REVIEW: The Professional by Kresley Cole

In The Professional: Parts 1-3 (The Game Maker #1) by Kresley Cole, Natalie Porter’s six year search for her biological father is about to end. The clues have finally led her to believe Russia is her homeland but the investigator she hired is no longer communicating with her. While Natalie’s college career is also coming to a close, her future remains wide open. Until she gets the nerve up to introduce herself to a tough-looking, mysterious guy in their college bar one fateful night. After he turns her attempts down, the same man appears in her home at an inopportune time and all hell breaks loose. Natalie finds out that not only is her father alive and well in Russia, but Aleksander “The Siberian” Sevastyan is one of his right hand men who will be escorting her to meet her father.

“Do you know how much I’ve craved to see this? My lovely Natalya bound for my use.” His voice dropped an octave lower. “The things I will do to you.”
My resistance perished with a whimper.

Natalie is shocked and a little frightened to find out her father is a Mafiya boss, which entitles her to his fortune. But it also puts her life in danger, thanks to the turf war currently happening there. Sevastyan has promised to keep her safe at all costs and Natalie believes him. Yet they can’t fight the intense attraction that is building between them. His loyalty to her father is unquestionable, but Sevastyan seems torn between doing the right thing for his boss and following his heart by giving in to their dark desires. He and Natalie are forced to go on the run, making decisions about their romance and their safety that will most certainly change them forever.

‘I’d never felt so cherished. So protected. He was my guardian angel, my friend, my dream lover. Aleksandr Sevastyan was everything. Everything.’

Let me start off by saying WOW!! The Professional is one of the most provocative erotic stories I’ve read in, well, maybe ever. Kresley Cole takes us to new levels here introducing us to a world where crime, sex, betrayal, and passion are considered the norm.

I’m grateful that I got to read parts one through three all at once. I think this made the story more cohesive and enjoyable, plus it made for a much steamier ride, seeing Nat and Sevastyan’s romance playing out all at once. Not that it’s over, thank goodness, as this is book one in the Game Maker series. And I was really knocked out by the level of eroticism in their dialogue and in the BDSM scenes. This novel isn’t going to work for readers uncomfortable with Dominance and submission themes, but for those of you who are fans of the genre…get ready for some incredibly hawt play scenes.

Natalie was a pretty kickass protagonist. I thought Ms. Cole wrote her character in a way that depicted how a modern & trendy college student would talk while still giving her a level of intelligence and wit that helped Natalie hold her own with Sevastyan. To me, the idea of a farm girl from Nebraska being thrown into the world of the Russian Mafiya is quite intriguing. Especially when there was an enforcer-type guy like Sevastyan to behold. If you like bad guys that still have a heart, he’s your man. He had a dirty, dirty mouth and an even filthier mind which surprisingly Natalie took to as if it were second nature to her. Their love scenes were off the charts and pushed boundaries to the breaking point. But there was still a lot of substance to the plot, which was important. I found myself getting caught up in the suspense just about as much as I was into the romance.

Definitely don’t go into reading The Professional thinking this is a paranormal romance. It is not. This is erotic romance at its BDSM best and is hotter than hades. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Book Info:

Published May 6th 2014 by Gallery Books

The highly anticipated complete novel of The Professional—the first installment in #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole’s scorching Game Maker series, an erotica collection that has readers asking: How hot is too hot?

He makes the rules…

Mafiya enforcer Aleksei “The Siberian” Sevastyan’s loyalty to his boss knows no bounds, until he meets the boss’s long-lost daughter, a curvy, feisty redhead who haunts his mind and heats his blood like no other. Ordered to protect her, Aleksei will do anything to possess her as well—on his own wicked terms.

Rules are made to be broken…

Grad student Natalie Porter had barely recovered from her first sight of the dark and breathtaking Sevastyan before the professional enforcer whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures. Every day under his protection leads her 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…