Review: The Prelude 
 I have discovered that I only speed read when I am biting at the nails, crazy impatient for a book to be released, otherwise I proceed with caution and wary steps. This was a wary step book. I didn't know the characters, have never read this author before, and wasn't sure where the story was going. Every page, every chapter is a new discovery and I never know if I'm going to like it or not (this is why I don't mind spoilers). 
 The Prelude is about a young woman, Erin, who has lost her family, moved to Milan and is a fashion designer, enter super hot guy and the story picks up speed (and steam). Alek is a bizarre mixture - he is Russian/American and has brown eyes with speckles of blue. I'm still having a hard time picturing that exactly, but it's all good. Needless to say, Alek is a yummy bundle of hot alpha male goodness. 
 I rate this book 4 stars - translated as "I really liked it" 
 I don't know if this will be a series or a standalone book, but there was plenty of other like-able characters that I would really like to read more about. 
 I am a little miffed however...at the end of the book (AFTER you are done reading) is a link to the author's Pinterest Board that is "specifically designed to correspond with scenes found throughout the story." I would have liked to have known this at the beginning. It wouldn't have provided any spoilers unless you went to the Pinterest board, and then only very few minor spoilers. It provides links to songs mentioned, places visited, and the author's choice of what the characters look like. Being a Pinterest addict, of course, I loved the board for the book. 
 "We're a lot alike in that way, running from a past that threatens to destroy what we've worked so hard to recreate." 
 "You could tell him to swim from Milan to Venice, and he'd find a way to make it happen." 
 "And this song likes me. It's sex in a drum and a synthesizer, a symphony of beats and vocals thrown in the mix." - about the song Gang Bang by Madonna"