Review: The Mistress by Tiffany Reisz

From Goodreads.com The final book in The Original Sinners Series - The Red Years.

There's punishment-and then there's vengeance.

Nora Sutherlin is being held, bound and naked. Under different circumstances, she would enjoy the situation immensely, but her captor isn't interested in play. Or pity.

As the reality of her impending peril unfolds, Nora becomes Scheherazade, buying each hour of her life with stories-sensual tales of Søren, Kingsley and Wesley, each of whom has tempted and tested and tortured her in his own way. This, Nora realizes, is her life: nothing so simple, so vanilla, as a mere love triangle for her. It's a knot in a silken cord, a tangled mass of longings of the body and the heart and the mind. And it may unravel at any moment.

But in Nora's world, no one is ever truly powerless-a cadre of her friends, protectors and lovers stands ready to do anything to save her, even when the only certainty seems to be sacrifice and heartbreak....

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 My Rating: 5 stars out of 5

I think my opening lines when I reviewed The Prince, stand true for this books as well & are worth repeating:

"The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz has completely consumed me. This is hands down the best erotica series that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Period. In fact, The Siren was the first erotica book I ever read that I could not put down, and I devoured The Angel in less than 48 hours as well. Ms.Reisz has this way of drawing the reader in and not letting go. This series is completely original - and engaging, weaving intricate story-lines together in a way that leaves the reader begging for more. "

+++ WARNING! THIS REVIEW MAY BE SPOILER HEAVY. DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO KNOW! +++

The Mistress picks up where The Prince left off. Nora is being held captive by a psychopath with no mercy (whom we now know for certain is Kingsley's sister Marie-Laure) and two of her goons. She is furious that (among other things) Søren loves Nora when he broke her heart thirty-years ago. 

While Nora entertains Marie-Laure with tales of her own sexual exploits with Søren, Kingsley, and even Wes; her hodgepodge group of knights are formulating a plan for her safe return. Søren and Kingsley, joined by Wesley and Grace (who was only in town hoping to visit with Nora) and Søren's niece Laila (whom Marie-Laure tricked into coming to the states so she too could be kidnapped  and used as a Pawn) know who has Nora, and where she is being held. The problem is getting her back without anyone being killed. 

Upon reading this book - I had so many emotions running through me. I worried, I laughed, I cried (that scene in the library - Oh my God!), I was shocked.. it was everything I had wanted, and yet somehow it was also manged to be both more and less at the same time.

There was a lot of mention of the past - mainly through Nora's stories, but occasionally we got a glimpse of something Kingsley or Søren was recounting. And while at first I thought they were only being used to fill space in between the action, as the story progressed, I realized that these stories added so much to the plot as well as the characters. It made them all seem much more realistic - as though the reader is finally able to sit down and put their finger on why they have done the things they have. And I have to admit, I kind of envy Nora. For one, she is comfortable enough with herself to say "Yes. I've done this. So what?". Secondly, she's got the love and devotion of some amazing men who would sacrifice literally everything for her. And who doesn't want that? 

I also found myself feeling sorry for Kingsley of all people. Throughout the series, he has been the strongest (next to Søren). He has a reputation to uphold, people who fear him - and he can't let anything damage that. And yet here he has been grieving for the sister he felt he inadvertently killed, only to find out she's not only alive, but she's threatening two of the only other people he's ever loved. That has got to be a pisser. 

I very much enjoyed the fact that we got to experience this journey through the eyes of several different characters - mainly Nora, Wesley & Grace, but between them we gained a deeper insight into Marie-Laure, Kingsley and most importantly (for myself at least) Søren.

Because it made such an impact on me as a reader, I'm going to touch briefly on the library scene without giving too much away. For one.. bring a tissue. Secondly, books never make me cry... ever. So imagine my surprise when I found myself wiping my eyes more than once during this scene. Beautifully written and emotionally gripping don't even begin to describe it. 

The ending of this book left me feeling a bit unsure. What I mean by this is that everything has seemingly been tied up nicely. Each character gets their own version of closure, and "normalcy" such as it is, and then it ends with what I would term a cliffhanger. Although - when I think about prior scenes, and certain comments, I have to wonder if its a cliffhanger at all, or if its a twisted way of leaving the room for more antics from our favorite characters while closing off this particular chapter. I know The Mistress is the ending of The Original Sinners Series - The Red Years, but that doesn't mean there won't be more "years" explored. I hope that there are. 

DISCLAIMER:   I received an advanced copy of The Mistress from netgalley in exchange for my honest review. This has not reflected on my review in any way.

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The Mistress is available for purchase from Amazon.com