We are thrilled to bring you the Review/Excerpt Tour for TEASED by Rebecca Zanetti! TEASED is a novella in the world of her Dark Protectors Series, brought to you by 1001 Dark Nights. Released on December 8, 2015, be sure to grab a copy of this sexy novella today!

eBook ** Paperback

EXCERPT:

What in the world was she doing? She’d just agreed to have sex with a vampire. In fact, forget the guy was a vampire. She’d just agreed to get naked and horizontal with the sexiest and probably the most dangerous man she’d ever met.

They did it horizontally, right?

“Why?” he asked, tossing the belt over his shoulder and moving toward her.

The scent of man and the warmth of male washed over her. “I want to.” Sometimes life was as simple as that. Plus, her curiosity had gotten her far in life, and she just couldn’t turn it off. “Do we really have to have an in-depth conversation about this?” Geez. Kiss her already.

“No. Just making sure this is what you want.” He lifted her against his torso, turning to stride toward the bathroom.

“You’re strong,” she said breathlessly, grabbing his very bare chest for balance.

He grinned. “You’re a lightweight, sweetheart.”

She scoffed. “Not even close.” Did she really want to get naked with such male perfection? Nobody had ever called her petite. Or small. Or fit. “Wait. I’m not—”

Then his mouth was on hers.

Hot and deep, he commandeered her lips, sending her senses spiraling. She moaned low in her throat and kissed him back, or rather followed his lead.

Still kissing her, he somehow reached into the shower and flipped on the water. Slowly, keeping her pressed against his muscled body, he allowed her to slide down him until her feet settled on the smooth tile.

She broke the kiss, her mind turning to mush, her breath panting out. A sense way too sharp to be desire sliced through her, making her want him with a craving that should give her pause. But it was too late to pause.

The look in his eyes was pure lust…and it was for her. He wanted her…all of her.

Drawing courage from that look, she reached for the hem of her dress and yanked it over her head.

The sound he made, low and guttural, vibrated through her body to land between her legs. “Beautiful,” he murmured…

Rebecca Zanetti’s TEASED – Review & Excerpt Tour Schedule:

December 9^th

Oh My Shelves – Review & Excerpt

Vampire Book Club – Excerpt

A Fortress of Books – Review & Excerpt

December 10^th

Write for Your Life! – Review & Excerpt

SnoopyDoo's Book Reviews – Excerpt

Hannah's Words – Review & Excerpt

December 11^th

A Sky Full of Stars – Excerpt

Angel's Guilty Pleasures – Excerpt

December 12^th

KT Book Reviews – Excerpt

Vagabonda Reads – Review & Excerpt

December 13^th

Mikky's World Of Books – Excerpt

Alpha book club – Review & Excerpt

Jen’s Reading Obsession – Excerpt

December 14^th

The Reading Cafe – Review & Excerpt

Evermore Books – Excerpt

December 15^th

Books That Hook – Review & Excerpt

Renee Entress's Blog – Excerpt

December 16^th

The Sassy Bookster – Review & Excerpt

She Hearts Books – Excerpt

Romanticamente Fantasy Sito – Review & Excerpt

December 17^th

Inner Goddess – Review & Excerpt

Kitty's Book Spot! – Excerpt

Alphas Do It Better Book Blog – Review & Excerpt

Jax's Book Magic – Excerpt

December 18^th

Bookaholics Not-So-Anonymous – Review & Excerpt

Read-Love-Blog – Excerpt

Once Upon An Alpha – Review & Excerpt

Dark Faerie Tales – Review & Excerpt

About TEASED:

The Hunter For almost a century, the Realm’s most deadly assassin, Chalton Reese, has left war and death in the past, turning instead to strategy, reason, and technology. His fingers, still stained with blood, now protect with a keyboard instead of a weapon. Until the vampire king sends him on one more mission; to hunt down a human female with the knowledge to destroy the Realm. A woman with eyes like emeralds, a brain to match his own, and a passion that might destroy them both—if the enemy on their heels doesn’t do so first.

The Hunted Olivia Roberts has foregone relationships with wimpy metro-sexuals in favor of pursuing a good story, bound and determined to uncover the truth, any truth. When her instincts start humming about missing proprietary information, she has no idea her search for a story will lead her to a ripped, sexy, and dangerous male beyond any human man. Setting aside the unbelievable fact that he’s a vampire and she’s his prey, she discovers that trusting him is the only chance they have to survive the danger stalking them both.  

    About Rebecca Zanetti: New York Times Bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti is the author of over twenty-five dark paranormals, romantic suspense, and contemporary romances, and her books have appeared multiple times on the USA Today, NY Times, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iBooksbestseller lists. She lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her own Alpha hero, two kids, a couple of dogs, a crazy cat…and a huge extended family. She believes strongly in luck, karma, and working her butt off…and she thinks one of the best things about being an author, unlike the lawyer she used to be, is that she can let the crazy out. Her current series are: The Scorpius Syndrome, The Dark Protectors, The Realm Enforcers, The Maverick Montana Cowboys, and the Sin Brothers series.  

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Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others.

Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high court of Brittany—where she finds herself woefully under prepared—not only for the deadly games of intrigue and treason, but for the impossible choices she must make. For how can she deliver Death’s vengeance upon a target who, against her will, has stolen her heart?

My Summary:

The book is set in the late 1400s and at the ending of the Middle Ages. Ismae is fourteen when the book begins--a fact not communicated until the end of this period--and is sold from a cruel father to a cruel man. When her new husband sees her ugly scars as she's undressed before him, he locks her in a cellar. Ismae received these scars when her mother and 'father' attempted to purge her from the womb. Since she is the sire of Saint Mortain, this does not kill her. 

From the cellar, she is rescued. She's shipped across Brittany in boats and wagons until she arrives at St. Mortain's convent. Here, she is given the skills needed to seduce and kill a man. Since she is immune to poisons, she specializes in them for the three years she is at the convent.

Then, she is given her assignments. She is told who to kill and how by the Saint of Death himself. It turns out, killing the men she does doesn't help the duchess of Brittany. Gavriel Duval let's the abbess of the convent know this, and Ismae is assigned to pretend like Duval's mistress so that she can get close to the court and kill the traitors lurking there.

My Thoughts:

This book is beautifully written. There aren't a lot of metaphors and it is less than aesthetically pleasing, but it is what I imagine to be accurate. The wording of Ismae's thoughts and observations are very similar to how they talked in that time period. (Again, I assume. I was not around.) 

Ismae is an admirable and strong young woman. She's been through many horrible things and yet she pushes through it all. I have a soft spot for strong female leads, and Ismae fits right into place.

Since I've chosen to keep this review spoiler-free, I'm just going to skip right to my rating explanation.

This book gets an automatic four stars because of its thick and twisting plot. This book is full of suspension and surprise. I'm amazed at how often I was blindsided by the characters. Speaking of characters, they are wonderful. There is a diverseness among their personalities and each has motivations separate from the main character. That is surprisingly rare among YA fiction. 

In the end, the reason I gave Grave Mercy five stars is because of how much it appealed to me. The idea of a seventeen year old assassin among royalty is intriguing and the amount of detail and thought given to that aspect of the book is just astonishing. 

I'd recommend this book to any fan of YA fiction who wants to be shocked by the wide range of that genre. Also, any kind of historical fiction fan may want to check this book out. Even romance fans will be interested, I think. It's a slow burn kind of romance, but it is totally worth it in the end!

Now, this is the first book in a series. I'm not referencing the other books because they are told from different POVs than Ismae. They're different characters and in truth, I have no desire to read them. I believe I will soon, but they aren't my first priority.

Thanks for reading, 

emilykatherine

3.5 read, still deciding if it will get the 4th star.

I didn't trust anyone, glad I was wrong in the end. I enjoyed this dark medieval love story. I will read the next book in this series.

*Book source ~ Purchased from Audible

Yelena has been in the dungeon a very long time waiting to be hung for committing murder. It doesn’t matter that she was defending herself, the Commander of Ixia’s law is clear: there is no excuse for killing. However, when her time comes she is instead taken to Valek who is head of the Spy Network and the Security Forces. There is a rule: the first person due to be executed after Commander Ambrose’s Food Taster has died is given the option of becoming the new taster instead of hanging. Yelena is surprised to be given the option, but she takes it and begins studying with Valek all about poisons. Yelena’s only trouble now should be avoiding being poisoned. However, there is more going on than she is aware of and she ends up in the middle of it all.

Guest reviewers today:

My 16-yr-old daughter A

My 14-yr-old son T

My 13-yr-old son K

Plot:

This story was a hit with all three of them. A said she liked it a lot then changed her answer to stupendous when T & K said it was awesome. There followed a discussion on whether awesome was better than stupendous. They liked the plot and the fact there was magic, but T kept expressing his disappointment in the fact the story was dragonless. The world is pretty cool, magic is pretty cool and they didn’t like what happened to Yelena or her foster siblings at the hands of Reyad who they said was an asshat (my word) and deserved to be killed. They really liked the fighting and training scenes.

Characters:

A like Yelena more than the boys did though they didn’t have any objection to her in a general sense. Everyone thought Valek was the most awesome character and Ari & Janco followed close behind as favorites. A liked Rand, but was disappointed in him and no one liked Marge though I don’t think she was meant to be liked. They thought the Commander was tough but fair except when it came to executing people for having killed in self-defense. They thought that was grossly unfair.

Other points:

A thought criollo sounds like it would be pretty tasty and would love to figure out a way to try some. T said he thought the book would make an awesome movie even though they’d probably just screw it up. Um, I wonder where he gets that from? *whistles innocently* K likes all the fighting that happened and wants to learn how to do it.

Narration:

Everyone liked the narration.

All-in-all they were very happy with the story and look forward to moving on to the next in the trilogy.

Two things made this book fun:

1. 1. The main character Gin is refreshingly amoral - no endless recriminations about "does being an assassin make me a bad person?" - no "only I can save the world" delusions - just a survivor doing the best she can and mostly putting herself first.

1. 2. The spirited reading by Lauren Fortgang that brings Gin to life. She did a great job of helping me get more out of the prose.

The book is firmly in the urban fantasy with a kick-ass heroine territory but it has a few ideas that make it stand out and it's clearly built to be a series with a well thought out world.

I did find it odd that the most feared assassin the business manages to get through this novel without actually assassinating anyone.

The male love interest is not as interesting as he needs to be. Perhaps Gin will do better in the next book or he will do something that demonstrates why she finds him so attractive.

A good piece of genre fun that may build into a memorable series.

I've already downloaded the next book.