With her mother now dead, Marissa is free from her monster of a step-father who physically abused her mother. Marissa despises men who strong arm woman and prefers a more tender lover even though sex with them never brings her true enjoyment. Her biological father Davo gets in touch with Marissa after he learns of her mother death. She has never met him since her mother escaped from her home planet of Darinth, where women are submissive and the men are their masters. Sex between males and females is a very sacred thing, including when a woman gives herself over to a man in everyway. Their culture allows men to sexually dominate their woman; which includes using bondage, whippings and other interesting sexual activities. This puts a bad taste in Marissa’s mouth, but when her father sends her home videos of these intimacies, she is turned on in ways she has never been before.

Davo wants his daughter to come visit him on Darinth and promises that she will be protected from any male who may want her for his own. When Marissa arrives, her father is no where to be seen. As she waits for hours, Marissa is second guessing her decision to come to this barbaric planet. The men look her up and down like a piece of meat and she knows she can’t go searching for her father; that will mean she is open to be taken by a man. A Darinthian male by the name of Kytar comes to her stating that he will bring her to Davo. Thinking she is safe and he is a friend of her father’s, she leaves with him not realizing that being under his protection means she is willing to be bonded with him.

Kytar knows he has no right to trick this lovely and strange woman, but there is something about her that calls to him. He has never bonded with another and decides that Marissa will be his companion. Through a bit of sexual coercion, Marissa accepts his collar, which is one step before the true bonding process. But she still thinks Kytar just wants her as a sexual slave. Even by Kytar pushing Marissa to her sexual limits, she will not give in. Soon it becomes a test of wills between these two strong people. They are not willing to admit defeat and the ultimate test of submission may destroy them both.

Sexual dominance reigns supreme in this erotic sci-fi tale. Cyna Kade has written such a story where men are in control, but the women become their reason for living. Kytar feels this way about Marissa and wants to break her so that she will be open to his love and trust. Yes, the BDSM tactics that Marissa undergoes can be somewhat harsh to read and walks a shaky line, but the reader is given incredible insight on these two characters and why they act the way they do. Mastering Marissa will not be for everyone and it is up to the reader to decide if this romance can really work. Kade has taken quite a chance with her writing, and those BDSM scenes with Kytar have great feeling and emotion. In the end, Marissa is mastered in the sense that she has given her whole body and soul to the one man who can appreciate her true nature.

Reviewed by: Katie