An Update, A Giveaway, and a Tease

Okay!  So thanks to Hermoine, I now know how to fix the comments thing... however, I haven't had time yet to respond to all the ones that have now appeared on the blog LOL.  Good thing other people are techno-savvy and willing to tell me what I'm doing!

I've been kind of bad about getting writing done lately, but I'm getting back into it.  I was on a major reading kick for a bit - which is not a bad thing since reading always gives me new ideas for writing, but it does mean I haven't been getting as much of my own writing done.  However, I'm still right on track for releasing On His Knees on July 15 (yay!) and I'm about halfway through the second to last chapter of Taken by the Wolf (also yay!). 

Now, on to the giveaway - YellowSilkDreams who does my paperbacks and also makes a couple of my books available on other sites, is giving away a free book of your choice from their collection in return for the ability to let you know when they have a new book coming out.  It's a pretty good deal =)  so you should check that out here.

And now for the tease... which, of course, is going to be for On His Knees, to get you back in the mood for Hilary and Liam!

Liam propelled Hilary through the door and into the club, away from Lexie.  She knew that the guys were all relieved about not having to watch over Lexie now that she was stuck behind the front desk for a while.  It meant they could relax.  Andrew was behind the bar as usual, wearing matching leather pants and a vest, chatting with Adam and Angel.  Olivia was over in the Lounge area, talking to two different subs, both of whom were vying for her attention.  Most likely Patrick was still back in his office; Hilary knew that Jessica and her guys weren't coming tonight, and Rick hadn't shown up since the debacle following Maria's Introduction scene.  Hilary really hoped the two of them worked that out; she liked Maria a lot.  All the Stronghold girls had. 

"Hey honey-girl, come back to me," Liam said softly, just loud enough to be heard over the music, as his arm wrapped around her hip, pulling her against him.  She looked up at his boyishly handsome face, the barely restrained sexual hunger clear in his silvery eyes.  "You're a million miles away."

"Sorry," she said, feeling rather breathless now that she was focusing on her wonderfully dominant boyfriend again.  Usually just walking into the club had that effect on her, because they usually played while they were here, using the fantasy rooms to help them enact all sorts of role-play scenarios.  They could do some at home too, but she had to admit, the rooms here really helped set the scene.  "Just thinking about Rick and Maria."

"Mmm... I see.  I guess I'll have to work to get you thinking about me," he said teasingly, steering her towards Angel and Adam's seats at the bar.  

Hilary smiled up at him.  "I guess you will."

Laughing, Liam turned away to greet their friends, but his hand remained on Hilary's hip, just above the flare of her skirt.  She saw several other submissives checking out her outfit and knew that Angel would probably have more new customers by the end of tonight.  Ever since joining Stronghold, Angel's Etsy shop had really taken off; she was swamped with orders, although she always took time to do custom designs for her friends.  She called them her guinea pigs.  

Surprisingly, Angel wasn't wearing one of her own outfits.  She was dressed as a school girl, with a very short pleated skirt and a white button down top that had been tied just under her breasts, exposing her midriff, and her hair was done up in a simple pony-tail.  

"You look cute," Hilary said, letting her curiosity fill her voice.  Angel rolled her eyes, giggling a little bit.  

"Thanks."

"She does, doesn't she?"  Adam said, his voice filled with smug satisfaction as Angel made a face.  He was wearing his regular clothes, dress pants and a button down shirt, although it was unbuttoned and the sleeves were rolled up as a concession to the summer heat outside.  Even though Angel really did look adorable, Hilary suddenly realized that the outfit was some kind of punishment for something.  "She's a very good little school girl.  We've been having lessons in behavior, ever since she helped Lexie with that glitter prank."

Oh, oh, oh!  Hilary immediately wondered why Angel hadn't mentioned this.  The pretty half-Asian didn't blush easily, not like Hilary, but her cheeks were starting to turn red.  Obviously whatever Adam had been doing to her as punishment for her part in that stunt, she found it embarrassing enough that she hadn't clued in any of her friends about it.  

"Angel's going to be writing lines in the schoolroom today," Adam continued, stroking his girlfriend's back while he looked down at her.  "What are you writing, Angel?"

For a moment, Angel just glared up at him, her jaw tense.  Adam raised his eyebrow at her and then reached to her front and pinched her nipple, hard enough to make her yelp.  Liam's arm around Hilary tightened, his hands splaying across her stomach as if he was thinking about doing something similar and she felt her own body respond; her insides warming as her nipples hardened slightly.  Even though Adam took things farther with Angel than she would ever want to go, she couldn't help but occasionally get aroused watching them.  It had been really weird at first, to see her friends in sexual situations, but somehow over the months she'd gotten used enough to it to be turned on by it.  

Angel muttered something under her breath and then looked up at Hilary, not quite meeting her eyes.  "I am a naughty girl who deserves a spanking.  I will learn not to disrespect the Doms."

"Louder, sweetheart," Adam said, his eyes glinting as he caressed Angel's breast in warning.  Her nipple was already pressing against the fabric of her shirt, as if asking for more.  

"I am a naughty girl who deserves a spanking.  I will learn not to disrespect the Doms," Angel said more loudly, back to glaring at her own Dom as she said it.  Laughter rang out around them at her words, which had been loud enough that everyone within a ten foot radius had been able to hear.  Angel's face heated to an even deeper red.  Hilary was impressed; Angel would hate writing lines and she would hate having to repeat that phrase publicly even more.  But she loved spankings.  So Adam was combining funishment with real punishment, and probably enjoying himself entirely too much along the way.  

"She's such a good little schoolgirl," Adam said, his hand sliding back up so that he could tug on her ponytail, tipping her head back.  Angel's eyes glazed slightly in response as he tugged on her hair, but she still looked kind of pissed.  

"Real school girls don't have to write lines with a plug in their ass while they're being spanked," she snapped back at him.

Adam leaned into her, bringing his mouth near her ear, but Hilary could still hear what he said.  "But sweetheart, that's the part of the punishment that you like."

The low, almost threatening tone of voice he used made both Hilary and Angel shiver.  Beside her, Liam chuckled a little; he was always amused by Hilary's fascination with watching the dynamics between other couples.  Sometimes it turned her on, sometimes it didn't, but it always interested her.  At first she'd been embarrassed by her voyeuristic tendencies.  Now she embraced them.  Liam's hand had started caressing up and down her stomach, tracing a line from just underneath her breast, down to her hips and then back up again.  Heat was gathering in the center of her body, making her skin tingle and feel more sensitive.

Comments

Okay, for some reason Blogger seems to be having trouble with comments... people leave a comment and it doesn't show up on the blog.

I know this, because it DOES still get emailed to me.

So if you've left a comment and you come back and see that it's not there, don't worry... I did actually get and read it.  I don't know why it emails the comments to  me but they don't show up on the actual blog, but at least it does email it!

Speaking of - Tx, it didn't show either of your comments, but I would love to read your book!

Behind

Oops I'm behind on my blog posts...

if you were wondering, Chapter 24 of Taken by the Wolf is up on Lit.  It's got some answers to questions people have been having.  I think it's kind of funny that some people think I went "too far" with one aspect of it... that was planned from the very beginning and I think it's a lot less messed up than things I've written for other stories, so I find it amusing that it's the line for some people.  I'm also kind of amused by how upset people are that the Wolf is letting other people touch Bella and Alex... he's an anti-hero, not a damaged hero that just needs some TLC to turn himself around.  Granted, I think he's a lot more fond of Bella and Alex than he has been of any of his other previous Moon pets, but that doesn't mean his personality is going to change.

Probably the most amusing comment I've gotten thus far is the one saying I'm degrading women.  lol.  apparently they just skipped the chapters between Alex and the Wolf?  Or Cora?  Or Lorena?  I wanted to do waaaaaaaay more with Cora, but I ended up deciding it doesn't actually fit into the story line, it literally would just be me dragging out the story because I want to fit Cora and Trace back into it somehow.  *sigh*

I'm right on track to have On His Knees out next month, official release date should be July 15th =)

Right now I'm trying to pick out the cover - thoughts?

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-51260107/stock-photo-golden-nymph

http://www.bigstockphoto.com/image-12127289/stock-photo-beautiful-young-beauty-in-a-golden-ring

http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/muscular-upper-body-13894490?st=5d7922d

http://www.istockphoto.com/photo/young-couple-at-sunset-on-beach-6139599?st=c1c9273

Part of me wants to keep it beachy like the other Venus Rising covers, but I also really like the ring one.  Which one would make you look at the cover and think "I should read that"?

Never Will I Ever

I've been doing a lot of reading over the past couple of days... and I had to do something that I absolutely hate to do.  I returned three books.  THREE.  That's unheard of for me. But I couldn't finish them.  What killed me was that two of them had a bunch of 5 star and 4 star reviews and only a few bad reviews.  I don't know what it is with this new fad of loving really weak heroines, stalker heroes, and villains that are so freaking ridiculously "bad" that they end up as more of a farce than a real threat.  I can't deal with it though.

That's one of the reasons I don't incorporate any danger or major drama into my books.  I'm afraid I'm going to end up a giant hypocrite with a book that's just like the books that I can't stand.  So I've decided to write myself a little list.

Never will I ever...

1.  Have any of my heroes or heroines think or say "I don't deserve [the hero/heroine]."  Because even if someone feels that way, they rarely actually think the words, it's usually more something along "they're out of my league" or "we have nothing in common because they're rich and I'm poor" or something like that.

2.  Let any of my heroines be dumb enough not to get help.  I can't stand it when a heroine character is being stalked and harassed by the bad guy and she doesn't even tell her friends, much less the police or someone who can help.  Seriously?  WTF.  Not even her friends?  I also won't have her tell her friends and then ignore all of their advice to get help.  I think it's incredibly unrealistic that someone could be receiving threats of rape or death on their phone and just brush it off as "head games."  Yeah, I read a book where that was happening.  Granted, I didn't read very far into it.

3.  Have a stalker hero.  Christian Grey freaking creeps me out.  You know who did the stalker hero correctly?  Lexi Blake and Shayla Black in Their Virgin Secretary.  The difference is hard to explain, but it's mostly that Tate isn't doing it because he wants to control Annabelle or always know where she is.  He's just a socially awkward computer genius who keeps tabs on EVERYONE, not just her.  If you've read both books, you'll probably get it.

4. Insert danger/stalker/villain just to make the hero and heroine realize they love each other.  If they wouldn't commit / confess their love without someone being in life-threatening danger, then I'm not going to force false circumstances upon them.  Because seriously, that kind of adrenaline and sudden emotion does wear off.  If a relationship isn't working, period, it's not going to magically fix itself just because someone almost died.  Having something like that make people want to change / work harder at their relationship is acceptable.

5. Make my villain too psycho and too unbelievable.  I was reading a book where the villain, at the very beginning of the book, jumped the hero along with four of his friends and beat him so badly that he was in a coma for a few days.  Not only that, but he did it in retaliation for the hero sticking up for the heroine when the villain was bullying her and calling her a whore in public after she turned him down for a date.  THEN, the villain "somehow" (it was never explained) avoided being charged or even arrested.  Despite the fact that there were witnesses.  While the hero is in the hospital, the villain (who is married, btw) is texting and threatening the heroine and still calling her names and saying how he's going to get her and going to finish off the job on the hero.  Seriously?  Even psychopaths don't leave around that much evidence over a period of MONTHS.  Literally, months.  He was too bad and too inhuman to be believable.  Yeah.  I had to ask for a refund for that book too.

So that's my little list of Never Will I Evers.  If you ever notice me doing any of these things, please call me out on them so that I can fix it immediately.

In writing news; I submitted chapter 24 of Taken by the Wolf to Literotica last night.  They've been getting chapters out pretty quickly so it could be out as early as over the weekend, or it might come out next week =)  Pretty excited about this chapter... the mystery of the Moon document on the Wolf's desk gets cleared up in it!

Ramble Ramble Ramble

This past weekend was super relaxing, which I needed... if you follow my Facebook or Twitter page, you know that hubby and I have decided to get a house, so things are going to be stressful soon, but it's time to get out of the apartment situation!  Should give me lots of insight for my writing, since eventually some of my characters are going to need to move into houses.  A few of them are already there, but Hilary and Liam are still in their apartment.  I'm having a lot of fun with their novella and I'm right on track to have it out in July, which makes me happy.  It's going to be about 30k words or so.

Literotica has been making me want to facepalm a bit lately.  Someone apparently took umbrage over the fact that I said "he plundered her backdoor" in one of my stories, and lectured me on the incorrect use of the word "plunder."  They very thoughtfully included a dictionary definition.  Apparently they've never heard of creative license.  I think 'plunder' is a perfect word, esp when it comes to the backdoor and there's an element of reluctance.  Pillage works too, in my opinion.  That one was pretty eye-roll worthy, although it also just makes me wonder about some people.  The real kickers were the whiners who read 23 chapters of Taken by the Wolf so that they could complain about both the length and the content.  It's like eating an entire meal and then saying it was terrible.

Although, honestly, that's not even what makes me shake my head at them.  What makes me shake my head is wondering what their possible motivation could be.  It's a little too late to go back and change the story, even if I was so inclined.  Do they think they're going to make me stop writing?  Or are they just miserable people who need to put others down to feel better about themselves?  Sometimes I wonder if they're jealous failed writers.  Or maybe they're just people who have never taken a creative writing class and don't know what constructive criticism is and also don't realize that, after taking a creative writing class, generalizations just aren't that insulting.

You haven't been torn up till you've taken a creative writing class and had people TEAR it apart, with valid and specific criticism.  I'm lucky, I've always been pretty good at taking criticism, but it still can be rough.  And then the teacher tells you that it's not very literary, which is followed by a blank look when you tell them that you want to write pop fiction, not literature.  LOL.  Worst English major, ever.  I always wondered what would happen if I brought one of my dirty stories to class.  Sometimes I wish I'd been brave enough.  Probably would have been hilarious.  

Seriously though, it makes me wonder... do people actually go to Literotica looking for something other than stroke stories?  Cuz that's never what I thought it was for.  I make sure to try and have some kind of erotic content in every single chapter, because the few times that I haven't, people get all whiny about that too.  I know I can't please all of the people all of the time, but it does seem weird that people would complain about too much erotic content when the word "erotica" is part of the site's name.  So if you read on Lit, what do you go there for?

Taken by the Wolf Ch. 23

Obviously I'm on a bit of a writing roll.  Not the kind of I can eat, sadly. LOL.

Chapter 23 of Taken by the Wolf is now out on Literotica and so far people seem to be enjoying =D As we get closer to the end of the series, more and more things are going to be revealed.  Right now, I think we're 5 or less chapters away from me finishing this gargantuan story off.  Which, as much as I am enjoying it, I will be happy to do so.  I need to do something easier on my brain and less plot heavy, with less details for me to remember.  That'll be finishing up From Terra, which I'm looking forward to.  Kind of funny that it's another kidnap story, but Chryssa is a very different character from Alex and Bella so it'll be really fun for me to explore that =D

In the meantime, I've started on Claiming His Wife, the last book in the Domestic Discipline story.  Alex and Grace break my heart a little.  For a long time I've wanted to attempt a 2nd chance story, cuz a lot of the ones that I read on my own Kindle really piss me off LOL.  A lot of the time, the misunderstandings seem stupidly unbelievable, and so the reconciliation and the realization of "we didn't need to go through all this pain" just makes me wanna slap both characters upside their head.  I've tried to give both Alex and Grace good reasons for their behavior, but it does make the reconciliation part rather interesting.  Especially when I throw in the spankings!

I'm also on track for getting Hilary and Liam's novella, On His Knees, out sometime in July.  Of course, the novella isn't just going to include them.  We get a little tidbit about Adam and Angel that Maria and Rick missed out on because they were avoiding Stronghold for a couple of weeks, as well as a peek at Lexie and Patrick interacting while she's being punished with front desk duty, a little more info about Andrew and, of course, a little bit more of Jessica, Chris and Justin's marriage dilemma.  Those are kind of the major looks at the other Stronghold characters during the novella, although everyone is there of course.  If you've read Taming the Tease then you know that Liam is pretty nervous about the whole proposal thing and I'm having a really good time with that, as well as with their enjoyment of role play.

Getting back into their story is like putting on a pair of comfy old shoes that I just found in the closet after having missed them for a while.  I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to recapture their voices, but I think it's going pretty well =D  And it's helping me figure out more of what's going to go down with Patrick and Lexie, as well as Andrew (who will be book #4).

So yeah... that's what's going on with me in the writing world right now!