The Professional: Part 3: The Game Maker, Book 1

By: Kresley Cole

Narrated by: Kimberly Alexis

Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

He makes the rules…

Mafia 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…

©2014 Kresley Cole (P)2014 Simon & Schuster

No! No! No!...More! More! More!

This is the final chapter and I want so much more. Some of the best erotica I have ever listened to. The narration is the best! I hate that it is over.

I'm a fan!

This was my first experience with this author but I am now a fan. The story moves right along with everything a listener hopes for - good plot, romance, steamy scenes (!), interesting characters and action. I look forward to experiencing more of Kresley Cole's works.

Surprisingly Good.

I'm a big fan of the Immortals After Dark series, but I haven't read or listened to any of K. Cole's other books, so I gave this a try ( all 3 parts). This series is every bit as engaging as the Immortals books. Oh, and the narrator for this story is by far my new favorite. Her narration really made all the characters come alive, and her Russian accent makes you think you are actually listening to a Russian man. I recommend this title to any romance fan. The only thing I didn't like was the 3 parts of a book that should have 1 full book. Great story.

HOT Russian alpha male thug? Yes please!

** I actually listened to this one in the 3 parts but I will review it all in one.**

I’ve heard mixed reviews about this first book (parts 1-3). Kresley Cole is one of my all-time favorite authors and an auto-buy for me. I’ve read everything she’s written so I didn’t even have to read the blurb to know that I’ve be trying it. Do I like serials? Ummm…NO! But this is KC, so I was going to try it.

I’ve confessed before that I don’t read blurbs! I doubt many people do this but it’s a thing of mine. So going blindly into this book I was glad that this one is DIFFERENT. I knew it was erotic but didn’t know much else. Within my first hour of listening I knew I was going to love this book.

YES it’s VERY erotic and the narrator DEFINITELY gets into this one. LOL! Screaming orgasms from a RUSSIAN man…yeah…narrator did a GREAT job! LOL

What I liked:

Setting- This is my first book set in Russian and…
Foreign hero- This is also my first book with a Russian hero. It was a nice change of pace. Now I have a Russian alpha male to add to my harem. :-)
BDSM- What can I say I love this $hit!
Jess and Natalie’s banter and guy-isms- They really had me cracking up and it broke up the seriousness of the BDSM relationship between the h/h.

What I didn’t like:

HELLO! Virgin heroine :-( Ugh! (albeit she was really not very virginal at all, lol)
The ending…I liked it and I didn’t. I wished it wasn’t as rushed BUT I do like that we finally got some insight into Sevastyan’s background.

I’m left confused a little though…is there a next book? It seemed wrapped up pretty tight at the end but Goodreads had it down as Game Maker #1. Hmmm….If there is I will DEFINITELY read/listen to it as I do like the concept of this book. And DAMN can Kresley Cole write some sex scenes. LOVE HER!!!

Narration: Kimberly Alexis is a new to me narrator. I thought she did amazingly well. As one of the main characters (hero) is Russian and spoke some Russian she had to have the accent and pronunciations down correctly. I’m no Russian expert but her accent sounded great. Even when Russian words were spoken they sounded great. I would love to know if she truly said them correctly in the right dialect but all in all she was very believable. I would definitely listen to more of her work.

Great culture, travel, and sex.

I'm very picky when it comes to erotic/romance novels, though I love them as they give me an escape from reality. I think the only thing that was off for me in this series is that I am not THAT deep into BDSM, but I stuck through it and still found I really liked it. Sevastyan is an extremely sexy male character and the narrator does a great accent. Also the main character of Natalie was great as well as she was smart and wouldn't take any nonsense. The first book was a lot of action and the last two were less, but still were great.

If you liked this series, I would recommend the Night Prince novels by Jeaniene Frost. Though that series has more paranormal references (vampires specifically) it floats along the same type of main characters battling to love each other. Vlad in that series is also very similar to Sevastyan's physical portrayal. These two series might be my favorite so far on audible in erotic section.

I have to say though, I checked out another book by Kresley Cole and it bored me to death. Not sure what the disconnect in the other novels is, but check this one out!

Wow!

If you could sum up The Professional: Part 3 in three words, what would they be?

I loved this whole series. I couldn't put it down once I started listening. Hot!

KRESLEY FUCKING COLE

This series is so good!! A perfect blending of D/s experiences and awakenings, with the sweet and devastating ups and downs of falling in love in a Bratva world. What a treat these books have been

Amazing story..I absolutely Loved it!

Worth the credit these books started excellent and just got better and better. I'm hoping the writer continued with the story of each Max. The narrator is amazing she did so well the accent is totally believed and her different character voices are truly amazing. Just WOW to all the books written and narrator... Well done!!

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

Great Plot! Still hot and steamy, continuing with a great story that makes sense......BDSM continued

Sexy!

I love this series. I've listened to them multiple times because the story is so good and keeps you on the edge. Kimberly Alexis does an AMAZING job telling it and puts effort into the accents and marketing each character there own. Also its super hot and steamy;) dont listen at work!