10 October 2014

Her Master's Teacher by Lily White

 She caught my attention the first day I was seated in her class.

Her dark red hair fell in waves down her back and her alabaster skin appeared to sparkle under the lights of the lecture hall

I'd admired her from a distance, never speaking or doing anything to draw attention to myself.

Each day that I spent watching her in this room, I noticed how her eyes would flick up to me. She was wary of me - frightened - and she had reason to be.

Allow me to introduce myself…

My name is Holland Strong and at 21 years old, I'm the youngest Master within a society of wealthy and influential men.

Claire Elliot is my psychology professor in college - that is, at least, until I make her my first courtesan.

She believes she knows everything about how the mind works…

…and I believe I can prove her wrong.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20886320-her-master-s-teacher?ac=1

I had to wait a few days after finishing this book to even get this review written, that is how emotional I was when I finished it.  Even talking to the owner of this blog on the phone, as soon as she brought up the book I burst into tears.  I have no clue as to why I fall so far in love with at least one of Lily White’s characters in each book when I know it won’t be a beautiful journey but I do.  Her writing style is such that the characters stop being fictional and become real, almost like family.  When they hurt you hurt, when they seek revenge you feel justified, when they die a piece of you dies.  This is what she creates, a dark world that is full of evil and goodness and you are as captured as the women in the book are.  While reading the story you are living in the Lily White cell, unable to escape till you finish the last page.  This is why I never miss one of her books, I know I am going to be traumatized, crushed and devastated at the end, but I also know I am going to walk away a stronger person because I have just been exposed to some of the toughest women ever created in either real life or fiction. 
I won’t give any spoilers for the book, the synopsis does a great job at warning you that this isn’t a fluffy romance.  What Lily gave us was raw human emotions, events that were created by not only the choices of the characters but of others in the characters’ lives.  What I found different about this book was the evil actions done were fueled by some of the goodness and desires of Holland, Claire, and Rebecca and yes even Aiden.  Where there demonic twists and behavior, well yes, it wouldn’t be a Lily book if that was absent, but I found I didn’t really hate anyone by the time I was finished.  It could be she twisted my mind so well that I fell behind in their shadow and drank the Kool-Aid but I would like to think I was able to see past the evil mask into the true soul of each of them.
Lily White took Claire, an intelligent woman who was a Psychology professor and put her in the role of a victim.  We watched as this brilliant mind struggled with survival versus the Stockholm Syndrome, which I might add she was teaching her class about.  She was one of the strongest female characters I think Lily has ever produced in a book and I was in awe of how she continued to keep her head in situations that would have broken a normal woman.  Holland, such a misguided young man should have been seen as the devil, but it was Claire who continued to remind us that Holland was a victim himself.  If not for the woman who was being held hostage, I am not sure we would have ever seen the real Holland.  Aiden, while I went into this book still loving that man from book one, his actions made me hate him once again.  By the end of the book, once the answers were revealed I didn’t know if I wanted to hug him or slam a baseball bat up side his head but I knew I couldn’t hate him anymore.
Lily White is the queen of making you think black is white and evil is good and I never leave one of her books feeling the same as when I started.  She makes you believe that all things are possible, all revenge is justified and reminds you that every single person on Earth is capable of doing good and evil deeds.  No one is immune to the emotions of greed, desire, revenge and despair.  I would highly recommend this book to the dark and twisted genre lovers.  You won’t want to miss it but make sure you have all the necessary items for one of her books, tissues, support and a few days to recover once it is done. 

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