A Strong Hand by Catt Ford
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: M/M Contemporary BDSM
Summary: Nicholas Sayers, needing money for college, takes a job as assistant to infamous photographer Damian Wolfe. It's just taking pictures, right? Wrong. While Nick has never questioned what kind of man he is or what he truly wants in life, working for Damian during a BDSM photo shoot opens his eyes to all sorts of sexual possibilities, and many of them include the handsome Mr. Wolfe.
Damian has serious doubts about getting involved with a younger man who knows nothing about the BDSM lifestyle, but Nick's adventurous and humorous approach to new experiences is far too alluring to resist. Although he knows it might be a mistake, Damian takes Nick into his life.
Flirting on the edges of control, submission, and pain excites Nick more than he would have ever dreamed possible. With Damian, Nick learns about his own deeply hidden desires and finds out that relinquishing control doesn’t make him weak—having someone else in control of his sexual pleasure simply heightens it. And the reverse is true for Damian: Control turns him on. So they set out to explore these sensual boundaries together, neither expecting to find love along the way.
My Review: This book starts out with Nick working as an assistant in Damian’s photography studio. Damian is both demanding and hostile in communicating with Nick. Nick needs the job to subsidize him while he completes his education, but isn’t at all comfortable working with Damian. Damian’s newest project is a catalogue shot for a BSDM company. When the model doesn’t show up he asks Nick to stand in just to get some test shots for the lighting of the shoot. Nick agrees and this is the beginning of the escalation of tension, sexual and otherwise, in the book. Nick’s transformation throughout this novel is well-written and believable. He runs through practically every emotion of the spectrum in figuring out who he is, who he wants to be and where Damian fits into all of this.
While I fell in love with Nick’s character almost instantly, it took a little longer to get past Damian’s antagonistic behaviour. However, Catt Ford did an excellent job bringing this character to life throughout the book. Actually, she did an outstanding job bringing all the characters to life for the reader; even the secondary characters that flowed through the book were vivid. I truly enjoyed the secondary story line between Ashley and Derek.
The descriptions in this book were extremely visual, leading the reader into the lives of these characters. You felt as if you were in the room with them throughout this book. That is not to say that there is a ton of exposition – on the contrary, the photographic sessions allowed visualization of the characters and scenes all the while keeping us within the dialog of the characters.
I truly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. The tempo of the book was perfect; there was no place that lagged and you were drawn into the book from beginning and felt satisfaction at the end. My hope is that Ms. Ford isn’t done with these characters or this world that she created within A Strong Hand. I would love to visit Nick and Damian again and learn whatever came of Ashley and Derek’s love story.
Rated 5 Delightful Divas and a Recommended Read by Jen!
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: M/M Contemporary BDSM
Summary: Nicholas Sayers, needing money for college, takes a job as assistant to infamous photographer Damian Wolfe. It's just taking pictures, right? Wrong. While Nick has never questioned what kind of man he is or what he truly wants in life, working for Damian during a BDSM photo shoot opens his eyes to all sorts of sexual possibilities, and many of them include the handsome Mr. Wolfe.
Damian has serious doubts about getting involved with a younger man who knows nothing about the BDSM lifestyle, but Nick's adventurous and humorous approach to new experiences is far too alluring to resist. Although he knows it might be a mistake, Damian takes Nick into his life.
Flirting on the edges of control, submission, and pain excites Nick more than he would have ever dreamed possible. With Damian, Nick learns about his own deeply hidden desires and finds out that relinquishing control doesn’t make him weak—having someone else in control of his sexual pleasure simply heightens it. And the reverse is true for Damian: Control turns him on. So they set out to explore these sensual boundaries together, neither expecting to find love along the way.
My Review: This book starts out with Nick working as an assistant in Damian’s photography studio. Damian is both demanding and hostile in communicating with Nick. Nick needs the job to subsidize him while he completes his education, but isn’t at all comfortable working with Damian. Damian’s newest project is a catalogue shot for a BSDM company. When the model doesn’t show up he asks Nick to stand in just to get some test shots for the lighting of the shoot. Nick agrees and this is the beginning of the escalation of tension, sexual and otherwise, in the book. Nick’s transformation throughout this novel is well-written and believable. He runs through practically every emotion of the spectrum in figuring out who he is, who he wants to be and where Damian fits into all of this.
While I fell in love with Nick’s character almost instantly, it took a little longer to get past Damian’s antagonistic behaviour. However, Catt Ford did an excellent job bringing this character to life throughout the book. Actually, she did an outstanding job bringing all the characters to life for the reader; even the secondary characters that flowed through the book were vivid. I truly enjoyed the secondary story line between Ashley and Derek.
The descriptions in this book were extremely visual, leading the reader into the lives of these characters. You felt as if you were in the room with them throughout this book. That is not to say that there is a ton of exposition – on the contrary, the photographic sessions allowed visualization of the characters and scenes all the while keeping us within the dialog of the characters.
I truly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. The tempo of the book was perfect; there was no place that lagged and you were drawn into the book from beginning and felt satisfaction at the end. My hope is that Ms. Ford isn’t done with these characters or this world that she created within A Strong Hand. I would love to visit Nick and Damian again and learn whatever came of Ashley and Derek’s love story.
Rated 5 Delightful Divas and a Recommended Read by Jen!
3 loved readers said:
Hey there, just a quickie. The genre at the top should be M/M, not M/F. Anyone reading the review will quickly figure it out, but... :)
Thanks for pointing that out, Stacey! I have it fixed now.
Melissa
off to Dreamspinner Press....
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