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Her Masters #1

Masters of Restraint

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My new boss is good at giving orders. But his latest demand is NSFW. Especially when his two business partners want in on our deal.

My new boss

My boss’s boss

Their investor

These three are the last men I expect to meet at the BDSM club I go to with my girls to celebrate keeping my job after a hostile takeover of my company. But these dominant, sexy billionaires make it clear that my company is not the only thing they want to take over.

What 21st century, workaholic, career woman with a drawer full of BOBs and batteries would pass on three rugged alphas intent on scrutinizing her assets? But if anyone at work finds out about our NSFW activities, my reputation in the corporate world will be ruined. Worse, if any of the three of them discover I’m falling for them, they’ll drop me faster than a bad investment.

If you love steamy romance that packs heat as well as heart, then you'll love the Her Masters series where a woman who thinks she knows what she wants will meet three men who give her exactly what she needs.

186 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 21, 2021

363 people are currently reading
988 people want to read

About the author

Ines Johnson

254 books647 followers

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5 stars
399 (31%)
4 stars
411 (32%)
3 stars
319 (25%)
2 stars
91 (7%)
1 star
39 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews
Profile Image for Books2lovenow.
414 reviews23 followers
September 25, 2021
I had a hard time deciding on a star rating for this book. I finally settled on a 3.5 rounded to a 4.
Pluses
The characters are vividly written you feel like you know them right away.

The depiction of BDSM is done well. Could have had a few more examples of negotiating, though.

The sex scenes are very well written. They are really hot.

The dynamic of the three men is not one I've seen in a book before.

Cons

I felt there was way more backstory and character development needed for the men. How long had they been together? Why the power dynamic? Was their conflict ever?

I felt Maree as well needed character delevopment. You would have thought going from being a newbie in BDSM to fully invested in a relationship would have been more diffult to accept. Why wasn't she at least a little upset by the reveal at the end?

I would have absolutely loved this book if it had been longer or even a duet.

Has it was the book came across has a fast instalove story with some BDSM thrown in. Which is great but I felt it could have been more.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Tai Nelson-Barnes.
2,833 reviews76 followers
October 9, 2021
I have to admit this was a hard review to do. I wanted to give it 5 stars but the ending seemed to just be there. Masters of Restraint could have been so much better if there had been an actual story. I liked the characters and the sex scenes were amazing, but there was no building of characters. We got some information here and there of each character, but other than that there is no real tangible info. For a RH BDSM I was kind of left hanging.

Please don't let this be a negative for you, if you are looking for a quick hot read, this is for you!


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Profile Image for Mya.
1,502 reviews59 followers
January 29, 2024
I am rushing to buy the next book in this series. The author did such a great job with this story.
Profile Image for thenerdybookworm_.
1,647 reviews66 followers
September 25, 2021
Masters of Restraint is a deliciously spicy reverse harem story.

Maree is career driven and a woman in a man’s world. The only way for her to unwind is to join her friends at a BDSM club. When she meets a powerful Dom, she’s helpless to resist. What she doesn’t count on are his friends, a sexy sub and a enigmatic voyeur, and ends up with more than she bargains for.

This story is ridiculously hot. If the Shibari doesn’t rope you in, then I don’t know what will. Seriously, check this book out.
Profile Image for Kenji Kishimoto.
263 reviews2 followers
December 31, 2023
There's just something about billionaires and sex clubs that just feed my needs.
Profile Image for Amanda.
721 reviews
August 12, 2022
Ebook. Purchased (KDD). Glad this was free. Definitely missed the mark and could have used more time to actually fill out the plot. Even the 🌶scenes didn’t totally make sense.
Profile Image for Angela Plumeria.
431 reviews4 followers
January 11, 2024
This author got my attention! This was so fun and hot and pretty original. As far as bdsm erotica goes, this was darn near perfect. Fun story, strong heroine and sexy ass doms. I loved how Paul was such a feminist and defied gender stereotypes in the corporate settings and also taught her about how to avoid status quo type traps that keep professional women down. There were some details with the business side of things that were wildly inaccurate and far fetched, but easy to overlook. At the end some of the details seemed lacking within the writing. The epilogue should have been about the characters in this book instead of set up for the next one, there was just a tad bit more needed to wrap up and close the story. Gonna finish the series though, because I’m really enjoying the pace, flow and fantasy! I happened to get this free on Stuff Your Kindle day and it is a gem I’m glad I grabbed! 💎
Profile Image for Jessica.
153 reviews
April 12, 2024
Fun little slump buster. Nothing serious, but I would have really liked a longer version with backstory. Especially on Sam.
Profile Image for Natalie  H.
3,802 reviews30 followers
November 7, 2025
October 2025
Kindle edition

Read for a group challenge. It feels like so long since I've read an RH. It was a fun one with quite a bit going on. I didn't expect the first boss to be a sub so that was a surprise. The office porn thing was funny. I liked the toy guy. He went from doesn't do repeats to white knight. Nice little group.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Caroline.
1,508 reviews11 followers
September 24, 2021
A good read that was different to what I was expecting, in a very good way. This book is hot, men who like to share and not follow the rules.

Maree's friends are heavily into the kink scene but she never does anything but watch, and even that pleasure doesn't happen often. All changes with a night at her friends club and a trio that tell her they don't do repeats. A Dom, a sub and a voyeur, what could be better. Only issue is one is her Boss, (I'm not disclosing which, read the book). After a week of reminiscing and flirty moments with her boss, Maree returns to the club and finds her more.
Profile Image for Sarah.
327 reviews1 follower
January 13, 2024
Got this for free on Kindle.

This one was definitely not good, in my opinion. I'm glad it was short and free.

Maree is the main character who is evidently "career driven" (Even though she was caught on the first page watching pornography in the office and has scandalous relationships with her bosses? Don't believe that for a second, but okay.) And she meets up with her friends at this BDSM club and encounters her boss, his work partner, and another guy there and they start to engage in this BDSM-play relationship thing.

First of all, I am by no means an expert on BDSM, but I hear from others that alcohol at one of these clubs is not normal or okay because it conflicts with the ability to consent. There was a bar at the club they went to. So keep that in mind.

The sex wasn't terrible, but it definitely was not written well. In fact, the entire writing was a bit cringe. No offense, but I'd rather not listen to my main character call herself a "boss bitch," especially when I have a hard time believing that she is. During the sex scenes, it was very basic writing. There was also not very much foreplay. And the men don't appear to be getting off to what they're doing with her. To me, it was very bland and not very sexy.

I really wanted more reason with this story. It's very short and it should've been longer. We have not much reasoning about the boys and why exactly they're doing their escapades. Are they doing it purely because of Sam's (one of the male participants) experiments with his sex toys? Hard to say, because we never get that much information on him or what he does outside of the sex. Are they doing it out of pleasure? Hard to say, because none of the men release on page. And yet, our main character Maree is basically a nonstop waterfall in that department.

Oh, and her job? It was pretty boring to read about. Especially the first 20% of the novel. We're just hearing about her job and I'm thinking "Just get to the club already!" This is an erotic novel, no one wants to hear a bunch of details about work. Cut back on that and add some more descriptions on the actual sex and the characters surrounding that, please.

Somehow she has friends who are also interested in BDSM. They make a few appearances in the novel and the Epilogue suggests that the follow up novels will be following them. I don't have much opinions on them and they seem to only appear to talk to Maree about her escapades. Pretty one-dimensional for this first book.

If you want to read the book to form your own opinion on it, feel free. I didn't think it was very good and there's probably better ones out there, though. However, it is very short and a good one to read with a bottle of wine.
Profile Image for Emily W.
135 reviews5 followers
January 22, 2024
Initially based on my gut I gave this 3 stars but after sitting on it for a night, I'm lowering it to 1 and it would be zero if that was an option. The reason for that is I'm sick of authors calling a book "Romance" with a capital R and not giving that. If this had been called erotica? At least 4 stars. But if the author wants to promote this and have it judged as Romance, it deserves a negative rating.

Romance ends with an HEA or an HFA. In my opinion, this has neither as a standalone book. If it had a direct sequel with the same characters? I'd give it a chance, but as is there is basically no commitment at all by the end of this book. And none of the characters say I love you, which is a requirement for HEA/HFA as far as I'm concerned.

The epilogue also irritated me. The epilogue is supposed to give us a final taste of the characters in the current book, not try to sell us the next book. That's what preview chapters are for.

Overall this will be probably be my last book by this author. If you can't follow the one rule of the genre, you're not getting my money or my time.
Profile Image for Berea.
237 reviews3 followers
December 31, 2023
While I did really love the overall story and steam, they lost me at the end.

Maree is a career woman wanting to prove herself in the world of mergers and acquisitions. She gets a chance all on her own and she ends up in a submissive reverse harem relationship with her boss, his silent partner, and a friend of theirs. That’s all fine until she gets a deal of her own, the men heckle her out of there, then she returns the next day (IN THE SAME CLOTHES) to threaten them and close the deal. THEN her men storm in and declare to the boardroom that she’s their gf (before even having that conversation with her themselves) and they proceed to have very loud sex with her in said boardroom while the acquired company is outside of the door listening. I mean, I liked the story up to that point that’s just crazy. Who will take her seriously now?

Also, I feel like they could’ve given us a bit more character development with the men. Why do they have this dynamic? Why does Sam mostly just like to watch? Ultimately it could’ve been longer.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for B W.
25 reviews1 follower
March 17, 2024
I originally gave this a 3, but decided to move up to a 4. This was a really fast read. There were some typos in the Kindle edition, but the story made up for it. I really enjoyed Maree's constant inner monologue. Relatable. I liked how quick paced it was and still managed to build relationships between the characters. The phrasing during the "scenes" were kind of comical. I wish Maree would have actually gone through the renegotiations of her terms. It would have added a little more to the plot. This book had me laughing by the end. It seemed to have taken a left turn at the end where she's in the company of the "toy maker." How convenient that Paul and Sam were neighbors. 😂 All in all, this was a fun story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Ana.
524 reviews6 followers
dnf
May 3, 2025
DNF @ 58%

One thing that really bothered me was the there was a bar at a BDSM club. I'm not an expert, but I know consent is really important, especially in the BDSM scene, which is why it threw me off that it was allowed in a place that should value consent. The safe word discussion was also pretty bad. This is definitely not safe BDSM practice, which makes me think the author didn't do much research?? Especially in the specific genre she was writing since books set in BDSM clubs are always a lot more strict in the representation of the community. I also wasn't really feeling the book. What was Sam's reason for being there anyways? It felt almost clinical in the way he spoke, which was not doing it for me.
Profile Image for Clare.
298 reviews6 followers
September 5, 2021
Master of Restraints is my first bdsm reverse harem,and I loved it! Maree is a career driven woman who's working in a male oriented corporate world,and is determined to rise to the top. Her eagerness to impress her new boss, the powerhouse enigma Paul Brooks, leads her to find out that he has a whole different persona,thanks to the club they realise they both frequent by pure accident. She meets the powerful and lustful Kaiden and the quiet mystery that is Sam...and together the 4 of them begin a journey of sin and debauchery and their love of Shibari and bondage. Bring in book 2...i think I've found yet another new trope!
Five 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
6 reviews
February 2, 2022
Delicious, I ate up every word & sighed from bliss

The main character is a self-propelling strong woman who knows how to motivate herself into accomplishing anything she sets out to do. You might call her a Workaholic, but really she’s not that as much as she is a person who simply refuses to do less than her best. Luckily one of the male leads recognizes this as a similar quality of his own and snatches her up for his own company in a heartbeat. Then fate simply takes a hand in pushing them back together outside of work. Then add two more and stir vigorously and you have a delicious book to eat up. Enjoy!
212 reviews1 follower
November 13, 2021
Did the men enjoy any of this?

This is fine. There shouldn't be alcohol in a BDSM club. The friends were just annoying so I skipped over anything with them. No M/M. One guy doesn't even play a significant role until the end. The story is cliche- why is it always a boss and a secretary? The worst part is that the men don't finish. One scene ends with everyone happy. All the rest are graphic about her enjoyment but say nothing about that of the men as if that is irrelevant. It is so odd.
Profile Image for Sydnie Nova.
965 reviews25 followers
February 5, 2022
As someone who reads a fair amount of RHs, this one fell a little flat for me. It lacked certain story elements that make me interested in reading and investing in the characters. They felt more one dimensional and at times I was a little confused by their motivations and actions. The story also felt a little cliché to me, which isn't always bad, but in this case the boss/assistant BDSM thing didn't float my boat. I felt certain scenes were better researched than others but appreciated the main character navigating her way as a baby sub in the world of BDSM.
701 reviews6 followers
January 26, 2024
A why-choose erotic romance.

In some ways very straightforward erotic piece checking off tropes -- billionaires, office romance, hard-working FMC, etc. But the author (to her credit) mixes some tropes up very well. The three men are very well differentiated, with very different desires.

My problem (hence not 5 stars) is that the workplace activities make way too little sense. Business acquisitions really do not work like that.

But a very good read and I am getting the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Rachael Huffman.
31 reviews
February 23, 2024
So close

Most of the book is great. They set up a boss bitch of a self-rescuing princess and then completely undermine the strength of the main character in the end, rather than celebrating it.

It would be one thing if they had faced misogynistic pricks and stayed professional but still needed their threats backed up, but instead they had a hyper competent person completely choke.

The friends at least point out that they really *should* be actually negotiating for play, including missing discussions about protection, STI status, and birth control.
Profile Image for Stan Hutchings.
1,355 reviews23 followers
April 28, 2024
Maree has been thinking about attending an adult fetish club with her friends but did not have the nerve until she was successful in her job and proved she was more capable than her colleagues and bosses. Once she has confidence, she visits the club with her friends and is immediately claimed by Paul, Kaiden, and Sam. They fulfill her fantasies of bondage to a degree she didn’t expect or think possible. There are many hot, exciting, explicitly-described episodes of her ecstasy in bondage as she forms a very intimate bond with her masters, and they with her.
Profile Image for Jordan.
13 reviews
January 26, 2024
1.5 rounded up.

I got this for free, so no major loss. I wanted to like this. The first half of the book had me wanting more, but then it simply fizzled and lost the magic. For a book that touts itself as a romance, there was none. The characters were very one-dimensional, and you know basically nothing about any of them. This book touts itself as packing heat as well as heart, but I feel like it was sorely lacking in the latter.
Profile Image for Biggs_bookshelf.
1,608 reviews27 followers
January 30, 2024
fast burn

After a year long hiatus in the men dept but not losing her job a night at the club seems the perfect way to celebrate. Well until she walks into the room and finds the last person she expected. Very fast burn with a girl who just wants to work and de stress. Would have liked a epilogue to see how they work it out especially since the harem didn’t live together but over all I enjoyed the read
640 reviews7 followers
February 2, 2024
Really enjoyed this sexy reverse harem story. It's a bit instalove, which isn't usually my thing but I think it worked well here. It's also very light on story really but it just hit my buttons.

It's not a 5 star for me as I felt it ended a bit too soon without any real resolution of the relationship. And I don't like epilogues that are really the first chapter of the next book. I want to hear more about my characters in the future.
Profile Image for Layla -  Talk To Me About Books .
248 reviews7 followers
September 18, 2021
Short but oh so delicious!
A Dom, sub and voyeur/toy maker walks into bar... sounds like the start of a bad joke when in reality it's anything but!
This is a well written, novella length journey into one sub's physical introduction into the BDSM lifestyle.
It's spicy and makes you *sweat*!

I can't wait to delve further into this series!
Profile Image for Karen.
553 reviews10 followers
October 8, 2021
Sexy and Funny

This is a fast paced short story told from the female’s point of view. With plenty of laugh out loud moments, very sexy scenes (including bondage, impact play, power exchanges and multiple partners), romance and a little bit of drama, I was hooked from the beginning. I can’t wait to read the rest of the books in this series of standalone stories.
Profile Image for Christine Galletly.
1,125 reviews5 followers
December 18, 2023
This was a really enjoyable short story!

It had a well developed plot and for a short story it certainly crammed in a lot!

I thought that the author had created some great characters and interaction.

It is a sexy and powerful story that is really well written

Loved the flow to book and the writing style was addictive.

It is 4 stars from me for this one, highly recommended!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 110 reviews

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