Tirza Schaefer's Blog, page 9

Unwrapping Card Decks: Goddess Power Oracle

WELCOME TO UNWRAPPING CARD DECKS, my Monday feature. Each week, I introduce you to one of my card decks, tarot and oracle cards, in a video, showing each individual card of a deck with my commentary. Enjoy!

Tirza xxx

This week, we look at the Goddess Power Oracle deck by Colette Baron-Reid:

https://youtu.be/0E3XRVTKy6A

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Hush by RC Christiansen (The Final Book of the Tainted Series)

HUSH is the third and final book of the TAINTED LOVE series by RC Christiansen, a husband and wife author team (more about them see below). I have read this book before reading the first two and although I recommend you to read Tainted Love (The Complete Trilogy), Whisper and Hush in their proper order, I had no problems following the plot or enjoying the superb storytelling.

It was strange. I saw the post announcing the future release of Hush on social media and fell in love with the main character Cliffy upon reading the blurb. It wasn’t just the normal feeling of “Oh, this sounds like a great book, I should pre-order it.” No, it was way more than that. Something called to me, deep down in the deepest recesses of my soul. I cannot explain it, I had no idea why but I’ve learned the hard way to better follow my intuition.

So I went with it, even though I was scared of the trigger warnings like the mention of child abuse. That’s why I didn’t read the first two books in this series, even though I loved the snippets the author posted and the reviews Tainted Love and Whisper received were full of praise. I was simply too scared of my anxiety spiking.

Throwing caution to the wind when it came to Cliffy Dodd, the mute younger brother of Ken Dodd, male MC of the first book, Tainted Love, I had just hit a dry spell in work between projects and because my daughter had fallen asleep in my bed it meant, I couldn’t listen to an audiobook as my phone fell down once too often and earbuds don’t work so well anymore and my current read being a paperback so putting on the light was out of the question as well, I reverted to my Kindle app where I found Hush had just been delivered.

I started to read and was enthralled. My heart was into the story from the first page. I felt with Cliffy, looked into his mind, saw what he saw and suffered along with him. The characters leapt off the page and it was as if I was standing in the middle of them, watching, observing, but not only their actions, their thoughts and feelings, too.

The author has a way of writing that makes you feel, you are living what the characters are living. And I would also like to add that as someone who listens to audiobooks in multiple genres, mainly from trade pub bestselling authors as the indie author community often doesn’t have their works published in audio format yet, I have to honestly say that to me, RC Christiansen can sure hold her own with the NY Time and USA Today bestsellers when it comes to storytelling.

Even though I had not read the first two books in the series, it didn’t take away the pleasure and understanding of reading the third instalment first, although I would still recommend you read them in their proper order. I plan to remedy this in the future. Because I am so in love with this author’s style of writing, the heartbreaking story that had me in tears, at other times, I wanted to punch my pillows, then again, my heart was flowing over with love for these beautifully broken souls that you feel you just want to hug and protect and tell them it’ll all be better. All this is worth facing my own trigger fears about the mention of child abuse and deeply tormented characters.

The way the author handled these issues were as sensitive as they were beautiful. There is a thin line between being horrifying and glossing over the horrors victims of child abuse have lived through. The author is as sure-footed as a circus artist balancing virtuously on a tightrope. The whole book with its myriad of details and occasional excursions into the past is a masterpiece of dark romance that hasn’t got a happily ever after but somehow, by the end of it, as you sit there and cry your eyes out, you will understand that the beauty of this story lies in its brokenness and the many things that these now adult abuse victims have in their behavioural patterns that are not what non-traumatised people have and why they ultimately don’t seem to fit into a reality that is judging and condemning them as harshly as if they were the culprits.

What moved me the most overall in these characters was the deep sense of loyalty they feel towards each other. Cliffy Dodd’s actions are all led by his unerring devotion to his older brother Ken and Ken’s wife Verna whom he is also in love with. Life deals them blow after blow and things happen because most people don’t understand the mute Cliff who cannot sign and misinterpret his intentions and actions. But although it bothers him and sometimes he wants to scream when he can’t, he finds his voice of expression in the tragic end of not only this book but the entire trilogy.

I cannot put into words all the varying emotions this book has taken me through on a rollercoaster ride. But I don’t hesitate to say, RC Christiansen has deserved her place with the great names right on top.

Follow RC Christiansen on Social Media

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About RC Christiansen

R&C Christiansen is a proud Canadian husband and wife team, although Mrs. Christiansen does the majority of the authoring and Mr. C does the mentoring & proofreading. Together they write dark/erotic romance novels and enjoy reading the same genres when they have time. When the Mrs. is not busy authoring, mothering, or wife-ing, she likes to indulge in a glass of wine, kick back, and think dirty thoughts hoping to inspire the next story within.

Tirza's Teasers: Her Badass Bikers 5

“Is he always that bitchy with you as well, Liam?” Ava shouted.

“I am not bitchy!” Jax shouted.

“He just needs to get laid,” Liam shouted back. “Take him for a ride and he’ll be as good as new.”

“Oh, well, he is taking me for a ride. On his Harley. I’m so excited. I’ve never done that before,” Ava yelled. “A proper ride, I mean.”

“You naughty little thing,” Liam yelled.

“I’m not fucking her on the bike, I am taking her down the coast for dinner,” Jax yelled.

“Ah, that’s why he is so bitchy,” Liam shouted.

“Ah, okay. Jax, why didn’t you masturbate under the shower?” Ava asked with an accusatory undertone in her voice.

“Yeah, Jax. Why didn’t you wank under the shower when a hot woman is standing right in front of you?” Liam shouted and Jax heard all the guys roar with laughter in the background.

Jax almost crushed the phone in his hand with frustration. He was standing there naked with a giant hardon and the woman he wanted more than anything in the world told him to go wank under the shower, while the entire MC was laughing at him through the phone.

“Fuck!” he hissed, hung up and turned, picked up his jeans, pulled it on, next his t-shirt and then he was about to put on his socks and boots before leaving the house.

“You always go commando?” Ava asked from the bathroom door with a smirk on her face.

“As you saw, it needs a lot of room,” he replied drily.

“We should go. We’re already late,” she murmured. “I can’t wait to be alone with you, away from Gospel Gloria and Liam who is constantly trying to invite himself over.”

Jax closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“You sure you still wanna go out with me?”

“Of course, why would you think I changed my mind?” Ava asked in consternation.

“Because you laughed at my naked hard cock?” Jax suggested with an evil look but Ava’s features only softened and she smiled at him.

“Oh Jax, don’t be so impatient. Remember what I told you when you were at my place as a kid about how a man is supposed to treat a lady?”

“Wine and dine her, show her she’s special and mean it. Give her time, let her unfold her petals in the care of your protective hands so when you finally pluck the rose, it won’t be a hard bud but a radiant, soft blossom. I wrote that shit down.”

“You did?”

“I didn’t have much else to do in prison besides learning martial arts, so I started to write things down that inspired me. There’s a lot from you in that notebook.”

“You wrote about me while you were in prison?”

“Yes. And I thought of you when I lay awake at night, too.”

“Oh, Jax.”

Her soft sigh was almost a moan. She stepped forward to where he sat on the edge of the bed with his sock in his hand and pressed his face against her breasts in the same way she had done with Darryl. And yet, it felt all different. She smelled so good, of peach and vanilla. It was still the same perfume that she had worn all those years ago. His arms came up to encircle her waist and then his hands landed on her ass and he pulled her flush against him between his thighs.

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Unwrapping Card Decks: The Everyday Witch Tarot

WELCOME TO UNWRAPPING CARD DECKS, my Monday feature. Each week, I introduce you to one of my card decks, tarot and oracle cards, in a video, showing each individual card of a deck with my commentary. Enjoy!

Tirza xxx

This week, we look at the Everyday Witch Tarot by Deborah Blake.

This is my 14-year-old daughter Tarini's very first own Tarot deck that she chose herself, the Everyday Witch Tarot by Deborah Blake which you can find in many online or also your local physical bookstore. It is absolutely great for children, closely kept to the Rider-Waite-Smith theme, rich in detail and very positive and empowering so children get the feeling that no matter what happens, every experience has something good coming from it and has some positive aspect.

These cards feel warm, encouraging and empowering. As my daughter looked through the cards, she was enthralled, finding little details in each picture, exploring, describing, telling me her associations and what she thought it all meant - or meant to her. She fell automatically and without conscious effort into her intuitive side. It was so precious to watch, listen and have her share her impressions with me. If you're looking for a tarot deck for a child or teenager, this is a great option to consider.

https://youtu.be/JitriehqhbE

Please don't forget to like the video and subscribe to my ,channel!

For your personal reading, visit my ,services page and choose your preferred option.

Tirza's Teasers: Her Badass Bikers 4

Ava handed him his towel, took her clothes and left the room. Of course, she had to change somewhere else, Jax thought and looked up at the ceiling.

“Not funny, old man!”

Gloria’s voice rose an octave.

“Jesus!” she roared, her voice carrying clearly through the glass doors.

“Fucking hell!” Jax muttered and closed the bathroom door, at last drowning out Aretha Wannabe’s voice.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, Ava was waiting for him already. She sat cross-legged on her bed, his phone pressed to her ear.

“Oh, Liam, hang on, there he is. Fresh out of the shower. Actually, can he call you back? He is still wet. I need him like that…Great, thanks. Fifteen seconds…No, he won’t need any longer. Bye.”

She hung up.

“I don’t need any longer than fifteen seconds?” Jax asked, his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.

“For the video,” Ava smiled and held up the phone to record him. “Just stand there, I’ll walk around you.”

“I feel so objectified,” Jax complained.

“Suck it up. Women have to go through that every day of their lives.” She stopped filming, then took a step back. “Okay, now just a headshot. Look out of the window and then slowly turn around to me and look as if you are ravenously hungry and I am your favourite meal.”

“That won’t be difficult,” Jax muttered.

“Okay. Camera rolling! Yes, that’s it. Omg, Jax, you’ll get millions of followers!”

“That hot?” he asked.

“Wait until it’s underlaid with music.”

She quickly uploaded the reels with music the way Darryl had shown her and while they were watching, Gloria’s voice rose to a crescendo outside.

“Is she still praying for me?” Jax asked in exasperation.

Ava giggled.

“I think now she is praying for herself. Darryl has just liked your videos. I think he showed them to his mum. Call Liam while I put on my makeup. You can get dressed, too.”

Jax took his phone and called Liam.

“Hey man.”

“Three minutes, guys! You owe me a beer!” Liam yelled and Jax held the phone away from his ear.

“What the fuck, Liam?”

Get Her Badass Bikers here!

Find out more about Tirza Schaefer's books, special features and promotions on her website and follow her on social media!

Unwrapping Card Decks: The Divine Feminine Oracle

WELCOME TO UNWRAPPING CARD DECKS, my Monday feature. Each week, I introduce you to one of my card decks, tarot and oracle cards, in a video, showing each individual card of a deck with my commentary. Enjoy!

Tirza xxx

This week, we look at The Divine Feminine Oracle deck by Meggan Watterson:

https://youtu.be/v-phmDrJ-Gg

Please don't forget to like the video and subscribe to my ,channel!

For your personal reading, visit my ,services page and choose your preferred option.

The Bookish Oracle

WELCOME TO THE BOOKISH ORACLE, my weekend feature for the week ahead. There is a section for authors and one for readers. If you would like some guidance and enjoy some spiritual inspiration to combine your reading, writing and esoteric interests, you're in the right place!

This reading is for the week starting on 1st November 2021. It is meant as general guidance and my advice to you is, take from it whatever feels in alignment with you and discard the rest. You are always your own highest authority! Tirza xxx

This week, I dug out one of my oldest oracle card decks which I hadn't used in a couple of years, although I've always loved it. Choosing the wild book leaning against the serene Buddha was fun, too. And admittedly, Anubis can be a bit of a wild one at times, too. Maybe not wild as such but definitely badass. And we are starting with the Egyptian god Ptah in combination with the Moonstone telling us to pay heed to what we hear around us and incorporate this into our writing process, paying special attention in the story structure to where we want to go with it, what is the goal. Where do we drop hints along the way? What kind of mood are your characters in, what is their personality? Stable, mercurial, happy, sad, angry, in denial or facing challenges head on? How do you build up to the next stage or the final resolution?

I always pick the crystals before I pull the cards. It is, once again, uncanny how the stones in this reading match the cards, but nowhere more so than here, Orange Calcite representing solar energies coupled with the card of the Egyptian solar deity Amun-Ra. Solar energy is all about action, a positive attitude and this means not only that you shouldn't just hide away and write but shine your light and share your progress, your achievements and also your challenges with the world but also allow your characters to take inspired action.

Mindless action will not get you any results at best or work to your detriment at worst. Taking inspired action after soul-searching and weighing options and alternatives will get you closer or even to the achievements of your goals. What do your characters have to do now to bring the story forward and move towards their goal? How do they overcome obstacles and challenges with positive action? What kind of personal and collective transformation are they undergoing?

Amazonite puts things into balance, soothes and clears the path of communication, mind, body and heart. Anubis tells you to surrender to what is, accept things as they are to be able to move on from there. Where do your characters fight and not communicate properly? Where are they unwilling or unable to see another point of view? How can you resolve this issue to bring about a harmonious outcome, a final happy ending? What do they need to experience, how do they process and what do they ultimately learn from it to arrive at their own final happily ever after?

For readers, you may want to venture on social media and follow some bookish accounts that inspire you, watch reels or look at posts that introduce different books. When you see a picture that you feel instantly drawn to, check it out. Trust your intuition to lead you to the right post where you will be inspired to either read the book in question or it might trigger a memory of another book mentioned elsewhere. Does your gut feeling tell you, "This feels right?" Then go with it. And even a fictional story has elements that you can learn from, some wisdom you can glean. Be open to it and allow yourself to be guided intuitively. Be prepared to be challenged to view things from a different perspective, or even multiple perspectives. Be open to broadening your horizons.

The oracle card deck used in this reading is "The Anubis Oracle" by Nicky Scully and Linda Star Wolf with illustrations by Kris Waldherr. I’ll also post an Unwrapping Card Decks video of this deck on my ,YouTube channel on 22nd November with my commentary, showing each individual card. (Don’t forget to like and subscribe so you won't miss out on future posts!)

Check out the oracle card decks I use for my readings ,here or click on any of the oracle card pictures above.

The book in the picture is Born to Be Wild, a standalone contemporary military biker romance.

Crystals used in order of appearance are ,Moonstone, ,Orange Calcite and ,Amazonite.

For your personal reading, visit my ,services page and choose the option you prefer most.

Going Down (Closer Than Blood #4) by Jayne Lockwood, a.k.a. Lady Jaguar

,GOING DOWN by ,Jayne Lockwood is definitely one of a kind. Within the first few pages, we find ourselves trapped in an elevator, watching Valentino Santini, Tino for short, and Richard Mason, his boss, CEO, and billionaire having one of the hottest man-on-man makeout sessions I’ve read to date.

From the very start, I felt endeared to Tino, a young man working in a corporate environment and loving makeup and high heels to go with his suit. He is sweet, kind, has a moral compass and is talented and diligent in his work.

Richard is his stellar opposite, a hard, jaded man of the world who has a double identity as a mobster from the Italo-New Yorker mob. He is a cutthroat not only in business but he possesses a sense of honour amongst thieves and an appreciation for loyalty that sets him apart from the kind of underworld rulers that are merely cruel psychopaths whose word means nothing and whose cruelty knows no bounds.

When Richard seduces Tino, it seems at first that he is using him for sex, one hot night trapped in the elevator. But something about Tino touches him, aside from his stellar oral talents, and he promotes him to the position of his personal assistant. That is, assistant with benefits.

I love how the two men slowly get to know each other, how Richard’s hard shell gradually softens and how Tino gains the confidence to not only stand up to Richard when he is being an asshole but also starts to be able to handle him better.

The story takes us on a wild ride from Manhattan’s corporate world to the New York underbelly of mobster territory. There is action, suspense, lots of dry British humour that I am sure the British author Jayne Lockwood, a.k.a. Lady Jaguar has been blessed with in copious amounts. Her wit and banter between the characters will make you want to scream with laughter!

(At this point I’d like to recommend you also check her social media feeds where she posts questions for her characters and lets them answer in persona. The banter between the two men is just hilarious and I fervently hope Ms Lockwood is going to make a book of the collection of it one day.)

The steamy scenes are hot, raw, sometimes crude, sometimes incredibly kinky, sometimes the raw need is perfectly expressed and at other times, the growing love between the two men who are such opposites is the main tender focus of the scenes. This book has all the bandwidth of human emotions, and just as real lovers would, the current emotions between the two men are mirrored in their lovemaking. Or fucking, as the case may be.

I have to admit that I didn’t like Richard in the beginning but was so rooting for Tino that I followed the story with bated breath and it didn’t take long before I detected the first chinks in Richard’s armour that showed him to be human after all. I cannot tell you the exact moment, I fell in love with him as much as Tino already had but there I was, wanting to hug them both (which Tino might have liked and thought cute but Richard would have totally hated, I am sure).

A great example of the kind of harshness Richard portrayed, in the beginning, is this snippet from the elevator scene, going straight from mum to hooker:

"Yeah, I was out of line. She forces me to see truths I won't face.""That's her job as a mum. You should see her. She'll give you a hug and it'll all be okay.""You're right, she would. But I don't deserve that. I'm an asshole." Another drink. "A fucking asshole. Which is why I was going to spend tomorrow in my apartment, with a hooker with no gag reflex. And now that isn't going to happen either. Happy Thanksgiving."

There are a lot of hot scenes in this book but it never runs into the dangerous waters of being merely erotica. The plot is solid, suspenseful and engaging, at times, I was sitting bold upright, at others, swearing under my breath, or I might have wiped my eyes a time or two as well. Even the supporting cast was wonderful, some characters didn’t appear much and didn’t need a lot of fleshing out, others had more poignant roles and were leaping off the page, each expressing perfectly their own unique character. I think my favourite supporting roles were the couple running the bar. I won’t go into detail because I want to avoid spoilers but those two really touched my heart as well so deeply.

As for Tino, I was watching him spread his wings like a proud Mama Bear and when he “handled” Richard, daring to be bold, despite being scared at the same time, I almost jumped up and down with glee. I loved his character arc, his gradual emancipation and the many moments I expected something else, something less, and he surprised me with his sass all over again.

This book really is #4 in the Closer Than Blood series which I didn’t know at the time when I started it but it totally works as a standalone as well, although characters from the previous books in the series are recurring. Lockwood managed to weave their backstory into the narration in such an expert way that I had all the information I needed at hand to understand who was who to whom and yet, it never felt like info-dumping at all.

There was never a dull moment reading this book from the first to the last page and I cannot recommend it highly enough. A deserved five stars for this masterpiece of gay love, only because there aren’t more to give. I would if I could!

Follow Jayne Lockwood on Social Media

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Jayne Lockwood lives in the beautiful Chiltern Hills and writes under the names Jayne Lockwood and Lady Jaguar (for hot MM romance.) From romantic suspense to erotica to LGBT fantasy sci-fi, the common link between all her books is love, regardless of sexual orientation, race, colour or gender.

Previously she has written under SA Smythe and has been traditionally published as Savannah Smythe for Black Lace Books. She is also one of the founding members of WROTE Podcast, a forum for queer storytelling across all mediums, and reviews the books featured in some of their shows.

Tirza's Teasers: Her Badass Bikers 3

“Oh shit. Look, I’m sorry for what I said before. I didn’t know, okay. It was all a joke…Ava, I’ve got to go. Have a nice life.”

The boy had jumped off the stool and was already hurrying towards the door.

“Darryl, wait!”

Ava caught him at the door and took his hand.

“Jax is not gonna hurt you. I know him from way back when he was twelve, just like you.”

“Ten, actually,” Jax corrected. “She was my neighbour for two years. And I don’t hurt children and I am not a member of the KKK, so you can stop trying to hide your neck.”

But Darryl didn’t look convinced. He turned to Ava with big, pleading eyes.

“Ava, please, let me go and if I may say so, you might want to reconsider your relationship with this man. He’s been to prison for drug trafficking and gun running and…”

“He paid his debt to society and now he wants to be a good citizen and you can help him with his account so he can find sponsors.”

“For moisturising cream,” Jax threw in, to show Darryl how harmless this all was.

Darryl cast him a look that conveyed he thought Jax had lost his marbles completely. Jax shrugged.

“What? It pays, man!”

“And that’s why my mum is right when she tells me she insists on me going to college,” Darryl grumbled but held up the phone to take some pictures of Jax, at last convinced that Jax wasn’t about to kill him in cold blood. “Okay, we’ll do some of those trendy videos now.”

“Sure, what do you want me to do?” Jax asked.

“Smile into the camera,” Darryl instructed.

“And then?” Jax asked.

“Just smile,” Darryl repeated.

“And after that?” Jax insisted.

“Then I’ll shoot another video,” Darryl pressed between painfully clenched teeth, trying to be patient with this hulk of a man who had years of technological advancement to catch up to.

“You want to shoot an entire video of me just smiling?” Jax asked for confirmation.

Darryl only looked at Ava.

“They are just fifteen-second clips,” Ava volunteered.

“You want me to smile for fifteen seconds?” Jax asked one more time to ensure he had understood this correctly.

“Yes,” Darryl hissed, trying to smile and failing miserably. “I’m sorry if I didn’t make that clear.”

His voice was dripping with sarcasm. Jax exposed his teeth and Darryl jumped back with fright.

“Woah, you got rabies?”

“I’m fucking smiling, man!” Jax near-shouted.

Get Her Badass Bikers here!

Find out more about Tirza Schaefer's books, special features and promotions on her website and follow her on social media!

Unwrapping Card Decks: Wisdom of the House of Night Oracle

WELCOME TO UNWRAPPING CARD DECKS, my new Monday feature. Each week, I introduce you to one of my card decks, tarot and oracle cards, in a video, showing each individual card of a deck with my commentary. Enjoy!

Tirza xxx

This week, we look at the Wisdom of the House of Night Oracle deck by P.C. Cast & Colette Baron-Reid:

https://youtu.be/YHpu_Ighx1M

Please don't forget to like the video and subscribe to my ,channel!

For your personal reading, visit my ,services page and choose your preferred option.