Today, I have Zee Monodee talking about her first in the Corpus Brides series. Bear with the long post - this book is amazing. You don't want to miss any juicy info. And my review is at the bottom:
Title: Walking The Edge
Series: Corpus Brides, Book 1
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Blurb:
Walking the edge
The next step might be
the last...
A woman without a past
Left amnesiac after an accident, Amelia Jamison’s instincts
slowly rise from the depths of oblivion to question her life as the wife of a
cold, manipulating and distant man. Wisps of a dream show her another man she
may have known intimately, but is he a memory, or a figment of her imagination?
A man with too much
information
After many aliases, today Gerard Besson is simply a police commissaire in Marseille. When a
mysterious woman starts to follow him, he is suspicious. But things aren’t what
they seem, and as he reluctantly gets closer to her, dredges of his painful,
buried past spring to light and make him question her identity.
Each seems to have led
two different lives
But neither is prepared for what awaits them when they cross
the fine line between knowing your true self and that of your alter ego.
Danger is the name of the game, and as it catches up with
them in the French Provence, both know they better be ready for the inevitable
fall.
As he turned to
scan the other side of the road, something—or someone—lunged at him and knocked
him into the solid garage door. Reflex kicking in, he took a deep breath to
fortify himself against the stinging pain in his body. Honing his senses, he
lashed out on the side from which his opponent had assaulted him.
His fist
connected with a jaw and he heard a grunt. Male. So not the woman from the
bistro. Could she have sent someone after him? He had no time to ponder—a heavy
booted foot collided smack into his stomach and sent him to his knees. The gun
dropped from his hand. He could barely see the man kick the Sig away. Now’s the time to hit him.
But he wasn’t
fast enough. The thug smashed a hard blow to Gerard’s temple. Black dots danced
before his eyes.
It would take
more than this to knock him out, though. He looked up and staggered an
exhale—he’d be no match against the gun his assailant yanked from inside his
jacket. A weapon with a silencer screwed on. Definitely a man out for a kill.
Time stood
still while he tried to breathe and remain conscious.
And then
something happened so quickly he had trouble grasping it. The guy howled and
went down, his free hand clutching his neck as Gerard caught sight of a
cherry-red flash.
The thug lifted
and aimed his gun. Another red burst haloed the first.
Two shots rang,
and the man slumped.
Gerard moved
his gaze to where the flashes had appeared. His Sig lay in the hands of the one
who’d saved him.
Legs braced,
back straight, she held the gun in both hands, the left cupping the right.
Wisps of smoke gently drifted from the barrel.
He blinked when
he focused on her face.
It can’t be. The same woman who’d met
him at the bistro. Yet, at the same time, not
her. Her features looked different, harder, and, he realized with dread,
completely focused yet expressionless.
Something told
him to take another look. She hadn’t dropped the gun, and for an insane moment,
he wondered if she’d aim it his way and shoot. There had been no hesitation in
her two shots, and, as his eyes took in the way she held the Sig—one hand curled
around the grip and the other anchoring it—realization clattered in his brain.
She held it
like a professional, and merde if she
hadn’t shot like a professional, too.
Finally, she
lowered the weapon and stepped up to him.
From his
previous deduction, he hadn’t expected her to be trembling or bumbling her way
about, but still, the efficiency with which she sidestepped the body and
crouched at Gerard’s side sent warning bells off in his head.
“Who the hell
are you?” he asked, aware the thought had made it into words.
Buy Links
Releasing February 2, 2015
Before The Morning
(Corpus Brides Book 2: The Prequel)
In this stand-alone prequel to the explosive Corpus Brides romantic
suspense/espionage series, found out how everything started when one of the
agency’s deadliest became the target of a rogue faction.
Before the morning
...is the time of
greater darkness...
A trained killer with
borderline sociopathic tendencies
Rayne Cheltham traced out her life's path when she was
twelve: she would marry her best friend and bear his children, and in the
process, stifle the restless edge in her. When he vows never to marry, she
gives in to the darkness and becomes a clandestine agent—until the day he walks
into her world again, and her carefully fabricated façade crumbles.
A former cop burned by
life and his personal demons
When Ash Gilfoy meets a woman who reminds him of his
childhood best friend, he starts upon a path that leads him down into the abyss
once again. The day Rayne waltzes back into his life, he knows she is his
second chance, and the one who will save him.
Each thinks the other
is their redemption...until they discover how deep darkness goes inside both of
them
The secrets between them make them sit on a keg of gunpowder
with a lit fuse in their hands. Rayne’s whole life is built on a lie, and the
truth is threatening to explode in their faces. But that is not the only menace
they have to face. Someone is out to get Rayne, and she must disclose her
secret past before it is too late.
Can Rayne and Ash survive all that’s thrown in their path?
Can they hang on to the last thread of their relationship, and can they emerge,
still together and still alive, in the morning after the deepest darkness?
Releasing March 2, 2015
Let Mercy Come
(Corpus Brides Book 3: The Conclusion)
In this stunning conclusion to the Corpus Brides Trilogy, find out what happens when the dust settles
in the aftermath of the mutiny inside their ranks. Danger is still lurking,
though... as is death...
Let mercy come
...and wash away our
sins...
A woman on the run
Valeriya Morozova has managed to carve out a do-over for
herself away from the clutches of the Corpus
agency. The one formerly known as Anastasiya still lives on the edge, paranoid
anyone will bust her secret and turn her in. Agency leaders believe her to be
at the heart of the failed mutinous plot to overtake command, and the price of
that betrayal—never mind that she is innocent—will be her life, paid in blood.
A man who’s always
followed orders
In his decades inside the Corpus agency, case officer and former super-spy Graeme Whitman—aka
Scott—has always paid heed to rules and obeyed all his orders. When he is
chosen to bring the traitor Anastasiya back into the fold, Scott knows it will
be just one more job he will successfully complete. After all, doing the right
thing is atonement for your past mistakes, right?
Secrets running deep
Scott has secrets; who doesn’t? But he isn’t prepared for
the full cupboard of skeletons Anastasiya carries with her...starting with the
reason why she ran away from the agency. The more he digs, the less he is
certain of, until he comes to ask himself why everyone has falsely painted her
as a hard-hearted sociopath.
But is Anastasiya a victim, or a skilful manipulator? When
her past collides with her present, the future as both she and Scott conceived
it shatters. They’ve answered the call of duty all their lives—will they have
to make the ultimate sacrifice in the name of love?
Author, editor, smitten wife, in-over-her-head mum to a
tween boy, best-buddy stepmum to a teenage lad, bookaholic, lover of all things
fluffy & pink, chronic shoeholic, incompetent housewife desperate to
channel Nigella Lawson (and who’ll prolly always fail at making domestic
goddess status)...
Zee hails from the multicultural, rainbow-nation island of
Mauritius, in the southern Indian Ocean, where she grew up on the figurative
fence—one side had her ancestors’ Indian and Muslim culture; the other had
modernity and the global village. When one day she realised she could dip her
toes into both sides without losing her integrity, she found her identity.
This quest for ‘finding your place’ is what she attempts to
bring in all her stories, across all the genres she writes. Her heroines
represent today’s women trying to reconcile love, life, & relationships in
a melting pot of cultures, while her heroes are Alpha men who often get put
back into their rightful place by the headstrong women she writes. Love is
always a winner in her stories, though; that’s a given.
**Email her at this addy (she loves to talk...prolly too
much, even!) zeemonodee@gmail.com
Character Interview:
These questions could be for hero or heroine.
You choose.
They’ll be for the heroine, Amelia.
I’ll try to make it work since she has amnesia
– I love a challenge J
Where and how would you like to spend a night
of no responsibility, all expenses paid?
Hmmm... You don’t hold back the punches, lady! That’s a tough question.
I’m currently on the run from a maniac who was keeping me virtually prisoner,
and I’m chasing another man who eyes me with suspicion. Not exactly
restful...so let’s say a tropical island, in a villa with its own private beach
where you can see the sea for miles on end and the endless array of stars in
the clear night sky. A breather would be nice, in fact...
What memory keeps on intruding on your thoughts?
That second dream I had after taking the new regimen of drugs, the one
where I saw Gerard for the first time since I’ve been struck by amnesia. You
might say it was a dream, a figment of my imagination, but I know it’s a
memory; I know I lived that moment, because my heart remembers. I won’t let it
drop until I find out the truth behind that memory.
If you could change anything about your story in the book, what would
you change?
Lol, I wouldn’t give myself amnesia, that’s for sure! I have a feeling
life itself is hard, so not having any frame of reference makes it even worse
to deal with. But then Zee wouldn’t have had a story to tell if I hadn’t lost my
memory.
Name one significant thing that happened to you before the book.
The accident that gave me amnesia. Peter – the man who claims to be my
husband – says I survived a bomb blast aboard a yacht on the Cote d’Azur, that
I’d been there with my lover who had invited me on board his friend’s yacht,
said friend who was the target of the explosion. I don’t buy it, though... I
know something happened, but it’s not as Peter says.
What flavor do you favor? Vanilla, chocolate, or caramel?
Caramel. It goes with everything, lol.
Tea, coffee or soda?
I have a feeling it’s coffee. I seem to power on better with some
caffeine in my system.
What band or group of musicians would you like to listen in on their
studio recording?
Ack, toughie! I’m not really into the music scene right now, and I don’t
remember my past tastes, either. Let me think... There’s this French DJ, David
Guetta, getting into collaborations with many international artists. I kinda
like his upbeat music, so yeah, probably David Guetta, then.
Give your life motto at the start of the book.
To find the truth, at all costs!
Are you a sunrise or sunset person?
I’ve had to hit the ground running all the time, so I’m not really sure.
I don’t think I really like mornings, though.
Where were you born? Where would you have rather been born?
Now, I have absolutely no clue! That’s what amnesia does to you. Peter
says I was born in Pretoria, in South Africa. There might be some truth to that
because my accent sure doesn’t sound British, like his.
If you could time-travel, what time period would you like to visit and
why?
Any time Versailles held court! I love court intrigue and would’ve
relished living at the castle with a king in residence.
If you could and were inclined to get a tattoo, what would it be of?
A psychedelic sunburst – I’d get it on the nape of my neck. I’m not sure
why I never got a tattoo, by the way. I rather like that idea.
If you could have three wishes to last for a day, what would they be?
That my memory would come back.
That Gerard would acknowledge me for who I’ve been in his past.
To finally find peace of mind...
If you had to go out to space to live on a planet and could take one
item with you, what would it be?
Nothing, really. Got a feeling I don’t get attached to things. I can
make do with whatever lands in my lap.
If you could ask your author any question, what would it be?
Why me? Why did you choose to give me a story?
What would be the most romantic / sexy thing a partner could do for you?
To accept me for all I am...to know me better than I know myself...
Thank you, Amelia, for stopping by. Great learning more about you.
My Review:
Walking the Edge had me "walking the edge" or holding onto the edge of my seat right from the start. I was taken right into the action and the suspense and I immediately vied for the heroine to find her way. Amelia wakes up from an accident with a husband who gives her the creeps. The hardest part is she has amnesia and remembers very little from her past life. We can tell from her descriptions of her "husband" that he doesn't have her best interests at heart. When he becomes violent, she escapes to France and tries to find a man who haunts her dreams who turns out to be a police commissioner. But there's so much at stake and she can't remember enough. And Gerard doesn't trust her yet he's drawn to her. To top it, their lives are in serious danger.
The sex scenes were awesome, tender yet smoking hot. This was a great read - it will keep you invested the whole way through and there are many mysteries to unfold. There's plenty of action and you'll be desperate for answers right to the end.
I give five stars.
