Terrible Beauty

Molotov Betrothal, Book 1

By: Anna Zaires

Narrated by: C. J. Bloom

Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

A family contract. A dark bargain. No escape.

Eleven years ago, I met him. A year later, I was betrothed to him. Now he’s come to claim me, slaughtering anyone standing in his way.

My husband-to-be is a monster from a family as ruthless and powerful as mine, a man who deals in violence and destruction...a man terrifyingly like my father. For more than a decade, he’s stalked me, shadowing my life.

I fear him. I hate him. Worst of all, I want him.

My name is Alina Molotova, and Alexei Leonov is a fate I can’t escape.

©2022 Anna Zaires (P)2022 Anna Zaires

Just wow🔥💥☄️🔥

Anna Zaires has done it again. She never disappoint
This book is just wow 🤩 I. I can’t wait for the next one.

Just okay

I honestly think Terrible Beauty read like a prequel. I was hoping it would pick up from where Alina was taken and move forward, but instead had a lot of past and present. I love C.J. as the narrator but I’m hoping AZ makes it a dual narration for book 2 or whatever she has planned for Alina’s story.

i am completely hooked!

I love how she merged the past and current present love, love, love the narrator.

A dark and oh so sensual listen!

It feels like I’ve been waiting for Alina & Alexei’s story for a long time and it’s definitely worth the wait. I love their story. It’s dark but oh so sensual. Told in alternating timelines between the past and present, we get their story from the beginning and can see how the past catches up to the future.

CJ Bloom did a wonderful job narrating this book solo. Her tone and pacing was easy to listen to and each of the main characters’ voices were distinct enough that I didn’t have any problems following who was speaking.

well that was a cold ending

I hope the author has another book about the Molotov siblings to explain the rest of this story.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Good story and I’ve been waiting for more of the Molotov’s! I didn’t care for the constant past to present and back. But each was a point of reference to their decade long dance. Alexei is so freaking intense and I cannot wait for book two!
Enjoyed the narrator.

Twisted Dark Romance

Alina and Alexei have won my heart! Wow! Their story was a page turner and I couldn’t put it down! Their twisted romance was intense. The back and forth between the past and present really helped set up why Alina ran away and hid with Nikolai. Alina’s fear of ending up in a toxic obsessive marriage like her parent’s marriage was so strong it caused her severe anxiety. Alexei was completely obsessed with Alina from the first moment he saw her so he pushed his way into her life and tortured her with his intense stalker tendencies. Alexei and Alina gave me Twist Me vibes. CJ Bloom solo narrates this story as Alina Molotova. She does a great job bringing Alina to life. CJ Bloom captures Alina’s fear, anxiety and slowing growing infatuation with Alexei, even though she denies it. I absolutely loved this story and I can’t wait to find out what happens next with their twisted dark romance.

A great start ...

but, her reluctant behavior is grating on my nerves. I hope she gets less irritating. I love the premise but her whoa is me attitude is getting to be a bit much.

A great story of cat and mouse

This was a great story but there wasn’t enough development in the present day. I suppose they both get their happy ending but I wanted to experience that in the story at the end. Please let there be a follow up story of them!

Flashback storyline-not as bad as feared

If your a fan of her other books don’t let the reviews scare you off. When I saw multiple people commenting on the “flash back flash forward” story outline, I was definitely concerned. I passed over this book twice before finally, reluctantly, with great reservation and trepidation did I brave the terrible flashbacks.!
You know what? It’s not bad🤷‍♀️ seriously I was sure I would hate the interruption of constant flash backs. One of my most hated things in literature is all those mini cliffhanger chapters! You know; just when your really into it the chapter ends and goes to someone else’s perspective or some necessary(boring) backstory etc..
Breath easy my friend! Despite bouncing back and forth every other chapter, the story flows and caused very little aggravation. Basically the flashbacks are the main story, progressively moving closer to the “now” throughout the book. The “now” chapters are very short , usually just a few thoughts or a sentence etc.. commenting on/discussing the event/ memory from the flashback.
I’m sure that still doesn’t sound very good..please excuse my less than convincing description..just trust me, take my word on this one and give it a chance. It’s a bit different but definitely worth a credit since it’s giving you all the necessary info to start you in to the next series.

•Good not great
•Necessary background to kick off next series
•Good narration
•Sex was almost all build up with very little actual sex. Decently hot scenes- expecting things to be better in next book(looking forward to it!)
•Cliffhanger ending with no next book yet!!!!-while extremely frustrating, it was more a “aww damn it!” Cliffhanger than a :”wtf wtffff omFG! KILL YOU *smash face on phone* how can I keep existing?” Type of cliffhanger….

—-unedited and typed on a very small dim screen…apologies, for whatever I can't see/reread.