Review: Headmaster by Tara Sue Me

Headmaster
(Lessons From the Rack #2)
by Tara Sue Me
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: Jan. 16, 2018
Genre: Erotic Romance
Rating:

Lennox MacLure, owner of the RACK Academy, has sworn off the Dominant/submissive lifestyle. Years ago, his submissive, Winnie, died in a car accident following a heated argument for which he blames himself. Guilt-ridden and emotionally closed off, Lennox sees the academy as both his punishment and penance for her death.

Mariela, a dance instructor and a natural submissive, was Winnie’s best friend and longs to help Lennox move past his grief. She’s accepted that he will never see her as anything more than a friend, but she still wants to help him acknowledge what he needs. Mariela comes up with a plan of seduction, guaranteed to unleash the Dominant he’s willfully buried—but the passion they unleash could prove to be stronger than they are ready to handle.

Lennox runs a BDSM academy where Doms and Subs can learn the ins and outs of being in a D/s relationship. He doesn’t participate in any of the training sessions, he doesn’t partake in any of the kink himself, and actually, Lennox is pretty aloof most of the time. You knew going in that there was a lot of history there for him, none of it good, and part of it involved Marie, his employee. I was really looking forward to reading about their history and why he is the way he is. I mean, who runs a BDSM school but doesn’t actually partake in it?

Oh man. I don’t know what to say about this one. I fell head over heels in love with Master Professor and I knew that Lennox’s story had to be amazing, but I just wasn’t feeling this one. While I really loved Marie and Lennox separately, and maybe even as a couple, I felt like I was missing something. It didn’t help that the author would completely skip ahead in the story. So, we’d see a conflict pop up, it sort of be dealt with, and then we’d be catapulted a day, week, months into the future. So, for instance when a sub is kicked out of the academy during training, the next chapter we apparently skip forward in time. Is it fully dealt with? Are there any repercussions? What about her Dom partner? Did they bring in a new sub as a replacement? It was things like that that really kept me from fully getting into the story. It just seemed like the author would show you the beginning workings of something and then skip ahead to the end of it without really giving the readers all the nitty gritty in between.

I will say that I liked the aspect of this tragedy that both he and Marie experienced that has sort of set them both off kilter. Lennox used to be this very confident Dom, and now he can’t even be in a room with a scene taking place. Essentially, this story should be called, “How Lennox got his Dom back.” We pretty much see Lennox go from this broken shell of himself and slowly (very slowly) start to embrace who he really is and become whole again. I also liked that in between chapters we got a journal entry from his dead girl friend. Those little tidbits were interesting to read about and gave you a little insight into the past.

Headmaster was not my favorite read of the year. I felt like some scenes dragged on, while other parts were completely skipped over. I loved my time with Master Professor and was really looking forward to Headmaster but this just didn’t do it for me. The next book seems to follow Andie’s (from Master Professor) ex-boyfriend and maybe a Senator’s daughter? That’s a complete guess from the epilogue I got at the end of this book. Will I be tuning in for that story? Maybe. We will see.

Previous reviews from Lessons From the Rack
Master Professor