All’s Fair in Love and Mastery
Masters Unleashed, Book #5
By Sparrow Beckett
Authors’ Website: https://www.sparrowbeckett.com/
Brought to you by OBS reviewer Heidi
Grant Ellis had a crappy childhood where he always felt unwanted. His mother left his brother, Will, and him with their father, when she left. Will was their dad’s favorite and when their new step-mom didn’t want anything to do with Grant, his dad sent him to a boarding school where the teachers thought nothing was wrong with beating some manners into their charges. When Will was kicked out of the home, Grant left with him and they never looked back.
The brothers now own and run a sex club, Catacombs. However, Will has recently gotten married and is raising a toddler. Grant wants to make something of himself and he wants to own something that is completely his instead of just always tagging along with his brother. So, when he finds a private island in Canada for sale, he jumps at a chance to make it his! His plans are to make a kinky getaway for those people who don’t like having to act ‘normal’ on vacation. And, he decides to bring he and Will’s best friend, Arabella (aka Dex), with him to the property to check things out.
However, things haven’t been going very well between Grant and Dex ever since they hooked-up one night. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but it left him wanting more. He wants her to wear his collar and for them to be completely committed to each other, but Dex refuses. Her ex hurt her pretty bad emotionally, and she never wants to leave herself vulnerable like that again. Grant and Dex want different things, which has led to them fighting. Can they put their differences aside long enough to check out Grant’s new investment? And, can they ever get their friendship back to what it once was?
This is the first book I’ve read from this series and this writing duo (Leia Shaw & Sorcha Black) in general. And, after reading the acknowledgments at the back of the book I see this novel is actually the conclusion of their collaboration project.
This book is for all of those with an open mind and a kinky heart … or is that an open heart and a kinky mind? Whichever 🙂 There are definitely some vivid scenes in this book and so it’s not for the light of heart, but the main focus is actually the storyline. I was actually surprised to see a BDSM book with an actual plot, if I’m being honest. This book delved into Grant’s past, which has left him feeling unwanted. He’s used to being used, which is why he was so adamant about getting a commitment out of Dex. It’s all or nothing with him. He also felt like a burden to his brother and wanted to find his own way. But this book is also about learning to trust someone else as that is something that both Grant and Arabella had to learn.
I actually enjoyed the banter between Dex and Grant and even found myself laughing at their antics at times. It gives you a glimpse of how things were before they brought sex into the equation.
“See? If you would have gotten a dog like I told you to, you’d be one of the cool kids around here.”
“And I told I work too much to have a dog. If you want a dog, you get a dog.”
“I did suggest that at one point, but you said no.”
“As I recall, your plan was to get a dog and keep it at my house. That would still be me getting a dog except in that scenario you would get to pick the dog. For some strange reason, that seems lose/lose to me.”
“Well, obviously I’d come over whenever it needed to go out.”
“How is that going to work? The club is almost an hour’s drive from my house even at the best of times.”
He sighed, leading the way into the great room. “You’d need to let me live in your pool house, of course.”
“I don’t have a pool house, or even a pool, dipshit.”
He followed her inside, enjoying this conversation far too much to leave now.
“Obviously, the first part of the plan would be for you to get a pool installed, and then build a pool house for me to live in.”
She frowned at him and punched him in the chest. “Your imaginary dog is already costing me an imaginary fortune.”
“The upside is that imaginary dogs aren’t big eaters. You’re already saving a fortune on dog food.”
There are a lot of unattached friends still in Grant and Dex’s circle of friends so I’m a bit surprised to see this is the last book in the series. Unless the two authors that make up Sparrow Beckett have plans to revive it later or do some individual writing within the series.
I felt this was a decent book, as decent as it can be for the subject matter anyway. It’s more of a smut/kinky kind of book though so it’s hard for me to rate any book of this nature too highly. However, it was better than I was expecting, so there is that. If the series were to continue I’d probably even continue it (shocker).
