Review: Well-done, but disturbing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 21, 2012
Kristina, a young trophy wife of a much older wealthy man, is aware she doesn't measure up in her husband's eyes. Because his late wife was accomplished pianist - something that seemed to please Jack - she tells him she wants to learn to play. He buys her a very expensive grand piano and hires the best instructors.But while Kristina loves her husband and wants to please him, she doesn't really want to learn to play - at least not enough to invest the time it would require. So she doesn't pay attention, doesn't practice and behaves rudely to her piano teachers who become frustrated and quit.On the brink of divorce over it, and after soliciting advice from her young trophy wife  friends, she approaches Jack and tells she'll hand over complete control to him, do anything he wants, including submitting to a spanking. She even signs a consent form. What she doesn't know is that Jack is a Dominant who has been itching to make her his submissive, a relationship he had with his late wife. And thus the piano lessons resume, but with a whole new set of circumstances. Rather than discipline him herself - Jack gives the instructors (and the household staff) the go-head to "spank" her if she doesn't toe the line.Writing this review is difficult. I give it four stars based on how it compares with other novels of a similar genre. The story is solid, the writing is decent (there's a couple of name glitches but as an author I understand how that happens!), and the Kristina character is well-developed and surprisingly sympathetic. The psychological insight into her character as she changes from a spoiled, pampered seemingly vanilla young woman into an obedient "submissive" is especially well done. The reader can see the change occur and fully understand how and why.It feels very real. Too real. Which is probably why it made me uncomfortable. I did not read the reviews, but bought it based on the blurb, which gave me the impression that it was domestic discipline story. It's not. It's actually a bdsm book, with emphasis on sadomasochism. Kristina is more than a submissive, she's masochist and her teachers are sadists. She is not spanked or disciplined, but beaten - and she, as a masochist, not only consents, but craves the beatings.And although her husband Jack is a self-described Dominant who tells Kristina's teachers to discipline her, I found his behavior to be subservient and submissive to his Fem Domme friends, who seemed to be much more in control and much more Dominant.Readers of hardcore bdsm will probably find Spanked Princesses: The Pianist enjoyable read. It was too extreme for my tastes.