Guest Post & Giveaway: Tori St Claire

Tori St Claire is joining us today in honor of her sexy new release, Lie to Me. Check out the blurb and hold on to your hats for a steamy sneak peek!!

A man of action…

After helping to break up a Russian human trafficking ring as part of the CIA’s elite Black Opal team, Alexei Nikanova’s newest assignment is to rescue one of the stolen women and return her to her father. When he arrives in Dubai, he discovers his target is Sasha Zablosky—a woman he knows all too well, and who has haunted him ever since their unforgettable time together in Moscow, two and a half years earlier. But he finds Sasha reluctant to leave her sheikh, the only true friend she’s ever known. Only Alexei can’t give her a choice.

A woman of deception…

With their yearning roused by intrigue, Alexei and Sasha can no longer resist temptation, and spend night after night in forbidden pleasure. Soon Alexei finds himself falling for her, even as he battles a shadowy menace to protect her. But Sasha is no innocent. She has a past darker than she could ever admit, one that Alexei could never forgive. And it is about to explode into her life once more. As the lies they tell themselves—and each other—pull them deeper into a perilous desire, what began as simple passion becomes a love certain to destroy them and end the lives of countless innocents.

Here is an excerpt:

He swallowed down the sound, and his kiss took on more languor, aggressive demands ebbing into a gentle play until his mouth left hers altogether and he lifted his head. His lustful gaze scorched into her. The hard fall of his breath stirred the fine blonde hairs on her forehead. He pressed his cheek to hers, grazed her sensitive skin with the coarse stubble along his jaw.

The pleasant friction sent another bout of delightful shivers surging through Sasha’s body. She dropped one hand to his waist, plucked his shirt free, and slipped her fingers beneath to explore his warm flesh.

“Ah, Sasha,” he murmured against her temple. “Tell me you don’t hate me.”

Her hand stilled at the base of his spine. Hate him. How could she explain that feeling had never once struck? If she confessed to the truth, she’d look weak, sound like a fool. She should hate him. And yet . . . she didn’t. After everything, even after all he’d done to destroy her life, she could not hate Alexei. Turning her head, she met his gaze. “Alexei, I—”

He closed his eyes, but not before he could shutter away a flash of anguish in those green depths. “Lie to me, princess. I need to believe.”

It was a plea he hadn’t needed to utter. She lifted up into him and caught his lips with hers. “I don’t hate you,” she whispered against his mouth.

A low snarl rumbled in the back of his throat a second before his mouth crashed into hers and claimed her savagely. His hands speared into her hair, holding her head in place, imprisoning her to the fierceness of his desperate kiss. She met the stroke of his tongue eagerly, tugged on the hem of his shirt, pushing it up, exposing his abdomen, equally desperate to feel the warmth of his skin against hers.

When that moment of blissful contact came, Sasha let out a plaintive mewl. Blessed torture. Perfect.

Nowhere near enough. She hooked an ankle around his calf and levered her hips into his, stroking herself against his hardened cock.

Alexei tore his mouth away with effort. “Easy, princess,” he rasped. Bracing his hands on both sides of her shoulders, he lifted his upper body away from hers. The faintest hint of a smile touched the corners of his mouth. “Don’t ruin me for the race. I’m already halfway to the finish.” The faint smile disappeared as he lowered his head and grazed his teeth along the delicate shell of her ear. “I want to be inside you when I come,” he whispered. The tip of his tongue flicked against her earlobe. “I want you to come around me. I need that. Can you give it to me, princess?”

By Tori St Claire
 

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Thank you so much for hosting me today. I’ve been looking forward to dropping in for several weeks now.

I hope you had a safe and happy holiday. The biggest hit here, as it is every year, are smoke bombs. Something about those pretty colors just makes my little demidemons uber-crazy. To the point that I now double-up on what I would plan to buy, so I don’t have to do what I did a few years ago – drive around and scout every tent for smoke bombs, only to discover the entire city was out. Ugh.

I’ve seen a lot of 4ths. To the point that sometimes I’m a little “blah” about the actual celebration thereof. I have some great memories, some wonderful things to reflect on as my children age, and some sweet moments of my own. But there’s one romantic 4th that sticks in my mind the most when I think about this holiday. And surprisingly, it’s the one that had the littlest long-term effect on life.

So I was around… 10, give or take. Each year the city I grew up in held a local festival complete with fireworks. We went every year, hung out for the day, and around dusk Dad would trek to the car for the lawn chairs and blanket, Mom would fish the bug spray out of her purse and douse me (liberally) with it. Then we’d find a spot on the grass, close to someone they knew, and they would chat while I wandered around, close but just far enough away to make me comfortable.

This particular summer, I ran into one of the boys I went to school with, a good friend who I had a huge crush on. And, despite lacking any proof to lend credence to my beliefs, was quite convinced he had a crush on me and just hadn’t said anything. (A delusion I entertained myself with until junior high.) Anywho, I ran into this particular boy that evening. He ended up sitting on my blanket, watching the fireworks with me and my folks, so close that our hands were almost touching. And I was thrilled beyond all rational explanation. To

You see… he chose to sit with me! (Never mind there probably weren’t other folks around). And he was the cutest boy in school! And he liked me but just hadn’t said anything. And he liked me so much more than his brother did too! (Again, by my own creation, but I didn’t hesitate to inform his brother of such in line to the fountain once.)

Anyway… it was an innocent evening, a page straight out of childish fantasy, but something that I’ve never forgotten. He probably had no clue what that night meant to me. But what if that night had held meaning he didn’t (or couldn’t) share?

Alexei and Sasha, in my just-released-yesterday book, Lie To Me, experience a similar situation—although theirs is by no means so benign. Two years ago, they fell into each other, only to have life and demands larger than themselves, force them apart. Neither could speak the truth in their hearts. Even if they could, nothing would have changed the course of events.

When they run into each other all over again, when Alexei is once more forced to up-end Sasha’s life, their emotions are bared open, and all the confessions of their hearts bubble to the surface. But deeper, darker, more damning, secrets plague them. And sometimes, lies are far easier to stomach than the truth. Especially when confronting the truth means finding true acceptance.

I hope you’ll check it out! Meanwhile, I’d love to hear your favorite 4th of July memory!


Tori will be giving away a $25.00 Amazon Gift Card to one random commenter during the month of July.  Two additional commenters will receive a basket of swag.  Follow the tour – the more times you comment the better your chances of winning!  Complete tour dates can be found here.

Review: Lie to Me

Reviewed by Allison
 

In Tori St. Claire's latest romantic suspense adventure, we find Alexei Nikanova hooking up with the girl of his dreams, Irina...only to drug her & toss her in a van headed to Dubai so she can be sold into slavery via a human trafficking ring Alexei is a part of. When Irina (real name: Sasha Zablosky) wakes up from being knocked out & she finds out what Alexei is involved in...all she asks is that he doesn't dose her with the heroin he's got in his hand because she doesn't want to become addicted.

WTF.

Even though she was already looking for a way out of Russia, who is okay with being forcibly sent to a sheikh known for taking sick liberties with his women? No one.

BUT, I stuck it out.

We catch up with Sasha two years later as she tells us of her trusted position with another sheikh who has been nothing but wonderful, never made a pass at her, & how she dreams of Alexei & wishes she could tell him that she's glad he stole her away from Russia, from her father who wants to kill her. Little does she know, she'll soon have that chance since Alexei has been hired by MI-6 & a Black Ops team from the CIA called the Black Opals to reunite her with her father, a Russian Nobel Laureate with whom she has some bad history. Alexei has arranged a "meeting" with the sheikh...but really his intention is to break Sasha out, only he doesn't know Sasha is Irina. The "meeting" translates into a threesome between the respectable sheikh, Alexei, & Sasha (blindfolded per Alexei's request). Both Alexei & Sasha spend the entire time wishing it were the other & when Sasha's blindfold slips in the heat of the moment & their fantasy becomes reality, Sasha loses control & utters his name - much to her sheikh's surprise. Alexei knows that the only way out now is to kill him & grab Sasha. So he does. Sasha feels torn because she truly cared about the man who kept her prisoner, as he was her only friend, but her desire to be with Alexei is stronger. So, they book it out of the palace to meet Alexei's partner who awaits them in the getaway car & so begins the race to find out who they can trust, how they get back to England, & how best to keep their secrets safe while discovering each other & their passionate connection.

I think what it really comes down to with this book is while I really enjoyed the plot, the twists & turns, & the action, I wasn't sold simply because I didn't like Alexei & Sasha. Not only did they complain about how the other was totally perfect for them but that they would never deserve the other because of their deep, dark secrets (that took entirely too long to reveal not only to the reader but to each other) but I don't feel that they learned anything through their trials & tribulations. I need solid characters to convince me of what they're feeling, to tell me the story, to steal my attention - but they didn't.

I did appreciate that although the first book is Stripped & the main characters do reappear every now & again, I never felt lost or like I was missing history. And I do fully intend to read Misha's story because he was my favorite, very sexy & mysterious but still managed chivalry.

Rating: C+ because the sex was smokin', the action was great, but I couldn't connect with Alexei & Sasha.


*ARC provided by author for review

Click to purchase: Amazon

Lie to Me

by Tori St. Claire (Claire Ashgrove)

Release Date: July 3, 2012

Publisher: Berkley