Series: Her Master's Kiss #1
Author: Vivien Sparx
Published: Date?
Format: Ebook provided for review
When Renee decides the only way she can save her relationship with a hurtful boyfriend is to become submissive, she enlists the expertise of a dark and brooding master.
However, Renee's training soon has her falling for master Stefan, and as she becomes immersed in the spellbinding erotic world of domination, Renee realizes she's infatuated with a man who remains mysteriously out of reach; a man who refuses to be loved.
Behind Stefan's cold, remote facade is a man dealing with his own past and his own pain.
Welcome to another "Bite Size Review". These are reviews I do often for shorter books. In this case, Her Master's Kiss is roughly 20, 000 words - a quick read! Hope you enjoy! :)
Renee responds to an ad and goes to see Stefan. She wants to be trained to be a submissive. And at first, he denies her. Then she lets it out that she wants to do it for her boyfriend, her ex-boyfriend. And she wants him back. Stefan begrudgingly agrees. He will train her for nine evenings.
I think the premise of this story was pretty good. Renee is pretty clueless in her request, only knowing a minimal amount about the D/s world - and that's only what she's read in her romance novels. She has ridiculously low self-esteem after the mind-screw that her ex performed on her. Yep, the very ex she is trying to get back. She is eager to learn though, and she seems to take instruction well.
But my issue is mostly with Stefan. I kind of felt like he talked too much. He was very concerned about remaining detached and reiterating to Renee that a submissive is just a thing and not a person. There were times I even felt he was manipulative and overly harsh in his pathways to the truth. I just couldn't connect with him. And then he quickly flips his position on everything. His reasons for not becoming attached are pretty interesting, but I kind of felt like they came out of no where.
I liked the story well enough. There wasn't a ton of sex, it was mostly instruction. I would have liked it to be longer, with perhaps some more back story because it felt like there were large chunks of the story missing at times. However the characters were bluntly honest, and I liked that. If you are looking for a quick read, this might be a good one for you to pick. There are already four installments in this series, so perhaps there is more back story in those books, and a bit more character development, which is often the case in these smaller installment series.
Follow Vivien Sparx Online:
Website
Goodreads
Her Master's Kiss on Goodreads
(Associate's Link)
