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4.5 Hot Stars !!

“Sexy. Rogue. Lava hot. Spontaneous orgasm.”

Yes…this describes this book perfectly!! This is my first Kresley Cole book and I love it.  Truth be told, BDSM isn’t my favorite type of romance novel, but I met Kresley Cole at the RT convention in Las Vegas this year and thought she was one of the sweetest person I have ever met…so of course I had to read one of her books. I’m so glad I did because she is one talented writer.

 The Professional is one of her older books, but it’s still so very good. It’s got a nice mix of everything: scorching hot scenes, a deep love,  some humor, and a little bit of action and drama.  

Natalie Porter is your typical hardworking college grad student with one exception…she finds out she is the long lost daughter of a powerful Russian Mafia man!  The discovery puts Natalie in danger and she is forced to go to Russia for protection. Alecks Sevastyan, her father’s right hand man, is tasked with protecting her and taking her back to Russia.  Natalie is off limits to Sevastyan, but the more time they spend together, the harder it is for them to deny their attraction and chemistry.  Rules are broken, fantasies come true, and pleasure is the name of the game.

This book is a beautiful mix of everything and the characters are well developed. Natalie is especially well developed, which is good since the book is completely in her POV.  She is everything I like in my main characters–she’s smart and has her moments of being funny, sweet, sarcastic, vulnerable, and strong. She is a real character with flaws and doubts, but she has strong intuition and a good heart.   I just adored her.  She is also a modern girl and I like how forward she is with Sevastyan.  There are some very serious and sexy moments, but the best parts were her silly inner thoughts and it just cracked me up.

“Was I going to be cock-blocked by some twisted kind of mafia logic?”

“Now that we’d made love, I thought that we would be entering into a new stage of our relationship. In which, you know, we talked.”

I can’t blame Natalie for falling for Sevastyan.  Despite his hard exterior, he manages to woo me too. Even though he is very old fashioned and very protective of her, he is rugged, dominating,  and so very HOT.

“Who can resist falling for a man like this?”

Not many especially after reading some of the very naughty and panty melting scenes between him and Natalie.  It is super STEAMY and it isn’t redundant.  I sometimes get bored when authors repeat the same sex scene over and over, but Kresley mixes it up, keeping it quite entertaining.  But the best parts are the sweet moments between them and I love seeing Natalie break through his tough shell.

“Oh, that breathtaking grin. Heart. Beat. Skipped.”

Sevastyan is a typical guy and has no idea how to open up to Natalie, but they work through their issues. I like the effort they both put into their relationship to make it work.  When he does open up, it is wonderful.  His vulnerability is so damn sweet.

“You’re at the center of my life”—he frowned—“no, you are my life.”

On a side note, I love many of the supporting characters. Her dad was a sweetheart and I wish he could have been in the book more. I also really like Sevastyan’s brothers and I can’t wait to read their stories.  

I will say that based on the background of the story, I did expect more action and drama. The mafia life is a huge component of the book and yet, it is barely there; it’s kind of weird how that happens. The dangerous situation Natalie and Sevastyan are in is handled in the background, but I want to see it unfold more.

Overall, I was impressed with this book. Kresley Cole is now one of my go to authors. I will be reading more of her books.  I definitely recommend this book. Happy reading!