Excerpt + Giveaway + Review: "Disarm" by Karina Halle

I am incredibly excited to be participating in the blog tour celebrating today's release of Karina Halle's newest novel, "Disarm," book #2 in the Dumont series.  I have been looking forward to reading this story ever since I finished the first book in the series, "Discretion," a few months ago.  Karina Halle is one of my favorite authors and always writes a fantastic book, but this series has been particularly engaging, with incredibly complex, well-developed characters and a suspenseful story arc.  My full review of "Disarm" is included later in this post, but in short, I loved this book and highly recommend it.  I can't wait to see what happens in book #3 of the series!

For a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card and a digital copy of "Disarm," click here! (Giveaway ends on December 14.)

About "Disarm"

Seraphine Dumont seems to have it all: she’s gorgeous, brilliant, and part of one of France’s most illustrious dynasties. But underneath the facade, Seraphine struggles to hold it all together. Besides grieving her adoptive father’s suspicious and sudden death, she also shares a tenuous role in the family business with Blaise, her in-name-only cousin. As tumultuous as their history is, he may be the only member of the deceptive Dumont family she can trust.

Seraphine is a temptation Blaise can’t resist. The torch he’s carried for years still burns. It’s his secret—a quiet obsession just out of reach. Until his brother demands that he spy on the increasingly cagey Seraphine, whom their father considers a dispensable Dumont outlier. But the more Blaise watches her and the closer he gets, the more he sees Seraphine may have every right to be suspicious. And she could be the next one in danger—from his own family.

As blood runs hot and hearts give in, Seraphine and Blaise have only each other. But can their love survive the secrets they’re about to uncover?

Read an Excerpt from "Disarm"

“We can never be together, Blaise,” Seraphine says, like frustration is rolling through her. “I know you understand that.”

“But it doesn’t mean we can’t try.”

“No,” she says and suddenly gets up to her feet, walking out of the room. “No. I can’t do this. I can’t handle this,” I hear her cry out as she heads down the hall.

I get up and run after her, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her right up against me, and she opens her mouth to protest and then my mouth is on hers, swallowing her words.

I kiss her with everything I have, every bit of anger and frustration and the years of lust and pining and wanting. I should be more gentle after the night she’s had, but I can’t help myself; in fact, I think I’m seconds from turning into an animal as I hold the back of her head and press my hand at the small of her waist, keeping her pressed as close to me as possible.

Her tongue slides across mine, hot and fevered and—

She pulls back, gasping for breath, and slaps me across the face.

Whack.

That hurt.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” she says. “What are you doing? What am I doing?”

Her face is red with anger, perhaps even shame. I mean, my cheek is stinging from her powerful wallop, but even so, I expected it. She’s always been the type of woman to put you in your place. But I didn’t expect her to slide so easily back into hating me.

“Don’t pretend you haven’t been dreaming about that,” I tell her, trying to control myself. “Don’t pretend that you haven’t wanted that, wanted me, all these years.”

“The only thing I’ve been dreaming about, Blaise, is getting justice for my father. That’s it. That’s all that matters. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re no better than the rest of them.”

Anger pokes at me, building up inside. “Hey,” I say, my inflection razor sharp. “I risked my neck tonight for you. I saved you from a bad situation. And more than that, I let you know the truth. I chose you over my family.”

“And I’m choosing not to trust you,” she says. “You’ve given me no sign over the years that I mean anything to you at all. Why should I believe you now? Why do that when it might derail everything I’m working on?” Something comes over her, a flash in her eyes, as she’s realizing something. “This is all a setup, isn’t it? This is just something that Pascal is having you do, just like you followed me. You’re supposed to tell me all this nonsense about wanting me and staying celibate like some joke and waiting for me, and it’s all a lie to get my guard down. If you’re telling me I’m in danger, it’s because you’re putting me there.”

I knew she’d go this route at some point, but even so, it stings. “That’s not it at all. Seraphine, please, I’m serious.”

“You just want me to back off because I’m close to the truth,” she says, shaking her head wildly as the idea takes over. “For all I know, every single thing this evening that’s come out of your mouth has been a complete lie, all to throw me off.”

I run my hands down my face, trying to squash my frustration. I knew this was coming, and yet that tiny coal of hope was always burning inside. “That’s not true,” I mutter into my hands, but I know when she gets like this that there’s no changing her mind.

“Get out,” she says.

I look up to see her opening the door and gesturing for me to hurry up.

“You’re making a big mistake by not trusting me,” I tell her.

“And I don’t take threats very well. Get out, and if I see you around me again . . .”

I almost laugh. “You will see me again. At work tomorrow.”

“Right. I almost forgot that you’re taking over my job.” She runs her fingers under her eyes and sighs so defeatedly that leaving her feels like a crime.

“It’s not like that,” I tell her.

“Just go,” she says quietly, holding open the door and looking away, like she can’t be bothered to face me.

“You know where to reach me, if anything happens,” I tell her as I walk past and out into the hall.

“If anything happens, you’ll be the first one I’ll blame,” she says to me.

Before I can say anything in response, she closes the door in my face.

***

My Review

As stated above, I loved "Disarm" and highly recommend it for both new and existing readers of Karina Halle's work.  Even though it is the second book in a series, it stands fairly well on its own.  That said, in my opinion readers would benefit from reading the series in order to fully understand the Dumont family and all of their dynamics. (Besides that, the first book, "Discretion," is a really good story and totally worth a read on its own merits!)

I adored Seraphine, the female lead character of "Disarm." Despite her rough start in life, she managed to become a strong, confident, independent, tenacious, and brave woman who I really admired.  The book's male lead, Blaise, was an incredibly complex and mysterious character, and when he was introduced in the first book of this series, I wasn't sure I liked him very much.  It wasn't clear that he could be trusted because it seemed as if he was part of whatever schemes his father and brother had cooked up.  However, after getting to know Blaise better in this book, I think I might be in love with him myself!  He's far from perfect and has made his share of mistakes, but he seemed to genuinely care about Seraphine and did everything possible to protect her.

I also adored the slow burn of Blaise and Seraphine's relationship growth. Even though they've known each other since childhood, their romance takes quite a bit of time to develop. The chemistry between them is scorching from the very beginning, however, and I was waiting on the edge of my seat for their feelings to finally take over.  Combined with the suspenseful plot as Seraphine pursued an ill-advised investigation into her adoptive father's death, it kept me turning the pages well into the early hours of the morning.

I can't wait to see what happens next with the Dumont family in book #3 of this series, especially because Blaise's brother, Pascal, will be the main character. It will be incredibly interesting to see how Ms. Halle manages to redeem him since he has come off as such a villain in the first two books.  If anyone can do it, it's her!

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are my own.