Maestra Bk. 1

L. S. Hilton — 2016

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "This year's most erotic novel makes Fifty Shades look like the Bible. . . . Bound to be the It beach book of the summer." -- New York Post By day, Judith Rashleigh is a put-upon assistant at a prestigious London art house. By night, she's a hostess at one of the capital's notorious champagne bars, although her work there pales against her activities on nights off. TO GET WHAT SHE WANTS Desperate to make something of herself, Judith knows she has to play the game. She's transformed her accent and taught herself about wine and the correct use of a dessert fork, not to mention the art of discretion. She's learned to be a good girl. But when Judith is fired for uncovering a dark secret at the heart of the art world--and her honest efforts at a better life are destroyed--she turns to a long-neglected friend. A friend who kept her chin up and back straight through every slight: Rage. SHE WILL CROSS EVERY LINE Feeling reckless, she accompanies one of the champagne bar's biggest clients to the French Riviera, only to find herself alone again after a fatal accident. Tired of striving and the slow crawl to the top, Judith has a realization: If you need to turn yourself into someone else, loneliness is a good place to start. And she's been lonely a long time. Maestra is a glamorous, ferocious thriller and the beginning of a razor-sharp trilogy that introduces the darkly irresistible Judith Rashleigh, a femme fatale for the ages whose vulnerability and ruthlessness will keep you guessing until the last page.

Reviews

azliana aziz@heartinidleness

Jan 13, 2024

this book stamped the deal that I really do have an affinity to unpleasant, unlikeable, almost filthy female protagonists. this is like a grown up version of Eileen, where she worked as an assistant in an art gallery but soon finding herself never having/being much of what she deserves, jump into something dark, strange and fascinating world until there is no point of return for her. I like the last three chapters so much as they were a mixed of romance and espionage thriller done right and was pleasantly surprised that the ending left for perhaps a sequel or considering how polarizing the reviews were; people either loved or hated this book ardently, i thought a novella wouldn't hurt anyone.

Lacy W@aravenclawlibrary

Feb 22, 2023

Find this review and others like it on https://aravenclawlibraryx.wordpress.... tw: murder, attempted rape, fat shaming, so much slut shaming Holy cow, did I love this book. I honestly figured I would since it mentioned heists and some other risque things. This is what 50 Shades of Grey should have been. Don’t get me wrong, I loved 50 Shades but it was lacking something for me. And I learned what it lacked: violence. Okay, that sounds kind of bad. What I mean by violence is I wanted Anna to take control of herself like Judith did. I suppose Anna did take control after a while, but the way she did was just annoying and convoluted. Judith, after a while, found her voice and decided she didn’t want to take crap from anybody anymore. She took control and decided enough was enough. Even when I thought she had finally met her match, she had another trick up her sleeve. I loved that. I love how unapologetic Judith was about herself. She was open about her sexuality. She loved having sex and didn’t care that it wasnt considered proper. She was herself and I enjoyed that. Judith is the definition of an antihero and I rooted for her during the entire story. The only negative thing I have to say is about the plot. I was expecting an actual heist like the synopsis mentioned. Think the Gardner Museum heist (look up the Buzzfeed Unsolved True Crime episode to get an idea of what I’m talking about). That’s what I wanted to see happen. And that didn’t happen. It was a different type of heist. I still enjoyed it, don't get me wrong, but it was just like misleading. Overall, a seriously fantastic book. It was very dark with some well done sex scenes and an awesome MC. If you enjoyed 50 Shades of Grey and/or Anne Rice’s Beauty series (which I also highly recommend), you will love this book. I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book, which I happen to have. I found it at a Dollar Tree, if you can believe it.

Emelie@swedishbookowl

Oct 31, 2022

2,5owls

Ley Stanton@feyley

Aug 12, 2022

Okay, so I originally gave this a much lower rating. But the more I thought about the book and went back and re-read some passages, the more I realized I was rating the book on language alone which isn't really fair. The story was actually really good, even if I wasn't in love with the way that it was told. The character was very interesting, even if it wasn't someone I could relate to. I do want to read the next book in the series, I assume it will be a series by the end. I think I just need to broaden my horizons when it comes to the kinds of books I read. This one reminded me a lot of You by Caroline Kepnes.

Ethel@readwithethel

Aug 30, 2021

This book is quite ordinary in the end. It looks so promising and was such a deception. It's supposed to be a erotic thriller but there is no suspense. During the whole book, we follow Judith but I never understood what she wanted to do, why she did what she did and what was her strategy. Moreover, the sexy scenes are totally out of place, they're here for no reason and are not linked to the story. In other words, the story is not well conducted and doesn't give to the reader the desire to continue. It lacks depth.