The Professional: Part One (The Game Maker, #1) by Kresley Cole
Erotic Romance
Ebook, 120 pages
December 16, 2013
Pocket Star
Reviewed by Tori
Natalie Porter has been searching for her birth parents for years. Thinking the expert she hired to locate them has skipped town with her money, she is shocked when she is approached by a sinister sexy man who claims to be an employee of her father’s and that he wants to meet her. In Russia. He basically kidnaps her and whisks her away on a private jet.
Aleksandr Sevastyan, the Siberian, is an enforcer for Natalie’s father. He has been charged with watching her but when the family gets wind the her father’s enemies have learned of Natalie’s existence, his orders are to get her to Russia through any means possible. And what Aleksandr wants-Aleksandr gets. And he wants Natalie.
The sexual tension is at defcon ten between these two. Aleksandr is a dominant highly sensual man whose dark needs war with his loyalty to the family. He knows he can’t have Natalie all the ways he wants her but she pushes all his buttons and he finds himself unable to resist what she offers.
Natalie is surprised to find herself so attracted to a man she just met but her intrigue at the dark sexual desires Alek hints at has her contemplating doing things she never imagined. Though Alek wants, needs, and demands his rules be followed at all times, Natalie is prepared to show him that sometimes breaking the rules is the ultimate fantasy.
The Professional: Part One is the first installment of a serial by Kresley Cole. Each installment is slated to be approximately 120 pages. The premise is a young woman’s search for her birth parents brings her to the attention of the Russian mob. Lust and loyalty battle for ultimate supremacy as these two travel the world and find that the even the most forbidden fantasy of all can be had if you’re willing to submit.
Cole is a gifted writer whose ability to balance humor, romance, and engaging plot lines is what made her a best selling author. The Professional carries all the elements that Cole has mastered but I felt there was disconnection within the story and the characters. The storyline sets up the premise, giving us the cliched good girl and the anti hero who will save her. Cole tries too hard to convince us Alek is a dark damaged individual and Natalie will be the one to free him from the chains that bind him to the past. We are only given the bare bones in their backgrounds so there was no justification to validate any of this. We aren’t shown how bad Alek is or how good Natalie is. We’re just told.
The sexual tension is off the charts and Cole writes some incredibly hot erotic scenes but I didn’t feel any real chemistry between them. They barely know each other and I couldn’t rid myself of the feeling that their connection was merely a plot device. Even knowing the next installments will probably build their relationship emotionally, I found myself unsure of their ability to go long. Alek’s emotional blockage became annoying, especially when he gets jealous after repeatedly telling Natalie they have no future. I did enjoy that Natalie isn’t a pushover though I wish she wasn’t so perfect. Beautiful, rich, a hard worker, ect…she has no flaws that we see as of yet. She is a strong, happy passionate, and not prone to overwrought emotional whining. Her humorous internal /external monologue added some laugh out loud moments.
Regardless of my reservations, I enjoyed the suspense and drama Cole weaves into her story and meeting Alek, Natalie, and the secondary characters. Natalie’s relationship with her father is well done and I enjoyed the easy camaraderie Cole builds between them. I have always been a fan Russian mob stories and I enjoyed the details and description that Cole incorporates into the storyline. I look forward to reading part two and seeing if Cole can convince me that Natalie and Alek really do have a future together.
RATING: C+
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My friend stormed into my office yesterday absolutely pissed about the books cliffhanger ending. She was so funny. “How can it stop THERE?!! They didn’t even finish! GAHHH!!”. I was cracking up. lol
I really don’t like these “installments” series. Why do authors do this? Just write the whole damn book! It’s like reading the first 2 chapters of a book & then coming back a year later to read two more chapters. I will forget everything by then! I’ll just wait till all the installments are out to read it as a whole.
I’m not a serial fan but if the premise is interesting enough, I’ll give it a try. Yes, the cliffie had me shaking my kindle, convinced I was missing some pages. lol
i love all kresley cole’s books, and this was no exception. i read it in like one day, even though i should have been doing other things- i just couldnt put it down!
I don’t want to tease myself with a serial novel, I will patiently wait for the whole book to be published, even though it will perhaps be more expensive. I like Kresley’s paranormals but am not really interested in this one.
I liked it but if I was buying, I’d probably wait too.
this review is spot on. The tension and steaminess were off the chains, and I LOVED the build up at the end, because it truly left me wanting more. But it had problems.
*muah*
I love Coles books and writing style, but you bought up some very good points about character development. I was just too caught up in the steaming scenes to read that much into the story, lol. Great review for a sizzling hot book!