. It has a bit of everything and a whole lot of sexiness that I may not have already mentioned a couple times. Oops? What's a girl to do when she stumbles on yet another bookboyfriend.. No complaints here!

Thank you Rochelle Paige for being able to provide a review copy! Your books will forever be on my TBR from now own :)

xx