The Russian Obsession (Foreign Affairs, #3)

by Nikki Navarre

[Lynn]

3.5 stars

The Russian Obsession is the third book in Nikki Navarre's Foreign Affairs series and a standalone novel.

Amnesia blocks part of Christabel (Christa) Orlova's past from her memory, a fact since waking up in an Istanbul hotel with two passports and a message to run. She ends up in Moscow, working in a lab trying to find a cure for Ebola...work that's second nature to her. She's plagued with migraines and each attack releases a fragment to a memory from her past, reminding her that enemies are watching and waiting to pounce. After a six foot five man with a Brooklyn accent comes to her rescue, she's instantly attracted to him. However, can she trust him? Is he the enemy too?

Max Vasylko, ex-French Foreign Legion and now a high paid mercenary, flying contraband goods around the world. When his grandfather tips him off about a scientist responsible for the deaths of his wife and child in West Africa, Max goes all guns blazing for revenge, only the person who's supposed to be responsible for his family's deaths doesn't match the intel he's received or the woman he got to know intimately.

Convoluted...difficult to follow. I was ready to give up between 10-20% because my brain was struggling to juggle and comprehend the narrative. Yet, I carried on because I love a challenge and the blurb really made me want to read this book and I'm so glad that I persevered. Once I got past this mark, the pace quickened as the plot takes us from Moscow to South Sudan, West Africa and Corsica. I think it is definitely a huge advantage for readers to be from the US because they're many colloquial terms I wasn't familiar with, making the task of absorbing the text even greater in an already too wordy narrative littered with unfamiliar acronyms and scientific language.

Overall, I loved the suspenseful plot and the protagonists Ms Navarre crafted. Max and Christa make a great team together and I enjoyed the build-up of their romance and interactions. The pair share similar heart-breaking backgrounds which created a bond, although trust was something that had to earned from both sides. What I didn't care for were the heroine's inner thoughts.

***Arc received courtesy of the publisher via Tasty Book Tours***