Keep Me (Twist Me Book 2)

“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.

'Twist me' is good one, and this is a good continuing even better and deeper story in some perspective. now we can here Julian thought is one thing to start with, also i like developing of their relationship as married couple. i found it interesting and amusement. sometime i just giggle through the story with no reason specially where the part of he 'Blackmail' her to marry him, it's just so so Julian he is. Nora is an honest and smart girl, she know she love him even in the twisted way he create. and Julian is not the one you can runaway from , he have too much power in deep level, no one can save her from him, it's like no way to escape this guy accept you kill him to end all of this, and she can't do it either because she love him,so there's no choice left but be by his side as his wife that he want her. i love developing of two characters through the story, at first part we see Nora reluctance with the idea of being his wife, not sure about the way he feel, she know he desire her but how he see her now? still his captive his plaything or not, is 'love' possible for him? on the other hand Julian is trying to handle so much concern and care for her that he not used to, well, he deal it in his own twisted way as normal. it's fun to get in his head to see him frustrated about her well being and her love for him. and there come last part, where the word 'love' is just a word, he don't have to say it and i know for sure Nora is everything to him now, he can't call it 'love' but i can feel how real and raw he fell, it's definitely a deep and obsess twisted love for me. and Nora, you're really magnificent in the end of this book, in the wicked and twisted thing going on ruin your innocent ,anyway through that darkness, you became strong beautiful woman who can capable of love , i'm so proud of you. in this state ,I'm so so wait for the third book.

Let me first start by saying that I have been struggling to write this review. The content of this book (as well as the whole series - 3 books in total) goes against everything I believe in and when I first picked it up, not only was it my first dark story but after I had read a few chapters I basically could not continue reading it and so I just decided to stop and put it away. A few months later I decided to give it another try and I started reading it once again. Maybe it was the fact that I was more prepared this time or that I had an idea of what was coming and what the book was about, but once I gave it chance, I literately could NOT put it down...Anna Zaires, the author of this series did a spectacular job of writing this book. She has a gift of drawing you in and making you feel like part of the story and considering that I started from not being able to read this book (due to its dark content) to basically devouring the whole series, to wanting more, I would say that is quite an accomplishment. Also, I would like to point out that if you are into Dark Stories, this is one of the BEST series I have read so far (and trust me when I say that after reading this series I tried to look for more dark stories and could not find anything in the same level as this one!) - Warning: This series is not for the faint of heart, it contains brutal scenes, kidnapping, rape, dominance...and still it is a beautifully written book worth reading if you can stomach such a thing...and through it all as "twisted" as it sounds like the first book's name "Twist Me" it is still a romance book (I use the term lightly), that follows a couple and their "love story" with a great HEA ending.

I love this series. Julian Esguerra is not a nice man he kidnapped Nora because he wanted her. I stayed up all night reading this book I just couldn't put it down and this is one book that I am looking forward to listening to it on audio. Held captive for 15 months Nora Leston an 18 girl from the Midwest fell in love with her kidnapper. After being kidnapped by a terrorist group along with Beth who was killed Nora believes that Julian was killed in an explosion. For four months Nora is lost without him and she didn't know how to start her life over until Julian returns. This book picks up where the last one "Twist Me" left off Julian shows up in the middle of the night to take his Nora. This book to me is better than the first one and I really loved the first one. In this book we get to here both of their POV and I loved that. This book we also get to hear and understand why Julian is the way he is how he grew up with a horrible father and a mother who was too afraid to stand up for him. In this book you get to see how Nora has grew into a strong person although she is still unsure if Julian loves her, which he does he just has never felt or received love before she knows that he wants and needs her and that he is never letting her go and you also see that she loves Julian for who he is a sadistic monster that bring out the masochistic in her and she loves it. This book had a few twist in it that I want give away but I loved the first one and I loved how he did it. This book had some very hot sex scenes in it I mean the book had me "throbbing". I loved that Nora was able to tell Julian what she needed and that she was able to stand up to him although it didn't do her any good I love a man that takes what he wants and doesn't apologize or feel any guilt for doing it. This book was very well written and I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series so Ms. Zaire please make it early 2015. If you love to read dark erotic non-con I highly recommend this series I will even loan it to you. I have read a few series where the second book is not as good as the first one this one is NOT one of those. "Nora you are mine and I am never letting you go"

**spoiler alert** I'm still wondering what the heck is wrong me. I am really enjoying these books... as twisted as they are, I am still enjoying them. Nora is taken for over a year in the first book. She is held captive by an arms dealer on a remote island with no way to get off the island. And she grows to love her captor. And the scary thing is, I grow to love her character as well. At the end of the first book, you are left with the assumption that Julian died in the explosion near the end of the book. As the second book begins you are with Nora who is back at home trying to live her life without Julian. You can feel her sadness and heartbreak as she misses the man she is love with. Then, Julian shows back up and takes her away again. This time to the family compound in Columbia. I love that Nora has a bit more fight in her. She is stronger physically as well as mentally. I enjoyed getting to know her a bit more. She is twisted, as I must be for enjoying these books so much! Julian is still very forceful and she loses when she tries to fight him on things, but at least she fights. I love to see that. And Julian is still the same sadist, overbearing yet loving at times guy that I hate to love, but can't seem to help myself. He forces her into marriage, forces implants/trackers to be implanted. He frustrates and angers me, but I still adore him. Yep, she is sick and so am I; I'm convinced of it. This book took a bit of a turn and was more about settling into her new life and taking on the terrorists that took her in the first book. You watch Nora grow stronger and she is brave. It was enjoyable to watch her do whatever she has to do to save Julian. There bond is something strong no doubt. So, all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this book although it disturbs me how much. Definitely a great series.

WARNING: MILDLY SPOILY, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK I know 5 stars on Amazon is supposed to mean "I love it" but that's not why I'm giving this book 5 stars. This is not a book that you are meant to like or to dislike, it just is what it is- kind of like Julian. I might be looking at this whole thing way to deeply or the author may be really clever but here is what i found: This book puts you in the same exact head space as Nora. The whole time you read it, you look for something redeeming about it. You keep looking for Julian to love Nora, to have some higher moral calling, hell even just to be a decent human being but alas NONE of that happens. The only sympathetic view of Julian we get is from his long time house maid. Not even the parts of the book told from Julian's own POV make him sympathetic. Julian is pretty much a text book sociopath with strong sadistic tendencies. Any opportunity Julian has to prove that he has a clue about love serve only to provide evidence that he has no clue about love. We don't learn this slowly over the course of the book, no, from the first scenes, Julian is being...well, himself. We as the reader, much like Nora, keep forgetting that he is nucking futs because the author draws us into this intriguing story that we keep thinking is a love story. That's how we, the readers, end up being just like Nora. Because as intriguing and compelling as this book is, there is nothing redeeming about the love story. It's not romance, it's fodder for psychoanalysis. It dark and twisty and crazy as hell and a part of me loved it and ate up every single page even as another part of me shook my head in disapproval. So you see, even though Nora is legit out of her mind throughout this book, I get where she's coming from because the way she felt about Julian is the way I felt about this book- I shouldn't love it but I do.

This is the second book in the series, following 'Twist Me'. You should read book 1 if you haven't already, so you have the background. There will also be another book coming out. So if you can't stand to wait, you may want to hold off until the series is complete. This is a series with dark elements, including rape, physical violence and psychological/physical abuse. So, be forewarned. If you love dark, dangerous, taboo reads like I do, this book will probably be right up your alley. Julian has come back to reclaim Nora, and not a moment too soon! Brace yourselves, ladies! All of that love to hate him, bad-boy appeal is strong as ever. He is one of a very small group of leading males that can turn a wedding into an act of dominance vs. the ultimate show of male submission and domestication. After months away from Julian, Nora has almost forgotten the darker side of Julian's nature and he is all too eager to reassert his authority over her. She's quickly reminded of why this man both frightens and arouses her like no other. Only, this time around, she's with him by choice and there's no escape. They each struggle with their feelings for one another, but have admitted to themselves that they are unwilling to ever be apart. Their need is primal and animalistic, resulting in earth shattering sex that'll make you blush. Julian is definitely a bad, bad, boy! I wouldn't want him any other way. Like it's predecessor, this book contains plenty of action and danger. On a mission to avenge Beth, Julian finds himself in a perilous situation. Nora risks it all to try and save him, facing her worst nightmares. If you enjoyed 'Twist Me', then you must read 'Keep Me'! This book was fanfreakingtastic and I cannot wait for book 3!

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...