The Professional (The Game Maker, #1)

by Kresley Cole

[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.