Angel's Cage (Molotov Obsession Duet Book 2)

*****Spoilers*****This should've just been one book I thought. To open this one, Nikolai carries Chloe back to his house after her brief escape and we get back to it. He's much more possessive in the book, the most shocking was when he told Chloe she would marry him with no notice and arranges a whole wedding in 24 hours. Crazy. I kept wondering where his brothers were when it came time for the celebration but we only get them on video. I'd say the most surprising situation is the arrival of Alina's affianced who comes and takes her away. No more hiding with Nickolai on his compound. Not even sure how he got the drop on Nickolai AND his super smart brother's technology to get to the compound and basically start a war. A war which Alina could've been seriously injured in. Made no sense.Back to Nickolai and Chloe though, it was okay. I think I liked Chloe's relationship with Slava and how Nickolai was slowly able to connect with him due to Chloe's influence there. A big question left unanswered though was whether their night of Nickolai being out of control with desire resulted in a child.We do confirm that the presidential candidate is Chloe's father, but not only that, he raped her then 16-year old mother to father Chloe. In the end, because of protests by Chloe to Nickolai's original plan to kill Bransford, they set him up to take the fall for his misdeeds nicely. I wasn't really buying Chloe's protestations about her father's well being.

Maybe it’s just me, but the older I get the less I seem able to abide young, immature, helpless, hapless heroines that are slightly dim into the bargain. Anna Zaires used to write strong, courageous, capable, even self-sufficient heroines and sadly, Chloe is none of that. Also, it’s not just about age, numerically Nora was a lot younger, a bare 18 to Chloes 24 or so, but in her inner monologue Chloe appears so much more immature. For the first part of the book, Chloe keeps on harping about how Nikolai ruthlessly killed her two assailants: never mind that they were in the process of brutally raping her before dispatching her. So. he not only saved her, rescuing her from her own thoughtless flight in the process, but then he pampers her and is unfailingly gentle it with her, while she recovers from her injuries. Then Chloe also laments that she is now stuck at the compound and Nikolai even tells her that he won’t let her go; but really, why would she even want to leave and where would she go with no connections, no resources, and dear daddy’s hired killers on her a**?! She would have no chance against those goons, as a matter of fact, she only evaded them so far because of sheer dumb luck and because Nikolai hired her and then monitored her. Also, when Nikolai comes up with a plan to eliminate the problem with her father (the guy who raped and impregnated her mom and then had her killed), she objects on ethical grounds… sorry what?! You have a problem with getting rid of someone who is responsible for the murder of your mom and is actively trying to kill you?! And Nikolai panders to her reservations, because he is so besotted with her.Nikolai is great, and of course there is a good explanation why he killed his father (the patricide being another one of Chloe’s hang-ups). Nikolai’s only fault is falling for a bland milquetoast like Chloe, who, to be fair to her has one redeeming quality: she is good with children. But aside from that, she has no special interests and she is rather dim: having the same amount of information as the reader (as the story is told by dual first person point of view from her and Nikolai’s perspective), it takes her ages to figure out who is after her and why…This is so different from Anna Zaires previous dark romance heroines: Nora was passionate about her art and when Julian got taken, she actively decided to go after him, damn the consequences (Twist Me trilogy). Or Yulia, who was an efficient operative who was only kept in check by her love for her brother, then turned her life around and became a master chef and restaurant owner (Capture Me trilogy), or Sara, who was not only an accomplished doctor, invested in her work, but also a talented songwriter and became successful as a singer (Tormentor Mine tetralogy).If you have a strong, possessive, dominating hero, you also need a strong heroine, because otherwise what’s the point? Additionally I didn't get what Nikolai saw in Chloe as a person; they have chemistry and Chloe helped him to emotionally connect with his son, but aside from that they have no common ground at all and somehow that doesn't seem like a solid enough basis for spending a life time together, especially after they have known each other for all of a month.I hated the dynamic between Chloe and Nikolai whereby Chloe with her passiveness forced Nikolai to take on all the responsibility for everything, including their relationship. Because of the lack of substantive external conflict this felt more like an angsty YA novel than a dark romance, and that’s definitively not my (book) kink. On top of all that, the ending felt kind of rushed.The only bright spot was Nikolai’s sister Alina sacrificing herself to Alexei Leonov, the Molotov’s arch-rival, in order to prevent a blood bath. There seems to be at least the promise of a real dark romance story, especially as Alina has been dropping hints that made me think that she and Alexei have some kind of a past (aside from her being promised to him by her father to forge a tie between the two families) and also that she is not indifferent to him…

Anna Zaires' ANGEL'S CAGE wraps up the story of a secretive and powerful Russian business man and the live-in tutor he hired for his son. It is the second half of a duet and Devil's Lair *must* be read first - this second book in the first Molotov Obsession tale picks up moments after the last line of the first. While the story flows and will be easy to follow, all of the characters' backgrounds and present motivations are explained in the first half of the duet.The world is not black and white, no matter how hard someone tries to categorize everything. Chloe Emmons learns first hand how dark and brutal her employer can be when he tortures and kills a man in front of her. It may have been done to save her life, but is her safety a good enough excuse to rationalize away a man's actions? Nikolai Molotov is no saint, but is he as irredeemable as he thinks?ANGEL'S CAGE brings both a tender touch and heart pounding action, revealing family secrets along the way. Chloe has every reason to fear her captor and his obsession with her. However, she finds herself drawn to him and, as the past is uncovered, she begins to understand him. Nikolai just wants his bubble in the world to remain unpopped and safe, which means he needs control: control over every security detail, control over the people in his life, and control of his inner demons - he is a Molotov, after all.Nikolai's passion for Chloe is quite palpable and the steamy pages of ANGEL'S CAGE are balanced with intrigue in Anna Zaires fashion. The multiple story lines woven throughout the duet tug at a far deeper story waiting to be told. As a result, and thanks to Zaires' mastery of her characters, readers are left with a desire to know more about the Molotov family and their associates. There is also a thread of cynicism that creeps through in a few comments on American politics, but it flows well, placed perfectly where needed. Overall, ANGEL'S CAGE is more than just the bittersweet ending of a duet - it is the start of an obsession on par with Zaires' Twist Me world.

I love Anna, she is my go to Author. When ever a new book is released i automatically make the purchase . I feel that these books are over priced for the content . The book feels rushed and unbelievable. I’m usually gripped with every page turn but with this series I just wasn’t feeling it . I didn’t get lost in the story and it didn’t make me feel anything . The sad part is there is huge potential for this to be a fantastic book but it all just felt like it was a race to get to the finish . I did consider a lower rating but I love the author . For the price of the books I’d recommend giving these a miss . Such a shame .

Rating 3.5/5I have to admit that I went into this book with slightly different expectations than I usually would with this author after reading the first book in the series, and whilst it still wasn’t the standard I was hoping for it definitely had a lot more going on.I still didn’t really feel like the chemistry was all there for Nikolai and Chloe but there are at least some hurdles in their relationship to keep things mildly interesting. Actually, I still feel like Alina was one of the more interesting characters, her story is slowly revealed and it definitely makes for some intriguing reading, this also comes with the story of Slava’s past, which explained a lot of the questions I had in book one.The questions of Chloe’s past are also answered and whilst I enjoyed the action that this added to the story I feel like I would have been more charmed by it all if I had liked Chloe a little better. Don’t get me wrong she isn’t a horrible character but she still doesn’t feel like a very well-rounded character and I have to admit for a large chunk of this book the inner thoughts and misunderstanding just felt a little silly and repetitive.It maybe seems a little silly to say that there was a very redeeming quality right at the end because it is not something that is guaranteed, but there is a lot of potential with Alina and another character. The spark of something was already leaping off the page and even though this duet hasn’t quite hit the mark for me I would be very interested in a book with those two characters.

Part of me really enjoyed this book, as someone who has often guessed the storyline by the 2nd chapter I enjoyed the tension. The darkness of the story in relation to their relationship is where I had difficulty with the book, so maybe it's unfair of me to mark it down in stars due to my own perceptions of the story romanicizing domestic abuse.

Book two is like book one and didn't disappoint me in the twists and turns, hate turned into love, but hate is to strong a word to be honest it's more like cautious at the strong relationship development. Looking forward to a book coming out with the sister involved after she was taken by her betrothed.

The story lacked some action. I found it slow getting to the point and there is a lot of repetition. I wish I didn’t have to skip pages through the book when it got boring. Iam disappointed I bought the book as it wasn’t worth it. I think the characters lacked personality. I don’t think I’ll be reading anymore books from this author. Unfortunate