Mastered

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Breathless Trilogy comes the first novel in the Enforcers series—a bold new direction in erotic romance that explores the games men and women play, and the price they’re willing to pay for pleasure.
What he wants, he takes with no remorse or guilt.
She stood out in his club like a gem, unspoiled and untouched. A lamb among wolves, she clearly didn’t belong. Drawn to her innocence he watched as she was surrounded by men who saw what he did—but no one but him could touch her. He summoned her to his private quarters. He sensed her fear. He also recognized the desire in her eyes. And he knew she wouldn’t leave before he possessed her. She had no need to know his secrets. Not until he had her under his complete and utter control.
What he wants, she isn’t sure she can give him.
The moment he told her want he wanted, she couldn’t resist. Instinct told her to run, but her heart said stay and walk the fine line between pleasure and pain. Though she wasn’t sure she could ever completely surrender, the primal part of her wanted to try, even knowing this man could break her in ways she never imagined. Because once he possessed her, he owned her and it would be too late to turn back. She can only pray that he doesn’t destroy her in the end.
Coming May 2016: The Enforcers Book II: Dominated

I have quite of few of Maya Banks’ books in my bookcase, but unfortunately I’ve never read any of them. Berkley sent me a copy of Maya Banks’ new series, The Enforcers, and I couldn’t wait to read the first book.

Unfortunately, I was having all kinds of problems reading Mastered, but don’t get me wrong I did enjoy some parts of the story. It just took me a bit to finish the book, which is why I didn’t finish it in time to post my review on the release date.

Mastered introduces an heroine, Evangeline, who tended to get on my nerves throughout the story. She kept mentioning that she wasn’t beautiful and she considered herself average throughout the story. In comes the very dominant, Drake, who tells her often that she’s short-changing herself, and she’s absolutely beautiful and everyone would want to be her. Yup…this went throughout the story and I wanted the heroine to finally agree with Drake because it was annoying at times.

First off, let me start off by mentioning how Evangeline ended up in the world of Drake. She shouldn’t have ended up in Drake’s club, but her friends forced her to go to prove to her ex she was worth it. Drake doesn’t like having women like Evangeline in his club and he noticed her right away. She’s innocent, sweet, and an angel, who’s about to get eaten by the wolves. Drake wants her and he basically gets whatever he wants.

Evangeline is about to lose her normal life to Drake’s world, which I found unbelievable. Most of the story was dealing with Evangeline’s insecurities and Drake’s dominance over Evangeline. He kind of was a jerk. I didn’t like him much. I liked his men instead. I enjoyed finding out about his friends/bouncers, Silas, Justice, etc. They tended to be there more with Evangeline and taking care of her.

The ending is what pissed me off the most though. Drake’s real colors came out, but I really loved how Evangeline handled it. There is a cliffhanger though, so be prepared.

What did I like about Mastered: the secondary characters, like I mention before, how Evangeline handled the ending with Drake, and how Evangeline handled her friends. Evangeline still needs to grow though and Drake needs to get over himself.

I will read the next book in the series because I want to know where Maya will take the characters, Drake and Evangeline next in their relationship.

Mastered does have quite a bit of sex scenes between Drake and Evangeline. I think most of the scenes between them, involves more sex than anything else. BDSM is involved in the book, plus one particular scene involves something I’ve never read before in other erotic romances. I feel for Evangeline because she’s one strong person to do what she did for Drake.

Overall, this story gets 3 stars for me. It wasn’t my cup of tea at times, but I’m glad I finally got to read a book from Maya Banks. Even though it wasn’t my cup of tea, it maybe someone else’s cup of tea.  🙂

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About Maya Banks

Maya Banks is the #1 New York Times, #1 USA Today and international bestselling author of over 50 novels. A wife and mother of three, she lives in Texas.

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FranJessca

Owner/Reviewer at A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog

I guess I should type a bio here. I'm FranJessca, or Fran for short. I'm the owner/reviewer behind A Book Lovin' Mama's Blog. I've been reading and reviewing books on my blog since leaving the Navy in 2011, and I will keep doing it as long as possible. My favorite genres will always be Romance & Fantasy, and I read every subgenre underneath those two genres. (Sorry, not a fan of nonfiction, so don't try to convince me to read it.)
My obsession with reading started over 30+ years ago when I went to my first Scholastic Book Fair and found R.L. Stine's Fear Street series. Later, I came across Anne Rice's novels at my public library when I was fourteen when my obsession with vampires started. I was the girl who preferred to be a vampire over a princess any day. My husband says I would leave him a heartbeat for a vampire that looked like Spike or Angel (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) or Damon Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries. (It's true, though, and he's accepted it.)

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