Master of Submission is the first book in Jan Bowles' new series, Masters of Submission.

British attorney Emma Parkes has just moved to Boston to start a law firm with her best friend, Chloe. However, when she arrives at her friend's home, Chloe is nowhere to be seen. Emma tries to place a missing persons report, but because Chloe is an adult, the police aren't too alarmed. She finds what she thinks is a clue to her friend's disappearance in an email: the mention of Club Submission. So that's where Emma begins her search.

Once there, Emma is agog at the behavior of other club members and soon one dominant, Master Zane, takes Emma under his wing as potentially his full-time submissive. Emma tries to keep the real reason she's at the club under wraps, but Zane is quickly on to her subversive motives. As trust is formed between this couple, they try to discover Chloe's whereabouts. Then, Club Submission is in the spotlight in a murder investigation and Emma's not sure if she'll ever discover the mystery of her friend. She considers returning to England, but perhaps Zane will be her incentive to remain in the United States after all.

The chemistry between Emma and Zane is explosive and sultry, all at once. These two people work well together-as friends, as lovers, and as Master/submissive. Both are brilliantly intelligent and are often on equal footing. The one thorn in my side when reading Master of Submission was Emma's whiny, damsel-in-distress demeanor whenever she brought up Chloe. She segues from competent, capable lawyer to insipid, whining twit, which was so out-of-character with her in the rest of the story to be notable. I absolutely loved the rest of the story: the plot, the mystery, Club Submission, and of course, loved everything about Zane. While this part of Emma really needed to be mentioned, the rest of the tale was compelling enough to have me looking forward to reading the second installment in this new series.

Reviewed by: Bella