Narrated by Kimberly Alexis
Catarina Marín is on the run and at the end of her rope. She has to be, considering she is taking the elevator to sleep with a stranger for money. The other jobs she has are no longer enough to keep her hiding or pay for the classes she needs for her degree. She’s not sure if she should thank her housecleaning client for suggesting this or kill her. Just when Cat has changed her mind, the elevator opens to the Penthouse suite and a sophisticated man who has danger written all over him. And when he speaks with a Russian accent, her mind goes from I can’t do this to when do I get started!
His name is Maksimilian Sevastyan and he wants to do things to Cat that no good Catholic girl should do. Things like tie her up, spank her, take her to the edge of submission. but not touch her. However, this isn’t Cat’s style. It’s no longer about the money; she’s going to show this uptight Russian her way of having fun. And have him begging by the end of the evening.
I adore Kresley Cole. For me, her characters are consistently diverse in personality and the adventures she puts them through have been highly entertaining. However, with The Master, I am not as thrilled with the characterization. It has a Pretty Woman vibe to it although Cat is technically not a hooker. I love that movie and enjoy the similarity but overall this book felt like an overly idealized rom. I enjoyed the sassiness of Cat and the dark and dangerous edge of Maksim but they are characters too good to be true. Maksim in particular feels contrived; for all that he was a Russian gangster (a word notorious for dangerous and extremely violent actions), he says and does all the right things to Cat. He doesn’t hurt her physically; he chases after her when she leaves; he gives her money when she does and doesn’t ask for it. Maybe if part of the story had been from his perspective, I would have a better grasp of his character and appreciate why he is acting so out of the (gangster) character.
Kimberly Alexis is a new-to-me narrator but her performance in The Master leads me to believe this won’t be the last time I listen to her. She has a range of accents to bring to life – Russian men, Spanish, Ukrainian, American – and she does a good job with them all. Maksim has an appropriately Russian sounding accent that would get heavier with great emotion and lighter during moments he was laying down the law. It got a bit difficult to tell him from his brother (also Russian) when they were in conversation together but this happened only a few times so it wasn’t a major issue.
Alexis’ choice for Cat wasn’t my favorite however. Don’t get me wrong, I think Alexis does a great job bringing Cat to life with an authentic sounding Spanish accent. It is that particular accent that grated on my nerves at times. It mostly occurred when she was yelling in Spanish during the smexy bits but considering the number of instances the smexy times rolled out, it was quite a chunk of the book. Props to Alexis for keeping these moments of narration from seeming hilarious and fake. I never felt Alexis wasn’t taking each part of the book seriously and doing each scene wholeheartedly.
Diana
Narration: B
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: For your burning ears only (and then some!)
Violence: Escalated fighting
Genre: Contemporary Romance/Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
The Master was provided to AudioGals by Simon & Schuster Audio for review.
