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Masked Submission
When Dylan Reese first sees Tomas, the sensual masked Dom at Club Chained, he instantly feels the connection between them. Falling under his dark spell, Dylan is unable to resist his commands, baring his body and his soul for his masked lover. In an intense exchange of sensual power, Dylan submits with an honesty and a passion he's never known. He finds himself falling hopelessly in love with a stranger who can't or won't reveal himself. Dr. Jack Marchand, a professor of medieval history, is smitten the moment he lays eyes on Dylan, the green-eyed PhD candidate he is mentoring. As their friendship blossoms, so does their trust - freeing Dylan to confess his submissive orientation while Jack admits his naturally dominant impulses. A tumble into bed after too much to drink convinces Jack he must possess Dylan on every level. But just as Dylan is captured by a fantasy, Jack is held prisoner by a secret of his own creation. Jack finally realizes the only way to liberate Dylan's heart is to confess what he has kept hidden from the world.
126 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2007
6 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Claire Thompson
203 books1,165 followersClaire has been writing for nearly two decades, and has published over 85 novels. She writes BDSM romance and abduction tales, spanning both m/f and m/m genres. She has received numerous awards for her bestselling work, including the NLA-Int’l Pauline Réage Award and the Golden Flogger Award for best BDSM fiction.. Her darker works press the envelope of what is erotic and what can be a sometimes dangerous slide into the world of sadomasochism. Ultimately her work deals with the human condition, and our constant search for love and intensity of experience.
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https://clairethompson.net
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https://clairethompson.net
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 8, 2009
I had really high expectations when I started to read Masked Seduction by Claire Thompson. After reading it, I can truthfully say that I am unsure if I really liked it or not.
Yes, I thought the heroes were sexy and they said all the right things at the right time throughout the book, and even the storyline was pretty interesting. I intentionally put this review off because I wanted to reflect on why I didn’t overly love this book.
I came to the conclusion that although I like Claire’s more conventional erotic romances, I do not care for her BDSM themed ones. Reflecting back on other books I have read written by her with this theme in mind, I remembered that I didn’t much like them either.
Please don’t misunderstand; I DO really enjoy reading BDSM themed books. D/s relationships usually fascinate me to some degree, but I think my problem with this book was I don’t like the way she writes her Doms. I think they are much harsher and more arrogant than I like. I thought that several times Dylan (the sub) went against character and was pushed to far and into too much humiliation just to please his Dom. That made me uncomfortable, several times throughout reading this book. Because of this, I never felt like the heroes really connected on a more emotional level.
Will I stop reading Claire Thompson’s books? No. I loved Handyman, so I’ll hold out and read her more “vanilla” books and just stay away from her BDSM themed ones.
2.5 stars but I will bump it up to 3
Yes, I thought the heroes were sexy and they said all the right things at the right time throughout the book, and even the storyline was pretty interesting. I intentionally put this review off because I wanted to reflect on why I didn’t overly love this book.
I came to the conclusion that although I like Claire’s more conventional erotic romances, I do not care for her BDSM themed ones. Reflecting back on other books I have read written by her with this theme in mind, I remembered that I didn’t much like them either.
Please don’t misunderstand; I DO really enjoy reading BDSM themed books. D/s relationships usually fascinate me to some degree, but I think my problem with this book was I don’t like the way she writes her Doms. I think they are much harsher and more arrogant than I like. I thought that several times Dylan (the sub) went against character and was pushed to far and into too much humiliation just to please his Dom. That made me uncomfortable, several times throughout reading this book. Because of this, I never felt like the heroes really connected on a more emotional level.
Will I stop reading Claire Thompson’s books? No. I loved Handyman, so I’ll hold out and read her more “vanilla” books and just stay away from her BDSM themed ones.
2.5 stars but I will bump it up to 3
September 30, 2010
>Sigh< 3.5 stars
This book had a lot of potential. Thompson's D/s books in which she eloquently explores the concept of submissive grace are guaranteed to arouse the reader's mind as much as their bodies. Where this particular book fell short for me was Jack's/Tomas' manipulation of Dylan. Or maybe it was the whole idea of Tomas I couldn't comfortably digest. All I know is I rolled my eyes so many times while reading the first sixty pages you'd swear I was an epileptic. Oh and I don't think I'll ever look at my dissertation committee members in quite the same way again...Ew. After the big reveal the book got A LOT better. I'm nuts about training chapters between Doms and subs and Thompson doesn't disappoint in creating steamy scenes. The ending is tooth decayingly sweet and romantic too. I'm curious to read what other folks think of this. Good Read but it could have been GREAT.
This book had a lot of potential. Thompson's D/s books in which she eloquently explores the concept of submissive grace are guaranteed to arouse the reader's mind as much as their bodies. Where this particular book fell short for me was Jack's/Tomas' manipulation of Dylan. Or maybe it was the whole idea of Tomas I couldn't comfortably digest. All I know is I rolled my eyes so many times while reading the first sixty pages you'd swear I was an epileptic. Oh and I don't think I'll ever look at my dissertation committee members in quite the same way again...Ew. After the big reveal the book got A LOT better. I'm nuts about training chapters between Doms and subs and Thompson doesn't disappoint in creating steamy scenes. The ending is tooth decayingly sweet and romantic too. I'm curious to read what other folks think of this. Good Read but it could have been GREAT.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 15, 2010
So-so kinky m/m romance about a submissive PhD student who goes to a club and becomes fascinated by a cruel and mysterious masked dominant. I definitely like Claire Thompson's more recent books better, because I found this one to be melodramatic and overwrought.
September 7, 2013
Smokin' hot M/M BDSM goodness I've come to love and expect from Claire Thompson.
Re-read in September 2013. Fucking awesome BDSM story! Ridiculously hot. I loved every word.
Re-read in September 2013. Fucking awesome BDSM story! Ridiculously hot. I loved every word.
January 10, 2023
Ok... sometimes I think I read different books than everybody else.
I finished the book only so I could write a review and give it anrating.
Dylan was so cheesy and unbelivably dumb. For someone who is in process to get his PhD he is just not smart.
How can you not know that the man who just went outside the door and the one who came back in 2min later are the same.
The whole book was theatrical and way over the top with emotional outbursts. I felt like I was reading a hetero teenage romance book.
'I want him. But i cannot show it. I have to be hard to get.'
'I want the bad man not the nice one because I saw him 2 times and now Iam in love and nobody else can be as good as him'
OMG. Come on. Dont get me startet with the BDSM elements and the lack of a safeword or real discussions about limits. But as a Sub I was deeply offended that Jack/Tomas thinks that true submission is without question and with mindless obidience.
I finished the book only so I could write a review and give it anrating.
Dylan was so cheesy and unbelivably dumb. For someone who is in process to get his PhD he is just not smart.
How can you not know that the man who just went outside the door and the one who came back in 2min later are the same.
The whole book was theatrical and way over the top with emotional outbursts. I felt like I was reading a hetero teenage romance book.
'I want him. But i cannot show it. I have to be hard to get.'
'I want the bad man not the nice one because I saw him 2 times and now Iam in love and nobody else can be as good as him'
OMG. Come on. Dont get me startet with the BDSM elements and the lack of a safeword or real discussions about limits. But as a Sub I was deeply offended that Jack/Tomas thinks that true submission is without question and with mindless obidience.
November 1, 2012
I liked it but for some reason didn’t love it
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 7/10
PROS:
- My interest in each of the two main characters was piqued very soon into the story. Dylan is a mass of contradictions: he’s played in the scene before but still finds it a little frightening, he doesn’t like public displays but yearns to submit to Tomas in front of a crowd, he’s had a few serious relationships yet he’s “saving himself” (emotionally) for his soul mate, etc. And when Tomas appears, he’s the ultimate fantasy Dom, wielding tools like an absolute pro and hiding his identity behind a mask and debonair pirate’s clothing.
- The characters’ initial interactions are wrapped up in a fun, clever little cat-and-mouse game. I found it extremely entertaining, especially during the first third of the story or so.
- Neither of the guys is perfect personality-wise, and I struggled just a little with how hardcore some of the D/s scenes are. They’re not described in particularly graphic detail; the characters are simply into things I don’t enjoy personally and can’t identify with (extreme submission, pain, etc.). However, I found myself thinking of them as real people, and I was genuinely interested in reading about their exploration of their relationship.
- At first I found some of the scenes at the BDSM club to be a little over-the-top for my tastes. But the story acknowledges the intentional theatricality of those scenes and then later contrasts them with the privacy that Dylan and Tomas prefer. I found the private scenes more meaningful after having read about the artificial air of some of the other scenes.
CONS:
- Throughout the story there are instances in which Tomas and Dylan connect on a personal level, but few of those scenes (especially those involving heartfelt conversations) are actually shown. Most of them are more like this: “As they became involved in their discussion, Dylan forgot to be nervous. [Tomas] was easy to talk to.” As a result, I was really thrown when I got to read their first in-depth conversation because I kept thinking, “Dylan barely knows this guy. Why is he telling him ALL this personal stuff?” The reality is probably that the characters DID know each other pretty well; I just hadn’t gotten that impression because I hadn’t really seen their connection.
- There are some minor issues with punctuation and such that I found a little annoying. The story contains quite a few exclamation points (“But there was no room for Jack in Dylan’s heart at the moment!), which I always find a little dramatic for my taste; and there are some problematic paragraph breaks where a character’s name appears immediately after a quote, making it look like he’s the one who spoke, but the dialogue was actually spoken by someone else.
Overall comments: I liked this story, but I didn’t quite love it for some reason I haven’t been able to put my finger on. It might be that for me, the story is just a tad too short for the amount of action and character development it contains. There are numerous instances in which we’re told what happened briefly instead of getting to see it unfold. Once Tomas’s identify is revealed, for instance, and the men finally start seeing each other with no secrets between them, we see their first night together and then the story jumps ahead by 3 weeks. Those seemed to me like 3 very important, formative weeks, and I wanted to see what happened during them.
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 7/10
PROS:
- My interest in each of the two main characters was piqued very soon into the story. Dylan is a mass of contradictions: he’s played in the scene before but still finds it a little frightening, he doesn’t like public displays but yearns to submit to Tomas in front of a crowd, he’s had a few serious relationships yet he’s “saving himself” (emotionally) for his soul mate, etc. And when Tomas appears, he’s the ultimate fantasy Dom, wielding tools like an absolute pro and hiding his identity behind a mask and debonair pirate’s clothing.
- The characters’ initial interactions are wrapped up in a fun, clever little cat-and-mouse game. I found it extremely entertaining, especially during the first third of the story or so.
- Neither of the guys is perfect personality-wise, and I struggled just a little with how hardcore some of the D/s scenes are. They’re not described in particularly graphic detail; the characters are simply into things I don’t enjoy personally and can’t identify with (extreme submission, pain, etc.). However, I found myself thinking of them as real people, and I was genuinely interested in reading about their exploration of their relationship.
- At first I found some of the scenes at the BDSM club to be a little over-the-top for my tastes. But the story acknowledges the intentional theatricality of those scenes and then later contrasts them with the privacy that Dylan and Tomas prefer. I found the private scenes more meaningful after having read about the artificial air of some of the other scenes.
CONS:
- Throughout the story there are instances in which Tomas and Dylan connect on a personal level, but few of those scenes (especially those involving heartfelt conversations) are actually shown. Most of them are more like this: “As they became involved in their discussion, Dylan forgot to be nervous. [Tomas] was easy to talk to.” As a result, I was really thrown when I got to read their first in-depth conversation because I kept thinking, “Dylan barely knows this guy. Why is he telling him ALL this personal stuff?” The reality is probably that the characters DID know each other pretty well; I just hadn’t gotten that impression because I hadn’t really seen their connection.
- There are some minor issues with punctuation and such that I found a little annoying. The story contains quite a few exclamation points (“But there was no room for Jack in Dylan’s heart at the moment!), which I always find a little dramatic for my taste; and there are some problematic paragraph breaks where a character’s name appears immediately after a quote, making it look like he’s the one who spoke, but the dialogue was actually spoken by someone else.
Overall comments: I liked this story, but I didn’t quite love it for some reason I haven’t been able to put my finger on. It might be that for me, the story is just a tad too short for the amount of action and character development it contains. There are numerous instances in which we’re told what happened briefly instead of getting to see it unfold. Once Tomas’s identify is revealed, for instance, and the men finally start seeing each other with no secrets between them, we see their first night together and then the story jumps ahead by 3 weeks. Those seemed to me like 3 very important, formative weeks, and I wanted to see what happened during them.
May 13, 2013
This features, by far, the most poetic - I guess most bullshit, in a way - description of hazel eyes I have ever seen.
The Big Reveal was...melodramatic. I think Dylan rather overreacted... Or rather, acted in the most melodramatic way possible.
The aftermath was also the weirdest thing I'd ever read. It was like watching actors in a self-aware play.
And then after that, anything Jack did seemed really...heavy-handed and gauche. Like one of those "play-Doms" they'd been criticizing and ridiculing earlier.
But then, maybe I'm being unfair to these books I read. Maybe I'm taking "quality literature" aesthetics and values and attempting to apply them to the more pulpy end of popular fiction.
And I'm sorry, but I think "Jack without his disguise" is less masterful and dominant. Maybe it's partly name association...
I couldn't really read the last part. I was just waiting for it to end. The climax happened, the dénouement happened, and then...more shit was happening. It was like the author decided to go ahead and write several .5 stories and then went ahead and included them at the end.
30 pages left and still waiting for the end... Commence skimming.
20 pages left and still waiting for the end... Commence extreme skimming.
Oh, God. Finally.
I think this was a bad miscalculation on the author's part. Or maybe it's just me. Either way, I pretty much didn't care for the last idk how much.
The Big Reveal was...melodramatic. I think Dylan rather overreacted... Or rather, acted in the most melodramatic way possible.
The aftermath was also the weirdest thing I'd ever read. It was like watching actors in a self-aware play.
And then after that, anything Jack did seemed really...heavy-handed and gauche. Like one of those "play-Doms" they'd been criticizing and ridiculing earlier.
But then, maybe I'm being unfair to these books I read. Maybe I'm taking "quality literature" aesthetics and values and attempting to apply them to the more pulpy end of popular fiction.
And I'm sorry, but I think "Jack without his disguise" is less masterful and dominant. Maybe it's partly name association...
I couldn't really read the last part. I was just waiting for it to end. The climax happened, the dénouement happened, and then...more shit was happening. It was like the author decided to go ahead and write several .5 stories and then went ahead and included them at the end.
30 pages left and still waiting for the end... Commence skimming.
20 pages left and still waiting for the end... Commence extreme skimming.
Oh, God. Finally.
I think this was a bad miscalculation on the author's part. Or maybe it's just me. Either way, I pretty much didn't care for the last idk how much.
Read
July 27, 2010Dylan is a 29 years old literature professor with a light passion for BDSM. How BDSN can be define "light" it is difficult to understand, but so is for Dylan: he likes to be a sub for his dom, but he doesn't like to gives up total control and doesn't like very much to do scenes in public. So when he meets Tomas, the best masked dom of the city, he wants him only in private he doesn't want to share his passion. And Tomas accepts only since he is really Jack, the university advisor of Dylan: during the night he spanks Dylan without revealing his true identity and during the day he listens to Dylan who is deeply in love with a man he really doesn't know.
At first I didn't like very much neither Dylan or Jack. They seem to me too false, both of them, for different reason. But then Jack explains his reasons to Dylan and Dylan accepts them with grace and they start a relationship of mutual trust. Even if I must say Jack is the most tender master I have read about and Dylan a slave who was put in front of very mild tests. I haven't found between the two the strong feeling of domination and submission I have read in other BDSM stories and in the end, both characters are rather vanilla.
So this could be a story for who want to read about BDSM stories but doesn't want to take a pass to far into it.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0031Y9D0A/?...
At first I didn't like very much neither Dylan or Jack. They seem to me too false, both of them, for different reason. But then Jack explains his reasons to Dylan and Dylan accepts them with grace and they start a relationship of mutual trust. Even if I must say Jack is the most tender master I have read about and Dylan a slave who was put in front of very mild tests. I haven't found between the two the strong feeling of domination and submission I have read in other BDSM stories and in the end, both characters are rather vanilla.
So this could be a story for who want to read about BDSM stories but doesn't want to take a pass to far into it.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0031Y9D0A/?...
October 16, 2013
This book made me so angry I know I'll never bother to read it again. To be honest it wasn't all bad, not the best Claire Thompson I've read, definitely not the best BDSM, but I was happily reading along until I came to the scene that was suppose to be all about Dylan's "ultimate submission" to Jack. Knowing how much Dylan hates public "scenes" good old Jack decides that's exactly what they should do. And, ok, I get that bit. Dylan is his sub so he should want to please Jack. Which is how Dylan ends up tied to a rack, upset and anxious but desperate to please Jack, in a room full of other Doms who have permission to play with Dylan without Jack even being in the room. Actually he's not even in the building but Dylan trusts him so he goes along with it expecting Jack to turn up any moment. Luckily, Jack finally does arrive just in time to save Dylan from potential injury at the hands of a Dom who Jack has seen doing scenes with Subs a couple of times and on that basis alone trusts him with Dylan. And then with nothing much more than a, sorry babe I got held up socializing in the other room, all is ok. WTF. That is so not ok. Jack repeatedly tells Dylan he has to trust him and when he does it almost gets him hurt. So angry right now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 19, 2015
I really enjoyed this book about a PhD student and his sexy Dom. Dylan is in his late twenties, he has experienced a few things and relationships, but none of them clicked, none became his HEA.
Offered an invitation to an exclusive club, Dylan meets the sexy Tomas, wanted by almost everyone in the club; his aloof persona making him both detached and slightly dangerous.
Dylan is surprised when Tomas takes an interest in him, and wants to spend time with him, but just as he thinks things may be looking up, everything comes crashing around him and Dylan has to decide if he trusts the man behind the mask, the real man masquerading as Tomas.
I liked that these men were a little older, confident in their own lives and able to spend time building a relationship, never less, both have to become more self aware, to build into the relationship which will eventually bring them to a shared life together forever.
Offered an invitation to an exclusive club, Dylan meets the sexy Tomas, wanted by almost everyone in the club; his aloof persona making him both detached and slightly dangerous.
Dylan is surprised when Tomas takes an interest in him, and wants to spend time with him, but just as he thinks things may be looking up, everything comes crashing around him and Dylan has to decide if he trusts the man behind the mask, the real man masquerading as Tomas.
I liked that these men were a little older, confident in their own lives and able to spend time building a relationship, never less, both have to become more self aware, to build into the relationship which will eventually bring them to a shared life together forever.
July 28, 2016
Rating-3.5
I greatly enjoyed this book, more Sadism and Masochism than I ever had the pleasure of reading. I greatly enjoyed the relationship but I felt it was lacking in the respect of how the relationship would be with other BDSM individuals. We saw Jack, as Tomas, give Dylan to other Doms he trusted but that was a mistake so I was left confused on how that would work in the future, if they would play with others or just be only the two of them that people can only watch, not touch. Furthermore, I was left wondering how the aspect of Jack's secret of Tomas would be handled when he obviously claimed Dylan as his and could be possibly be revealed since a character new Dylan in and out of the club.
I greatly enjoyed this book, more Sadism and Masochism than I ever had the pleasure of reading. I greatly enjoyed the relationship but I felt it was lacking in the respect of how the relationship would be with other BDSM individuals. We saw Jack, as Tomas, give Dylan to other Doms he trusted but that was a mistake so I was left confused on how that would work in the future, if they would play with others or just be only the two of them that people can only watch, not touch. Furthermore, I was left wondering how the aspect of Jack's secret of Tomas would be handled when he obviously claimed Dylan as his and could be possibly be revealed since a character new Dylan in and out of the club.
January 27, 2012
3.5 stars for this one. It was a decent story, but lacked that extra something that grabs you and keeps you from putting the book down. I had a difficult time believing Dylan didn't make the connection between Tomas and Jack, even with the mask, wig, contacts and accent. I realize it is just a story, but I had a hard time taking it seriously when there was no mention of a safeword until 3/4 of the way through. That would seem important before you agree to being cuffed to a medieval torture rack. In the end though, these two end up being perfect for each other once they worked through their commitment insecurities.
January 10, 2012
I feel that this was a good story, but there were some scenes that really bothered me. I think that suspension of my belief... as in, why would someone do that?
All in all a good read with interesting characters.
All in all a good read with interesting characters.
April 2, 2013
Fun little romp about a guy who falls in love with an actor at an underground BDSM club. There is room for some interesting side stories to be developed with some of the background characters, and I'd love to revisit Jack & Dylan in the future.
October 9, 2014
Claire Thompson writes such sexy books and this is no exception. Hot characters and even hotter sex. I like how their "misunderstanding" is resolved midway through the book so you get to spend quite a bit of time with them after it is all cleared up.
September 11, 2016
This felt so wrong at times...
May 25, 2015
Ok
Just an Ok Gay BDSM Romance novel.
A good read, but in the end I just didn't connect with the characters.
Just an Ok Gay BDSM Romance novel.
A good read, but in the end I just didn't connect with the characters.
October 26, 2015
Another great M/m book by Thompson.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews