As part of the LOVE BOOKS blog tour of Monogamy Lover, by Victoria Sobolev, I'm really excited to bring you the below excerpt. I think this book sounds great and the cover is amazing.
The Blurb
Nothing is as it seems at first sight. Feelings are laid bare. There is no black and white. There is no right. And the wrong feels too good to be trusted.
People think that Alex was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, not only rich, but blessed by luck. Men respect him, women dream of him, and Alex alone knows the strength it takes to conceal his tortured soul and devastating secrets.
But despite those powerful life lessons, he has always believed in his father’s words, ‘When you fall in love, you love forever - it’s in our family blood. Look for HER and you’ll find your happiness beyond thought…’
Valeria has never experienced actual romance (an early pregnancy, a hasty marriage, a life filled with work and study) and considers herself a pragmatist. She was taught to live by the rules: if you get married, then you love your husband; if you dream of a new home, then you work hard. But when, against all logic, she finds a beautiful stranger in her bed, her world turns upside down. After all, falling for the forbidden can be too sweet not to try… at least once.
They come from the opposite ends of the globe, but the collision of two soulmates is destined. Fate will send them on a lifelong journey from Eastern Europe to Spain, France, the United States, and back.
Their story is a mix of a beautiful fairy tale and a painful nightmare. It`s not something you`ve heard before: everything is too vivid, too honest, too emotional and too profound.
An attraction at first sight;
A passion that breaks all rules;
A hypnotic melody – it conquers all.
This is one love for life and beyond time,
This is MONOGAMY...
Excerpt:
*** ‘Money, Power, Glory’ by Lana Del Rey ***
‘You again?’ he says, smiling. ‘I thought we had a deal! I’m keeping my word!’
There are no other circumstances in which my pride would tolerate such rudeness except these.
‘So you’ve had the operation?’ I enquire.
‘No, next week. On Tuesday. If I die on the operating table, just remember: it will all be thanks to you!’ he jokes, but I don’t laugh.
‘The US medical system is the best medical system in the world!’ I blurt out, like a boy scout at a meeting.
‘Oh, really?!’ he replies with a nervous laugh.
There is already more life in him than yesterday, and he’s clearly in better spirits. Suddenly, Alex reaches over to open the passenger door and I take it as an invitation. I don’t need to be asked twice, although I can’t help thinking to myself that he ALWAYS used to get out of the car to open the door for me.
‘Put your seatbelt on!’ he orders.
My whole essence, my whole being, from the spiritual all the way to the physical, is melting at the sight of how sexy Alex looks behind the wheel. His naked forearms and exquisite hands are like a natural extension of this chic car. The watch on his wrist, which is truly beautiful, leaves little doubt that its owner is not just successful, but in a class of his own.
The windows are open, and the wind ruffles our hair. With a barely perceptible smile, Alex glances at me to check if I’m scared, then continues to accelerate.
My heart stops beating. Not from fear – I have no concept of it at this exact moment – but because I suddenly realise just how much, how passionately, how hopelessly I love this man. Never before have I been so acutely, so painfully aware of this as I am right now. I put on my sunglasses to hide my eyes, just as he is hiding his.
The day is crazy. We have lunch in a restaurant, then meet up with some of his friends, then some others, and finally we end up in a club where we can see each other but can hardly hear a thing over the music.
When a stunning, voluptuous woman with long legs, golden skin and huge blue eyes walks over to us, I brace myself for the pain to come. Expensively dressed, self-assured, and beautiful in every way, it’s like she has been sculpted out of golden wax: there isn’t a single flaw on her body, and her gorgeous, naturally blond hair tumbles down her naked back. If I was a man, I would want her with every fibre of my soul... and not just my soul.
My admiration is interrupted by Alex’s voice.
‘Lera, this is my wife, Hannah.’
***
His eyes betray him. I see both myself and his feelings in them, as strong as five years ago, and I am suddenly filled with shame and hurt for everything I’ve done.
There is perspiration on his forehead, under his short fringe. Alex closes his eyes for a second, then abruptly stands up.
‘I need the washroom... I won’t be long,’ he says.
I watch as he walks away and can see that he’s finding it difficult. He is clearly unwell, in physical pain, and is trying to hide it. I follow him and watch from afar, but not out of curiosity: someone should be with him in case he suddenly loses consciousness.
Alex goes into the men’s washroom, but there’s no door where the sinks are and I watch as he performs what is obviously a familiar ritual: swallowing tablets from the small white bottle, washing them down with water from the tap, then rinsing his face and, head lowered, resting his hands on the granite countertop. He stands like that for a while, unmoving, then, when he feels better, he rinses his face again and stares at his reflection in the mirror.
My eyes are filling with tears. The pain is ripping my heart to pieces, the desire to rush to him, embrace and hold him, stop his physical suffering, take some of it myself, burn it all away, is squeezing me like a vice.
But we are strangers now and Alex obviously wasn’t that thrilled at my arrival. So, not brave enough to invade his personal space, I return to my seat – he mustn’t know that I saw him. Alex is no longer a sex god, he is seriously ill and, for the first time in my life, I am scared to my very core.
*** Celestial’ (ft. Charlene Soraia) by Hiatus ***
Alex returns soon after and there isn’t a trace of pain on his face, not a hint of what I saw just a few minutes earlier, and I realise how good he is at hiding what he wants to keep hidden.
‘I want to show you something,’ he tells me, with a smile that is both warm and difficult to read.
We take a lift up many floors, then climb a few more flights of stairs on foot until we’re on the roof. A mesmerising panorama unfolds below me: hundreds of thousands of lights, large and small, bright and colourful, combine to create a breathtaking mosaic of a night-time metropolis. The city where I once refused to live. The city of the man who built me a house I never saw.
About The Author:
Victoria Sobolev is the author of four bestselling series and one standalone novel that have gained her thousands of followers on Russian indie platforms and a Monogamy fan club.
She was born in Ukraine but spent most of her life living in Moldova until immigrating to Canada with her husband and two children. She currently lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Victoria believes in true love and soulmates just as much as she does in working hard at marriage. Travelling is her passion, but she thinks there is no safer or calmer place for a woman than her man’s shoulder.
She is fascinated by watching people and studying human relationships, but, even more, she loves writing novels about them.
Victoria Sobolev loves all her characters and never abandons them in the tragedy of separation and hopelessness forever, but always leads them to happiness. She takes her reader’s breath away only to make them feel even more alive when they start breathing again, so that everyday things become appreciated even more and their true value recognised.
Please, visit Victoria’s web site: http://sobolevvictoria.com/
Follow her Fb: https://www.facebook.com/ViktoriaSobolev
Buy Link
My thanks to Love Books Tours for allowing me to share in the fun.