ARC Review: The Training by Tara Sue Me

“Unfortunately for me, there was too much separation.” ~Under the Covers

After reading both The Submissive and The Dominant, we’ve gotten a good taste of who Abby and Nathaniel are and what they want. We read through their trials and tribulations and we suffered through their heartbreak and have finally come out the other side…to this side. To this story that tells about them making it work.

I’ve thought a lot about how I wanted to express what I’m feeling about this story and one word keeps coming back to me and that’s:

“dichotomy – meaning a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.”

I was hoping for more “meshing”….more meshing of Nathaniel as himself and Nathaniel as Master. More meshing of Abby, the regular person, and Abigail, the submissive, and definitely more meshing of their relationship as a regular couple AND as a BDSM couple.

Unfortunately for me, there was too much separation. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments of “meshing” as in the family BBQ that worked out really well but most of the times, their lives and especially Nathaniel was divided.

What happened to Nathaniel, that sweet, slightly needy, slightly non confident person that warmed our hearts? That’s the guy I was looking for! I already met Nathaniel the Master and I didn’t really care for some of the things he did…and surprise, surprise…that Nathaniel managed to upset me yet again.

I think the problem is I was wanting more explanations and reasoning’s. Why was Nathaniel the Master so cold and uncaring sometimes…why did he do the things he did and make Abigail do some of those things? It could have happened especially with getting both POVs. And we get hints of that sweet Nathaniel with all the gifts he left for Abby when he went to China.

We certainly got a lot of reasoning’s about Abby. Heck, Nathaniel the Master even made her write down her thoughts in a journal and we got to hear all about Abigail going to a submissive’s group. About the only time we heard anything about Nathaniel was when he was talking to Paul…and that was mostly about Abigail! Needless to say, it left me a bit frustrated.

Don’t get me wrong, there were quite a few scenes that I enjoyed. I liked reading about them trying to work their two lives together and how it was a work in progress. I loved when they would talk things out and just cuddle!

There was some interesting drama as well. I totally understood the Gwen/Nicolas drama but I certainly didn’t care for the Mary drama. I didn’t think that was really necessary.

It was great reading more about Jackson and Felicia and their wedding. I thought it was a positive that Felicia was coming around a bit and it was wonderful how Abby ‘handled’ her. But…I really missed Elaina…what in the heck happened to her? She had played a much larger part in Abby’s life before and now we almost never heard from her!

All that being said, I still enjoyed the story and I liked how things worked out. The epilogue was the best part of the story…well, with the exception of the boat…aka yacht. 😉
Favorite quotes:

♥ “‘For I must love because I live. And life in me is what you give.’”

♥ “I want you in the morning when your hair’s a mess and you’re grumpy until you’ve had your coffee. I want you in the evening so you can tell me about your day while we make dinner together. And I want you at night because I love nothing more than to fall asleep knowing you’re closer than my next breath.”

♥ “You’re my one percent.”

Her eyebrows wrinkled. “Your what?”

“Before you came to my office that first day,” I explained, “I felt complete and at ease with my life ninety-nine percent of the time. But it was the missing one percent that haunted me. Then I found you—my missing one percent.”

*ARC provided by publisher

Did you like this review? If so, please tell us your thoughts in the comments below!

[about-author author=”Tara Sue Me”]