From New York Times Bestselling author Elisabeth Naughton, comes ENSNARED, a new novella in her Eternal Guardians Series, brought to you by 1,001 Dark Nights! Be sure to grab your copy today!
Author: Elisabeth NaughtonSeries: Eternal Guardians
Audience: +18
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Evil Eye Concepts, Incorporated
Release Date: February 12th 2019
My Rating: 4 Cups
Source: InkSlinger PR
Blurb (from Goodreads):
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Elisabeth Naughton comes a new story in her Eternal Guardians series…*Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from InkSlinger PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my rating or the content of my review in any way.
RYDER–Mysterious, powerful, every woman’s fantasy come true.
For thousands of years, Ryder has reveled in his role as an immortal messenger—a dream weaver sent to seduce and manipulate. Until he’s ordered to deceive a fantasy of his own.
Zakara, the daughter of one of the mightiest Eternal Guardians, is his perfect woman. But she’s impervious to Ryder’s advances. Each attempt to sway her to his will pushes him deeper into a dreamscape she seems to be controlling. To survive, Ryder will need to find a way to master his sexy new prey. Because if he can’t, he risks forever condemning himself and the woman he’s grown to love to a never-ending nightmare drawn straight from the twisted depths of hell.
**Disclaimer: This book contains mature content. As a result, my review may contain references to content intended for mature audiences only.
The more stories I read in this world, the more I fall in love with it. This time Naughton explores the world of dreams, and I loved it.
Ensnared tells the story of Zakara and Ryder, and their journey towards love and freedom.
Ryder is supposed to enter Zakara's dreams, gain her trust, and find out what her special powers are, and report his findings to Zeus. I love the story of who Ryder is, how he became the god of dreams, and why he's doing Zeus's bidding. Initially I thought he was a bad guy, but then as I kept reading I realized he's just doing what he can in order to survive. I love that about him.
Zakara was a great heroine, perfect for Ryder. She's going through a sort of personal crisis at the beginning of the story, not knowing what to do in her life, what she likes, what she can do in terms of powers. She has yet to discover what she can do, and that really makes it impossible for her to feel like she belongs in Argolea. I liked her, and I kind of understood her on a deeper level. I identified with her, is what I'm trying to say. I liked how brave she was, and how, ultimately, she was just as powerful as Ryder, if not more so.
I loved the ending. Zakara and Ryder are doing something that I hope will be explored in future stories, something I truly, truly admired. I can't say more because I'd be giving too much away, but I desperately want to read more about that.
I loved the exploration of dreams in this book. I liked how they weren't seen as an extension of the real world, but they were seen as something more powerful than that, something that could not only provide an escape from the real world, but also a very dangerous place. I also loved how both Ryder and Zakara mentioned that even in the dream world words have power. I liked that a lot.
I really enjoyed this story, even though I wished it was a little bit longer. I would have wanted more time to spend with Ryder and find out more about his kind. I also hope there's more stories in this world coming out. Until then, I really need to read the series from the beginning.
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon CAN | Amazon AU
EXCERPT:
She’d never been to this beach. She didn’t know if it was somewhere in Argolea—the blessed realm created by Zeus for the ancient heroes’ ancestors—or if she was somewhere in the human realm. All she knew was that she liked it. She liked how peaceful it was. Liked how breathtaking the scenery was. Liked that here—wherever she’d taken herself this time—no one was telling her what to do or pressuring her to be something she wasn’t.
“I’d say you look lost, but something tells me you are exactly where you want to be,” a deep male voice said at her back.
Kara whipped around, her long blonde hair blocking her vision before she brushed it aside, and stared at the man reclined on a padded chaise lounge on the beach. A man and chaise that hadn’t been there only moments before. A man who was vaguely familiar though she couldn’t figure out why.
“I...who are you?” she asked.
“Who do you want me to be?”
His question made her blink. Who did she want him to be? She had no idea. All she knew was that an odd heat was building inside her. One she’d never experienced before.
When he only continued to stare at her, she narrowed her eyes, running her gaze from his thick dark hair down his very muscular body. With his hands clasped behind his neck, his expression expectant, he looked relaxed and just the slightest bit amused. But there was a mysterious glint to his blue-green eyes that belied his stress-free exterior. And though he was gorgeous—tall, dark, and handsome in every way with that chiseled jaw, lush lips, and mesmerizing eyes—something in the back of her mind warned her to be careful.
“Where did you come from?” she asked hesitantly. “We both know you weren’t here two seconds ago.”
One side of those perfect lips curled. “I’m sure if you concentrate, you’ll know exactly where I came from, Zakara.”
She didn’t like his riddles. And she didn’t like that he knew her name when she was still struggling to figure out who he was and why he was so familiar. But the longer he stared at her, the warmer she grew. And as his words circled in her head, it suddenly hit her like a baseball bat right to the forehead.
“You’re that guy...” Her eyes grew wide with disbelief. “From my dreams.”
He chuckled—a low, deep, captivating sound that was too perfect to be real. “That I am.”
Elisabeth Naughton is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author. From Elisabeth: “I was never one of those people who knew they wanted to be an author at the age of six. I didn’t have imaginary friends. I didn’t write stories in my journal or entertain my relatives by firelight after Thanksgiving dinner. For the most part, I was just a normal, everyday kid. I liked to read, but I wasn’t exceptional at it. And when my teachers complimented me on my writing abilities, I brushed them off. I did, however, always have a penchant for the unique and absurd. And as my mother told me all throughout my childhood, I should have been an actress—I was a drama queen before my time.
“Years ago, my husband bought me Scarlett: The Sequel to Gone With The Wind. If you ever saw the book, you know it’s a long one. I sat and read that thing from cover to cover, and dreamed of one day being a writer. But I didn’t actually try my hand at writing until years later when I quit my teaching job to stay home with my kids. And my husband? After that week of reading where I neglected him and everything else until I finished Scarlett, he vowed never to buy me another book again. Little did he know I’d one day end up sitting at a keyboard all day drafting my own stories.
“My writing journey has not been easy. I didn’t just sit down one day, decide I was going to write a book and voila! sell my very first attempt. As most authors will probably agree, the path to publication is filled with hours of work, pulling all-nighters I thought I’d given up in college, sacrifices, rejections, but a love I discovered along the way I just can’t live without. Instead of a big, thick book to read by lamplight (I do read much smaller ones when I get the chance), I’ve traded in my reading obsession for a laptop. And I’ve never been happier.
“I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a wonderful family and fabulous husband who put up with my writing—and obsessive personality—even when life is chaotic. More than once my kids have been late to swimming or baseball because I needed just five more minutes to finish a scene. Their support and encouragement mean the world to me. I also have amazing friends and a support network I couldn’t survive without. So to all of you out there who have encouraged me along the way, sent me emails and fan letters, phone calls and congratulations, I just want to say, thank you. You make this whole writing gig that much more enjoyable. I truly wouldn’t be here without you.”
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Author Goodreads
