The Professional (The Game Maker, #1)

by Kresley Cole

He makes the rules . . .

Mafiya enforcer Aleksandr "The Siberian" Sevastyan's loyalty to his boss is unwavering, until he meets the boss's long-lost daughter, a curvy, tantalizing redhead who haunts his mind and heats his blood like no other. Ordered to protect her, Sevastyan will do anything to possess her as well-on his own wicked terms.

Rules are made to be broken . . .

PhD student Natalie Porter had barely recovered from her first sight of the breathtakingly gorgeous Sevastyan before the professional hit man whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures. With every day she spends under his protection, she falls deeper under his masterful spell.

Are you ready to play?

Yet all is not as it seems. To remove Natalie from an enemy's reach, Sevastyan spirits her into hiding. From an opulent palace in Russia to the decadent playgrounds of the mega-wealthy in Paris, the two lovers will discover that even their darkest-and most forbidden-fantasies can come true…

Previously released as The Professional - Parts 1, 2 and 3 as eBook exclusives.

• ISBN10: 1471113876
• ISBN13: 9781471113871
• Publish Date: 6 May 2014 (first published 16 December 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Format: eBook (EPUB)
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[Melanie]

Listening to audiobook.

4.5 stars

This book is a serial, which means, it will be released in pieces, in this case, three pieces. I’m not a huge fan of serials because I feel like I’m left with cliffhangers. However, with serials, the release dates tend to be closer together than a normal release dates, about a month or so apart. I’m usually one to wait for everything to be out and then read it all together, but I really wanted to see what Ms. Cole had in store for us. I’m a huge fan of her work with Immortals After Dark and I loved the idea of this book, I thought I would step out of serial avoidance and give it a try. Boy, am I glad.

This book starts off with a farm raised, Nebraska college girl who has been trying to find her biological parents from Russia. She has been working three jobs along with college full time, getting her doctorate, so that her mother wouldn’t know she was looking. She thought the investigator had run off with her money, when she runs into a very menacing looking guy at a bar. He proceeds to kidnap her and take her to Russia to meet her father who is the head of a Russian mafia.

There is a ton of sexual tension between Natalie and Sevastyan. Natalie is a 24 year old and still a virgin. Now, when I first read this, I was a little put out. Virgins are way overdone, especially in BDSM stories. I thought, “This couldn’t be happening, Ms. Cole wouldn’t do this to me”. However, as I read on and she starts to explain how and why she is still a virgin, it doesn’t bother me so much. Sevastyan is an extremely dominant male that is a mob enforcer with a prison background. While I’ve enjoyed BDSM stories, I’ve feel like they are becoming forced by many authors because they are the new “in” thing. But, I should’ve had more faith in Ms. Cole. She writes a great story and she does a great job with this. I don’t feel like I’m reading a story where someone is just following the trend.

I love the storyline outside of the erotic scenes, and there are plenty of erotic scenes and they are hot. I love the relationship that Natalie builds with her father. The cutoff between the parts is a little harsh, but that didn’t surprise me with the serial aspect of this story. Luckily, there isn’t a long wait for the next book. I can’t wait to get my hands on it.

The narration was great. I’ve listened to Kimberly Alexis read the Anita Blake series, and while I didn’t like her in that series at first, I’ve come to accept her. I was curious as to how I would like her with something completely new. She blew this out of the water. She did a great job with the Russian accents and really helped bring this story to life. I was very impressed. She needs to tell Ms. Hamilton to add in some Russian characters to the Anita Blake series for her.

I like to thank Simon & Schuster Audio for proving me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This review was originally posted at Hotlistens.com.

[Cocktails and Books]

Candace's Thoughts

The Professional: Part Two begins with with Sevastyan and Natalie alone and sheltered from a storm. The seduction sequence had me squirming in my seat. Sevastyan makes his claim on Natalie (trying to force her hand into marriage...rules that must be followed in the Russian mafia) and their erotic encounter leaves Natalie reeling. This man, who she wants to feel close to, has backed her into a corner and she isn't sure she wants to be there yet.

Sevastyan refuses to open up to the Natalie, who clearly has become his obsession. And Natalie is left confused and wondering if their relationship can ever be something more permanent when he refuses to answer any of her questions. An horrific tragedy occurs and Sevastyan and Natalie must flee to Paris where their already fragile relationship starts to unravel. Sevastyan starts to treat Natalie differently. He is more tender and not the lover that Natalie wants or needs. One of the best scenes of the book involves video cameras, Sevastyan watching as Natalie teases him. She pushes him to give in to his darker side and ends up playing a dangerous game that ruin their relationship.

When I turned the last page in Part 2, I basically said, "You have to be kidding!" What a great way to leave a reader hanging! The ending was so frustrating and I want to know what is behind the curtains and wall of glass. How Kresley is going to end this intense story? I guess I have to stay tuned for Part 3!



Elizabeth's Thoughts

I absolutely loved Part I. Sevastyan is the dangerous, forbidden bad boy and Natalie just can’t help herself but want more of him. At the end of the first part, we were left panting as Natalie and the Siberian were in a steam house soaking wet from a rainstorm. Part II picks up where they left off and the first 25% of the book is of Natalie and Sevastyan getting naughty in the sauna.

Natalie was dragging her feet a lot in this part. Sevastyan is ready to claim Natalie as his but now Natalie is having the second thoughts. There is A LOT of sex in this part and while it was very passionate, I wished there was more to the story.

After a huge showdown at Natalie’s father’s home, Sevastyan is once again tasked with Natalie’s protection. He takes her to Paris and makes love to her constantly but Natalie can tell that Sevastyan is holding back. The too-gentle routine is making Natalie unhappy and when she prompts Sevastyan to start getting a little rough, he puts a stop to it.

Sevastyan confesses that he has a “sickness” inside and wants to take her a whole bunch of nasty ways and Natalie is all for it. Sevastyan doesn’t think she’s up to it so he sets up an evening in Paris. After dinner he takes her to what appears to be an underground exhibitionist/BDSM-type voyeuristic place and as Natalie gets her first taste of the scene, the story stops.

I felt the whole book was about sex. While it was extremely hot sex, I would have liked to see more of Natalie and Sevastyan interacting without being naked and entwined. I think when all three parts of the stories are placed together, this wouldn’t be an issue.

I do love the characters and I’m looking forward to Part III, but I’m a little worried about Sevastyan’s predilections and what, if anything, from his past has drawn him into the BDSM lifestyle.

Reviewed by Candace and Elizabeth for Cocktails and Books

[Linda]

*I received a free ARC of The Professional: Part 1 from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

Scorching hot, with good characters. The ending was a little abrupt, though.

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[EBookObsessed]

Natalie Porter is a hard-working, conscientious student working towards her doctorate. She was raised as a simple Nebraska farm girl, but she was adopted as a baby from a Russian orphanage. She has always wanted to know about her birth parents and she has been working three jobs for the last six years to earn money to hire an investigator to find them. What she doesn’t know yet is that the investigator has found her birth father and that knowledge will soon be changing her life forever.

Natalie’s father is Pavel Kovalev, a vor v zakone, head of the Bratva, the Brotherhood, the Russkaya Mafiya, and he has sent his most trusted enforcer first to verify that Natalie is his daughter and then to protect her. Except the investigator has been paid by more than just Kovalev for this information. He has also informed Ivan Travkin, Kovelov’s biggest rival of his newest weakness. Travkin has sent enforcers of his own to kidnap Natalie and use her as a bargaining chip in a Russian turf war.

Aleksandr “The Siberian” Sevastyan has been watching over Natalie for several weeks now. He was here first to make sure she wasn’t some gold-digging scam artist like all the others, and then to protect the daughter of the man he admires most. But no matter how much Sevastyan is concerned about protecting Natalie from outside threats, he needs to protect her from himself as well. He knows that the desires he harbors for his boss’s daughter are dark and he craves to have her in his bed and under his control. It is the type of desires that could get even the loyalest of men killed. Yet with killers coming for her, he has no choice but to grab Natalie and bring her to Russia where she can be kept safe in Kovalev’s compound.

But is he strong enough to keep her safe from himself?

THOUGHTS:
I have been a big fan of Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series for some years now and have turned all my PNR friends on to her work. I have always found her characters to be likeable and her stories to be captivating and exciting. When I heard that she was writing an erotica, I wondered how it could be more stimulating that some of her very memorable IAD scenes, including my personal favorite–the bath scene from Demon the Dark. Just thinking about that one could warm me up on the coldest night.

The characters in The Professional drew me in from the beginning with Natalie and her friends out drinking and Natalie using her “manalyst” powers to I.D. the losers in the bar until a gorgeous and clearly dangerous, cross between cage fighter and GQ model walks in and takes her breath away. I, along with Natalie, was drawn in by Sevastyan’s penetrating stare and cool demeanor. While his eyes eat her up, he coldly turns her down and walks away. From that moment, I was hooked. I have to know what’s behind the mind and heart of the very intense Sevastyan. It seemed to me to be a case where Sevastyan has put Natalie on a pedestal since she is smart and kind and caring and so unlike the women he usually spends his time with. He desires her, but his sexual preferences are toward domination, etc. which are too base for the likes of Natalie. He fantasizes about having her fulfill his dark desires, but is offended when she is willing to submit to him, since in his mind he has made her too good and too pure for such things.

In the last few IAD books, Lothaire and especially MacRieve, there was a very dark sexual overtone to the story that I disliked intensely. Wherein our hero was disgusted by the heroine (in Lothaire she was just a human and in MacRieve she was a succubus) his body and his instincts craved her and he couldn’t stop himself from having sex with her. Although the scenes were always erotic and titillating, they always ended up with the hero then tossing her aside in disgust after he climaxed, and in MacRieve he actually ran away and vomited since he was so disgusted that he had sex with her. I was happy and relieved in this book that when Sevastyan went icy whenever Natalie expressed interest in being with him, it was more that he felt she was too good to be with someone as evil as him. He was a killer, an enforcer for the mob, and his sexual preferences were towards bondage and pain. He wanted her, but he didn’t want her to want him.

Natalie is like all Kresley’s heroines: intelligent, strong-willed and smart-mouthed, and you know that there is no way for Sevastyan to resist her charms. Natalie is even more surprised by how intensely she wants this man whose very presence screams danger. She will do whatever she needs to do to convince him that this boss’s daughter isn’t forbidden.

The only thing I truly hated was the fact that this was Part I of a serial story. I avoid anything written in serial form since nothing is more frustrating than being left hanging in the middle of a story and having to wait months for all the parts to be released. Worse, not only does Kresley leave you hanging in the middle of story, she leaves you in the middle of a scene. I had to re-read it again from the beginning just to make sure, and sure enough, she leaves us as frustrated as Natalie in her bathtub. The next two parts can’t be released soon enough for me.

If you aren’t a fan of paranormal romance and want to know what all the hub-bub is about when we keep talking about Kresley Cole, now’s your chance to find out how she can add hot, sensual tension to the simplest scene. You won’t be disappointed.

Received an ARC courtesy of the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

See more at http://ebookobsessed.com