The Professional: Game Maker Part 1

The Professional: Part 1 by Kresley Cole

Published December 16th 2013 by Simon & Schuster Audio
Narrated by: Kimberly Alexis
Length: 4 hrs and 54 mins My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Joke him if he can't take a fuck."

Natalie Porter lives a simple life in Lincoln Nebraska. Her ability to 'manalyze' is something she takes pride in and for that matter the reason she's still a virgin. At 24 she still hasn't found the right one. Adopted at an early age , now a College student looking to get her masters degree and find her biological parents, she hires a private investigator from Russia named Zironoff . She never hears from him and he never answers her emails.

While out drinking with her friend Jess, Mafiya enforcer Aleksei Sevastyan catches her eyes. Although Natalie may be good at analyzing men , she has a hard time assessing this guy and fails at coming on to him. Sevastyan didn't play by her games because he makes the rules.

Natalie didn't know he had been 'watching over her' for the past month and was hired by her real father, head of The Bratva (Russian Mafia) Pavel Kovalev, to be her bodyguard.

Rejected, alone and frustrated Natalie goes back to her house admitting there was something about that man. Thinking about him touching her while she takes a bath, suddenly is he standing in her bathroom doorway and she screams. He tells her to get dressed, pack a suitcase, cause he's taking her on a plane to Russia and those were his orders. I imagine Natalie wanted to call the cops because a strange man had broken into her house and was going to kidnap her but she doesn't do that. All she wants are answers and as soon as he mentions her father I guess that opened the channels of curiosity. She does get the wrong impression of her father though, but she was going to see for herself soon enough even if Sevastyan had to haul her over his shoulder. Being close to him like that was just one of the many perks she would enjoy besides being lavished with expensive clothes and jewelry.

When she runs from the car, he warns her that "If you run, I will catch you. It's what I do". On the plane she discovers how dominating Sevastyan is and how much it turns her on. Of course Sevastyan is very good at dishing out punishment but he doesn't want to hurt her .
I already knew Kresley Cole could write hot sexy romance novels but in The Professional we see the very dark and hard kind of erotic romance not intended for younger minds. I truly am lovin this series.

The Professional: Part 2

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About the Author:

Kresley Cole is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the electrifying Immortals After Dark paranormal series and the young adult Arcana Chronicles. Since her first novel was released in 2003, Kresley has published twenty-one books with Simon & Schuster and has seen her releases translated into seventeen foreign languages. She has traveled over much of the world and draws from those experiences to create her memorable characters and settings. Two of her favorite places to visit include the rain forests of Central America and the Queensland area of Australia. Cole’s trademark action, sensuality, and humor are exemplified in her popular Immortals After Dark Series, which revolves around the Lore, a secret stratum of hundreds of immortal creatures–ranging from Vampires to Lykae, Furies to Shifters, and Fey to Valkyrie–that each have their strengths, weaknesses, and age old prejudices against the others. Though they secretly live among humans, they constantly war among themselves, which gives her a lot of material. In 2007, Kresley won the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA award for best paranormal for her novel A Hunger Like No Other, and in January 2009, she became a #1 New York Times and Publishers Weekly bestseller with her sixth IAD installment, Kiss of a Demon King. In 2010, Kiss of a Demon King earned Kresley her second RITA award. 2011 brought Cole her second #1 NYT bestseller with Dreams of a Dark Warrior. In 2013, Kresley won a third RITA for Shadow’s Claim and was inducted as only the 14th member of the RWA Hall of Fame. She lives in Florida with her husband and far too many animals. She spends any free time traveling and enjoys all things related to boats and water.

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A Walking Disaster Review

Walking Disaster
(Beautiful #2)
by Jamie McGuire

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Listening to Walking Disaster from Travis' point of view made it an entirely different but oblique 'clusterfuck' of a love story. I really liked Emma Galvin's voice of Travis in Beautiful Disaster but in Walking Disaster Dan Bittner's sheds light on Travis in a new way. Travis Maddox had to fight hard and love harder if he was going to win the only girl he'd ever want. If I were Travis I would've walked away miles before he did. I guess the difference is he had a lot more courage and strength to persevere through the heartache and torment Abby put him through. Ugh! My thoughts about Abby? I gotta hand it to her for being a straight poker faced bitch (I'd love to poke her face in) and for playing miss hard-to-get for as long as she did.

However, Travis knew there was something about Abby Abernathy the moment he saw her. She was his pigeon after all and she was the infamous Lucky 13 that Abby tried very hard to hide from everyone at Eastern University. Only her best friend America knew her secrets. When the boilers had failed in their dorm rooms Abby and America decide to stay at Shepley's and Travis' apartment for a couple of days. Shepley is America's boyfriend and Travis' cousin. Anyway Abby had tried to play her role down by wearing frumpy clothes assuming she would turn Travis off because she really didn't want to impress him, a sexy man-whore.

Desperate to keep her there, Travis comes up with the perfect solution and makes a deal that if he won the next Circle fight without a touch from his opponent, she would have to stay for a month. Little did he know Abby was an expert gambler so she readily accepts the bet, thinking if she wins he would have to stay celibate for the next month. She loses the bet and is forced to stay. This scenario was also written in Beautiful Disaster from Abby's point of view.

I blame Abby for ruining everything though by keeping her background a secret. A past like hers would be near impossible to walk away from and she was only fooling herself if she thought she could be anything other than who she really was. Meeting Travis may not have been what she wanted but ultimately they were perfect for each other, and Travis wasn't all that hopeless. I mean in spite of himself he'd still loved his mother right? and he also honored his father, so at least he knew what love was, unlike Abby who didn't know her mother and hated her father.

A few lines like these show how hard he had to fight for her:

Travis to Abby :"I wanted you there with me, Pidge. You're my good luck charm."
"I'm not your anything." She glared up at me.
My eyebrows pulled in and I stopped midstep. "You're my everything." - page 368

"You can't tell me what to do anymore, Travis! I don't belong to you!" ... "Well, I belong to you!." - page 374-375

That was right before she professes how she always loved him and they were never really apart and she promises to never leave him and just like that she's forgiven. He spoiled her but this love story was such a good distraction that I couldn't put it down for long. I adored Travis but he just couldn't live without Abby *sighs*

Walking Disaster also has a better Epilogue. Loved.It. If you've read both books then you'll not want to miss A Beautiful Wedding (Beautiful #2.5)

Review: Dreams of A Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

Dreams of a Dark Warrior by Kresley Cole

My rating: 3 of 5 stars I liked It!

From #1 New York Times bestseller Kresley Cole comes this gripping tale of a battle-maddenend warrior driven by revenge and the Valkyrie temptress who haunts his dreams. 

This book has everything I like in a paranormal romance. A mix of gods, sex, and immortal creatures. Although the Dark Warrior, Declan Chase is a mortal, technically he's a Berserker and still part of the Lore. The Lore is a secret plane coexisting with man's. When Berserkers win two hundred battles in the name of Woden, then they are granted immortality - ohalla.

Once upon a time a long time ago , The Valkyrie, Regin the Radiant fell in love with a mortal warrior, Aiden the Fierce. As the fates would have it, he dies and vows to come back for her.

Each time he comes back reincarnated as someone else. This happens 5 times over a thousand years possessing none of his memories of Regin or of Aiden . She waited and was faithful and loyal to him for she loved him. But everytime it happened that she ended up kissing Aiden whether he was reincarnated as a pirate or some other strong character, he died. That broke her heart over and over.

I could have strangled Declan Chase for being such a prick. He stabs Regin with a sword to the chest, twists it, kidnaps her and throws her in a jail cell!! Declan was a madman who hated creats [immortal creatures] with a passion. His lifes purpose was to exterminate them and he'd put them through mega torture. I hated that he was a drug addict too. He was preventing himself from being who he really was by suppressing it with drugs. It nearly destroyed him.

However, I like a HEA too :) My favorite character is Nix aka Phenix. What a cutie pie! She is older than anyone and crazier :D