Kitty Thomas's Blog, page 9

A Teaser Scene from Surrender: Book 3 in The Pleasure House

Another book in the Pleasure House world, and a “Brian scene”

(This is release week for BLOWING THINGS UP… book 2 in BRIAN AND MINA’s HOLIDAY HITS, for the info on that, go here)

SURRENDER Teaser Scene: (Note: all the books in the Pleasure House World can be read as Standalones)

Brian laughed, a crazy maniacal sound that filled up the space of the cell. The laugh bounced off the walls in a chaotic rip of noise that felt as though it could tear her head off if it were to make direct contact with her.

“Oh, that’s rich. Gabe is your master. I’ve seen no indication of that. You two don’t even talk anymore. But clearly you know that’s the only real protection from me. A collar around that pretty little throat that doesn’t have my name on it. It’s really the only deterrent I’ll listen to. But you knew that. That’s why you avoid me and try to stay in groups. It was a hell of a thing finding you alone with no witnesses around.” He smiled. “Gabe is your master. That’s adorable.”

He picked up a gleaming metal clamp and slowly, calmly, started to unbutton her blouse. Somewhere in her head, she’d thought simply saying Gabe was her master would work like a magic incantation, that it would stun Brian so she could escape–despite how obviously untrue it was.

Anyone in the house could see they were avoiding each other. Gabe probably hated her by now. Every indication she could see said as much. She used every ounce of energy to stop her endlessly swirling thoughts. She had to focus and find a way out of this.

“Please! Please! Gabe is my master. I swear it.” Her voice came out shrill as the tears began to slide down her cheeks.

Brian still looked amused, but he put down the clamp. “All right. Let’s find out. You better pray he confirms your side of things. If he doesn’t, nothing will stop me from the sadistic nightmare I will rain down upon you. And it will only be worse for this lie insulting my intelligence. Given these facts, do you want to alter your story?” He said all this in a normal tone with a smile on his face as if he were ordering a burger and fries at the drive thru.

Julie shook her head. Staying down here with Brian for a supposedly lesser form of horror wasn’t an option. Gabe had to get her out of this. He would, right?

Brian pulled a phone from his pocket and dialed a number from the contact list. “Gabe!” he said, “It’s your friendly resident psychopath.”

Julie couldn’t hear what was said on the other end, but whatever it was made Brian laugh. “Tell me, is Julie yours?”

More speech she couldn’t hear. Though she took Brian’s advice. She was praying, praying that Gabe didn’t contradict her story, praying that he’d go along with it this one time. Even if he hated her now, he couldn’t hate her this much could he? If any part of him had ever cared a tiny bit about her, he had to just confirm the story. If he got her out of this chair, she would be even more careful to avoid Brian from now on.

“You know what I mean,” Brian said. “Is she your slave? She tells me you’re her master. She’s begging and pleading and swearing to it so I won’t hurt her. And I wanted to know if… okay, very well.”

Brian clicked the phone off and set it on the metal table before sitting back in his own chair and pinning her with a glare. “He’s coming down.”

Julie let out a long, slow, shuddering breath. She wasn’t out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot, but he was coming at least.

Less than five minutes later, Gabe’s large, intimidating presence filled the doorway. He wasn’t fucking crazy like Brian. Or if he was, it was a different brand of crazy. But he still scared the shit out of her sometimes.

His arms were crossed over his chest, a hard look in his eyes. But that look was directed at her, not Brian. Oh shit. Could he be the kind of man who would let someone like Brian hurt her simply for saying no? If he would, he was as big a monster as any she’d encountered at Dmitri’s house, and everything he’d tried to portray to her about himself was nothing more than a carefully crafted lie.

The tears started to flow down her cheeks in earnest now because this betrayal hurt more than anything else. She’d really believed she could trust him, so why the f**k was he mad at her? What happened to that conversation the first night in the car when he’d told her he would never force himself on her and that she had a choice? Obviously he only cared about the imaginary movie playing in his mind where he got to pick her reactions to everything, instead of her. She was just supposed to follow his script. At the moment, seeing the other alternative… Brian… she was willing to follow that script to get away. However much she might later resent Gabe, he was—as always—the lesser evil.

“Well, Gabe? Is she yours?” Brian asked, growing ever more amused by the scene in front of him. Brian knew. He knew this wasn’t true. He knew it was a desperate ploy. He was playing with her. Would he let her go if Gabe confirmed the story? Wouldn’t he have to? Would Gabe be willing to fight him to protect her?

She tried not to think about all the money he’d spent to free her from Dmitri. The debt that loomed over her every time she looked into his eyes, every time she avoided giving him all the things he wanted from her. It didn’t matter how much he’d denied she owed him a debt. She did owe him a debt, and the only way she could process payment was with her body. It was the only currency she had, and she knew it was the only one he wanted.

Gabe didn’t break eye contact with her to spare Brian a glance. But the expression in his eyes changed. It went from a hard inscrutable stare to… a question? An expectation?

Waiting.

“Okay, well, until somebody learns how to use their words, I’m going to play,” Brian said.

Her shirt had been half unbuttoned, but now he unbuttoned it the rest of the way. He took a small knife from the table. It gleamed off the lights recessed in the ceiling, and she started to panic and struggle again. Oh god, what was he going to do with that knife?

“Please,” Julie whimpered. But her plea was directed at Gabe, not Brian.

But Brian didn’t cut her. He instead used the knife to cut open the front of her bra. He put the instrument back on the table and picked up the clamp again. “Do you know how I know you aren’t really his? I’ve known Gabe for a while now. If you were his, he never would have allowed you underwear.”

Gabe looked at her for another second, and then turned away. He was leaving her? How could he leave her? If he walked out that door, Brian was going to hurt her, badly.

“Master, please don’t leave me with him!”

He stopped in the doorway, the muscles of his back rigid, straining so hard, she thought he might burst apart from the tension. Or she would.

He turned slowly back around. “Brian, release my property.”

Brian put the clamp back down on the table and sighed. “If she’s your property, where’s her collar? How am I to know who is protected if they don’t have a collar?”

“It’s being made.”

“If it’s not around her throat by the end of the week she’s fair game.”

“It will be.”

“If she’s your slave, why doesn’t she act like it? Why don’t I see any signs of it?”

“It’s new.”

Yeah, five seconds new. Julie shivered from the heated possessive look he gave her. She was no longer sure this could qualify as rescue.

Want more?
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If you want to grab the entire series 5 book box set, it’s THE PLEASURE HOUSE:

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The post A Teaser Scene from Surrender: Book 3 in The Pleasure House appeared first on Kitty Thomas.

Meet Your New Dark Romance Book Boyfriend… Brian

If you’re new to Brian and Mina, you want to start with BROKEN DOLLS. (On sale for a limited time!) Here’s a teaser scene from the book…

One of my favorite scenes from this one: The set up is that Mina has been brought to a submissive training house, the ultimate purpose is to auction her off, however she’s so broken from her previous abusive history that she can’t be “properly trained”, so the house is holding a quiet auction and basically just “moving the product” and getting her out of the house. Brian stumbles upon this secret meeting they were trying to hold without him and has other ideas:

“Gentlemen, I apologize for the interruption,” Lindsay said. He turned to Brian. “We’re holding the auction now.”

“For Mina?” he asked unnecessarily. It was too soon for this. It didn’t feel right, and those photos… Something was very wrong. In the pictures, it looked like she’d been crying.

“Yes.”

Brian’s stomach dropped, but he masked it with anger. “She hasn’t even gone through the training protocols. Are you that worried about what I’ll do to her?”

“Our guests are aware of her state of training and the nature of the contract. We’re all agreed that many of our training protocols would be useless in this unique circumstance and that it’s better to go ahead and sell her to a trusted buyer who can work with her from the ground up and protect her in ways we might not be able to. And yes, her safety from you is of paramount importance to me. I’m sure you won’t guarantee her safety, will you?”

It was looking more and more as if Mina were the singular person in all the world who Brian might be able to successfully guarantee safety to. The idea of her being ripped away so soon—before he could sort through his feelings—enraged him. He pulled out a chair and sat at the table uninvited.

“Shall we start the bidding, then?” Lindsay said, ignoring him. “Given the special circumstances involved and that you are all valued clients, we’ll start at the reasonable bargain of one hundred thousand dollars.”

“One hundred thousand,” said a Japanese man on one of the screens.

Lindsay seemed quite pleased. “Thank you Mr. Matsumoto. Mina would do well to end up with you.”

He nodded.

“Two-fifty,” another said.

“Five hundred,” Matsumoto said.

“Seven hundred,” still another said.

Brian looked down to find himself white knuckling the edge of the table, his jaw clenched.

“One million,” Matsumoto said.

Why did this guy want her so much? She was untrained. She had too many boundaries for the contract. And she had the scars. A hundred thousand was reasonable given the circumstances, and Matsumoto had just gone up to a million? Sure, Mina was beautiful, but something was wrong about this sale. Lindsay had rushed it. Was he sure about these guys?

Maybe Brian was paranoid. Why did he even care? The bidding somehow climbed to one and a half million with Matsumoto still in control.

“Two,” Brian said, his mouth disconnecting from his brain entirely.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Lindsay hissed.

Brian covered his own shock at the words that had just tumbled forth. He could still take it back, but instead he said, “Bidding. I’ve got the money.”

At the house all his needs were taken care of, and he got an equal cut with the other partners of all sales after house expenses and paying those in their employ. His money had been sitting around collecting interest.

“Is this some kind of shakedown?”

“No, I assure you, Mr. Matsumoto, that is not the case here. Brian, stay out of the bidding. I wouldn’t sell Mina to you if you were the last man alive. Scrap Brian’s bid, and we’re back down to one and a half million to Mr. Matsumoto. Are there any other bids?”

The others shook their heads and bowed out. Matsumoto smiled broadly. The man who’d just won Mina might have followed the house rules up to this point, but Brian knew a predator and a sadist when he saw one. He could smell his own. There was something about the Mina situation that was bringing out a darker side to the man, one that Brian refused to allow to materialize.

“Five million,” Brian said, “And you can keep my cut of it, personally, Lindsay.”

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AUDIO:

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My Dark Wedding Duet Box Set Cover Reveal…

I have the cover art for THE DARK WEDDING DUET which contains The Proposal and The Sacrifice. It’s coming to Ebook soon (I don’t know exactly where I’m slotting it into my calendar yet. I don’t want to overwhelm people with all these releases)

And the Audio is coming in December. (The audio features: Meg Sylvan, Addison Barnes, Sebastian York, and Jason Clarke.)

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TikTok, AI, and other impolite things

I don’t write a lot of blog posts that aren’t just “so here’s what I have for you next” but I have some thoughts and feels about two things which seem unrelated at first glance but are very related to me.

TikTok and AI. Before I get into this, I want to point out that I have author friends who use TikTok and author friends who use AI tools. I am not making a moral argument nor am I speaking ill of anyone doing things I don’t do. I’m simply expressing why I don’t do them personally.

TikTok first… since it’s slightly less of an emotive landmine.

I don’t do TikTok. At the end of last year I really thought about it. I know TikTok can sell a lot of books and I know a lot of successful authors who SWEAR by their TikTok presence (though they have huge followings and got into TikTok when it was actually still an up and coming platform).

But I fucking HATE TikTok. I hate it with the fires of a thousand flaming suns. I just don’t fucking enjoy the whole idea of it. I don’t even have a TikTok account. (I do love Instagram though). If you told me literally the ONLY way to have an author career in 2023 was to get on TikTok, I’d start applying for “real jobs”.

I’ve certainly gone to Tiktok on occasion via links when there’s something interesting I want to see, but I can think of few things more crushing to my soul than spending any sustainable time on that platform and life is too short and precious to do shit you hate that much. And the idea of making endless “look at me, like me!” videos on that platform… seriously… ugh. No. TikTok can fuck ALL the way off.

So… I don’t do TikTok. It doesn’t mean I don’t have a business plan or stuff I’m doing. I’m just not doing TikTok. Will I get in on whatever the “next new social platform” is? Who knows? Maybe. I could almost see the utility of it if I’d jumped on 3 or 4 years ago, but at this point it’s a yorkie chasing a race car.

AI. Specifically generative AI for writing novels. This is another one of those things that… I don’t think you’re a bad person if you do it, I understand why some use it. And I also understand that MOST authors are NOT basically “writing their whole book with AI”. At the same time… I feel like something real is lost when one uses an AI writing tool. And it doesn’t spring out of some “tech phobia” or “Luddite” nature.

And maybe it’s the length of time I’ve been writing. I can understand why this would be more appealing to someone with only a few years of writing under their belt. Learning to write and tell stories is hard. But I’ve been doing it since I was twelve years old. I was seriously ignoring my math teacher and writing novels. (Don’t ask how I even graduated because I have no clue, I was writing fiction during all the boring classes. I basically had to self teach myself the BIG gaps in my knowledge from using school as a place to write novels instead of learning school stuff. I did well in English/Lit though.)

When I was 12, I wanted to be R.L. Stine of Goosebumps fame.

So basically I’ve been fortunate enough to be writing for DECADES. And when you write for that long, writing becomes a spiritual act. It is touching magic. At some point you come to realize it’s not “just you” doing the writing. There’s something “bigger” “magic” “spiritual”. When people speak of the muse, they aren’t being “cute” with you, they’re telling you their lived spiritual and artistic experience.

I’m sorry but I’m not replacing this experience with a computer algorithm. It’s important to me that all my ideas are my ideas. Yes, we are all inspired by things, but there is a processing and a combination of many things going through a human mind, that you have to ponder and contemplate and bring your own thoughts and feelings to. And while you might get a “cool idea” from AI, it’s not a naturally arising idea.

While AI might spit out paragraphs of reasonably good or even clever prose, it’s not YOUR words. It didn’t come from YOUR soul or YOUR brain.

I just can’t even see the appeal of this. I also know that a lot of AI isn’t like you can just type a few prompts and it spits out a whole book. It tends to do much shorter chunks, but even then, you’ve got to do a LOT of editing and shaping, and honestly, I just like to write.

I’ve gotten to a point after decades where I write really clean rough drafts. What you see as the final book isn’t usually that different from how it spilled out of my head and onto the page. Just like a concert violinist brings decades and tens of thousands of hours of practice to a performance that just “comes out perfect”, so, too, does a writer with decades of experience bring that ENTIRE history with them into their writing each new book.

Basically, what I’m saying is… EVEN IF I didn’t find it a completely soulless way to create that disconnects me from the Magic that helps me write, it would be MORE work to do it that way than to just let it pour out from Inspiration.

Yes sometimes there are blocks. Sometimes I don’t know what to write next. Sometimes I write myself into a corner, but I always find my way out. And after forty books I have the full faith that I always will find my way out. And there is something about that process and that struggle that I don’t want to skip because it adds depth to the story.

Again, this is not an “attack” on those who use AI tools. I assume most are just trying to make the process easier on themselves. And most probably don’t have decades of writing experience. Or they see writing as less of a magical act than I do, which is also legitimate. No artist can be forced to see their art in the same way another artist does. Nor do I think they are “immoral” or “evil” or going to “tear down the fabric of creative society” or whatever.

I’m just not into it.

Now, I’m totally on board with using AI images to create supplementary graphics/fun side things that aren’t the story. And I’ve wrestled back and forth with temporary AI narration for some books I can’t yet afford to get into audio. But honestly I have so much on my plate and that’s such a very small priority that I’ll likely have everything done with human narrators before I would even get around to it because to make a reasonably non-painful AI narration requires a LOT of editing and that’s a lot of tedious labor I’m not really down for especially when I have no shortage of work to do already.

I’ve thought though about the accessibility issue, so people who can’t eyeball read have access to all my stories. And I’ve also thought about the fact that the AI could help fund the human narration because no one who truly understands audiobooks would ever choose AI instead of Human. They choose AI instead of “nothing”.

I’m an audio listener. It’s the only format I will read in. So yes, human narrators are what makes an audiobook art.

So that’s all I have to say about that. If you do anything I’ve talked about in this blog post and you’re mad at me, you haven’t understood my points at all. Please re-read before getting irate about my personal relationship with my art.

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Teaser Scene From Blowing Things Up:

Blowing Things Up is book 2 in Brian and Mina’s Holiday Hits. (The 4th of July book) If you are new to Brian and Mina, start here.

I find her outside, swimming naked in the pool. I feel an eyebrow inching up. She’s full of surprises these days.

I hang back in the shadows, but no one would notice me right now, anyway. Every eye is on her. Every male gaze is filled with lust, and I want to go back down to the basement for weapons and mow them all the fuck down for looking at what’s mine. Don’t they see the word on her back? Don’t they know?

I think I might combust when she finally steps out of the pool. Annette is there with a towel to wrap her up and guides her away from the group. I know that look on her face. It’s concerned House Mother Annette. She’s over there no doubt trying to convince Mina what an awful monster I am for carving a property claim into her back.

I feel like I’m watching a re-run. Didn’t we already play out the Oh no, someone must save Mina from the monster in the dungeon storyline? Because I’m pretty sure we did. But she was always safe with me. At least she was before these new developments between us. I’m not sure anymore.

The thing that has always kept Mina safe was the fact that she was like me in my pain and abuse. Our scars make us a matched set that belong together like a couple of macabre glassy-eyed dolls at Halloween. But now she’s also like me in my darkness, and I don’t know how that plays out for her. Yet she’s unafraid, like a moth dancing too close to the flame. But maybe she wants to be consumed. I can’t tell with her anymore.

Does she have a death wish? If we were both fucked up before, it’s a thousand times worse now.

I take a deep breath. I’m ready to interrupt this bullshit with Annette, and if everyone at the house wants to gawk, I’ll give them a show.

“Master,” Mina says, when I reach them, she lowers her eyes demurely when she speaks to me. I’m not sure if it’s a performance… her just playing the good girl in front of the others, or if she’s signaling to Annette that I’m here so she’ll stop saying whatever she’s been saying that’s likely to piss me off.

Because I know something very real has shifted in our dynamic.

I’m so confused right now. I love the stunning badass Mina has become. Watching her (SPOILER NOT INCLUDED IN TEASER) was a show I’d buy tickets to watch again, but I also don’t want her to pretend to be the good girl for me. I want that piece of Mina back. I want her submission. I still want to own her, and I’m not sure anymore if she truly wants the same. The most horrifying part is, I’m not sure I care if she wants the same.

I’ve killed every man who ever forced her submission, who ever humiliated her in front of others, who ever hurt her and left permanent scars. I’ve done the last of those things, and I know right now I’m about to do the other two, and if so… then how am I any different?

She told me once how Jason said there was something inside her that made men want to hurt her and how she’d never find a man who could be gentle with her. Then against all odds, I found I could be. Am I about to lose that edge over the other monsters? I just need her to submit. I try to telepathically will her to understand this.

But what if she doesn’t need or want the same anymore? I feel lost, like there’s something screaming inside me, this hollow, angry, hurt sound, like a wounded animal, and I just need to hurt something to make that sound stop, to make the itch stop crawling over my skin.

I feel the anger boiling up inside me. It’s not even at Mina. It’s at this fucking situation where suddenly I, what? Have a conscience? Weighing right and wrong like some fucking hero? Good and bad? What the fuck is she doing to me?

I grip her by the arm and pull her back toward the rest of the group who hasn’t stopped watching this train wreck unfold. I turn her so that they can all get a clear, unobstructed view of her back.

“Take a good long, look, people. Embed it into your fucking long term memories. This. Is. MINE,” I snarl.

They all show the appropriate fear. Even the men have always been wary with me. Eyes are averted from mine. No one will save her from me.

Want more?

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NEW release: Blowing Things Up is Live!

Blowing Things Up is LIVE! This is BOOK 2 in Brian and Mina’s Holiday Hits, which is the “assassins in love” novella series for Brian and Mina (from Broken Dolls) This series will fully complete Brian and Mina’s HEA.

If you’re new to these characters or just to this novella series, here’s the information and reading order.

If you’re all caught up and know where you’re going, and you’re ready for Brian and Mina’s latest adventure in Blowing Things Up, here’s your links: (description and reviews under links): (This one is the Fourth of July book)

Buy Now:

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“I can’t stand the thought that I make her unsafe, that my very existence somehow puts her at risk. I need to make her safe. I need to keep her with me forever.”

Mina, my dark phoenix rising from the ashes, the goddess returning from her descent into the underworld.

I will kill anyone who dares to threaten her.

But what if I’m the one who breaks her this time? What if I become her angel of death?

NOTE: This is book 2 in Brian and Mina’s Holiday Hits. You must read book 1, The Easter Hunt, first, as these novellas build upon each other in an episodic way. This couple’s origin story can be found in Broken Dolls (standalone book 2 in the Pleasure House)

It isn’t necessary to ready Book 1 in the Pleasure House to get caught up on this couple’s story. They also appear in cameos after Broken Dolls in the rest of that completed series, but the events of books three onward happen AFTER the events in this series.

What Readers Are Saying

Brian & Mia are back with a bang…literally. These two have always been explosive, but in this next chapter of the “dynamic cray cray duo”, we find out more how she became her fierce self, and how this duo became the intense one-two death punch that they did.”  -Karin Gesell, Goodreads

My girl Mina is absolutely on this bada** goddess rise. And, surprisingly, cold-hearted Brian is here for it! Be prepared to see sides of these two that you never thought possible.”  – Morgan, Goodreads

” … this book comes in packing heat from the first few chapters being pure filth to a different show at the end.” – Luna Crowe, Goodreads

I’m excited to see what comes next for this Bonnie and Clyde duo.” – Hanan, Goodreads

Grab your copy now:

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https://kittythomas.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/explosive.mp4

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Blowing Things Up: Pre-order and Storytime!

Freaking amazing!!! I am absolutely loving the bada$$ that Mina has become. She is glorious and I felt like I was experiencing Brian witnessing her ascent into her glory like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon! This was perfect, Brian has always been my fave and their new level of bada$$ery is even better than I had anticipated! Can’t wait for more from my favorite psychos.” – Amanda, Goodreads

“I can’t stand the thought that I make her unsafe, that my very existence somehow puts her at risk. I need to make her safe. I need to keep her with me forever.”

Mina, my dark phoenix rising from the ashes, the goddess returning from her descent into the underworld.

I will kill anyone who dares to threaten her.

But what if I’m the one who breaks her this time? What if I become her angel of death?

NOTE: This is book 2 in Brian and Mina’s Holiday Hits. These titles must be read in order. For the best reader experience, please read Broken Dolls before reading this series. (book 2 in the Pleasure House series) for this couple’s initial story. Note that Broken Dolls can be read as a standalone.

Pre-Order Links:

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BTU is BOOK 2 in this series. BOOK 1 is The Easter Hunt and is available at all retailers and in audio:

Meet Brian and Mina.

Two dark and broken souls coming together to… kill people?

An Unlikely Love Story.

The first in a 5 novella series revolving around this assassin couple’s “Holiday Hits”. The other kind of hit.

IMPORTANT: This one is going on 99 cents for release week, I just haven’t gotten the price changed yet. So if you want to read it and support me at full price you can do that now, and if you want to wait for the sale, you can do that. Just full disclosure because I don’t want someone to go buy it and then be upset when it’s 99 cents in a few days.

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Okay… STORYTIME! It’s a long story, make some tea…

Brian was never going to have a story. Originally when I wrote Guilty Pleasures, the first book in the Pleasure House world, I thought it was a standalone. In fact, I have thought every book in that world was going to be the last one. (finally, after Twisted Fates, it IS done.)

I created Brian originally as a totally iredeemable villain, or so I thought. He was meant to be a foil for the other trainers so that readers would go along with the fantasy and not judge the other trainers based on “what would be bad in real life.” Making Brian so much more evil and villainous I thought would make it easier for readers to come along for the ride.

About a year goes by and suddenly Brian is in my head wanting a book. And I’m like “No, you psycho, absolutely not. Do I have to call security?” But he kept on. And in between writing other projects, this nagging thought of Brian needing a book keeps popping up.

Three years into this harassment, Brian finally drops his backstory on me. Which would have been helpful WAY earlier in this exchange. (He’s pulling out the big guns now, no pun intended).

And then I’m like… “Awwww. F*ck you, fine.” But I still didn’t know how I was going to get this guy with an actual live human person and make that work.

Until Mina came along, and then I’m like. Oh. Ohhhhh. And then I was so excited to write this story, which became Broken Dolls.

So at this point, I’m on board, but readers have had no idea about this whole conversation with imaginary people that has been going on for three years. So I go to my readers and tell them I have another book for them in the Guilty Pleasures world (or that I’m writing it anyway). I say: “It’s Brian. I’m going to make you want to have his babies, trust me.”

Readers are like “BRIAN? Ugh, no. He’s terrible.” And I’m like… “Yeah, but you’re going to love him.”

This was met with more resistance: “You will never make me love Brian.”

Challenge accepted.

So Broken Dolls is born and readers are: “OMG I can’t believe you made me love BRIAN!”

He quickly became the favorite hero of the Pleasure House world. Brian and Mina also make cameos in Surrender (book 3 in that world) and Twisted Fates (book 5). Brian is in Pretty Lies (4), but Mina isn’t because it’s a prequel for when the house starts and is Anton and Annette’s story since they’re already together in book 1.

A change occurs in Mina in Broken Dolls which I won’t spoil you on if you’re new to this couple and she goes from the broken shell she is at the beginning of that book to becoming a lot more like Brian in more ways than one.

Some time has passed inside the story between the events of Broken Dolls and Surrender, and when she makes the cameo in Surrender she’s basically a badass. But we don’t get to see the story of how that transpires or how she and Brian grow together. A lot of what you see from Brian and Mina toward each other at the house from Surrender onward is a show for the house. (Something you’ll understand via this series). They’ve got a lot of secrets they don’t want the whole world to know. (Well, outside of you guys!)

For a long time in the background I wanted to give Brian and Mina their own sort of mini-series. I knew how I wanted it to go… maybe 4 or 5 novellas about the various misadventures they get into outside the house. But I had no plots, no basic character or relationship arcs and no titles either for the individual stories or for the overarching series.

Then in November of 2021, the title: “Brian and Mina’s Holiday Hits” pops into my head and I laugh so hard. Because you hear this and you’re like… so… it’s a sweet story about a singing duo and the holiday songs they sing.

Nope!

Not that kind of hits, my dear. We’re talking hitman hits, here. So now I had a story frame, these various jobs they go on around these different holidays. But I wasn’t going to be able to get anything out in time for Christmas so I thought I can start with Valentine’s, but in the end Valentine’s day had to be the last one. It’ll all make sense when we get there. I quickly figured out my holidays, the order (which is… you know… the order of the holidays, LOL, but I had to figure out where we were starting and stopping.)

I certainly don’t expect this book (BTU) or this side series to be a break out hit, not because I don’t think it’s amazing, but because you really need to read Broken Dolls and The Easter Hunt first and not everybody is caught up with that yet.

Also “Brian and Mina’s Holiday Hits” is just a confusing as hell series title… for new readers. For fans of Brian and Mina, it works. If you’re a totally new reader who has never heard of me or this couple and you’re not in on the joke, you’re not in on it, but if you know Brian and Mina you know immediately what this is going to be. And since I wrote this for the fans of this couple, that works for me.

And to be honest I didn’t want to give it a more “easily marketable name” because it just NEEDS to be their “holiday hits”. It’s just bizarrely important to me.

You could start with Guilty Pleasures but seriously, you will most probably hate Brian in that one, and it’s just tedious to have this conversation about having his babies again. I’m not here to convince you. Either you get on the ride, or you don’t. But if you do, please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.

So brand new people can’t just start with BTU. I’m happy to welcome anyone into this world who wants to join us, but I’m writing this series for me and for the ride or die hardcore fans of Brian and Mina. And I just don’t care how that translates into sales. Yes, I have to eat, but I am an artist first and foremost.

I’m not here on this earth to cater to people who haven’t even made up their mind about me yet. And it has taken me a long time… like years and years to realize what makes me unhappy about this work is trying to “convince” people who are casual about me and just not invested. And I’m not going to punish FANS for people who just can’t make up their mind about me. Sure I’ll market and seek out new readers, but I’m just not prioritizing people who don’t prioritize me.

Plus there are certain things I’m working on (like the subscription), to build a stable business that doesn’t require that I fight for the attention of a bunch of random strangers with a thousand books on their TBR list and no particular reason to prioritize mine.

The main reason I believe I’ve survived this business 15 years is that I have put most of my energy into the loyal hardcore readers, the people who love what I’m doing and who I don’t have to convince to do anything. I would obviously love more of those people, but I would rather have the number of ride or dies I have right now than a million casual readers because casual readers who can take me or leave me, who are just filling time and “quantity” on their reader goals, don’t make me happy.

I don’t want to be your dancing organ grinder monkey or like a used car salesman yelling at you to buy my book. I want the readers who hear my name and are like “Well, that’s a one-click!”

I know there has to be that first book that gets you there, which is why I’m happy to inform you, give you teasers, etc. But at a certain point you just have to get into the pool if you’re getting in. But I’m no longer wasting time trying to coax people in when I can focus my energy on those who already understand how fun the pool is.

After Valkyrie not doing what I had hoped it would even though I know it’s some of my best work, (owing to the fact that I have no strong audience built in that genre and am competing like a new baby bird with the other gazillion books out there now) I had to have a long chat with myself.

And I determined that I can’t care anymore about how any one individual book “does” in the world. And I can’t let that control my art. Because I can’t control people. I can’t tie you down and hold your eyes open Clockwork Orange style and make you read even if I know you’ll LOVE it. And I don’t want to. I don’t want readers I have to convince. I want readers who are like “Hell, yes!” I’m not going to drag you kicking and screaming into a great book. Either come along, or don’t.

So my Brian and Mina Hell Yes, people… see you on the other side of Blowing Things Up, you’re gonna love this ride! And I’m so excited about this world.

To new people who haven’t yet joined us, Here’s your reading order:

Broken Dolls
The Easter Hunt
Bl$wing Things Up

(I had to put that dollar sign there because I’m genuinely not sure if the email will be deliverable or if I’ll end up on a “list” for typing that out a bazillion times in email. )

(Note: the entire Pleasure House series where Broken Dolls is, is in a box set called… The Pleasure House so if you want to read all of them, that can save you some money.)

If you absolutely don’t want to read a whole other “origin story” novel (Broken Dolls) you can start with the Easter Hunt and not be “lost” but also not have the full impact of where these characters have been and who they are becoming together.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. Talk to you on Monday for official release day which is coming 2 days earlier than originally planned. I was done and just twiddling my thumbs and had to decide… so do I just sit on my hands here, have a longer pre-order, or have an earlier release? And here we are.

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Blowing Things Up Cover Reveal

Blowing Things Up, the second novella in Brian and Mina’s Holiday hits is coming soon! (Blurb yet to be released)

The first book is The Easter Hunt

Both The Easter Hunt and Blowing Things Up have been added to my Annual Signed Book Sale under New Releases.

More information on this title coming soon.

The post Blowing Things Up Cover Reveal appeared first on Kitty Thomas.

Annual Signed Book Sale

The Annual Signed Book Sale: Click Here/Limited Time

All of my titles are available signed for a limited time. Both old covers and all the new rebrands! Swag packs also available.

Thank you!

Kitty ^.^

The post Annual Signed Book Sale appeared first on Kitty Thomas.

The Escape Artist LIVE 99 cent introductory offer and teaser scene

THE ESCAPE ARTIST is now available LIVE. Introductory offer: 99 cents for a limited time! New cover art and a bonus epilogue.

Teaser Scene below the links:

Claire was held captive for 43 days by a man who did unspeakable things to her.

Three years after her escape, she gets her revenge.

The only problem is, she’s got the wrong man.

The Escape Artist is a Dark Romance that has an HEA and NO cliffhangers. The Con Artist also occurs in this world. Both books are interlocking standalone in the same world and can be read in any order.

What Readers Are Saying

Kitty described this book as a hybrid love child between Comfort Food and Tender Mercies (my #1 and #2) and it absolutely is that. If you liked either of those, chances are you’ll love this.” – Charlie, Goodreads Reader

Her worlds always seem to be so wrong, yet somehow turn out to have been right all along. And this world is just another incredible example of that. And holy shit does it ever deliver. You almost couldn’t make up a story this crazy.” – Cindi Russell, Goodreads Reader

EBOOK AND PRINT:

Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon CA Amazon AU Barnes and Noble iBooks Google Play Kobo

AUDIOBOOK:

Audible US Audible UK Audible FRANCE Audible GERMANY iTunes Audiobook Chirp Books Kobo Audiobook Barnes and Noble Audio Google Play Audio Books-a-Million Audiobooks.com Spotify

TEASER SCENE:

Maybe he shouldn’t punish her. She was trying so hard even with little direction. But she needed to know what it would be like, and early. She needed to know that he wouldn’t break her skin. He wouldn’t torture her. He wouldn’t starve her. He wouldn’t share her. Today was an opportunity to show her.

“Claire,” he said quietly.

Her face rose to his. He could see how intently she listened.

“Do you know why you’re being punished?”

“Yes, Master,” she said quietly, the tears once again slipping past the confines of the blindfold.

“Tell me why.”

“F-for what I did to you,” she whispered.

“No.”

She flinched, again as if waiting for a blow for getting the wrong answer.

Ari removed her blindfold. She immediately dropped her gaze, but he put his fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him. Stark green eyes met his.

“You are being punished because you need absolution and me just keeping you as my slave isn’t enough. You need something more visceral. You also need to know I’m not going to harm you.”

Maybe that was why she cried but didn’t fight. She knew she deserved punishment. The night before she’d begged him not to kill her. It hadn’t escaped his notice that she hadn’t begged him not to hurt her.

He’d watched her shatter in that cell over and over when she’d beaten him. He’d been the one taking the lashes but she was the one who cried, the one who broke apart.

He’d known from the first moment she’d walked inside his cell that everything was backward and wrong. He’d felt how badly she needed someone to take control of her, her shattered life, everything. Someone who wouldn’t truly hurt her. But she could never ask for such a thing. And she could never feel safe if it were offered. Because she didn’t know who to trust. She probably didn’t believe there was anyone in the world to trust.

It wasn’t that he thought she was kinky. There was no way he could get that lucky. But there was something… a need… a desperate plea that had risen off her body with every step even when she’d been the one holding the whip. Take me.

Help me. Please. Please. It had screamed.

Now that he was the one with the whip, the mask of power and control had slipped gracefully from her face. Would this help her? He wasn’t sure. Society would judge him a monster. Hell, his friends would do the same. But something primal inside her reached out to him, and the beast answered back.

Nothing about any of this was normal or right or okay. He wouldn’t justify it even as he wouldn’t apologize for it. But it was what they were doing. She’d had her turn with the whip and him at her mercy, and the universal laws demanded this reversal to balance the scale. She’d started this game. He was finishing it.

This was her sentence. And Ari remained convinced it was better than the prison cell she would have been given by what passed for justice in this world.

Grab it Here:

EBOOK AND PRINT:

Amazon US Amazon UK Amazon CA Amazon AU Barnes and Noble iBooks Google Play Kobo

AUDIOBOOK:

Audible US Audible UK Audible FRANCE Audible GERMANY iTunes Audiobook Chirp Books Kobo Audiobook Barnes and Noble Audio Google Play Audio Books-a-Million Audiobooks.com Spotify

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