Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #450665 in Books
• Published on: 2009-04-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Customer Reviews

Not the best BDSM story I've read, but entertaining
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 8/10

PROS:
- Convincing story about a guy who thinks he's straight getting into a gay relationship. I often find that "straight guy turned gay" storylines either move too quickly or don't contain guys I think of as straight. I believed that Nick truly was clueless about his latent attraction to men, and I felt that the progression of his and Damian's relationship moved just at the right pace.
- A top who struggles with the realistic human emotion of self-doubt. I don't hang around many people who are into the lifestyle, but when I see the public bravado of most Doms, I always wonder whether they have moments of weariness and/or insecurity, if only in private.
- Cute secondary love story that I almost wished Ford hadn't told us as much about so that she could write a second volume about those characters' story.
- Sexy love scenes that progress beautifully from simple sex to loving expressions of affection.
- Lovely descriptions of Damian's photography. Ford must either be a photographer herself or have studied erotic photography in depth before writing this book.

CONS:
- The big "I love you and you love me back" scene was anti-climactic for me. I guess it's more realistic than many such scenes, but after the emotional roller coaster the characters had been through, I wanted a dramatic, fairy tale scene rather than the straightforward, practical one I got.
- Some depictions of more extreme BDSM lifestyles that made Nick (and thus me) uncomfortable and skittish. I struggled a little bit with understanding why Nick would agree to some of the things he does when witnessing others' versions of the lifestyle made him so uneasy.
- Both characters are rather standoffish emotionally. This makes their eventual attachment more poignant, but they experience several "he's tired of me [or mad at me or disappointed in me or whatever] and I don't know it but he thinks I'm tired of him too" moments that made me want to smack them both.

Overall comments: A sweet read, but not without its uncomfortable moments. Nick's natural submission is described well, but some of the things he witnesses at other Doms' hands are cringe-worthy when viewed through his eyes. If you like or don't mind BDSM, I recommend this one; there's nothing terribly graphic or heavy in it--some bondage and spanking, but no blood play and few visible marks from the main characters' encounters.

A Strong Hand by Catt Ford
First of all I'm shallow, but I was enticed by the cover since the first moment I saw it. It's perfect for the book, a story of a young boy who is starting to discover the BDSM world, but he likes it "vanilla", he mostly likes to be spanked, and what is better than a pretty bum to suggest it?

Nick is a young art student who is working for a famous male erotica photographer, Damian, to make the ends meet. Since the beginning he is a brat, always answering back to Damian even for the smallest things. Truth be told, if not for the turn in their relationship, there were no real reason for Damian to take Nick around, even if he is a pretty boy. But then Ashley, a quite strange fairy godmother of the Doms and subs, and good friend of Damian, asks to the man to shot his next catalogue of sex toys and leathers, and thanks to the fate, Nick finds himself to model the first innocent pieces for Damian.

Nick is not gay, or at least he thinks so, and he was never interested in the kinky aspects of love, but seeing around all the things and having the chance to be the center of attention for Damian let him eager of more. To Nick, so young and naive, it seems impossible to satisfy Damian, so hard and precise in his work, and maybe, even before this catalogue work comes around, Nick was trying to find a way to impress his boss. Even if he doesn't realize it, Nick is a top from the bottom, he likes to be in center stage and he likes when all Damian's attention is turned toward him. He wants to be the only man in Damian's life, and if this means being a sub, well, he will try. But truth be told, Nick is a real vanilla sub, he likes to dress like a little girl with her mother dress, and he likes to be spanked, but better if possible with bared hands, or at least with nothing that leaves permanent bruises. More than the pain, what Nick likes, and excites him, is being the focal point of their sexual plays. Nick is a bit of an hedonist, and maybe he also needs a strong hand to control and direct him.

Damian on the other hand, has tried all and now is more or less tired of all. He is not searching for a sub, he is quite content with his work and his life, and probably he doesn't want the burden of an untrained sub, on top of than also so much younger than him. So he really doesn't miss anything when he realizes that with Nick he will have to respect some limits, things that a real Dom will never accept. Actually between the two, the one who always risk their relationship is Damian, he is always questioning if he is doing right, and sometime he is so blinded by his own insecurities that he doesn't realize that he is neglecting his sub. Where Nick is not exactly the role model for a sub, Damian is not at all the strong and steady Dom, even if people around him praise his mastery... I have the feeling that Damian is more an artist of the BDSM world more than a real player. Probably if not for the fairy godmother Ashley, they will never get together for good (and Ashley is a very nice supporting character, I like that also him has his personal love story inside the book).

So in the end I have the feeling that both Nick than Damian are more playing to be Dom and sub, than being the real thing. This also allow to the book to be light and funny, and accessible to all type of readers, even those who have some boundaries on BDSM, as I said, the most you will find in this book is a cute spanked pink bum.

A Strong Hand
This is a page turner. I could not put it down for the story was poignant. Each individual had to work things out themselves. It shows the caring between the photographer and his model/assistant and the confidence from being paid attention to. For the photographer is was acceptance of love.