Review: I just can't connect the dots
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 29, 2014
I just couldn't connect with the story and Sophia. I understand that she lost some really important people in her life, but I can't decipher her personality or feelings; She has her moral dilemma's but no one tackles it the way she does. I was lost half of the time and when I wasn't, I was pondering reading past chapters a second time, so my reading experience could match all the 5 stars reviews on Goodreads and Amazon. I am not kidding people! If you check on Amazon, there is currently nothing but 5 star reviews and I am extremely baffled and wondering if perchance I got the wrong copy x_xI like Dmitri, but I would love to get some more alone time with him and maybe a nugget of his past. He is precise, dangerous and he  has the way to him. I believe him when he speaks and I feel much better knowing he's around. I would follow that man anywhere! He runs a tight ship and even though we spent a small amount of time with him, I was more connected to him than Sophia, who for all intents and purposes, was the narrator of this story. It was done in a thrdi person narrative, but there was no other POV but that of Sophia's.His criminal network was carefully planned and executed. It was detailed and as covert as it could get. There was no eventual come around or involvement of Sophia. I don't even know when any of them fell in love, because I was too busy admiring his business acumen. I would prefer to see behind the scenes of his operations, more than I want to see him in bed with Sophia. I can tolerate them as a couple, but I would sacrifice her for his career any day!Sophia is a walking, talking oxymoron who got away with murder. Literally and figuratively. She floats between Magnum PI, Nancy Drew and Natasha Romanoff. The people behind all these wrong doings are even worse, because they allow her to sort, print and collate documents that could sink them further than the Titanic!This story is all crime on both sides. It's just whose better at being a criminal. In her quest, for only she knows what, Sophia is trying to justify one crime network while plotting to sink another. Bare in mind, if not for these two unscrupulous networks, she wouldn't have met the so called "love of her life"I live for the Dmitri moments even though he is at times a little reckless, sensitive and not as polished as you would expect from a polyglot. I also did not know it was such a thin line between Russian and Shakespeare o.OThis man is fluent in eight languages and the female lead is fluent in Russian culture and linguistics. Yet still, we only ever get about two words in Russian and he is barely able to construct a proper sentence in English. Broken English Ms. Kavi, is for those who are not as verse. He knows eight languages ... what is his excuse?I love that he was intelligent and not just a Russian sewer rat who made it big. No offence Dmitry Medlov :) He was cool, calm, deadly and believable. Apart from his language blunders, I think it was great character structure and portrayal.Instant sex is something I have gotten used to, so I won't judge, because it sometimes work. With this novel, I don't know. As I said in the beginning, I was lost most of the times and I don't find their sex explosive or memorable. I remember the events leading up to the sex better than I do the act itself.Sophia tries to juggle two hats in this novel and she is terrible at it. She annoyed me frequently and as much as I like that she wasn't the meek lamb that the women of this genre usually embody, I just couldn't get on her team in the end. To be honest, I hope she never finds him or he find the true love of his life.I don't trust Sophia for Dmitri and I believe that is important in a book of this genre. I don't see her staying by his side and if it does happen, it would be forced. Sophia is selfish, confused and extremely hard to read. She is fiercely independent and even knowing that she can get caught, she's all carefree and so is the climax of this novel. I didn't identify it until it was over, because not only didn't I expect that ending, I don't fully understand it. I am filled with why's!I think I need to wrap up this review, because if I don't, I'm gonna be here all night knit picking everything that was wrong by the end of this novel. It had no sense of direction and it tried to drop as many cliches while keeping a ridiculously naive level of fear.Dmitri and his criminal network was the saving grace for me in this story. Sophia's past is blurry and a chaos of flashbacks and we know nothing but the bad about Dmitri. He is struggling to make his character shine through all the missing information and Sophia dominates the book without letting us into her world.I wouldn't go as far as to say I wouldn't read the next book but at least this time I can prepare myself for the development and chaotic progression, if any. This story needs emotion; It was missing and it showed.