Mastered (The Enforcers)

I loved this book. I found the characters realistic and complex. (and HAWT). The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is because it's not finished... It's a CLIFF HANGER with a follow-up book.

This story continues in another book which does not come out until May. I would recommend waiting for the next book to come out before reading this one because it is too good a story to have to wait for.

I hate cliffhangers!!!! the start was slow going then Bang!!! Now I have to wait for the second book which is going to be release May 2016. This is the first time I read one of Maya Banks' book with a cliffhanger. Ugh!!!!!

This ebook was well plotted. The story line reminded me of Cinderella with friends who were evil stepsisters and a prince whose soul and actions were as black as the night ( no charming light prince in this story ) Cinderella, I mean Evangeline, better known as angel the submissive, went from sweet shy innocent to full kinky BDSM in light speed from the moment she saw her dark Prince. And he really relished bringing her into the darkness. Why she let Drake do that to her (love is no excuse to give up your independence and self worth) I have no idea. If you like dark stories with lots of kink this is for you.

Once again Maya Banks wrote another must-read. I could not put this book down. Once again she has given another great book and made sure to keep it exciting, steamy and wondering what might happen next on each and every page!!

I literally stayed up all night reading this book - it was that good! But I now I am so royally pissed off with the cliff hanger ending and frustrated that part 2 won't be out until May and disgusted by Drake 's betrayal that I wish I had not read this book. Ugh!!!!!! Now I have to find a way to resolve these intense feelings on my own. No doubt I'll be dreaming about these characters until I can settle the conflict satisfactorily in my own imagination although it's doubtful I will be able to find an acceptable resolution!

I was a little skeptical about getting this book but I have enjoyed Maya Banks books in the past. I should have listened to that skepticism. I felt like there was a lot of repetitive discussion without actual character development. The writing also felt very underdeveloped and not what I have come to expect from this author. What put the final nail in the coffin of disappointment is that this is not a standalone novel but in fact looks like a three part story.

This review is actually painful for me to write. Why? Because I used to love this author. I adored her Sweet series, and her early KGI series, so I know what she's capable of. This book? I felt like I was reading an entirely different author. I never thought I'd read a worse take on D/s than FSoG, but this took the cake. I kept reading in the hopes that it'll get better, and regretted that fully when I finished. Also the mere fact that the term of endearment; angel, is used almost 200 times had my eye twitching the entire time. Allow me to really break down my thought process here, and in doing so, this will contain spoilers. It can't be helped. Since I still can't form coherent thoughts on everything that didn't work for me, let's do this in the form of a quiz. I'll give you 2 scenarios along with my reaction and let you be the judge.

--> You're a special snowflake that's idealistic and super sweet. After holding on to your v card until you finally gave to a "worthy man" who then proceeds to unceremoniously dump you, you're heartbroken. Your friends say the best thing to do is to dress up in your best duds, go to an exclusive club BY YOURSELF, and show him what he's missing.
Your reactions is:
A. Demean yourself thoroughly because you're nothing special and shouldn't have even tried to get a man, but go anyway.
B. Allow your girlfriends to dress you up and then go out drinking somewhere TOGETHER.
My reaction: Your loss, buddy!

--> You go to said club and get accosted by your d-nozzle of an ex and borderline assaulted by him. The mysterious owner of the club (Drake) that saw all this on his monitors calls you up to his office and has his bodyguards come down to escort you.
You:
A. Go up there because you're completely subservient, see the owner and realize how hot he is and then allow him to service you on his desk barely a hot minute after entering his office.
B. Go up there then kindly thank the owner for his offer of cunn!l!ngu$ but tell him you won't let him near your special oyster without at least knowing his medical clearance, sp@nk you very much.
My reaction: Get down with your dirty self, you special snowflake

--> After the hot encounter, Drake demands to see you again but doesn't bother asking you. He tells you that you will be at his house tomorrow at 7. When you don't show up because you have to work, he sends his bodyguard to bring you to him after your shift ends at 4am.
You:
A. Go with them because it'd be rude not to.
B. Flip the guard the bird then proceed to your bed because it's 4 am!
My reaction: Hello? Police?

--> Drake tells you that he wants to be your your complete submission (read: lord and master ) without doubt, question, or knowing F$%^-all about him. He wants you to quit work, he will financially support your struggling parents, buy you a house and give you two million dollars. All after meeting him once.
Your reaction:
A. Put up a half-hearted attempt to argue but give in anyway because there's just something about the way he makes you feel.
B. Tell him you'll take his 2 mil and promise not to report his a$$ to the police.
My reaction: Is this like that pretty woman thing?

-->Your Drake (read: Lord and Master) has lots of bodyguards. They're all broody and intimidating, so you..
A. Make them cupcakes and make them all fall in love with you because you're such a speeshul snowflake and they can't help but fall for your self-depreciating, idealistic and naive ways.
B. Wonder what the heck it is that Drake does that he needs so many men guarding him.
My reaction: I have none at this point because I give up.

Your best friends are (rightfully) concerned about your quick capitulation. After you drop everything including your home where you live with your roommates and your job, one of them visits you and proceeds to interrogate Drake and his intentions and threaten him to never hurt you. Your reaction is:
A. Dress them down because how dare they slightly insult one of the bodyguards you just met three minutes ago. And also, how dare they not be happy for you and question your questionable and naive decision making. How. Dare. They?!
B. Think that clearly you have bad@$$ friends and you had a moment of insanity then follow them home.
My reaction: *judging you*

SPOILER ALERT
Your Lord and Master Drake decides to bring in a total stranger to have the $eX with you while he watches because that's his will and he's convinced you'd enjoy it. You've never met or heard of this man.
You...
A. Hop on the bed and spread your legs while waxing poetically inside your mind about how wonderful Drake is and secretly enjoy the encounter.
B. Slap the $***out of Drake, kick the stranger in the b@lls and make a run for it.
My reaction: None. Just....none.

You still have no clue about who Drake is, what he does for a living, or really any tiny detail about him. So you...
A. Give him your unwavering trust while telling him you hope to earn his eventually.
B. Begin to question stuff because you're normal and not a speeshul snowflake.
My reaction: I GIVE UP!!!!!!

Now if you answered mostly A, congratulations, you're the heroine. If that's something you can look past you'd likely enjoy the book. If you answered mostly B's, odds are this book will be painful for you to read. If you're me, by now you want to want to unread everything you just experienced.

Maya's characters have become almost caricatures of themselves as of late. They're either over the top, ridiculously domineering or bad @$$, or they're speeshul snowflakes that are so idealistic and naive they make you want to peel your own skin off and throw it at something. Mastered is the perfect example of that. There was nothing hot about the hero. For me, there's a very clear line between $exy and dominant and plain old domineering and controlling. He wants to own the heroine minutes after meeting her and she's just dandy with that. And that's not even touching the ridiculous D/s element of their relationship. As for the ending? I have no words. None. Will I be reading the next book? NO. That ending was enough to put me off this series. And as for this author? I think sadly it's time we broke up. I've loved her early work but none of her recent releases have been the same. I kept waiting for the same Maya Banks that I came to love in years past, but after 2 starring the last 3 books I read by her I think it's time to wave the white flag of defeat.

I apologize for my long winded review, but I couldn't help myself. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to try to forget everything I just read...

The main character Evangeline was beyond naïve and she did not progress or gain intelligence as the story progressed. What did she do each day while waiting for Drake to come home? Silas is a character I want to learn more about. Evangeline and Drake bored me to tears. What a waste of money. They could have given this away and I still would have been disappointed.

Seriously? Drake sees Evangeline as nothing more than an object to care for and receive absolute submission from. "Dominance, Angel. And your submission. Your complete and utter submission. In all things, but especially in my bed. You don't deny me anything. What I want, I take. What I choose to give, I give. You don't have a choice, and you don't get to tell me no. Ever."

DNF 24%

I can't possibly finish this book. The quote you see above was the final straw for me. I am all about alpha males being protective and dominance in the bedroom but, for me, it needs to be a mutual agreement based on trust and respect for each other. That is not at all what this "relationship" between Drake and Evangeline is at all.

Evangeline is fresh off a really bad break up from a royal prick. I can understand her trying to work through self esteem issues and needing a confidence boost. What I don't understand is the whiplash between having zero confidence (which is brought up numerous times in the little bit I read) to all of a sudden standing up to one of Drakes men, only to go back to complete submission and thinking so little of herself.

Then she freaks out on one of her very best friends when she comes looking for Evangeline since she didn't come home from the end of her shift at the bar (which ended at 4 a.m.) because one of Drakes men was waiting for her outside to take her directly to Drake. Or in Evangeline's words, kidnap her, since she was taken against her will. Evangeline acts as though she is suffering from Stockholm syndrome after a single full conversation with Drake. Who has just demanded that Evangeline live with him and be his pet after meeting her twice. Which leads to the following quote above and is where I stopped.

I hate talking bad about a book, but I feel like this one here is exactly what gives the erotica and romance genre a bad name. This relationship is not ok. I believe I have an open mind about the many different avenues that a relationship can take but kidnapping and then demanding a woman to become a possession is just too far for me.

23-year-old Evangeline is your typical shy, innocent, almost-virgin.
Her idiot ex Eddie dumped her cruelly after telling her she totally sucks in bed...and not in a good way.
Her friends/room-mates want her to win back some confidence - to show Eddie what he threw away - so they send her to the in-club in Manhattan IMPULSE --- a club owned by Drake Donovan!

Drake.
He's your typical dominant, dark, hottie millionaire.
He doesn't have time for girlfriends, or love or any other stupid s***.
He controls his life 100 percent. In and out of the bedroom.
As soon as Evangeline entered his club, his eyes were on her.
And once her ex Eddie started making a scene, hurting Evangeline, Drake sent his security team to get rid of him. And to bring this gorgeous girl to him.
He's fascinated.
She doesn't belong in his world. But he wants to make her his.
And even though the night ends very sexy, Evangeline will not just stop her life and be his 'Angel' from now on...or will she??
Can she give up her life, stop working to support her sick parents, and just be this hot guy's plaything?
Or does Drake want more than just someone available for sex 24/7???

What will happen to Evangeline & Drake?
Will there be a HEA?
Will there be a horrible Cliffy??
Will everybody survive???
____________________________________

I really enjoyed the story.
It was nothing new of course.
(And if I remember correctly, Maya wrote kind of the same stories in her Breathless series??)

The dominant guy - the poor innocent girl.
BUT - those are the stories we love. The cinderalla romances.
And even though there were some pretty unbelievable/weird moments in MASTERED for me - I still enjoyed it. I wanted to know if Drake and his Angel would get their HEA at the end... well - the end of the series... we still won't know after this book :/ #Cliffy

What's been a problem for me with Maya's books for a few years now.... she just writes too many words.
She does horrible redundant repeats. When she lets people talk or think, it can add up to half a page for one thought or argument, that's just too long - it would be ok if it was important stuff they're saying, but most of that is repetition and unnecassary stuff. I don't know why Maya doesn't have an editor who's really good at his job and is willing to cut some of the redundant words??? Please someone DO THAT for the next books.
(The last KGI book I read - Hancock's story - I was sooo looking forward to it, but couldn't read it - I only read the conversations so that I knew what was happening - why make a 600 pages book, when you can say the same - and better - in 400 pages??)
Also - the way they talk in this book - it felt a bit like they time-traveled from 1800 England.
Maya uses very weird and so horribly webster-ish senctences. I didn't like that at all. I hope you'll know what I mean when you read it. I can't really express what I mean extactly :/

BUT.... to my surprise....

► Mastered was a really erotic and moving and funny and adorable book in a series about a very rich, mysterious, dominant millionaire hottie and his innocent Angel. If you love erotic Cinderella Romances - GO AND BUY IT!!!!

Now hurry Maya, I need to know what will happen in book #2 '

I'm going to preface this review by acknowledging how painful it is to write. Maya Banks's KGI series is one of my favorite romantic suspense series ever, so I was over the moon when given the opportunity to give her newest trilogy, The Enforcers, a shot.

Unfortunately, I have almost nothing good to say about Mastered, the first installment. I can't bash it completely or discredit her as an author because I know what she's capable of, but Mastered is a cheap, clichéd Fifty Shades knockoff, featuring even more despicable characters and written in as equally ridiculous writing style.

Mastered begins with Evangeline (literally, "angel") stuck in a wonderfully stupid scenario: her best friends/roommates collectively dolling her up for a night at Impulse, the most exclusive and expensive club in all of New York; of course, this is accompanied by some of the worst monologues of vain, gratuitous compliment barf I've ever read. And of course, Evangeline bats these "you're sooooo hot" statements away—the innocent, doe-eyed, clueless saint she is:

[She] shook her head, utterly baffled. "You guys are crazy. I'm a twenty-three-year-old recently ex-virgin who's as gauche as they. I'm barely off the farm and have a southern drawl that makes New Yorkers roll their eyes and want to pat me on the head and say, 'Well, bless your heart.'"

Because we couldn't just have a flawless bombshell main character; we needed a completely un-self-realized idiot bombshell main character.

This huge night at Impulse is solely for the purpose of riling up her abusive ex-boyfriend, Eddie, whom they know will be at the club that night, to "show him what he missed out on." As if that isn't immature enough, her friends are sending her alone, via taxi, because they only have one VIP pass among the five of them. Already, this is sounding like a bad teen rom-com, because there has to be a punchline to it. But there isn't. A girl alone in a shady club to confront her maniacal [donkey] ex? At least her friends are looking out for her safety.

The owner of Impulse, of course, is the predatory, unstable, neurotic Drake Donovan, who isn't only strong, tall, and handsome, but also rich, powerful, mean, and dominant in every which way, including in the bedroom. Oooh. Drake notices Evangeline standing out in Impulse like a sore thumb (hello? She's completely insecure and alone!) and it's love at first sight. He knows she's different, worth fighting for, etc. Just by looking at her from afar.

My immediate problem with Drake was not his all-encompassing dominant personality, but his utter lack of reason or manners. Yes, he's obviously a Dom who gets whatever he wants because he knows he can, but at the expense of treating others disrespectfully and being a temperamental [donkey] overall. Drake treats any woman who isn't Evangeline like garbage, with very little forethought that goes into his infuriating thoughts and actions. Not sexy, not cute. Normally I would have powered on, but when Drake pretty much sexually assaults Evangeline upon their first meeting—yes, first—and it's supposed to be a sexy scene, but is so poorly written that it wouldn't have been sexy anyway, I knew at that moment that I couldn't give this book more than 1 star. It was just too outrageous (unrealistic, weird, strangely and coarsely executed) for me to continue.

I stopped reading completely when Drake, upon their second meeting, offers Evangeline a magical, optimistic solution to her current woes, including a new place to live (for free), complete responsibility over her financial worries, as well as her family's, and her roommates' (since they will be short one person's portion of rent if Evangeline moves in with him, after all), AND spoil her materialistically. ...What? Literally, he spits out one paragraph saying all this and I knew I was done.

I wish I could tell you that it gets better, or the characters get some sense knocked into them, or the intimate scenes improve, but alas, 100 or so pages in, I was faced with the same frustrating, static story, so I gave up. I don't know how the book ends, other than that there's a cliffhanger ending since the sequel, Dominated, is a direct continuation of Mastered—which I find distressing—so I can't comment on the broader story elements, such as the climax or ending. I have very little motivation to find out however, and when I finally put this book down, I was overcome with a giant wave of relief.

Pros: I thought I was a Maya Banks fan before this—it's really making me rethink my position though // Intriguing (albeit unoriginal) plot that had potential

Cons: Everything else. Every single thing.

Verdict: A nasty "hero," a moronic heroine, unintentionally comical dialogue, and a ludicrous storyline all litter this first installment of The Enforcers. Full of clichéd scenes, overused phrases, and a completely unoriginal and unappealing plot, Mastered is not Maya Banks's best work. Not only did I find the story intolerable, but also the writing unrefined and unseasoned. I'm sure there are authors out there who could have made even this smutty, absurd plot work, but Banks is not one of them. I cannot recommend Mastered to any audience—even romance and erotica lovers won't find much to enjoyment in this—and I'm glad I didn't bother finishing it; reading this was ever only bad for my blood pressure.

Rating: 2 out of 10 hearts (1 star): A lost cause for me, although it may not be for others; did not finish and did not enjoy.

Source: Complimentary copy provided by publicist in exchange for an honest and unbiased review (thank you, Sullivan and Partners!).

Spoilers

I've read about 9 Maya Banks books before this one. Loved them all. So it's been a couple years since I read Maya, last series being The Sweet series, and before that Rush, Burn, and Fever. This didn't even feel like it was written by the same person!

Evangeline- what the ever loving hell? She was the worst, and I mean absolute worst, annoying, stupid, self doubting heroine I have ever read. It is shoved down our throats the ENTIRE book that she sees herself as nothing special, not pretty, nothing over the top...and why? We are never really given any insight as to why she feels like this, only that she does. And I realize she has diarrhea of the mouth, but if she looked at the ground one more time like a sad puppy dog and told one of Drake's men that she was nothing great, I was gonna vomit. And naturally every time she says something like this, every single one of them gets narrowed eyes and a tick in their alpha jaw, and become so pissed off that this beautiful angel would think that way, blah blah...And by the way, how many books are we gonna have a heroine nicknamed Angel? I mean, I know her name was Evangeline, but geeze. She was way too insecure and weak for my liking. There's a scene in the story where she becomes frightened and accidentally drops a cupcake on one of the men's pants. This brings her to near tears (gag). Her eyes become wet and shiny while her head lowers to the ground, and is only brought back up by the lifting of her chin from a complete stranger (sigh). A CUPCAKE!! Is this really the end of the world? A simple apology on her part would have sufficed just fine, I'm sure. But no, she has to be way over dramatic and earn the sympathy of every man in the room because "an angel is in distress" (gag again). Another thing that bothered me was the way she treated Zander. What the heck did he ever to do to her?? For her to tell Silas that she would prefer it if he would take her to the doctor over Zander? Right in front of Zander, no less. All because Zander made a comment about hoping she wouldn't be scared of Silas. And then another comment earlier when he says, "What are we having cupcake parties now?" That by the way, being the comment that scared poor Angel to drop the cupcake on Silas's pants, as mentioned before. I mean, did this really warrant such rude treatment from her? She's supposed to be the nicest, most understanding angel in the world after all.

Drake's dominance and pushiness to have her move in after 2 days didn't really bother me. That was the only part of the book I actually liked. That's what I thought I would be reading about. Dominance and submission. Although it was, I feel like that part was secondary. I felt it was more about Evangeline's insecurities and stupidness. And although I liked Drake, I think it was a mistake for Maya Banks to include every man that worked for him in the story. The reason being that in the end, I didn't understand what set Drake apart from the rest of the men, or what made him special or different to Evangeline, except that he was the boss. Because according to her, they were all hot, dominant, bad ass, and hopelessly in love with her. Of course she was oblivious to that last part, because nobody would ever like her that way,,,she was nothing special after all. (Eye roll.).

The last part of the story that bothered me was the end scene. Not because of what happened, (although it was such a numb skull idea on Evangeline's part), but where were some of Drake's men? None of them were there to witness Evangeline be degraded by Drake, and that just made no sense to me. He's with these dangerous men he doesn't trust, that would look for any weakness or way to stab him in the back, and he is without any of his own men? And I still don't get why he brought the bad guys to his home. I know it was made a point to explain that he wouldn't normally do it, and the fact that he is doing it disgusts him, but I still don't get why? Does he really want these men to know where he lives? Just made no sense to me. Oh well. I'm not reading the next one. I can't take any more of Evangeline's low self worth thoughts. And you know the next book is gonna be prime time "I'm a stupid nobody" with the way the end of the first book went down. So no, I'll pass. I still can't believe this was Maya Banks. I was so excited when I saw this. What a let down. :(

Good. Lord. Almighty. This is *literally* FSoG, apart from the fact that the heroine has had ONE previous, sexual encounter. Within 48 hours of having met, our "Master" Drake has completely isolated the heroine (and I use that term loosely, as she is vapid and then some) from friends, family, apartment and job. But not to worry, she still has no clue who he is, other than the fact that he wants to own her. Yeah. Suffice it to say, a female in this story, whether heroine or friend of hers, should have dialed 911 after roughly 11 minutes of meeting Drake. This can drive a previous lover of Maya Banks to drink. And weep.

3.5 stars---MASTERED is the first installment in Maya Banks’s adult, contemporary THE ENFORCERS erotic, romance series focusing on naïve and innocent Evangeline Hawthorn, and billionaire Drake Donovan.

NOTE: MASTERED contains scenes of BDSM, anal play, voyeurism, and partner sharing, and recommended for 18+ only.

Told from several third person perspectives MASTERED follows Evangeline Hawthorn as she steps out of her comfort zone and finds herself as the submissive to a man she knows nothing about. At the start of the storyline our twenty three year old heroine has been dumped by her boyfriend, after he takes her virginity, and crushes her already fragile self esteem by trying to humiliate her in an exclusive club where her roommates had pushed her to go. What ensues is a rescue of Evangeline, when her former boy friend attacks, by several handsome and distinguished body guards and associates of Drake Donovan-the owner of the club- and a man who wants to possess and own Evangeline Hawthorn.

Evangeline is an innocent; a transplant to New York City as she endeavors to earn enough money to send back home to her ill parents. She has three roommates who are over protective, so much so, that when Evangeline announces her new relationship her three friends begin to pull away leaving our heroine with no support or anyone to turn to in case of emergency. When our heroine tries to contact, she is shunned and on her own.

The relationship between Evangeline and Drake is very, very quick to build-an insta-lust scenario that is concerning and not quite believable. Evangeline is rescued by Drake and is immediately on her back succumbing to his need for oral sex. Within twenty four hours our heroine has moved into Drake’s penthouse and for all intents and purposes becomes his live in mistress with everything and anything she could ever want or wish for. But there is a caveat- our heroine’s only duty is to obey Drake Donovan in every aspect of her life.

We are introduced to several of Drake’s ‘associates’ and men he trusts with his life and the life of the woman now sharing his bed. These men, whom we know nothing about, have fallen for Evangeline’s innocent charm and angelic persona, and each shows his ‘love’ for their new charge in different ways.

I had some issues with this storyline especially Evangeline’s quick acceptance of her new life and Drake’s demands-a man we, and our heroine, know nothing about. There is very little information revealed about Drake-; not about his businesses; not about his need to dominate or his connections to the BDSM community, yet all of this plays a major role in Drake’s lifestyle. There is little to no character development to speak of. There are also too many elements missing; the backstory is virtually non-existent; the heroine acquiesces to Drake’s demands within minutes of introduction; she accedes, at all times without question, to his commands. There is never any mention about a safe word or about the roles expected of a Dom and his sub. Again, the lack of important plot information is a concern.

MASTERED is an entertaining storyline regardless of my concerns and the lack of information. The easy flow of the relationship will be destroyed by betrayal and heartbreaking pain; although not unexpected is a difficult blow to the storyline build up. MASTERED ends on a cliffhanger when a broken Evangeline must go it alone; when her heart and her soul are destroyed by the man with whom she is falling in love and she has no other choice than to walk away and never look back.

okay. wait,what? I'm legit frustrated right now. not because of a cliffhanger, though I hate those, but the storyline. Maya is better than this. way better. let me explain.

I struggled through the first 15% , legit struggled. I actually started skimming. it was way too wordy. evangeline would start self reflecting, self evaluatung, or just start over thinking in her head and just go off on tangents. this would just drag on. I started to lose focus.

Finally we have a bit of drama at the club. at this point we knowshes got no self esteem, wprth, confidence, and her back bone is hidden somewhere. We can deal with that though. drama happens and boom instant-attraction. again, fine. but the moving, taking over her life. and she's okay with it so quickly? Um...ok. movingon. This is where I felt thingsgot a little repetitive. her self esteem - we get it. she has none. it didn't need to be brought up every chapter. he's taking care of all aspects of her life- ok, again, we getit. now.... the sex. I think some of the scenarios were a little over used. and that was my frustration. the stuff that was important was like beating a dead horse.

now it picks up from 20-60% then we get wordy. then we go back to perfect flow. back to wordy. back to perfect. and that's another cause for my frustration. the whole thing didn't flow smoothly.

I have to admit i love when she would cook, and how she befriended the men. how he built her up. but that end ... really!?!?! he really said that and did that??? aaaaaannndddd were back to square one in her head ....sigh.