To Have and to Master by Sparrow Beckett
Series: Masters Unleashed #3
Publication date: January 19th, 2016
Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Pages: 237
Synopsis (according to Goodreads):
Tired of his mother bugging him to marry a nice girl from the old country, Konstantin agrees to meet her friend's daughter when she's shipped over from rural Russia.
Naturally obedient and submissive, Varushka is everything Konstantin wants in a woman. The fact that she's so naive and easily scandalized arouses him but makes him feel guilty. Training the girl to be his slave quickly becomes a compulsion.
Varushka is confused by a lot of things in America, especially by her future husband and his sexual depravity. Sinister and captivating, Konstantin introduces her to many fascinating perversions, and his care and attention wins her complete devotion. However, when her father finds out about Konstantin's past, he whisks her back home. Will Varushka's Master give chase to reclaim her, or will he allow her father to marry her off to a more respectable man?
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Review:
Hopelessly addicted. That is the best way to describe my current situation with Sparrow Beckett's books. I am addicted completely. I thought Banner was my new book boyfriend until I read Ambrose's book. That shifted. Now I wonder if Konstantin's book can sway me also. I didn't find him to be a very tasteful character with his presence in the other books. Especially based on the fact he had two girls at all times. I was worried he was going to try to do the polyamorous thing in his book which, while I am fine with other people's choices, its not for me. It feels like cheating for me and makes me feel a bit sick to my stomach reading about it as cheating normally does in my books. But... I had to know how it turned out with Varushka after he was so put off by her when discussing it with his friends.
Konstantin was not getting any younger. It was time for him to stop his games and find someone to spend his life with him. His Baba Nina demands that if he is to settle down it be with a girl from their village in Russia. Kon agrees reluctantly. But his reluctance disappears when he finally meets Varushka. She is delightfully submissive to the point of needing zero correction, but as she gets more and more comfortable he notices a spark in the eyes of his "little bird". But she is still innocent and untouched. He needs to control his impulses and go slow. But will the distasteful things he has done to survive from his past cause his entire foundation he has built with Varushka to come crumbling down?
Varushka has been taught all her life that she was placed on this world to please her husband and make herself useful to him. When she moves to America with Konstantin she finds that he needs very little from her between the maids and cooks he has on staff. Varushka sets about learning what Konstantin enjoys in the bedroom and finds that the kinky things he finds thrilling also causes her to grow desperate and wanting. But her Father holds all the cards when it comes to her impending marriage with Kon and when he starts digging into Kon's past she has to wonder what he could possibly find that would mean she could no longer be with her betrothed?
I love that there are varying degrees of domination in the three books I have read. Ambrose's is the most heavy handed, Banner is the least, and Kon is a perfect blend of both. It gives me the chance to see how differently BDSM relationships can be depending on the participants. I can't decide who I love more. Banner is adorably sweet and cherishes Kate, Ambrose and feisty and demanding of Everly, and Kon is both sweetly patient and domineering with Varushka. However, Kon's book was resolved almost uncomfortably quickly. All the issues that seemed to stand between the couple just faded away without much effort to correct them. No grand speech or bending on behalf of the antagonist, just a *poof* resolution. That was what made Kon's book a lot less clean and pristine as the other two books.
Don't get me wrong. I did love Kon and Varushka as a couple and I was rooting for them. But the flattening of the major conflict made me feel there could have been more to the story that went unaddressed and was quickly finished to wrap up the book quickly. Please don't rush the mastery (heh!) that is this amazing literary world. Everything in the Masters Unleashed series makes me want to convince my husband that collars and canes may not be such a bad idea. ;)
