The Master by Kresley Cole
The Master
Author: Kresley Cole
Genre: Romance
Date: 10 August 2021
Rating: 3 stars
Review: Sometimes you just want to curl up with a romance novel starring attractive characters getting up to antics that get you hot and bothered. This book hits the mark.
The Master is the story of Cat Marin, aka Lucia Martinez, who is on the run from her husband because he wants to kill her. Sassy Latina Cat has a few rules she lives by in order to survive and one of them is to change cities every six months and it is time for her to leave Miami. In a desperate attempt to get some funds before the shift she decides to take her friend Ivanna’s place and keep an appointment with a Russian client with a taste for blonde escorts. Enter brooding and - in the words of the book - DDG (Drop Dead Gorgeous) Maksimilian Sevastyan who is disappointed by her dark looks for only about two seconds before the two get dirty. Add in the Russian mafia and a healthy dose of BDSM and you have a explosive book in your hands.
The book is filthy. Reading it in public is not recommended. But oh god it is so much fun. It has all the tropes possible and in any other book I would have flagged the problematic elements of the plot but The Master does not attempt to be anything other than what it is: a smutty, romance with characters meant to bring to life your wildest fantasies. I would be a hypocrite if I pointed out problems with it when that’s what I sought out in the first place. If I had one thing to complain about it would be the way Spanish is sprinkled through the first half of the book because it is the epitome of a monolingual author trying to write a bilingual character, but even that gets better as the book progresses.
The female character is obviously in need of protection. The male character is obviously the only one that can provide that kind of protection. Miscommunication and secrets are the only reasons for the big fight right before the climax. Both of them are appropriately haunted by their dark past. And the only thing that saves them is each other and crazy, marathon sex. (I mean, these guys have some stamina.) Take everything that you read in this book with a pinch of salt. But then lie back with some wine, or coffee, and enjoy the wild romp. And if you really enjoy it there are two more books, following equally messed up Sevastyan brothers, in the series.