Comments on: Dark Master by Tawny Taylor

By: Decadence

Decadence — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:43:15 +0000

I think that whoever donated the book in the first place has earned themselves some crappy karma. Mine went into the recycling bin. Don't give up on the genre because of this one book. There is some great BDSM stuff out there like Lora Leigh's Bound Hearts series, Fallon Blake, or Evangeline Anderson's Ellora's Cave contributions (I haven't read what she's written for other publishers). KB Alan dabbles a bit in Perfect Formation. I'm currently reading Bound by Sunlight, which is a paranormal rather than a contemporary and it's pretty good. Check out the excerpt. If you don't mind m/m, give Ann Somerville a go. Kat, who doesn't generally read BDSM recommended Remastering Jerna and I really enjoyed Cold Front. They are very meaty reads and deliver more than smut. There's also the Deviations series by Chris Owen and Jodi Payne.

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 01:39:12 +0000

I bought this book at a salvation army for $3.00 and it wasn’t even worth that much! The cover is what allured me but “Never judge a book by it’s cover” is some real good advice in the case of this book. The ideas in it did have a lot of potential but just weren’t played out with any sense of thoroughness or care. The characters had an odd sort of attraction to each other that was fake and unappealing. As hot as Shadow sounds for a name his character was controlling and unforgiving. This is the first BDSM book I have ever read and I was curious about it but this book turned me off to it. Next time I buy a book for cheap I’ll look for a review first before wasting my time.

By: Decadence

Decadence — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 12:43:33 +0000

I have to say that I can’t remember the last time I was so pissed off at a book. I wrote that review about 2 months after I read Dark Master and I still found its flaws to be inexcusable, especially for a professionally published book that readers were expected to pay for. Time does not heal all wounds.

After I’d written my review, I had a look to see what other ppl were saying and most were negative. The few positives said very little at all and made no reference to the scene that I had so much trouble with. Anyone who mentioned the punishment scene had a negative opinion of the book. I think that scene affronted me so much that I had to finish the book just to see how it could be reconciled with some form of HEA. But after having gone to the effort of slogging through it, the whole book just left me with a sense of sheer disbelief that that published product could so much as exist in any form, let alone in that condition. That disbelief was why I read other people’s opinions. It’s not just me.

I’m sorry that you read the book before you found my review. This is exactly what I was hoping to avoid by writing about it. Hope you find something to cleanse your palate.

By: KAT Scratch

KAT Scratch — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 21:02:01 +0000

I believe that has to be one of the better reviews i’ve read in quite a while. Not only did you hit them from the point of having no plot, you also managed to point out a “research” issue one which led to major continuity problems. I have to agree the editor should have at least made sure some “closure” occured relating to scene above, not that it would have saved the book. I’m able to read a romance with BDSM in it and enjoy it but I have to say, even I found this lacking, if not insulting to a womans intelligence. I wish that I had read your review beforehand.

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 21:50:14 +0000

Papercuts, ouch!

By: Decadence

Decadence — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:04:53 +0000

Thanks, Lami :) I feel better about saving someone else from a horrendous and costly reading experience.

I should clarify that I wouldn’t even recommend the book for use as toilet paper — the pages are only 1 ply and scrunchers are really going to notice those corners :P

By: Lami

Lami — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 10:11:31 +0000

This was one of the best reviews I have ever read. Good on you Allison, for your honesty. I am so not buying this book – I can now afford the more pricey and softer toilet paper that way LOL.