A Master for Michael is book #5.5 in the ‘Hampton Road Club’ series. It stars Javier, a Master, and Michael, a boy. This is told in third person from both Michael and Javier’s pov.



Even though this is the first book I’ve read in this series, I didn’t feel lost. Therefore, I think this book could be read as a stand-alone. It’s a quick read and not as sadomasochistic as I’d expected. I’d say this book was more about the romance and miscommunication between Michael and Javier than about BDSM itself. Be warned however, there is beating and branding. I found the branding gruesome and would’ve preferred reading about a collaring instead, but I guess the branding puts the kink into the sadomasochistic area.

The setting takes place in the 1920’s at a mansion specifically run as a SM club. I didn’t get that much of a historical feel in this story. There were some random mentions thrown into the story about objects that could be considered common in the 1920’s, but most of the story didn’t give me that feeling. I’d say this is probably the weak area of the book.

Javier works and lives at the club. He serves as assistant to Saul who owns the club. Michael serves as Javier’s assistant. Michael is in love with Javier and desperately wants Javier’s love. He gives everything to Javier, but Javier keeps up a barrier between them even though he’s attracted to Michael. This is the conflict in the story that needs to be worked out between the two men. Javier is described by Michael as having brown skin. Since this author often has Dominants and Masters as POC, and boys and subs as white, I’m going to guess Javier is a POC. The problem I had with this, is that in the 1920’s a POC did not have an easy time in society. Javier likely couldn’t walk around as freely or was restricted to what shops he was allowed in, and probably treated as a servant. Therefore, I find it difficult to believe that Javier had that much freedom. If Michael and Javier were in public together, I’m guessing people would direct comments to Michael and ignore Javier. This subject was not covered in the story.

A lot of the book is written with monologue, with Javier and Michael explaining their thoughts and feelings as they think about things rather than the author writing the characters in a way that I could feel their worries. The excessive monologue made it more difficult to relate to the characters and make them real. However, I could still believe the two men as a couple, probably because they were already established as a couple when the story began.

Overall, A Master for Michael was a quick, easy read, and is mostly a romance. It’s not that heavy on the BDSM, even though there was some. Because I didn’t get a great historical feel in this book, and because there is too much monologue, making it more difficult to relate to the characters, I’ll give this book 3 Stars.



I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.


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