The Professional by Kresley Cole 
Series: The Game Maker 
Rating: B- Narration: B 
Narrator: Kimberly Alexis 
Published by Simon & Schuster Audio on January 2014 
Genres: Erotic Romance 
Format: Audiobook 
Length: 12 hours 28 mins 
Source: Publisher, Purchased 
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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…

I’m reviewing The Professional as a whole novel since that’s how I experienced it. I was not about to be left hanging so I waited until all three parts were released. I received parts 1 & 2 from the publisher to review but I couldn’t wait for them to send me part 3 so I used my last credit on my Audiobooks.com credit.

First Impression:

Kresley Cole’s IAD series and The Arcana Chronicles series are both on my auto buy list (on audio). Now Cole is cemented herself on my auto list no matter what it is. I love her writing. She brings humor, sexiness and depth to her characters and worlds she develops.

What I liked:

When I saw Cole was releasing The Professional I thought UGH another BDSM book with a virginal heroine and a billionaire hero. WRONG.

Yes Natalie is a virgin but she’s not virginal. She has her toys and kinks. She’s just had the bad misfortune of trying to hook up with guys that didn’t know what they were doing and never lost her skin tag (her BFF Jess’s words not mine).

Sevastyan is not a billionaire playboy. He’s a dangerous, sexy and alpha… thug. He has been raised by Natalie’s birth father and his is right hand man in the Russian mob. But as the story unfolds Sevastyan has many layers to him.

What I would have liked to change:

The Professional is written in first-person from Natalie’s POV. Which I thought limited the depth of the story in some parts. I would have loved to know what Sevastyan was thinking in a few scenes. But I guess to keep the mystery and suspenseful elements to the story it had to be told through Natalie’s eyes.

With a lot of romances there is a cheese factor. And some of the bedroom talk was a little over the top cheesy for me.

The Narration:

Kimberly Alexis does a great job with the narration of The Professional. She has a young sounding voice that lend itself well to Natalie’s voice but want I enjoyed most about her narration was her Russian accent for Sevastyan. Yes and smoking male voice coming from a male narrator would have been even better for Sevastyan but Kimberly pulled off the male voice well along with the Russian accent. I enjoyed her narration enough that I would try another audio performed by Kimberly Alexis.

Lasting Impression:

I want to my own room in that underground club in Paris with a sexy Russian to teach me the ways of submitting. Meow!

Is this a series?

The Professional was released in 3 parts but I wonder if there will be another book? Natalie and Sevastyan pretty much got their HEA so I don’t really think they have more story but I would like to see a book about Natalie’s friend, Jess, because she reminded me so much of the Valkyries in Cole’s IAD series. It would be fun to see what kind of guy could collar her.