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The Master Will Appear  By  cover art

The Master Will Appear

By: L.A. Witt
Narrated by: Michael Ferraiuolo
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Publisher's summary

Dr. Mikhail “Misha” Budnikov takes one look at fellow fencer Ryan O’Connor and instantly knows his type. The undisciplined hothead is all ego with no finesse and even less control. In short, Misha’s pet peeves personified. To put the arrogant kid in check, Misha challenges him to a sparring match, which he predictably wins.

Not so predictably, Ryan asks him to be a mentor and show him how to fence. Startled by the moment of humility, Misha agrees.

What begins as fencing lessons becomes something much hotter, and before they know it, Misha is giving Ryan an entirely different kind of education. Dominance, submission, pain, pleasure—at the hands of an older, experienced man, a whole new world is opening up for Ryan.

As the trust deepens and their bond strengthens, though, Ryan retreats because that sham called love left him jaded long ago. Cynical beyond his years, he’s not letting his guard down, least of all for a thrice-divorced man twice his age.

Now Misha has to find a way to crack through those defenses…or accept defeat and walk away from the submissive who might just be the love of his life.

©2017 Lori Witt/L.A. Witt (P)2017 Lori Witt/L.A. Witt
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: Erotica

What listeners say about The Master Will Appear

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  • Overall
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    5 out of 5 stars

What an amazing performance

I loved this audio. I simply loved everything and every minute of it. It was hot as sin, it was perfectly performed, it was so enthralling, and I was completely enraptured from the beginning until the end. This is saying A LOT because 1) I usually do not like age-differences, 2) I usually can take or leave BDSM, and 3) this was a new narrator for me. Lesson learned? Take a chance, step outside your bubble and expand your comfort zone, and give a new-to-you narrator a chance. I am so glad I grabbed this audio. It was everything I loved and it was performed masterfully.

Okay, so now that you know that I loved it. Why? Well, for starters, it has so many nooks and crannies where all the goodness inside people could hide. Especially those who originally come across as arrogant. Both Ryan and Misha (Mikhail) have baggage, Ryan much more than Misha, but together they work through those nooks and crannies together. It didn’t start out that way, but once the “relationship” began, it all slowly worked its way to the surface. Ryan needed Misha as much as Misha needed Ryan. But they have to work hard for it and since this audio is 13 hours long, we get there one step (literally) at a time. Worth every minute.

Another thing I enjoyed was the fencing. I think that was what drew me to the story in the first place. I like sports romances, and I tend to go for the footballer, but fencing is classy and it called to me. I learned a bit, and I found myself fully invested in the lessons Ryan was receiving from Mikhail. Fencing is what brought them together, BDSM and love is what kept them together. Seriously, I am not doing this audio review any just, but trust me, Michael Ferraiuolo does a fabulous job with Misha’s Russian accent, and Ryan’s upper crust college boy attitude and personality. These two were performed so well that I had not one issue with the age gap nor the submission; if anything, it made the story that much better, and definitely that much hotter.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic story

I’ve had this audio for awhile and I’m kicking myself for not listening to it sooner. The story and narration was fantastic. This story is sizzling!! Normally I prefer less sex and more story but while this book has ALOT of sex the balance is perfect. I absolutely adored Misha and Ryan!!

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2 people found this helpful

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  • Jo
  • 01-02-22

Phenomenal

I kind of went into the audiobook blind. I knew the basics but didn’t know much else. This story was an exceptional BDSM story AND love story. The narration was OUTSTANDING. To be able to pull off a very specific type of sex scene as a special gift is almost impossible, yet, it is done so perfectly in this story that it almost seems effortless. I loved everything about this story and the audiobook. Highly recommend if you are a lover of MM romance and BDSM. 5 stars for sure.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Simply Amazing

This book was so well written. I did not want it to end.
I would love to spend more time in Misha and Ryan’s world.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great contemporary BDSM romance.

4.5

"The Master Will Appear" is a prime example of LA Witt’s skill at writing well-developed and engaging characters in a contemporary BDSM romance. When forty-five-year-old Mikhail “Misha” Budnikov sees twenty-six-year-old Ryan O’Connor fencing, he thinks he knows everything he needs to about the type of person Ryan is. To Misha, Ryan is the worst kind of fencer: an overly confident, aggressor with no real skill, just brute force. After watching his cocksure display, Misha decides to show Ryan what real fencing looks like and bring him down a peg or two. After being soundly trounced, Ryan’s cockiness melts away, and Misha is intrigued enough to say yes when a humbled Ryan asks for lessons. Although willing to admit to his deficiencies, Ryan needs to prove to himself (and his father) that he can be a great fencer, which makes him impatient with Misha’s focus on the basics. Ryan’s frustration and stubbornness annoys Misha, causing them to lock horns at every lesson. However, underneath the annoyance is a simmering awareness that grows as the weeks go by and, eventually, ends with Ryan on his knees in the locker room.

While they agree to a sexual relationship where Misha and Ryan explore Ryan’s submissive side, eventually the “moments in between” and the time they spend together begin to bond them in unexpected and, in Ryan’s case, unwanted ways. Not only does Misha get to see beyond Ryan’s brash facade, he learns more about Ryan’s emotionally draining and dysfunctional family. Misha is “the first person who’d ever come along and cared that [Ryan] was safe [or] comfortable,” and it’s refreshing for Ryan to be with someone who doesn’t treat him as if he is “stupid or useless”. Instead of being the arrogant, spoiled jerk that Ryan’s privileged upbringing would suggest, and was Misha’s first impression, he’s just a guy struggling to figure out who he is outside of being the “unwanted” outcast and emotional pawn his family has labeled him.

Hearing Ryan’s thoughts or discussions of his family is heartbreaking for Mikhail. The more Mikhail learns, the more comfort, security and love he wants to offer to the young, talented man whose self-doubt and negative views on relationships has been cultivated by his family’s vitriolic and emotionally abusive behaviors. However, while Ryan is fearless on the piste, he’s terrified of the idea of Misha being in love with him. To Ryan, love doesn’t exist and is, at best, a delusion which leads people into relationships that only end in misery and, at worst, is a tool to manipulate people. Thus, Ryan constantly questions Misha’s motives and offers of anything beyond mutual sexual/BDSM satisfaction, and he can’t seem to stop himself from viewing everything as a transaction on an open tab he will have to make good on.

Part of the enjoyment of the story comes from the juxtaposition between Ryan’s trust in Misha as a coach and a Dom, but his hesitancy to do so on an emotional level and his blindness to it when he does. Even as he admits to himself how safe he feels with Misha, how well Misha treats him and how much Ryan shares of himself in ways he never has with anyone else, Ryan cannot comprehend or recognize his trust in Misha as a romantic partner. Additionally, and one of the things I love most about Witt’s BDSM books, is how well she portrays and builds the trust necessary for BDSM. Instead of just making it “kinky sex”, she highlights that, like in any kind of intimate exchange/relationship, an element of trust is a necessity. The only thing keeping this book from being amazing is that it exhibits one of my personal nitpicks with Witt’s work—repetition of certain character ideas/beliefs—in this case, how incompatible they should be because of their age differences and dissension on the piste. To me, it crops up frequently enough from both characters that it slows the pacing since you can’t skim and skip while listening as you can when reading.

As for the narration, Michael Ferraiuolo is a good narrator and, overall, does well with the book. Accent work is always tricky, but he does Misha’s voice satisfactorily. Although the accent is not as subtle as indicated by the text, it is not OTT or cartoonish either, and Ferraiuolo manages to keep the accent consistent while conveying the required emotions. On the other hand, Ferraiuolo does not do so well when it comes to the voice work for Ryan’s mom. While she doesn’t have a large amount of dialogue in this twelve hour story, her appearances are very important in imparting the toxicity that Ryan is fighting against and running from, and to me, Ferraiuolo falls short when expressing the sarcasm, irritation, needling, etc. that so strongly affects Ryan’s mood and behavior when indicated by the narrative. Thus, Ryan’s responses to his mother, particularly early on, sometimes come across as brattier and more petulant than emotionally distressing. However, Ferraiuolo does a good job portraying the varied emotional scenes of the story, from frustration on the piste to hot sex and floggings to the peace and comfort in simply being together, transforming the compelling beauty of Ryan’s oblivious fall into love and Misha’s quiet, pure and generous love for Ryan into an enjoyable listen.

Reviewed for The Novel Approach Reviews

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

My favorite audiobook. EVER! 5+ stars!

After reading The Master Will Appear in May of 2017, it quickly became one of my all-time favorite M/M romances and one of the very best BDSM romances considering I actually didn't skim through the kinkier parts. I dare say that this novel is L.A. Witt at her most brilliant. So, you can imagine how much I was looking forward to listening to the audiobook. While I was already familiar with Witt's writing, Michael Ferraiuolo was a new-to-me narrator going into this, but talk about an introduction that left one hell of a lasting impression! Witt was already a favorite go-to author prior to this title, and Ferraiuolo earned himself a spot on my list of favorite go-to narrators, a spot that's been solidified given that I've read quite a few more audiobooks he lent his voice talents to since listening to this.

Le sigh. This audiobook is in a class all its own. The story may have been familiar, but listening to Michael Ferraiuolo breathe life into L.A. Witt's masterpiece took it to a level I didn't even know existed. What do I mean? Well, I'm a hopeless romantic who also happens to be a hopeful cynic--weird and somewhat ironic, I know--so I try to keep any and all my expectations as realistic as possible. However, this dream team of Witt and Ferraiuolo made me see that it was, indeed, quite possible to have the perfect audiobook. Not all BDSM stories click with me, but this one had that wonderfully fine balance of kink and romance that I want and it was headlined by two of the most mesmerizing main characters I've come across in a really long time. I sat back and allowed the narrator's voice and the author's words sweep me into a tale of love and acceptance, oftrust and self-belief. If I could only suggest one audiobook for a newbie to the format to listen to, The Master Will Appear would be it. Five-plus stars. ♥

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Narration peeve

I loved the story and I really loved Misha and Ryan. It’s a great story and though it ends with a HEA, I would love to continue getting to know them better.
I’ve always liked Michael Ferraiuolo as a narrator and he did a good job with this. The characters voices were all very distinct and he gave Misha a really good Russian accent. My only complaint is that when Misha was “thinking “ his thoughts had no accent. At times, I couldn’t initially tell if a conversation was starting or if he was just in his own head. I’m probably the only one bothered by this. Maybe it’s my OCD. But I think Mischa’s thoughts should have had an accent too.

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    5 out of 5 stars

Story, writing, and narration - all AMAZING!

So many times I'll read/listen to a romance novel that'll be filled with smexy scenes but has no story whatsoever. But THIS book? This book has a great story, fantastic writing, and an amazing narrator! My only regret is that I can't ever listen to it for the first time again. LOVE IT!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

A bit too much angst but well performed

Ryan got on my nerves. Yes, he had deplorable parents but he could have stepped away from the situation. He had ample financial resources to make changes but was trapped by his own sense of obligation. He gave them too much power. Misha was a nice guy but I'd question getting involved with someone divorced 3 times. I don't think the BDSM added much to the story and wasn't necessary. Michael Ferraluolo was the saving grace for me. His narration was delightful.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic Audiobook!

Loved this story! This book has it all, BDSM, D/s, age gap, master and student, Fencing, group sex (sharing not cheating), Art, family dynamics and So Much Heat! Michael Ferraiuolo excels at the narration of this book with his fantastic accent skills! The epilogue wraps it up nicely, but would have liked it to include a bit about Ryan's paintings. 5 Stars

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