The #1 New York Times bestseller—a thrilling new romance from E L James, author of the phenomenal bestselling Fifty Shades Trilogy. London, 2019. Life has been easy for Maxim Trevelyan. With his good looks, aristocratic connections, and money, he’s never had to work and he’s rarely slept alone. But all that changes when tragedy strikes and Maxim inherits his family’s noble title, wealth, and … noble title, wealth, and estates, and all the responsibility that entails. It’s a role he’s not prepared for and one that he struggles to face.
But his biggest challenge is fighting his desire for an unexpected, enigmatic young woman who’s recently arrived in England, possessing little more than a dangerous and troublesome past. Reticent, beautiful, and musically gifted, she’s an alluring mystery, and Maxim’s longing for her deepens into a passion that he’s never experienced and dares not name. Just who is Alessia Demachi? Can Maxim protect her from the malevolence that threatens her? And what will she do when she learns that he’s been hiding secrets of his own?
From the heart of London through wild, rural Cornwall to the bleak, forbidding beauty of the Balkans, The Mister is a roller-coaster ride of danger and desire that leaves the reader breathless to the very last page.
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I liked the concept of the book but the follow through was not there. I liked that it took a subject from the headlines, but E.L. James did not make the story believable for me. In my opinion it’s the authors job to make the story believable for me. This is a very slow moving story, I usually average close to 150 pages of reading a day, this book I only averaged 80 pages. I get describing things but, in my opinion it was overdone. I got frustrated with the last 20% of the book, in my opinion it was way to long. With all this said, I did like Alessia and how resilient she was, I rooted for her to get a happily ever after. Maxim was okay and I liked his loyalty. In my opinion the editors failed in this book. I read this through Broward County Library. I would not recommend.
Couldn’t put down. Can’t wait for the next one. Loved it..
I think I expected something different from the author of Fifty Shades of Grey, and I’m sure it’s hard to follow up with books like that. However, I enjoyed the story and the characters. I also loved the fact they used dual narration in this book.
Different from her other books.
I would have enjoy this book more if the whole book was in English. I loved the characters, the plot was good but I had a hard time with the different language, I’m not even sure what language it was. I found it difficult to start reading a paragraph and had to skipped a line or two because it was in a different language and no translation. Maxim was a good hero, sweet, sexy, charming and a bet of an alpha. Alesia was a good heroine, strong, hard working and she survived a lot. I enjoyed this different plot from this author, Overall a good book.
I just couldn’t relate to any of the characters. Also wanted to know more of Kits story but never really got far. If this story continues I’d read only to give it a chance to answer allot of unanswered questions.
3.5 stars
So here’s the thing. From what I can tell, most people are comparing The Mister to Fifty Shades, and they’re not liking it. Saying it’s slow. I think I might be in the minority for both books. I read Fifty Shades and thought it was mediocre, put it down and never picked up the other books until after I saw the movies, and that brought me back in, then I finished the series in a weekend. I love the love story of Fifty Shades but overall wasn’t that impressed. For The Mister, I absolutely loved Maxim and Alessia’s story. It was slow, and I’m not sure how I mean that. The love between Maxim and Alessia was almost instantaneous, and there was plenty of action happening throughout the story. But there was something almost relaxing or leisurely about the book perhaps because I did the audiobook rather than reading. I don’t know if there will be a further book or not. Based on the ending, it could go either way. And I was intrigued to find out if Maxim was somehow related to Grace Trevelyan-Grey.
Some things, not about the story itself. It was weird to me that his parts were in first person, and hers were in third. Also, for the audio book, Alessia, who is Albanian, her spoken words were with an accent, but the rest, where she was just telling her part of the story, they were in American. So there were 3 different accents going on. It was strange to me.
Overall I really did like this book and would happily continue the series should there be more books.
So I went into this book with mixed feelings. I heard people loving it and hating it. I liked it fine, not an I will reread dozens of times but not a book I couldn’t finish either. I am glad it was not a rewrite of 50 Shades. I liked that Maxim was struggling with the loss of his brother and inheriting the title and responsibilities. It made him something besides a playboy. Allesia wasn’t particularly relatable to me but I didn’t dislike her. She showed up after escaping hell and was trying to make a life for herself. So if you have made it through your crazy to be read pile then give The Mister a go.
I really tried to get thought this but had to quit at 19%. Aside from being poorly written (which is not abnormal for this genre) I just couldn’t connect with any of the characters. I actually swung more toward dislike than anything. Finally decided to dnf.
Boring
E.L. James has written another memorable story with The Mister. It is a stand-alone story that is unlike any book I have read. It was a little slow to start, but once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down. I devoured it.
Maxim Trevelyan is now, thanks to the unfortunate death of his brother, has inherited his family’s aristocratic title. He would give it up in a heartbeat if it meant he could have his brother back. He’s lead the life of a bachelor well, with little in terms of responsibility. But now, things must change.
When Alessia Demachi enters his life, as his daily help of all things, Maxim is now focused on more than what he should. Her life is a mystery to him and for some reason, he needs to go out of his way to learn more about him. When he learns her secrets, he will stop at nothing to protect her.
PS – Dominic Thorburn and Jessica O’Hara-Baker do a great job of narrating this story. It is the first I’ve heard either of these narrators, but it will not be my last.
Author is trying to build on past successes.
I was so excited to get my hands on a copy of The Mister. I pre-ordered it and have waited to read it. I did not want to rush through this. I wanted to take my time and enjoy every moment of this book.
When I found out that The Mister was happening, I was elated. I also didn’t want to set my expectations too high. I loved her Fifty Shades series, but I wanted to make sure that I was able to separate her characters and review it as an individual book and not base it on how similar or dissimilar it is to the Fifty Shades trilogy.
As I was reading the first few chapters, I really enjoyed the setting of this story. It piqued my interest. I have always wanted to travel to London and E.L. James detailed descriptions were a highlight for me. The story was well-rounded. I enjoyed meeting the characters, Alessia and Maxim. They were from two different world and acted as a perfect contrast. When we meet Alessia, she is fleeing her country of Albania for work in London. She is in her early twenties moving to a new place. Her innocence is charming. But on the other hand, she has experienced many things that most people her age could have even fathomed. Maxim is a young aristocrat. He lives a wild and care-free life. After the sudden death of his brother, he is forced to change his lifestyle and welcome loads of new responsibilities.
Alessia is Maxim’s new daily (a person who is employed to clean someone else’s house on a regular basis). She sees him and he is like a shiny new toy. You must have it and it’s all you can think about. Maxim thinks she is an angel. They both have an instant connection but are hesitant when it comes to actually carrying a conversation. I thought it was beautiful how the innocent Alessia was braver and bold around him and she was able to make the confident Maxim speechless and shy.
I love an opposites attract trope and E.L. James did not disappoint. Their love story was full of its ups and downs. It was thrilling and intense. This book took us on a tragic journey of self-discovery even in the hardest times and finding your light to help you keep pushing through.
Rating:
I give The Mister 4 stars. I highly recommend it to contemporary romance lovers. It will keep you on your toes, make you swoon, and leave you shedding a few tears by the end of it.
The Mister E L James
Pre-ordered and ignored the reviews. Really wanted to like it but it was hard. I skimmed a lot and for a higher priced book that stinks. -Heroine is interesting with an interesting story. Hero – not remotely interesting, in fact he’s kind of gross. I wanted to quit reading for the first 30%. Sex with other women, heroine cleaning up his used condoms and seeing another woman. That’s not romance and could have been left out. Sure he became a great guy later but his turn around is too fast to be believed. He’s a child trapped in a mans body. Then the ending is abrupt. No epilogue, just this crescendo and then done. Over. We didn’t get anything resolved with him and Caroline – who the heroine will be faced with often…ouch and yuck. And then no resolution on a bright future for the heroine and her music. No idea how they will work their future out and how he leaves his pathetic former life behind because that sure doesn’t work with her. This is also weeks after the brothers death and so much is unresolved there with his emotions. Just nothing. Overall I enjoyed the music aspect and this author can absolutely write but this was boring. There I said it. Aside from the little bit of action we get and that felt forced at times. It was boring and if this had been a lesser known author I would have DNF, but I like this author personally and her other series so i kept going. Ultimately the “hero” of this book is just awful and not someone a reader can cheer for. Had he been given some interesting background or anything really – we could have.
Also the switching between POV with alternating first and third person was very distracting. I feel like whoever she used as a beta reader editorial beta could have really steered this better and let her down. It had such potential but in the end I feel like he’s still gross, she’s still too naive, it dragged and there is too much unresolved. So many missed opportunities for this story. This book totally bombed for me. If more come in the series, if it is a series I won’t be buying.
I’m a huge fan of the 50 shades trilogy and i am not ashamed to say so. When i knew EL James wrote another book i was happy and optimistic. After the worldwide success of Christian and Ana’s story, the author should have felt a big pressure. Readers and literary critics were waiting… So i thought “she must have worked a lot on this new story” and i was confident. There were 2 possible risks: too much alike the 50 shades trilogy or too far from what Erika wrote before.
So… The Mister is Maxim, a rich english man. His father was Earl of Trevethick. When he died , years ago, the title and everything that goes with it went to Maxim’s older brother. But his brother just died… And now Maxim is the new Earl of Trevethick, something he never was interested in. Bye bye freedom! He loved his brother so he’s sad. He also has a little sister, a doctor. Maxim is kind of the black ship of the family (like Christian Grey). His mother is selfish and haughty and shallow. His best friend is… the first woman he loved, the one he gave his virginity, she’s jealous and possessive with him (makes you think about someone?). But he’s an absolute idiot with her (and i’m polite). Of course Maxim is a true manwhore, a different woman everyday, no commitment, no complications…
My problem is… For the first 20% we just see this side of him. For 20% we see Maxim as a unlikable, disgusting and low-down character. I wish the author summed up this side of him in just a few sentences and began the story at 25%.
The heroin? Alessia, 23, a virgin (of course !!!), soooo naive and innocent (even more than Anastasia)… She’s from Albania and arrived in London some days ago in mysterious and dark circumstances. She succeeds to find a job, she becomes a daily, she cleans houses of rich people, including Maxim’s bachelor flat… Without a passport, without experiment or a resume, undocumented … she works for a Earl… i’m sceptical.
So… one morning Maxim and Alessia meet and … Boom! Love at first sight!
Maxim who was a real manwhore becomes the perfect boyfriend in one second. His fear of commitment vanishes by magic. Alessia who emptied his garbage full of condoms, who saw a woman wearing his shirt just a really few days before, falls in his arms without a question… She’s always calling him Mister (even in her head). Ok EL James wanted to show us she’s an innocent girl from a far away and backward little village in a foreign country but i would have liked to see Alessia gained confidence.
I didn’t really understand Maxim’s friendship with his brother’s widow.
The sex scenes are descriptive and long. When it’s between Maxim and Alessia there were pretty good. Maybe Maxim repeats too much that he wants her to touch him, that he loves when she touches him… As if the author wanted to tell us “see! he’s different from Christian!”.
The writing… Without being warned we alternate his pov (first person singular) with hers (third person singular). Alessia says too much “oh”, like the innocent little girl she is.
The plot and the twists made me think about the 50 shades trilogy… As well as the thoughts (when they meet for example), the reactions, the dialogues… I’ve read the trilogy 24 th times so each similarities were so obvious to me…
No real surprises, some inconsistencies… The end… made me roll my eyes (i wish Grey was here lol). There will be a second book… but i’m not sure there will be surprises.
Reading this book was like going on a snipe hunt — you’re never going to find what you’re looking for. I’m not ashamed to admit that FSOG was my first foray into the romance genre and that I read the series repeatedly for a year and a half before moving on to other, much more accomplished authors. At that time, I confess not knowing better … yet I retained a soft spot in my heart for this author that has never been matched again by any of her subsequent books. Still, I gave this one a shot.
Yeah, not every book by an author has to be a literary masterpiece by any means, but this book was absymal to me, and even more proof that an author — no matter how popular or successful in the past — cannot trade on their reputation to win over readers if the material just doesn’t measure up. God knows I tried to be objective and keep reading, but it was impossible. It was like needles in the eyes. Didn’t help that the first few pages were so bland that I had to force myself to keep going. I bailed and am glad for it. Not even worth a breakdown analysis. To all you who toughed it out and even loved the book, I admire you for finding redeeming qualities that were clearly hiding under all that blather. So glad I read it through the library. A double scoop of nope on this one. Run, run far far away …
it was ok but will not compare with 50 shades,
I hate to say that I was totally disappointed with this book but I really was for the most part, for me the saving grace was the narrators! I swear if it wasn’t for them I would have stopped and probably never picked it up again.
I was a fan of the Fifty Shades Trilogy even though there were times the writing was hard to get through there was enough of a storyline upfront to pull you through it. As I sit here and write my review for a book that I finished a little over a week ago I unfortunately couldn’t tell you one part of it that I enjoyed. I know that sounds harsh but seriously if you are going to spend $10 on an ebook and even more on an audiobook, which is what I did, you would want to say something positive wouldn’t you? Like the chemistry was great or the story grabbed me right from the start, sadly neither of these would be true.
I am having a hard time recollecting ANYTHING of interest other than Maxim getting a woody from seeing his cleaner’s (housekeeper for those of us in the US) hot pink panties – SERIOUSLY???? He goes on to describe them as the biggest pair he’s ever seen, newsflash not everyone wears a thong! but hey I get it he’s not use to seeing normal panties on a woman that isn’t there to seduce him. I found this amusing not in a funny haha kinda way but in a you’ve gotta be kidding me kinda way because we all know granny panties aren’t sexy in the least, they are your workout panties, your period panties, well you get the gist of it. Now if the author said they were boy shorts or cheeky cut panties I would get that he got turned on by them but NO ONE ever gets turned on by granny panties!
Alessia Demachi is hiding in London with a secret that she can’t let anyone find out least of all Maxim. She is a frighten woman and it’s easy to tell what she’s running from but it’s a different story finding out what she had to do in order to get to London. Maxim is the spare that becomes the Heir after the death of his brother, he is trying to find his way around things and deal with his brothers death at the same time. Maxim and Alessia come into each others lives just when they need someone to lean on.
I really wish this story was written better, the story line had so much potential it’s a shame to see it slaughtered. I’m in the minority when it comes to this book so I really hope you do read it and see for yourself if you like it, remember everyone has a different opinion and this is mine alone. Happy Reading or listening!!!
I read The Mister on audiobooks. It took a while for me to get into the story, but that could have been because I was listening instead of reading. Sometimes I found that makes a difference.
It’s nothing like Fifty Shades. So if you’re expecting it to be a continuation of anything remotely like, Christian and Anna’s story, you could find yourself very disappointed.
That being said, I found myself being reminded of the old Barbara Cartland books. The Mister was far better written than Fifty Shades. So much so, I found myself wondering if E.L. James, did this book to quiet the many critics who had a lot to say about her abilities, as a writer.
Once I reach the middle the story had me hooked, making it impossible to put it down. Overall I loved this story; part old fashion and part delightfully wicked, with a well developed underlying plot.
I was really disappointed in the dialog, slow story line and the predictability of the books end. I was happy the book wasn’t a rip off of James’ successful Grey series, but the characters weren’t all that interesting.
If you are looking for another page turner like 50 shades then this book is not for you. It is a very well written book that I enjoyed reading. It was an easy read. The characters are very different than 50 shades. They are somewhat more relatable to real life as far as how the two main characters get together and fall in love. I think this book would make a great movie, which I hope will happen in the near future.