Monday 27 February 2017

New Release Spotlight & Review: The Russian Obsession by Nikki Navarre

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The Russian Obsession
Foreign Affairs #3
By: Nikki Navarre
Releasing February 21, 2017
Self-Published
The Russian Obsession

Foreign Affairs series


Christabel Orlova remembers nothing before the night she woke in a Turkish bazaar with two passports, two governments on her tail, and no memory of her shadowy past. Armed only with keen wits, survival instincts and mad skills in the research lab, Christa has three goals. Stay alive. Stay one step ahead of her hunters. And find a cure for the Ebola bioweapon whose secret is locked in her brainbox—before it wipes out the human race. Gypsy, loner and wild child, her first rule of survival is never to trust.
Ex-Russian fighter pilot Max Vasylko is a gun-for-hire smuggler who’ll fly contraband cargo anywhere in the world, no questions asked. But he can’t fly far enough to forget the wife and daughter who died in an Ebola outbreak. When a bioweapon from a rogue U.S. program is to blame, Max’s mission turns personal. Find the scientist responsible for designing the super virus—and make her pay. The last villain he expects is Christa: a smart, sexy, scrappy survivor in hiking boots who’s lost her own brother to the virus.
Now Max is flying high above the African jungle with enemy agents in his six and a sweet redhead he’ll risk his backside to protect. Christa’s tempted to trust this hot-as-hell jet jockey with his wildcat courage and Mafia past. But the vaccine isn’t the only secret locked in her head. To uncover the truth, Max and Christa must win their toughest battle yet. The battle of hearts between them.

    AMAZON | B & N | KOBO

The biggest bouncer she’d ever seen was powering toward her like a tank on steroids. Packing a machine gun the size of a bazooka.
Teetering on her stilettos, Christa froze. The music throbbed in her ears like a heartbeat. An electric current of panic pulsed through her veins. Cheesed-off cops on one side and a bad guy bouncer on the other.
And, clutched tight in her perspiring palms, the McGuffin. A briefcase holding five million doses of a deadly virus. Or a cure that could save the world.
Hey, doc.” A voice dipped in Brooklyn brass grated in her ear. “I swear to God, I ought to turn you over my knee.”
Alarm and annoyance jolted through her—swamped by overwhelming relief. She spun to face six and a half feet of towering menace. Ultramarine eyes seared through her like lasers. Stripped to his tee shirt, bronzed biceps and wicked tattoo sheened in sweat, Max Vasylko spelled danger with a capital D.
The breath shuddered out of her tight-locked lungs.
Along with a whopping dose of sass.
What kind of grunting Neanderthal are you, major? Were you raised in a cave? If you think you’re laying a hand on me, you’re going to need an army—”
Army of one, baby.”
His low growl in her ear sent goose bumps racing down her arms and curled her toes in her boots. His big hands closed around her naked shoulders. Heat snaked from his callused palms and sheeted down her spine.
Max pushed her into a vacant banquette scattered with cards and cash. Her bottom hit the red vinyl seat with a bounce. He snagged the briefcase from her startled arms and tossed it at the opposite seat.
Hey!” she cried. “That case isn’t a football. You can’t just—”
News flash. I just did.”
He crawled right in after her. Right between her thighs.
Her heart was a kettledrum roaring in her ears. She slithered and scrambled over the slippery seat. He took every inch she gave him and kept on coming. Which was how she ended up flat on her back.
He crawled right on top of her, weight braced on those impressive arms.
For a moment in time that stretched surreal, like a Dali clock melting in the desert sun, he crouched over her. She forgot about the jumpy cop with the trigger finger, the tank-sized bouncer packing heat, the backstabbing ex-boss sprawled somewhere on the floor.
The world narrowed to the span of Max’s powerful shoulders and the primal musk of saffron and cedar. Above his neckline, the spiky tips of another fierce tattoo curled around his neck.
She was guessing that hidden ink spread all the way across his shoulders. Maybe all the way down his back. And that was a lot of real estate to cover on a man like Max. With the flashing lights behind him, shadows cloaked his face. And every inch of him scorched her skin.
Wow.” She managed a husky whisper. “You’re…really…something.”
Pot and the goddamn kettle,” he growled.
Right before he kissed her.



The Russian Obsession is the third book in Nikki Navarre's Foreign Affairs series and a standalone novel.

Amnesia blocks part of Christabel (Christa) Orlova's past from her memory, a fact since waking up in an Istanbul hotel with two passports and a message to run. She ends up in Moscow, working in a lab trying to find a cure for Ebola...work that's second nature to her. She's plagued with migraines and each attack releases a fragment to a memory from her past, reminding her that enemies are watching and waiting to pounce. After a six foot five man with a Brooklyn accent comes to her rescue, she's instantly attracted to him. However, can she trust him? Is he the enemy too?

Max Vasylko, ex-French Foreign Legion and now a high paid mercenary, flying contraband goods around the world. When his grandfather tips him off about a scientist responsible for the deaths of his wife and child in West Africa, Max goes all guns blazing for revenge, only the person who's supposed to be responsible for his family's deaths doesn't match the intel he's received or the woman he got to know intimately.

Convoluted...difficult to follow. I was ready to give up between 10-20% because my brain was struggling to juggle and comprehend the narrative. Yet, I carried on because I love a challenge and the blurb really made me want to read this book and I'm so glad that I persevered. Once I got past this mark, the pace quickened as the plot takes us from Moscow to South Sudan, West Africa and Corsica. I think it is definitely a huge advantage for readers to be from the US because they're many colloquial terms I wasn't familiar with, making the task of absorbing the text even greater in an already too wordy narrative littered with unfamiliar acronyms and scientific language.

Overall, I loved the suspenseful plot and the protagonists Ms Navarre crafted. Max and Christa make a great team together and I enjoyed the build-up of their romance and interactions. The pair share similar heart-breaking backgrounds which created a bond, although trust was something that had to earned from both sides. What I didn't care for were the heroine's inner thoughts.

***Arc received courtesy of the publisher via Tasty Book Tours***


DOSSIER FOR NIKKI NAVARRE
DECLASSIFIED
Subject: Nikki Navarre
Assignment: Double Agent
Cover: Diplomat. Playgirl. Author of the Foreign Affairs series.
Nikki Navarre is the author of the award-winning Foreign Affairs series and the sinister twin of unsuspecting historical romance author Laura Navarre. In her other life, Nikki is a diplomat who’s lived in Russia and works on weapons of mass destruction issues. In the line of duty, she’s been trapped in an elevator in a nuclear power plant and has stalked the corridors of facilities churning out nerve agent and other apocalyptic weapons. In this capacity, she meets many of the world’s most dangerous men.

Inspired by the perilous realities of her real life, Nikki writes romantic suspense set in glamorous international locales and laced with political intrigue. From her island compound in the Pacific Northwest, she divides her time between her writing career and other adventures for government clients. Her notorious exploits in the world of diplomacy will get her in trouble one of these days. 
The Russian Obsession may be the last mistake she ever makes.
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Release Day Blast: Delicious Satisfaction by Sabrina Sol

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Delicious Satisfaction
Delicious Desires #3
By: Sabrina Sol
Releasing February 27, 2016
Entangled Brazen
Delicious Satisfaction

Delicious Desires Series


As LA’s hottest up-and-coming chef, Alexa Montoya is known for her ruby red lipstick, award-winning arroz con pollo and a penchant for falling for the wrong kind of men. And when a confrontation with a loser ex-boyfriend lands her in some legal trouble, she’s forced to call her long-time friend, Dante Perez, to bail her out. Only this time, Dante seems different, somehow. More gorgeous, more sexy, more…mouthwateringly irresistible. Suddenly she’s tempted to give the lawyer much more than a simple thank you…

Dante is tired of seeing Alexa with guys who only know how to steal her money and break her heart. He’s watched--and waited for--her long enough. Helping with her legal situation will finally give him a chance to win her over for good. His plan? He’ll seduce her into finally believing that there’s something deliciously right between them…

Despite their chemistry, Alexa can’t trust that Dante won’t leave. But Dante knows how to win a case. And he’ll do whatever it takes to convince Alexa that she’ll always leave him hungry for more…

   AMAZON | B & N | GOOGLE | ITUNES | KOBO
 “It’s just a massage, Alexa,” he said with a smirk. “Or do you not think you can handle it? I know I can.”
A challenge had been issued—triggering the reaction to prove him wrong. He knew her so well.
I can totally handle it,” she said as she scooted her ass to the edge of the couch and turned around.
He sighed. “That’s not going to work. Stop being silly and let me do this right.” His hands gripped her arms, and he pulled her closer to him as he sank back into the corner of the couch and positioned her between his legs. “There. That’s better.”
It was better. It was also dangerous.
Her heart raced when his fingers rested on the tops of her shoulders. Gently, he began to squeeze and knead the taut muscles and nerves. His touch burned through the thin fabric of her T-shirt, and she swallowed her breath.
You are tight,” he murmured as he spread his fingers up and down her arms and then back up to her shoulders.
It felt good. No, better than good. So much better than good.
Mmm,” she mumbled.
Just relax. Let all the tension melt away.”
She closed her eyes and leaned farther back until she was totally resting against his broad chest. With one deep breath, she inhaled his scent: woodsy, clean, manly. Her skin heated up a million degrees in response.
He deepened the pressure, and she melted even more.
Oh, yes,” she moaned at the mix of pleasure and pain. His expert fingers worked the tightness steadily, and it began to dissolve into desire. It had been so long since he’d touched her like this. God, it felt amazing.
Just like that,” she said on a sigh. “Please. Don’t stop.”
She felt him move behind her until his breath was hot against her ear. “Jesus Christ, Alexa,” he rasped.
A hardness poked against her hip, and she realized she wasn’t the only one on fire. Her hands moved from her own lap to his thighs, and she dug into the fabric of his pants. His breathing became more ragged, and she knew this was no longer just a massage.
He slid his fingers down her arms again, but this time they brushed the sides of her breasts. Her own breath hitched, and her nipples pebbled in response.
That was it. She was gone.

Sabrina Sol is the chica who loves love. She writes steamy romance stories featuring smart and sexy Latinas in search of their Happily Ever Afters. She lives in Southern California with her husband, three kids, two Beagles and one Bulldog, and is part of a larger, extended Mexican family whose members are NOT the source of inspiration for her characters. Or so she tells them.
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