Craved by Lola Smirnova

Craved, by Lola Smirnova, is the highly anticipated sequel to Twisted. It was published in August 2015 and is available for sale on Amazon. Genres: New Adult / Suspense

Synopsis:

Having been to hell and back, the eager sisters from Ukraine - Natalia, Lena and Julia - decide to retire from selling sex and walk the straight and narrow path back home. But when an old friend calls them with an opportunity to make buckets of ‘easy’ money in South Africa, they find it impossible to refuse.

Return to the nightlife of the entertainment business brings along all the old familiar temptations - alcohol, drugs, and prostitution.

Can the girls resist their vices and stay together? Or will this industry destroy their sanity and their family?

Inspired by real life events, Craved is a fascinating story of addiction, survival and the art of making a living in the sex trade.

EXCERPT:

Chapter 1

‘Harder!’ he screams in desperation. ‘Harder!’

But his voice breaks down, strangled and hoarse. His eyes are wide open in an all-out pre-orgasmic rapture. His red face is wrinkled and strained. His perfect pink designer shirt is now rumpled and covered with sweat stains. A few little white and pink buttons are missing – they are probably somewhere on the floor together with my dress and G-string. His shiny-to-a-fault patent leathers point at the ceiling, their heels digging convulsively into the floor. He covers my cramped hands with his, to strengthen my grip, making the pulsating veins on his neck swell even more. Then he utters a wild growl and shuts his eyes. His body goes limp under my thighs.

Oh crap. Why does it always have to be me?

His face looks deathly pale against the red velvet couch. His lifeless body is still. It seems he is not breathing. I roll my eyes, wiping the sweat off my forehead.

Shit! I hope I haven’t killed him for real…

I jump off the couch, grab his shirt, and start shaking him. The visions flash through my mind. The handcuffs tighten around mywrists, the red and blue flashes light my regretful face in the blackness of the night as the officer pushes me down into a police car, the Agent Evelyn Salt expression on my face mirrored in the one-way glass of the interrogation room…

Have I been watching too many action films? Instead of picturing myself as Angelina, I should be thinking about what to do with the weirdo... or rather with his body… Shit! Shit! Shit!

‘Hmm…’ he wheezes, his eyes still closed. I let go of his shirt and exhale.

‘Hey…’ Obviously, I don’t remember his name.

‘Hey… wake up.’

He frowns, still faint. ‘Mom… Don’t do it… Mom, please – let’s not do it…’

I open my mouth to reason, then stop short, take a deep breath and slap him instead. He opens his eyes. ‘Are you okay?’ I say, loud and slow. ‘Shall we have a break and get a drink, or…’

‘No! Please don’t stop, Julia.’ He clings to my shoulders. His face winces. ‘I’m good. I’m good. Don’t stop.’

About the Author:

Lola Smirnova is an author from Ukraine. Her novels are inspired by real-life events. They are meant for the open-minded readers who are not afraid of a little blood, sweat and semen.

Lola’s debut novel Twisted was released in 2014. The book placed as Honorable Mention in the General Fiction Category of The 2014 London Book Festival’s Annual Competition.

Lola released Craved, the highly anticipated sequel to Twisted, in August 2015.

Lola has fascinating stories to share about the experiences of women in the global sex industry. Her thrilling tales will surely shock and surprise you, with both the storyline and literary value.

Lola lives in South Africa, and is currently working on the third book in her trilogy. To learn more, go to http://lolasmirnova.com/

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Twisted by Lola Smirnova

(Image found on Goodreads)

Back in the 90’s, the corrupt post-Soviet Ukraine with its faltering economy, is thrown into a devastating depression. Times are hard. Opportunities are scarce. 

Three eager young sisters – Natalia, Lena and Julia - dream of a better life and weigh their options: do they stay and struggle like their parents, or join scores of their compatriots in the sex trade in glittering western European cities, who earn in a night what they’d take several months to earn at home? Naive and tempted by the allure of 'quick' money, the girls set off on an adventure that changes their lives forever... 

For sensible, resilient and calculating Lena and Natalia, the transition to the underworld of Luxembourg’s deceptive champagne bars is eye-opening, but smooth. But for fragile, brittle Julia, haunted by a childhood assault, the change is more than just vocational. Struggling to adapt, she turns to alcohol and drugs, exposing herself to increasing danger and depravity; and, ultimately, betrayal, when a deceitful client, who claims to love her, drugs her and cleans her out. 

Despite her sisters’ best efforts to intervene, she finds herself in Istanbul – culturally a world apart – in an attempt to make back the money and self-respect she’s lost. Vulnerable without the protection of Luxembourg’s champagne bars, she descends into a hell of drugs and high-risk sex until, at the novel’s terrible climax, a kidnapping, brutal assault and one-sided justice system lead to her imprisonment and a threat of deportation. 

How will Natalia and Lena save Julia? Find the official description on Goodreads.

This was definitely a  darker book. It was very realistic in the way that things happened that you believed could actually happen to a person in real life. And the characters were all....like they could have been people you knew. And that really brought this book home to me. It was the characters that had trouble and yet they were still very likable. Take Julia for example. In a different book she might have been portrayed as the problem or bad character but this book is told from her perspective and goes to show that there's always a story.

The writing itself was captivating. It drew you in, held you captive and didn't let you go. The first person narrative was enjoyable as it felt as if Julia was actually telling the story to you after the fact, as if it was a cautionary tale or you were a friend that hadn't been there for that part of her life. This made it a very familiar way to tell the story and I enjoyed it.

Twisted was a dark read but it does show the sex trade in a different light. It certainly gives a new perspective. 

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