One week. No future. No past. No more.
Alexandria Collins has one week to live carefree—no ghosts of her past or pressures of her future haunting her. Reinventing herself as “Charli,” she is knocked off her feet by a sexy, mysterious man who brings her pleasure like she never imagined. With her heart at stake, she forgets that decisions made in the dark of night reappear in the bright light of day.
“Some of my tastes are unique. They aren’t for everyone. I understand that.”
Lennox “Nox” Demetri is wealthy, confident, and decisive—he knows what he wants. From the first time he sees Charli at an exclusive resort, he knows he wants her. Although he is usually the one to make the rules, together they agree on one:
One week. No more.
When betrayal comes from those closest to Alexandria, she must decide how far she is willing to go to survive. Choices are not always easy, especially when they involve the heart, body, and soul. After all, Infidelity is a business, and some rules are meant to be broken.
“Is it really cheating if you’re doing it to yourself?”
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Aleatha Romig comes a sexy, new dominant hero who knows what he wants, and a strong-willed heroine who has plans of her own. With classic Aleatha Romig twists, turns, deceptions, and devotions, this new epic dark romance will have readers swooning one minute and screaming the next. Have you been Aleatha’d?
BETRAYAL is a full-length novel and the first of five in the INFIDELITY series.
I motioned around the patio. “Is this what you do? You save women from the resort leaches and lure them to your lair?”
“My lair? Am I Batman?”
“Are you? I don’t know.”
He smirked. “If only I could make a living at doing just that, but alas, no. You’re my first rescue.”
I stopped my reach for a piece of cheese and looked back up at him. “You’re first?”
“My first rescue,” he clarified. “Hardly my first.”
“Why?”
He lifted his glass toward me in a toast. After I lifted mine, he said, “To you, Charli with an I, and to learning more about you.”
After our glasses clinked and we both took a sip, I asked the question that I’d been dying to know ever since our morning encounter. “You seem to have a clear advantage. You know my name, but I’ve yet to learn yours.”
“Do I?”
“Do you what?”
“Do I have an advantage?” He leaned closer. “Do I know your name? You see, I had the resort’s reservations scoured. I wanted to send a gift to your room and confirm our dinner, yet Charli was nowhere to be found.”
I took a deep breath. “Well, I’m here with my sister. I guess my name isn’t on the reservation.”
“You’re sister?”
“Yes, and you—if I were to have the reservations scoured?”
The sun had now fully set, falling below the water and the darkening sky was beginning to fill with stars, especially over the water.
“Would you believe, Batman?” When I didn’t respond, he said, “Bruce Wayne?”
Though I pursed my lips, I felt the twinkle in my eyes.
Creative writing almost seems effortless for Aleatha Romig. Her writing just flows. It’s smooth, easy-to-read and consistently clean of editing issues. She writes stories that will capture your attention and leave you yearning for more insight. Plots no one else would ever dream of. Novels that are dark and twisty, entertaining, and keep you theorizing long after you have finished reading.
Betrayal is the next great novel to be published by Aleatha Romig. It’s the first novel of her brand new Infidelity series, and Romig considers it dark romance. Please don’t judge Betrayal by its name. It’s not about a love triangle or cheating on a partner. According to Romig, “It’s about compromising your own beliefs for your heart and dreams.”
Our protagonist is Alexandria Charles Montague Collins. Alex is a Montague. The Montague family of Savannah, Georgia comes from old money. Montague women are proper Southern belles who are expected to marry and have babies to carry on the family name. A career is completely out of the question, but even so, Alex dreams of becoming an attorney. She’s well on the way to reaching her goal when she graduates summa cum laude from Stanford University and is accepted to Columbia Law School.
Just a few weeks prior to her move across the country, Alex and her best friend, Chelsea, decide to spend a week at the exclusive Del Mar Club and Spa. It’s a week without being confined to the pretentious Montague family cage. A week away from the rigid focus on her career and dreams. Her goal is to spend a week free of her restraints, living only for the moment, with her best friend, Chelsea. Alex reinvents herself as Charli (with an “I”).
“This was her week to live, to do what Alex wouldn’t and Alexandria couldn’t.”
It doesn’t take long for Charli to be approached. Her mystery man has broad shoulders, defined abs, a trim waist and thick thighs. He is dominant, confident in what he wants, and what he wants is to have dinner with Charli.
“Though I felt as though I, Charli, was betraying Alex, the woman I’d worked so hard to be, I agreed.”
The physical relationship that develops between Nox and Charli is extremely hot! It’s not about how explicit Betrayal is – it’s all about the chemistry, the control and trust, Charli letting go of her self-imposed and familial restraints. It includes everything that happens between them during one short week.
The main characters continue to stir my curiosity now that I am finished reading. Betrayal is mostly told from the point of view of Alex Collins, with the timeline shifting back and forth between present and past by chapter. Romig gives readers a decent picture of Alex, but something tells me we have only begun to crack the surface of her real life. I think Alex has skeletons in her closet that are yet to be revealed. Because Nox and Charli agree to “no past and no future” when they meet at Del Mar, we are given no indication of who Nox really is. We get a glimpse of his point of view towards the end of the story, and I am intrigued, that’s for sure.
Aleatha Romig has five novels planned for this series, and I have no doubt she is going to lead willing readers down a rabbit hole. Remember the Consequences series? I expect nothing less than a complicated plot that is full of twists and turns and heaps of irony. My mind is already swirling with theories and possibilities. Truly – what a fantastic start to a series! Betrayal deserves no less than a 5-star rating, but I’ve even toyed with giving it 6 stars. Congratulations to author Aleatha Romig for earning a spot on my list of 2015 favorites!
Aleatha Romig is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in Indiana. She grew up in Mishawaka, graduated from Indiana University, and is currently living south of Indianapolis. Aleatha has raised three children with her high school sweetheart and husband of nearly thirty years. Before she became a full-time author, she worked days as a dental hygienist and spent her nights writing. Now, when she’s not imagining mind-blowing twists and turns, she likes to spend her time with her family and friends. Her other pastimes include reading and creating heroes/anti-heroes who haunt your dreams!
Aleatha released her first novel, CONSEQUENCES, in August of 2011. CONSEQUENCES became a bestselling series with five novels and two companions released from 2011 through 2015. The compelling and epic story of Anthony and Claire Rawlings has graced more than half a million e-readers. Aleatha released the first of her series TALES FROM THE DARK SIDE, INSIDIOUS, in the fall of 2014. These standalone thrillers continue Aleatha’s twisted style with an increase in heat. In the fall of 2015, Aleatha will move head first into the world of dark romance with the release of BETRAYAL, the first of her five novel INFIDELITY series.
Aleatha is a “Published Author’s Network” member of the Romance Writers of America and represented by Danielle Egan-Miller of Browne & Miller Literary Associates.
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