How Russians Stay Warm in Winter

"It was a renovated train station housing galleries of famous French impressionists and other artists of the period. 
Van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhone, my favorite of them all, was . . . here."

--Kresley Cole, The Professional

Genre: Adult Contemporary Erotica

Publisher: Gallery Books

Pages: 464

Publication Date: November 25th, 2014

Source: Borrowed from library

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Previous Books in Series: First book in series

Goodreads Description

The highly anticipated complete novel of The Professional--the first installment in #1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley Cole's scorching Game Maker series, an erotica collection that has readers asking: How hot is too hot?


Meet the Professional.
Mafiya 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, Aleksandr will do anything to possess her as well--on his own wicked terms.


He makes the rules.
Grad student Natalie Porter has barely recovered from her first encounter with the dark and breathtaking Siberian when he whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures.


In the game of obsession, two players are better than one.
Yet all is not as it seems. To remove Natalie from an enemy's reach, Aleksandr spirits her into hiding. From an opulent palace in Russia to the decadent playgrounds of the mega-rich in Paris, the two lovers tempt each other's boundaries to discover whether their darkest--and most forbidden--fantasies really can come true....

Riddle me this, Batman. How is it that there existed a sexy book series about hot Russian men in the mafiya that I didn’t know about…right?!? Inconceivable!! I saw The Master on NetGalley and it was the author’s name that initially made me click on it because Betty has been telling me to read a book by her forever. So I click, see it’s the second book in a series about men in the Russian mafiya…checkout out the Professional…binge read it…and am a MUCH happier girl for it. Eeep!! Here we go!

I loved The Professional. Love love loved. The book opens with Natalie at a bar showing off her analyzing skills which was hilarious. She’s never really felt drawn to any man so because of that she still has her V card. in walks, a tall, dark and (fucking sexy as all fuck) handsome man. She goes to talk to him, he blatantly rejects her (ouch…dick), only to find him later in her apartment and whisking her off to Russia because (surprise!) she’s the daughter of a vor aka Russian mob boss. Sevastyan and Natalie are extremely attracted to each other (a little bit of duh and a little bit of obvious eye roll) but he’s scared of taking advantage of her. SO we go to Russia, she meets her biological father, and her and Sevastyan are part of the will they or won’t they, are they or aren’t they variety show.

That’s all I’m revealing on plot. SO! I loved this. I said that. I loved Natalie and Sevastyan because they are snarky and hot and keep each other on their toes at all times. Natalie is freaking awesome. She strives to maintain a cool head about her blinding attraction to Sevastyan and be the strong and independent woman she normally is so her internal monologue of thoughts in regards to throwing all that shit out the window and dry humping his leg (basically) is hilarious. I loved this juxtaposition of her personality because I could see myself thinking and doing the same things in a similar postion. Sevastyan is a whole other beast. He has a past that we are not privy to which pisses Natalie off and therein lies the majority of their relationship woes.

Their fire hot courtship was intense. Without spoiling the plot I absolutely adored Sevastyan’s journey into their relationship. I loved that Natalie didn’t let him get away with anything. She pushes him in all the right ways and doesn’t stop until he relents and boy is he stubborn. Their sexual relationship takes a turn for the BDSM which I did NOT see coming at all and I LOVED it!! I love this underground dark world of sexuality and having read books about this before, Cole did an amazing job of depicting the psyche behind somebody like Sevastyan.

The plot—I loved. I loved the Russian mafiya situation and how her father doesn’t fit into the typical mob boss role. Their interactions were some of my absolute favorites. They are adorable and charming and heart warming and I wish I had so much of them together. Sevastyan’s relationship with her father, too, made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The setting of the Russian winter was vivid and alive right before my eyes. I am biased when it comes to Russian settings but STILL, it felt authentic and real and I want to (yet again) book a flight there immediately. Maybe not in winter, even I’m not that much of a masochist.

I absolutely loved reading this book. I did not want to put it down! It was snarky, intense, vivid imagery, and loaded with vicious and scary Russian men. Rawr.

I loved how their romance unfolded even if I thought Natalie was a little bag of mixed signals at times. She is all gung ho on getting with Sevastyn no matter what and then when she gets him she doesn’t want to commit. I get it because there are other factors involved with committing but still, I felt like she sent him mixed signals a lot of the time. That’s my only gripe though and it’s a small one.

Backstage Pass

If you like erotica, complex characters, dark sexuality, and Russian winters…this book is for you.