Keep Me (Twist Me)

“Love is for those who are noble and selfless, for people who still have some semblance of a heart. That’s not for me. It’s never been me. What I feel for Nora is nothing like the soft, flowery emotion depicted in all the books and movies. It’s deeper, far more visceral than that. I need her with a violence that twists my guts, with a longing that both demolishes and uplifts me. I need her like I need air, and I would do whatever it takes to keep her with me.” —Julian Keep Me picks up right where Twist Me left off. If you need a quick refresher, Julian is alive, having barely survived the terrorist’s explosion, but now healed and returned for Nora. Nora goes with him willingly this time. After all, he might be her kidnapper but he’s hot, emits some kind of animal magnetism, and she’s been miserable without him for four months. Hey, I’d have gone with Julian Esquerra too. ;-) But the dynamics have changed. Not only does Nora desire to go with Julian, but now the world, or most specifically Julian’s criminal world, knows about Nora, and so some additional precautions must be taken, most of which Nora is not on board with. For one, before they reach their new destination together, they make a little pit stop to make things…well…legal. Ah, this is the devilishly delicious part of Julian as he makes things happen and gets his own way. “This is exactly what I want, what I need—this deep, twisted connection that exists between us.” –Julian Nora’s parents are notified this time right off the bat, and Julian certainly makes an impression on them. I found myself smiling at Julian as he eavesdropped via BlueTooth and provided his commentary to the reader. Yes, being in Julian's head this time is quite a treat! Nora settles into domestic bliss Julian-style at her new home at the compound in Colombia, resuming her painting, taking on-line college classes, and bonding with her man via martial arts training and afternoons at the shooting range. And of course, there are plenty of hot and steamy encounters that have nothing to do with the climate or their close proximity to the Amazon rain forest. “I feel both empty and exhilarated at the same time, wrung out, yet invigorated by the maelstrom of emotions.” –Nora Once again, Nora consciously questions her sanity as she embraces her love for the man that was once her kidnapper and still is a violent, illegal arms dealer. Nora must confront darkness and evil again, and this time she must also confront it in herself. In this strange twisted way, they become more like partners, closer to equals, though Julian remains in command. But told via Nora and Julian’s alternating point of view, we see that Julian too wrestles with feeling he doesn’t believe he has and questions the changes that Nora has unconsciously made to him. Is Julian capable of love? Will he recognize it once he has fallen in it? And by falling, will he be unknowingly relinquishing some of the control? As Nora learns more about his past, businesses, and childhood, will it chill her affection for him or endear him to her even more with understanding? Meanwhile, there’s still the matter of Al-Quadar, the terrorist group who tried to stranglehold Julian into a weapons deal by kidnapping Nora and murdering Beth in Twist Me. And when Julian’s business plans go awry, the action shifts from the bedroom to the dark and dirty details of Julian’s dangerous profession. Who can be trusted? Who will be a captive? Has Julian's plan to keep Nora safe actually made her the perfect bait? There’s danger; there’s deception; there’s action—both the adventure and sexual kind. There's a bit of role reversal this time, not of the sexual kind. (Come on, you didn't really think Julian would suddenly become submissive?) We see a brief return of Nora’s friends Jake and Leah as well as meet Julian’s associates Lucas and Peter, who make interesting supporting characters. As with Twist Me, there isn’t a cliffhanger, but the story hints at what could be to come in their next adventure or stage of lives. I know I closed the last page itching for more of Julian and Nora’s intense, insanely hot, and twisted love affair, and in 2015 we’ll get another dose with a third book, Hold Me! Yay!!!

The novel is good, but it didn't deliver what I expected. Sure, it is a great dark erotic thriller [considering there are so few out there and sorry 50 shades is NOT dark couldn't stand it], but I was hoping for it to be more twisted [like the first one] The novel was clearly taking a direction that was different at the end of the last novel, but the cliff hanger lent the impression that there would be a different take it being from Julian's perspective. I thought that the first novel had a lot of greatly written conflict and WTF moments, but in this novel, it felt more like an addendum to the previous--as in, Nora really put up little fight. She would b**** about a couple of things, but got over it fairly quickly. No conflict, no unwanted punishments. I enjoy the conflict part, but to be honest everything was pretty much consensual no real fights [the tracker thing didn't even count, in my opinion]. I had hoped that Anna Zaires would continue to push the envelope, because most dark novels always seem to end with your normal HEA. I want it to be more...questionable. I think this novel is great because neither character is annoying, they are both hotties [finally a young hott guy-- why does everyone thing that the 'dark male types' have to be grandpas in the 40-50 range? in addition he avoids the stereotypical bulky linebacker build and is more streamlined to be like a marketable ryan gosling type--not quite jared leto which i would prefer...*sigh*] and finally someone who isn't afraid to write about a female who is not '25+' i swear it makes it seem more screwy since she is so young! makes it more corrupt] In addition, she has a guy who is into crime, without the cheese that you see in mafia-themed novels like Sempre but who refuse to go the extra mile and instead make it more of a breaking bad thing [i am doing it for my family!] without addressing the evil-ness, and the guy is clearly sociopathic [love it!!]. Authors seem to fear to really cross into this area, and I like that the question of 'love [is he capable] v. obsession is the driving theme. It's sexy. To be honest, I have only ever seen these types of interesting relationships/questions raised in fanfictions online so kudos to Anna Zaires! You could say more main stream authors like Kresley Cole attempt this, but even she always has to redeem the bad guy some how. I want a novel with an evil guy, who pretty much does what he wants and does not try to redeem himself--the heroine can accept it or be unhappy and be miserable. That is the ultimate dark novel for me. That's twisted. Keep them coming Ms. Zaires and please make them more dark! I want Julian to do some more effed up things! [no matter what you do/write/I can't ever think that Nora is that bad because she is obviously being manipulated and adapting/surviving. I don't doubt her love but her culpability is a lot lower than his!!} For anyone interested in sex, personally, the scenes are good and frequent but I read these more for the dark relationships. the sex sort of highlights this--especially since it is often violent. I kinda quickly read through them. I personally am not fond of toys or games of bdsm [destroys the flow, in my opinion] in erotica. but bdsm is kinda boring to me and a lame cop out. I know this is not true BDSM, but it sounds a lot like it to me.. In addition, i read this as a romance novel so if for you this is erotica used for satisfying your pornographic needs, then i would not personally recommend it. but that is your personal judgment call. thank you anna zaires, keep writing, and i wish the next novel would be released sooner. for the readers, you can find material like this [similar] for free online, but it is no where near this kind of quality so I think it is worth purchasing.

Keep me please. I really loved Twist Me and was wondering where the story was going to go and I have got to say Wow. There were some parts where I cringed (no I am not going to give anything away, you just have to read it) but I could not stop reading even for lunch, The story drags you in and keeps you intrigued the whole way through. I loved the separate POV's as it gives the reader a deeper insight into why Julian behaves the way he does and how Nora questions herself and her feelings but then shows she understands deeper than you think. I really didn't think Julian was going to make it in the end (at least intact) but then again this is a dark love story so he had to live. Can't wait for book three. Didn't think I would be captivated by a book like this, just goes to show how good a writer Anna Zaires is. I loved the Krinar chronicles, Mia and Korum but I think this trilogy is exceptional. She does not hold back, I really felt that i was feeling a lot of the pain Julian went through in the end.

The series is fantastic! If you do love dark romance with a very possessive, controlling, unfeeling MMC then this series is for you. My only critique is why wrote the MFC so weak, and unable to stand up for herself against the MMC? It’s frustrating.

1巻目のTwist meを読んだあとで、audio bookで聞いたら、聞く方が全然楽だったので、2巻目(keep me)以降は、聞くだけで済ませることにした。執筆時点で2巻目を聞き終え、3巻目に入ったところだが、Keep meの方がTwist meより面白い。しかし、5つ星というほどではないので、2巻目も星4つのままにした。Twist meでは、ヒロインのNoraの視点から書かれているが、2巻以降ではNoraとヒーローのJulianの二人の視点から書かれている（これもこの類いの小説では割合よく使われている手法のようだ）。英語圏ではこの類いの小説はdark eroticaとかdark romanceと言われているようだが、同じジャンルに属すと思われるFifty Shades 3部作と比べると、Twist meシリーズの方が倍はいいのではないかと思う。Fifty Shadesでは、主人公のChristian Greyは、大企業グループのトップのはずなのにいつ仕事をしているのだという感じだし、そもそも何故ヒロインのAnastasiaに固執するほど強く惹かれたのかが全く分からない。いたずらにだらだらと長い。Twist meの方は、かつて無残に殺された幼なじみにNoraがうり二つと一応固執する理由が書かれているし、Julianも一応仕事をしている。ヒーロー、ヒロインともに能動的で、行動の優先順位もつけられる。2巻ではヒロインが大活躍することになる。

Another great book by Anna.....loved how Julian and Nora's love continues to grow, how they change themselves and how they just work and fit together. As unconventional as it all started.....they find their way into each others hearts and souls....and it just works. As dark of a soul Julian is....You can only dream of having a man loving you as fierce and passionate as he does Nora....Love how even that catches HIM by surprise..... great job! Looking forward to Hold Me!

von Twist Me. Es bleibt natürlich weiterhin “dunkel“. Was mir an diesem Buch gut gefallen hat, ist dass nun Julian mehr in den Vordergrund rückt. Sein Charakter bekommt mehr Tiefe. Einerseits dadurch, dass das Buch nicht mehr alleine von Noras Ich- Erzählweise bestritten wird. Julian und Nora wechseln sich beim Erzählen der Geschichte ab und aus Julians Perspektive ergeben sich einige interessante Einblicke. Andererseits erfährt man mehr über Julians Kindheit, was für Erfahrungen letztendlich seinen Charakter geformt haben. Das Buch ist wieder bis zur letzten Minute spannend, so dass man es nicht aus der Hand legen mag. Freue mich auf 2015, wenn der 3. Teil Hold Me veröffentlich wird...