Reviews

Lost its appeal at 60%, skimmed the rest until the end. Probably won’t read anymore, due to the annoying h, who every Dom in the book seemed to crave!

becky_m8's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.5

leonieparamor's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

wandering_seal's review against another edition

Go to review page

Couldn't get past the fetishising of race. Or the idea that a good sub will go against their clearly expressed limits. Or the lack of verbal consent. Or safe sex practices. Or active discussion of safe words. Or that they drink alcohol while in training.

Happy to read BDSM in books, love a "lessons" plot, this story just gave me the ick.

khaleesimod93's review against another edition

Go to review page

fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated

1.5

I'm a little frustrated. Another book where I adore the writing and setting, but still so many things are lacking. One thing I will say, I love Brie and Lea. They are fun characters. Though there isn't much to them, they are still fun to read about.

Now, unfortunately, that's where the good thing ends. Going into this, I was expecting to completely fall in love with the school, training, and learning a bit more of the BDSM lifestyle. I know in fiction books that learning isn't a priority, nor should it be used as a learning tool. However, this book is about "teaching" subs and training school for submissive. There definitely is an expectation of things being accurate and not harmful to the lifestyle, so I was incredibly surprised at how harmful the teachers were and how unethically they treated the subs.

The first issue is that there is no such thing as a "true" sub all across the board. The perfect sub meaning is different for every sub and every Dom. When Brie made eye contact with Tono and he was loving it, Ms. Clark and Master Coen immediately chastised her. While it may not have been OK for their subs to do that, obvious Tono, her current Dom, was ok with it and welcomed it. How is she in the wrong?

The next issue was the way the school took the subs fears and HARD limits and dismissed them completely. When one sub reached a hard limit, she was dismissed because she's not the right fit and wouldn't make a good sub. The amazing thing about BDSM is the amount of care put into a person's hard limits and making sure they are safe and comfortable. That's not at all what these instructors did, and that angered me.

Of course the headmaster sleeping with a student was wrong. But again, Brie was at fault and blamed. Why? She is the sub. While yes, she has the power, Sir, being the headmaster and expert, should have known better. But yet, there were no repercussions.

My last and honestly biggest issue is the absolute disgusting way Clark and Coen treated Brie. Not every sub is for every Dom. But to treat Brie so horribly because she's not doing things the way they feel it should be done is wrong. Then, after her evaluations, because she did well, they still were constantly on her ass about one thing or another. How is that ok?

Im so annoyed and upset about how this book turned out. It could have been so much better, but I wish more research and time had been spent to understand the BDSM community. The writing itself was great! And I did love Brie as the main character. The side characters, well specifically Lea, are amazing. I hope they stay safe and happy in the next books. I'm unsure if I will be continuing.

More...