What can I say?  I loved the Fifty Shades trilogy by this author, so I bought THE MISTER, hoping for another great escape.

The premise is fine – wealthy, good-looking bachelor, who has always had his way with women, becomes lord of the manor when his older brother suddenly dies.  Not only is he thrust into a position he doesn’t want, but when he could have any woman in the world, he falls for the woman who cleans his house. She is an immigrant without a passport, trouble right there.  She also can’t speak English well.  So what is the basis of their relationship?  Apparently sex and the fact that she doesn’t know his lordly position and, therefore, can’t fall for his power or money.

I loved the setting – London, Cornwall, even the Balkans.  I even loved the sex, though, it is far tamer than that in any of the Fifty Shades books.

What didn’t work for me?  The constant introspection, something I hadn’t loved in the Fifty Shades books but that felt even more annoying here.  The ending, which was simplistic.  The kidnapping attempts, which felt far-fetched.

THE MISTER was written the way romances were written thirty years ago.  But others in that field have moved on.  When they deal with subjects like sex trafficking, they do it right.  This author did not.  Genre writes give their characters depth.  This author did not.  Even the piano-playing element, which was one of the few things the characters had in common, felt contrived.

Sigh.