Welcome to Punya Reviews... Please stay and enjoy! Read My Blog Policies for clarification of my ratings/disclaimer. All of my reviews contain spoilers. If you don't like spoiler-ish reviews, please don't proceed.

I'm a ThyCa survivor since 2004


If you're a regular visitor at Punya Reviews..., read reviews, check out promos on new books and enter giveaways etc., please consider becoming a member of this blog, liking my page and follow me on twitter and instagram.

The Professional Part 3 by Kresley Cole

Sunday, August 10, 2014

The Professional Part 3
The Game Maker #1.3

Kresley Cole
Contemporary Romance/Erotica (BDSM)
Published in 2014

H/h - Roman Aleksandr Sevastyan/Natalie Porter (Kovalev)
Setting: Present time.

Read in July, 2014.
My rating:

                                                  [spoiler alert]

After finishing The Professional Part 3 by Kresley Cole, I have been thinking about what to write. Honestly, I’ve only ended up with more mixed feelings. On one hand, there were things in here that I absolutely disliked, yet on the other, Oh-My-Gawd, gimme some Siberian pleaseeee! So yah I called Natalie a ‘lucky b!tch’, even when I was contemplating bashing Sevastyan with something for frustrating the hell outta me.

You get the picture.

In a nutshell, when Natalie finds her uber-rich Russian birth-father, a mafiya lord, Kovalev, she’s thrust into a life full of luxury as well as numerous dangers. She wanted to know about her birth parents all her life and now it seems she has to live with the consequences. Then again, not everything is bad. One gets used to with the riches, also one loves ogling and daydreaming… better yet, goes down and dirr-teh with the sexy enforcer that her father send to accompany her. Yah, life can be pretty good!



Sevastyan, the former prize fighter and the most trusted in Kovalev’s men, is almost like the son he never had. So it was no wonder that he trusted him with the most precious thing of his life, his new-found daughter. Apart from his mood swings, his devotion and alert vigilance where she and her father are concerned, Natalie practically knows nothing about Sevastyan. He’s not in a hurry to reveal those either!

When the attraction is so palpable, it doesn’t take Natalie and Sevastyan to get to ‘know each-other’ well enough, though they don’t go all the way. The hot guy has even given her a taste of the ‘dark and deep’ aka BDSM lifestyle that he is in, though Sevastyan, in no way, wants Natalie to get embroiled in this. It was obvious he never felt easy talking about this, considering this his ‘dirty secret’. Yet, when Natalie kept pushing, he had to oblige too because believe it or not, that tough guy, who would do anything to complete any job given to him by Kovalev, has fallen so hard that he’s not even seeing anything beyond Natalie anymore. For an insanely private person like Sevastyan, it’s a lot to take him. It’s becoming harder for him each day to contain what he feels for her. Knowing that she wants the same thing only makes Sevastyan’s volatile emotions to go haywire because he can’t grasp just what to do or how to deal with any of it.

It was a long history of ‘whys’ and ‘hows’, but Natalie was finally settling in her father’s gigantic estate, Berezka, when tragedy strikes. By then, she was plighted to Sevastyan though she wasn’t sure wants something that permanent with him. Yes, he makes her blood boil. It’s as if his eyes are always glued to her every movement and Natalie loves every minute of Sevastyan but can this be something serious? Natalie also knew of the dangers plaguing Kovalev, though mostly snippets. But never did she imagine that she’d have to lose her father, again... and so soon. Because Sevastyan was there that she was saved from the murderer’s bullet.

After that, it felt inevitable that they had to be together. Natalie surrenders to Sevastyan, knowing he’s her last hope. It was also what Kovalev wished for them. They escape to Paris together and start living in one of Sevastyan’s apartments. They’ve also, sort of, consummated their relationship in the middle as it provided the kind of physical and emotional support they needed to weather the grief and shock. At least Natalie can vouch for herself.

Again, she has a life of luxury, with bonus, nights full of hot sex but soon, Natalie begins to feel that she’s in a gilded cage. She can’t go out alone, do anything by herself. She has to wait for Sevastyan as per his instructions. The man is stubborn to boots and you can’t make him see reasons when he’s up to something. And HE MUST BE OBEYED! Sheesh.

Natalie wants answers from Sevastyan. She wants him to open up completely. She wants a ‘real’ relationship, and this is NOT one. I didn’t think so either. Above all, Natalie wants to be Sevastyan’s partner in everything. She has interest in BDSM and wants to be the one Sevastyan turns to to fulfill his needs. Since he isn’t obliging her, Natalie begins to fear that one day he’ll stray, breaking her heart in the process. Impatient and frustrated when the stubborn oaf won’t listen to her, Natalie puts her foot down. She threatens to leave, something so unimaginable to Sevastyan that he retaliates in anger. But then he suddenly appears to have been considering her demands (finally!). He makes a plan to introduce Natalie to BDSM. For Natalie, this seems like a big step. Maybe they’re making progress after all! On the proposed night, Sevastyan takes her to a sex club, somewhere he has been many times before to see if she can indeed handle or stomach his kinda fun.... Whoa there! I was stunned, as for me it was completely unexpected! It ruined my fun but most of all, when Part 2 ended, Natalie was about to get the surprise of her life.........

... which didn’t work for me either. It was an orgy that Sevastyan asks her to witness. No, they won’t be taking part (Sevastyan doesn’t share what he deems his, which Natalie undoubtedly is) but they’d watch, together, hidden away. Natalie thinks ‘oh, I’ve watched a lot of porn so this is nothing’. Really????! Watching porn and watching a real life orgy is the same thing? *blank stare* I was pretty much rolling my eyes at that point.

Soon though, I began to see the deal though. Natalie was trying to deflate Sevastyan’s ‘told-you-so’s. It was obvious that he wanted her to give up, which Natalie wouldn’t, not if she wants to fight for their relationship. So she sticks there till the end, doing what Sevastyan asked of her, experiencing his dominant side in full action. I would say it was HOT, almost, if only all those things were done in private. I ended up skimming a large portion of that scene cause it didn’t feel right to me. Call this ‘the down moment #1’ for me.

Down moment #2 was the so-called ‘dating story exchange’ or some such thing. What Natalie wanted was to discuss Sevastyan’s ‘past experiences’ with BDSM... Umm, I’ll pass. I’m glad he did a lot of ‘practice’ but I don’t want to hear/read about the specifics, thank you.

After that, when Natalie thinks they’re going somewhere, this time Sevastyan turns 180. At night, he’s Natalie’s dream lover but at daytime, he’s cold and distant. In bed, they are a match made in heaven. Apart from that, there’s nothing that she can call a ‘relationship’. Natalie can’t envision a future if things keep on going this way.

And this whole mess becomes THE ISSUE as Sevastyan keeps evading all of Natalie’s efforts and questions. At one point, I really wanted her to leave him just to tick him off, I was that annoyed with him. So when his ‘brother’ Maksim stops by suddenly, Natalie is furious because Sevastyan told Natalie that he has no family left. More so when it was apparent that he doesn’t want her to know anything about his family at all. When this is the state of their relationship, what can she expect from him? More lies? I wish Natalie was given the chance to at least move to the States but unfortunately, that wasn’t going to be. She packs some stuff and runs, only to find herself caught by Sevastyan at the airport. Because she didn’t want to make a scene and she knew he’d harm anyone coming between them, something that’d obviously land him land in prison, Natalie is comes back with him. She realizes that no matter what, she doesn’t want her Siberian hurt.

Then comes another sex scene, down moment no #3. Could’ve been a hot scene but it wasn’t for me. I skimmed it too...... I wasn’t interested in whatever he did to her. It felt wrong just as the sex club and the orgy.

Right afterwards, Natalie breaks down in tears. And Sevastyan panics like a baby. He’s confused, thinking he probably has gone too far this time. But that’s not what was it all about. Natalie feels trapped in a situation she doesn’t think she can handle anymore, let alone control. Hell, she doesn’t control any aspect of her life anymore, thanks to the sexy buffoon she lives with and has fallen for! She can’t leave Sevastyan, yet she doesn’t know if he’ll ever trust her with even a little bit of himself. When he’s still so closed up after everything they’ve been through together, what future can they have?

For him, the urge brought on by this whole encounter leaves Sevastyan dumbfounded. When he asks Natalie rather desperately what he can do to help her, she, again, tells him to confide in her. It was kinda adorable to see him so confused, not knowing what to do because he never wanted to see Natalie crying, definitely not because of him. Most importantly, the urge to actually tell her every ‘deep and dark’ secret of his life, secrets that so far, he was sure he’d take to his grave, was overwhelming. Thankfully, Sevastyan realizes that if he really wants a future with her, he can’t have any secrets anymore.

With Natalie’s soft encouragement, Sevastyan finally begins sharing the sordid details of how a rich man’s eldest son, Roman, became this street kid and then, a mafiya enforcer. For all intent and purpose, he was given a nobleman’s education but one night, he was forced to do something to save his brothers Maksim and Dimitri’s lives, which changed the course of his own. Roman didn’t have anyone to help him out. He has been alone and this molded his personality. He became a loner, used to shouldering his own burdens... until Natalie. I was saddened to know he was abused too before Kovalev found him. But what I found compelling the most would have to be the shame radiating from Sevastyan the whole time, making his reluctance beforehand even more logical than it was to me before. I could see why he’d never want these to be revealed, especially to a woman he loves and wants to keep for the rest of his life. With someone he’s willing to make a family with. I’m sure the thought crossed Sevastyan’s mind the moment his eyes landed on Natalie, though things for them haven’t been easy or pleasant. It broke my heart when it was apparent that he became wired to expect disgust and subsequent rejection. I’m pretty sure it would’ve destroyed him if that was the case. I saw it when he kept telling Natalie as he was bringing her back from the airport that she must understand that he’d never let her go. It’s just not possible.

Thankfully, Natalie would’ve never rejected him, let alone feeling disgusted. Shocked maybe but that’s all. But she had to assure her Siberian that she had already accepted him just as he is. Their lives are now indeed intertwined forever.
I whispered, “You let me in.”
He could only nod.
“Please don’t shut me out again. As long as you talk to me, I’ll never leave you.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes.”

*sigh*

Natalie wanted Sevastyan’s trust but she didn’t think he’d surrender to her too. It made me happy that they finally found a common ground and was heading towards a future together.

In conclusion I must say that, although the story didn’t progress how I envisioned after I finished Part 1, I don’t regret reading The Professional at all. I got to have a taste of KC’s writing. I LOVED the Sexy Oaf way too much and enjoyed reading his antics. I’m now waiting for Maksim’s book that is supposed to be released on... *tada* my birthday next year. LOL I just hope Natalie’s annoying friend is not paired with any of these sexy brothers. Last I heard of her, she’s coming to live in Berezka. *shudders* I’ll have to give that one a pass, which would be such a waste!

3.5 stars for this installment.

0 comments:

Post a Comment

◈Thank you for visiting :)◈



My Favorite Quotes

My Photo
Punya
I love to read in my spare time and do reviews the books I read. My blog Punya Reviews just turned 6 in 2017 and still going strong. I love music and traveling. Sometimes, I wish I could live inside a book, having my own HEA. :)
View my complete profile