Liz Everly's Blog, page 65
February 22, 2016
It’s The MacKenzies’ World and We’re Just Living In It: An Interview With Liliana Hart on the Launch of The MacKenzie Family World
by Kiersten Hallie Krum
Last week, New York Times bestselling author Liliana Hart’s prolific and expansive MacKenzie Family series took a huge leap forward with the launch of the MacKenzie Family World. Liliana has joined us here today at Lady Smut to talk about what this means for the series and what readers can now expect to see from their beloved MacKenzies.
Kiersten Hallie Krum: Welcome to LadySmut.com, Liliana Hart! I’m delighted to have the chance to chat with you today.
Liliana Hart: Thanks so much for having me!
KHK: First, congratulations on the launch of the MacKenzie Family World!
Liliana Hart
LH: It’s so exciting! I love this project, and every aspect of it has been a joy.
KHK: Along with a new MacKenzie Family novel from you, the MacKenzie Family World launch includes five new Mackenzie Family novellas from other authors. Tell us about this project.
LH: I’d been approached to do the MacKenzie World by a publisher, but I wasn’t on board with the terms for myself or the other authors, so I declined the project. I could see so much potential in the project and I couldn’t bear the thought of it getting screwed up. I *might* have some control issues. ;-)
But it basically boils down to the fact that I’m a businesswoman first and I won’t ever sign a deal where I or other authors aren’t the ones who benefit most. I’m not talking monetarily, but in terms of rights. You’d be amazed some of the rights an authors signs away when signing a publishing contract. I wasn’t cool with it.
I let the idea of producing the MacKenzie World simmer for a few months, trying to figure out the best way to get the project to come to fruition. I knew there was no possible way I could fit it in and manage it with my writing schedule, so I knew someone had to take the helm that I could trust to do an awesome job.
Fortunately, I’ve been working with MJ Rose and Liz Berry of Evil Eye Publishing for the 1001 Dark Nights Anthology and they do such a great job branding, implementing, and marketing those books that I thought the MacKenzie World might be right up their alley. I’m so honored they decided to take a chance on something that has never been done before.
After MJ and Liz were on board, all I had to do was find authors to write in the world. It was an easy choice for me. I picked some of my personal favorites, who I thought would be able to blend their writing style seamlessly as they wrote the MacKenzies. I held my breath as I waited for Christopher Rice, Kimberly Kincaid, Robin Covington, Avery Flynn, and Cristin Harber to email me back and say no way. But they all said yes and it worked out beautifully!
KHK: Of all your ongoing series, what made you choose the MacKenzies as the world you would open up to other writers?
Ooh, great question. I really think it has a lot to do with the access. My JJ Graves and Addison Holmes series are both written in first person. They’re more personal and more intimate because there’s so much of me in those two characters. When you hear Addison and JJ speak (on the page), that’s my true voice, even though one series is darker and one series is a comedy. It’s kind of like those characters are two halves of a whole for me.
The MacKenzies are pure fantasy and escape. They’re sexy alpha males with save the world mentalities. And they’re attracted to women who drive them crazy with their smart mouths and never-back-down attitudes. It’s like explosions on the page from the minute any of them step into the room and I love that.
The first six books in the Mackenzie Family World!
KHK: What made you choose these five authors to kick off the launch of this world?
LH: I touched on it some before, but these authors aren’t only my friends, but I personally read and enjoy their books. It only made sense to ask writers whose work I loved. It certainly helps that they all write smokin’ hot sex scenes and chemistry that melts that pages. The MacKenzies are very…ahem…virile.
KHK: Heh. And how.
Now, do these novellas feature MacKenzie characters we already know and love or are new people finding their way to Surrender, Montana and everything MacKenzie?
LH: A little of both. Each author created their own hero and heroine and the story that centered around that H/H. But Surrender, Montana is a small town. You’re bound to run into familiar faces every once in a while. It’s hard to turn a corner without bumping into a MacKenzie. There’s a lot of them. :-D
KHK: Are the novellas and your novel, TROUBLE MAKER, linked or can they each be read individually?
They can definitely be read as individual stories. They’ve incorporated characters that have appeared in my MacKenzie series, but they all do it so seamlessly that you don’t have to know a complete family history to read the books.
The MacKenzie Series is vast—18 books! Holy cow, when did that happen? TROUBLE MAKER is a continuation of the story lines I’ve got going in the other books in my series. BUT…I wrote it knowing that there would be new readers coming to the series who’d never heard of a MacKenzie before. So while the die-hard fans are getting a glimpse of story arcs they’ve been waiting for, new readers can jump right in and not be lost at all.
What’s fun about TROUBLE MAKER is that I incorporated all of the authors’ characters they created into my story. It was a challenge, but I think readers love little “Easter Eggs” like that.
Click on image to buy!
KHK: Come on, tell the truth, was it weird letting other writers play around in your head, erm, I mean, in your world?
LH: It really wasn’t. There’s such a great MacKenzie following and I get emails every day asking why I can’t write more MacKenzies and write them faster. This is a great way to give the readers more of what they’ve been asking for and for them to discover new to them authors as well.
KHK: Are there more books coming from these authors or others in the MacKenzie Family World? Will there be other authors writing in the MacKenzie Family World in the future?
It’s a secret. ;-)
KHK: Aw, man! Foiled!
What’s been your favorite part about creating and expanding the MacKenzie Family World? What has most surprised you while putting together this project?
LH: I think my favorite part any time I write a MacKenzie book is that new characters pop up out of nowhere and I get another idea for a new book in the series.
I think what surprised me the most (though it didn’t really because MJ and Liz are brilliant at what they do) was how easy it all seemed to come together. When you start thinking about the nuts and bolts, it’s a pretty complicated project. The timing has to be right. The writing has to be true to the series. And then there’s the branding and marketing side of things. But it’s been an amazing process.
KHK: Your next new MacKenzie Security novel, SCORCH, comes out July 26th. What can you tell us about SCORCH?
LH: Readers have been waiting for SCORCH for two years. Really longer than that. Ever since Shane MacKenzie was introduced he’s been a fan favorite. He’s the youngest MacKenzie and marches to the beat of his own drum. He was a Navy SEAL commander and I won’t drop any spoilers for those who don’t know what happened to him, but needless to say, his story has been unfolding through several books now.
It’s taken me a while to really get to the heart of Shane’s story and do it justice. Books like SCORCH also take an emotional toll on me as a writer, so they take a little longer to write. I get very moody when I write emotional books. My husband and children know to proceed with caution. :-D
KHK: That’s a lot of MacKenzie Family action for 2016 and the year is just getting started! What’s next for you after this?
LH: It is! So many MacKenzies!
2016 is a pretty big year for book releases for me. WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT, book 5 in my Addison Holmes series, comes out April 26th. And an Addison Holmes novella comes out in the RED SOLE CLUES anthology March 22nd. I also have a mega huge announcement coming up. 2017 is going to be a big year too.
KHK: Thank you, Liliana Hart, for being such a lovely guest here at Lady Smut! It’s been a real treat to talk with you.
LH: Thanks again for having me. It was a blast!
Be sure to click on the tittle images below to order your copy of the MacKenzie Family World launch titles!
And follow Lady Smut. We’re all family here.
Singer, writer, editor, traveler, tequila drinker, and cat herder, Kiersten Hallie Krum avoids pen names since keeping her multiple personalities straight is hard enough work. She writes smart, sharp, and sexy romantic suspense and can be found at http://www.kierstenkrum.com and regularly over sharing on various social media via @kierstenkrum.
February 20, 2016
Sexy Saturday Round Up
Hey happy readers! Welcome to the weekend. We’ve got some absorbing, frivolous fun for you today. Enjoy!
From Madeline:
How to confront the new toxic normal from boys on campus.
5 darkly funny books about difficult women.
Millennial sex preferences…state by state.
Aquarium cancels octopus sex show for fear of cannibalism. No, seriously.
Awkward etiquette, or Ask Miss Manners: What do you do, if you’re Miley Cyrus and get back together with your fiancé Liam? Can you just start wearing his ring again?
From G.G. Andrew:
Need a pick-me-up? Check out these sweet illustrations of love being in the little things we do together.
Mysteries for the movie-obsessed: ten hidden messages in films.
Resting bitch face is legit, say scientists.
The dark truth behind the design on the Oreo cookies you eat. (Possibly the weirdest thing I’ve seen on the internet all week.)
From Elizabeth Shore:
Transform your sex life from decent to divine with the 30-day pelvic floor challenge.
G’day! The Australian educational system is teaching kids that sex is fun.
The 10 best horror books you’ve never read.
So you say you want to REALLY dominate your man? Then brush up on kink 101 for anal play and fisting.
From Elizabeth:
What men think about when they masturbate–don’t say we didn’t warn you.
February 19, 2016
Sexual empowerment on our own terms
Recently, actress Emily Ratajkowski wrote an essay about female sexuality for Lenny Letter that I resonated with me. She detailed the ways we tell women that sexuality is something to be hidden, contained, dangerous, whether it’s a teenager whose bra strap is showing or too much lip gloss. As she put it:
The implication is that to be sexual is to be trashy because being sexy means playing into men’s desires. To me, “sexy” is a kind of beauty, a kind of self-expression, one that is to be celebrated, one that is wonderfully female. Why does the implication have to be that sex is a thing men get to take from women and women give up?
Emily Ratajkowski via Facebook
This reminded me of a time a few years ago when I was wearing one of my favorite dresses, a turquoise short-sleeved number with a ruffled on top and a zipper that lands between my breasts. I’ve worn it on dates, but considered it classy enough to wear to temple with my family. A man I didn’t know wouldn’t stop talking to me; I was polite but kept trying to avoid him. My mom implied that it was my dress; if I’d been more covered up, he would have left me alone.
What kind of world do we live in where it’s our job as women to constantly second guess what men might think of what we wear, what signals they imagine we are sending? It also reminded me of Christen Brandt’s viral Facebook post, where she detailed being sexually harassed this winter while wearing this outfit:
Brandt wrote:
Next time you wonder whether your skirt is too short, next time you ask your teen daughter to change her clothes, or the next time you hear about school dress codes in the news, remember this photo.
I am in a fucking parka and boots.
And it. doesn’t. matter.
But this post isn’t just about the ways our sexuality and our bodies can be used against us, but about how reclaiming our sex appeal after we’ve been shamed, can be part of our process of digging out from under all that sexism and cultural baggage telling us what we should or shouldn’t do with our bodies. I just finished the first of three linked erotic romances, Everything I Left Unsaid by M. O’Keefe (aka Molly O’Keefe).
What stood out for me is that the heroine, Annie, a domestic violence survivor who’s fled from her husband after he tried to kill her, is fighting back against a lifetime of shame not just about her sexuality but about her very existence. She’s been told for too long that she’s essentially worthless, but has cobbled together a new life for herself that she’s starting to test out.
With the help of steamy phone calls from a sexy stranger, Dylan, she starts to piece herself back together, but at her own pace. What I especially loved about the book is that a large part of the sex here isn’t about one-on-one in-person action, but at a remove, with Annie protected by the safety of the phone, by the fake name she uses at first. She is able to ease into discovering what turns her on because she’s able to tap into all the parts of herself she’s had to hide for so long. O’Keefe writes:
I slipped one finger past the sharp elastic, pulling the other side harder against my skin, which made me gasp and pull it tighter, until the elastic brushed up against my clit.
“Oh my God,” I breathed and then, experimenting, I pulled both sides of my underwear down between my lips and I nearly shot off the bed. Carefully, I used the pressure, slow and driving, sharp and fast, to find out what I liked better.
And the truth was—I liked it all. Even the touches that didn’t add to the stone-rolling-downhill of orgasm, I liked. The side trip of my fingers agains the skin of my leg. The act of pushing my hair—sweaty and damp—off my face. The lift of one arm up over my head.
It was as if my body—which had seemed my entire life to be stupid and heavy, an entity to be pushed and smacked, a blind and dumb feature made only for work, its only skill a certain kind of stillness, a trick of getting smaller so as not to be seen—had been transformed.
No, not transformed. Not really.
It was as if I’d found buried beneath the skin a secret wisdom. A dark knowledge.
Like it had just been waiting for me to find it.
A woman pushing her hair off her face might not seem like such a momentous act, and it might not be for most characters. But the point here is that Annie is exploring herself for the first time, getting to know what kinds of touch and sensations her body responds to. Her masturbation scenes are a refreshing and vital part of the novel because they allow her to later open herself up to getting naked in front of Dylan literally, not just figuratively.
For Annie, sex was a thing her husband took, not something where her pleasure was ever truly considered. It was something to get through, something he controlled entirely. Reading about her transformation, seeing her stand up for herself to Dylan, and having him appreciate her for her gumption, made this one of my favorite recent romance reads.
Like Ratajkowski, Annie doesn’t disown sex even though it’s been presented to her as dangerous. And even though it’s a love story (one with, warning, a cliffhanger ending), O’Keefe makes it clear that Annie isn’t “saved” by Dylan simply because she falls for him. She saves herself, and her sexual journey is one about unlocking what’s inside her.
Ratajkowski also wrote in her essay:
Where can girls look to see women who find empowerment in deciding when and how to be or feel sexual? Even if being sexualized by society’s gaze is demeaning, there must be a space where women can still be sexual when they choose to be.
That’s something I look for when I read erotic romance and erotica as well as in the real world, and heroines like Annie are wonderful examples of women who don’t simply accept the way sex is presented to them by the world, but look for ways to make sex their own.
February 18, 2016
Crimson Peak: More Bloody Than a Tampon–And I Relished it
Got a sinister hero? Then you’ve got my interest.
by Madeline Iva
I was attracted to the preview for Crimson Peak, and even more attracted to Tom Hiddleston, who stars in it. Yet I couldn’t tell from the preview if the movie was a horror film or romantic suspense. Not loving horror films, I waited to watch it on video where I could fast forward through the scream-y parts if need be.
I shouldn’t have worried. Crimson Peak is a Gothic Romantic Suspense movie—capital G, emphasis on the ick.
Gothic? Horror? Gothic-horror? What’s the difference, you’re wondering. Some say it’s not horror if there’s no blood splatter on the wall. Oh, Crimson Peak has blood splatter a-plenty. Not just on the walls, but also the carpet, the snow, the clothes, the skin. Never since Carrie has a movie audience been so drenched in red dyed corn-syrup.
But a Gothic sensibility is all about the build up. We revel in the hints of secrets, and spend a lot of suspenseful time wondering what—what chilling secret could be in the creepy investigator’s file? In the locked rooms of the ancient hall, in the gooey red brick pits in the basement, in the locked luggage next to the gooey pits…
We’re looking for twisted hidden secrets. We want them revealed and brought out into the light of day–or at least twilight if that’s all there is to be had in the gloomy climate of Northern England. The dangerous horror part is only a small component of the whole. We’re much more involved in the building psychological strain and suspense. (What could it beeeeee in that bedroom?)
Excellent Gothic stories always ends with a goodly amount of implosion. We want the mansion destroyed by fire, we want the mad-woman jumping off the roof–only to drown in the pond. We want the carriage plunging over a cliff. (Bonus points for managing such a feat without harming the horses.)
In this way, CRIMSON PEAK is most definitely a gothic movie. I was worried about horror elements, when in fact (SPOILER ALERT!)
what we have here is merely……really ugly ghosts, trying to deliver helpful messages.
What the movie doesn’t deliver in horror, it delivers in gothic architecture and gowns. Is there any better satisfaction for the Gothic enthusiast than a once-gorgeous house pocked with decay like swiss cheese? Better yet is the house that delivers some weird and extravagant folly. Fluttering moths on the walls? Check. Mine shaft in the basement? Check. (Yes, I’m not kidding, there really is!)
Crimson Peak’s also got gothic quatrafoil bannisters, fan vault trim, and oculus glass up the wazoo. Spindle carvings drips from beamed ceilings panels, and gingerbread sprawls across the stairwells. It’s like being in heaven for those who know they really belong in hell.
Gowns billow in haunted breezes, Nightgowns hug the neck like a confining clasp of a strangler. Robes of silk outline heaving breasts, and glorious hip length locks run in a dark river across the neck and down the ribs. Do I sound orgasmic? I was. I still am, a little.
Tom Hiddleston is the anti-hero who stands in the center of all this wanton glory. Is there any better man to play a twisted romantic hero? I think not.
Tom…Tom…let me count the ways.
His intelligent sensitivity, his understated sensuality…his ice blue eyes that nevertheless melt with innate sympathy, yet tragic acceptance that no…there’s no help for you.
I get ovary spasms just from listening to the way he explains what Gothic romance is on Charlie Rose and how repressed sexuality bursts forth in ghosts, mayhem and horror —
Jessica Chastain, meanwhile, plays his evil sister in a repressed matronly way worthy of Mrs. Danvers (The nasty housekeeper in REBECCA). We’re not quite so interested in her while Tom is on screen–how could we be? But at the same time, yeah, she’s workin it.
Frankly, I would have been just as happy if they decided to change the tale to that of a twisted incestuous couple who rid themselves of the shallow American heiress so they can live in lecherous macabre delight—an alternative HEA. (What’s that I hear?—It’s the sound of a thousand fan fiction posts launching on Wattpad.)
But Crimson Peak is not a perfect movie for us Gothic fans. Alas, there are bad American accents, cheesy overdone bloody effects. I like over the top as the much as anybody, and didn’t mind the costumes and sets (who doesn’t like a mind shaft in a basement? Or leaves and snow falling gently through the gaping hole in the ceiling?) But the blood-like clay seeping from the walls? Okay…a leetle bit over done. Actually WAY overdone. Why Guillermo? Why? The writer/director crossed the line a few times, and in doing so seemed to aim his movie towards a less refined audience. Sad.
However I respect any movie in which two women, heroine and villainess, battle it out at the end. I warn those of you who couldn’t hack the Psycho shower scene to quickly avert your eyes during their epic throw down. Talk about death by a thousand cuts—and in billowing bloodstained nightgowns!
Back to our Gothic Rules of Attraction. I like it that the heroine loves the bad guy, Tom Hiddleston (again a favorite trope) even after she discovers his dark secrets. Does he loves her? Agh! We sit and wonder. And! If he does love her–can they get out of that house alive together before it tumbles down and sinks into the oozing clay, a la The House of Usher?*
That’s the question that kept me going all the way through the gory ending.
Alas, this movie was a little watered down for my taste. A little more lowbrow than it needed to be. I liked chewing on parts of it, but the best of gothic suspense tradition is not about hack and slash, it’s all about the revealing twitch of an eyebrow, the moment the locked door creaks open and our heroine will never again be innocent again.
*I’ve always wanted to own a house that comes with a black tarn.
Thanks for tuning in, readers! And follow us at Lady Smut, where we devote ourselves to bringing you shivery, sexy fun.
February 16, 2016
The Sexual Chemistry Is Off The Charts – But Are You Textually Compatible?
By Relationship alert! Just when you thought it was difficult enough in today’s world finding someone to hook up with, there’s an added element on the dating landscape throwing a damn monkey wrench into the whole “compatibility” conversation. Because aside from feeling the initial spark confirming that his hotness factor is gonna set your panties a’fire, besides finding out whether you have any common interests, and besides establishing that you and he rock each other’s worlds in the bedroom, there’s yet another thorny hurdle to cross. Do you and he have textual compatibility?
As Time writer Eliana Dockterman states in a recent article on “textual chemistry,” the complex emotional interactions between two people over text message can make or break a relationship. Yeah, you read that right. In other words, how you and he text one another is a very big deal.
Friends in my office, especially 20-something friends who’ve taken dating etiquette to a science, talk all the time about their prospective guy’s texting ability. Is he too fast to send messages or too slow? Are his texts too long or not long enough? How about his emoji use? Is it OK for guys to use them? Should they? Analysis of texting habits is as detailed as when gals of years ago used to talk about the kind of car a guy drove and what it said about him.
Of course, texting is today’s common form of communication. A 2015 poll by a research group found that 80% of Americans prefer texts over voice calls. And Americans spend an average of 26 minutes a day texting, according to the article. So how one communicates definitely makes a difference. Case in point: I have to fess up that I’m a frequent texter. Sometimes texting with friends is how I spend entire evenings. Well, OK. More than sometimes, actually. I do it a lot. And I admit that it can be annoying when friends are slow to respond. Or they finally respond but ignore what I wrote. By that same criteria, if a prospective date behaves textually badly, it spells trouble ahead because, as the Dockterman article points out, texting is a form of seduction.
My 20-something colleagues would certainly attest to this. Bad texters, they say, are reason enough to break off a relationship before it even gets started. Why bother? If he’s bad at texting, they say, he’s going to be bad at communicating in general.
I’m not sure I’m entirely down with that logic. What about if he’s a great communicator but texting doesn’t happen to be his preferred method. What if he’s one of those Neanderthal types who enjoys talking on the phone. Is that a relationship buster? It seems as if there must be an easier way of navigating the land mine-filled textual landscape. What are the rules, anyway?
According to Dockterman’s article, we all need to be mindful of how our personalities come across in texts. Women who make their text messages overly long, for example, might be viewed as too needy or chatty. Or desperate. But men aren’t easily let off the hook, either. Their personalities via texting are under the same scrutiny as in the days of yesteryear when they were trying to pick up women in a bar.
All in all, textual compatibility is just one measurement of whether a relationship is going to work. You still, after all, eventually have to meet in person. And sparks flying in the virtual world doesn’t necessarily equate to the same thing in person. The good news, however, is that if the in-person chemistry isn’t happening, you can easily break it off. Just send him a text.
What do you think? Do you set store by how well he texts? Will wooing in the virtual world lead to a wedding in the real one? Let us know in the comments. You can think of it as a text.
The Dead Deliver: Is This the Season of Richonne?
Just a walk through the prison in the quieter days of the zombie apocalypse. Aren’t they cute?
By Alexa Day
I am delighted to say that The Walking Dead is back, and I’m relieved (but not surprised) to say that its return on Sunday was amazing. It delivered everything I’ve come to expect from The Walking Dead over the years — such a welcome change from all the shows that have begun to disappoint me. But there’s a specific reason hope springs eternal during the zombie apocalypse.
This is your one and only warning. This entire post is basically wall to wall TWD spoilers. If you haven’t seen the season six mid-season premiere, “No Way Out,” you probably don’t want to read any more of this.
All the spoilers follow this music video.
Still here? Good.
The season six mid-season finale, “Start to Finish,” found my favorite couple-to-be, Rick and Michonne, trying to deal with the tremendous herd of zombies that overran Alexandria. I actually felt bad for Rick at this point. He has, either through action or inaction, jacked up just about every safe place this group has ever temporarily called home, but the invasion of Alexandria really wasn’t his fault. He did everything he could to protect the place that gave him the first shave and hot shower he’d enjoyed in months. Things just didn’t work out for him this time around, poor thing.
Anyway, at the very end of that episode, Rick led Michonne, Carl, and a handful of others dressed in zombie camo into the midst of the herd. Jessie and her family are part of the human chain, and just as they start their long slow walk through the giant wall of zombies, Jessie’s son, Sam, starts up with, “Mom? Mom? Mom?”
I’m not a parent, but I’ve been a kid, and I can tell you that my mother did not need the zombie apocalypse to, shall we say, gently encourage me to ZIP IT after three iterations of “Mom?”
But Jessie just lets him roll. “Mom? Mom?”
I have complained about Jessie before, at the opening of season six. I could not understand what made Jessie a viable love interest for Rick when the two of them have walked a very different path through the apocalypse, when she could not reach the very deep, very dark places inside Rick, and when it was painfully clear that they could not parent each other’s children. Indeed, I dared to dream that Something Might Happen to Jessie and Sam, and maybe her older son, Ron, too, while we’re at it.
Sam isn’t strong enough to be among the herd. Rather than retreating to safety with Father Gabriel and Judith, Sam insists on staying with his mother. More importantly, Jessie indulges Sam in his fragility. She’s done it before. She won’t do for Sam what Rick has done for Carl; she won’t force him to face the new realities of the apocalypse. As a result, Sam buckles amid the multitude of zombies, and when he blows his cover, he loses his life. Jessie, powerless to prevent his death, and equally powerless to save herself once he is lost, also loses her life.
Once he’s lost his entire family, Jessie’s older son, Ron, chooses this exact moment to take a shot at Carl. Ron has long had an ax to grind with Carl, and he has a poor sense of timing. Stationed protectively behind them, Michonne dispatches Ron, but not before his gunshot claims Carl’s eye.
One family has faced off against the other, and Jessie’s family has paid the ultimate price. The stronger family has prevailed.
Jessie was gone.
I’m ashamed to say that I was delighted.
Oh…oh, really? Do I dare to ask for anything else? #DreamsDoComeTrue #TheWalkingDead
— Alexa Day (@AlexaJDay) February 15, 2016
I’m not that ashamed, but still. Even as Rick and Michonne rushed Carl to Alexandria’s hospital, I sighed and thought, “Now *there’s* a family.”
As the doctor examines his son, Rick finally breaks. He drifts out into the darkness to face the herd alone with an axe and a handgun. Michonne is torn — she wants to stay with Carl, but she can’t let Rick face the herd alone. Once the doctor stabilizes Carl, she tells Michonne to go after Rick, and then my heroine does something that choked me up a little.
She kisses Carl on the forehead before rushing out the door.
The apocalypse has cost Michonne a son, but this new reality has brought her another.
Everything that’s happened in Alexandria has worked to bring Rick and Michonne closer together. Michonne has been Rick’s strong right hand, providing valuable advice, daring to argue with the Ricktator, and shutting Rick down when he starts to go off the rails. She’s always been good with Carl, knowing how to protect him, when to give him space to grow up, and when he needed to be a kid. Carl and Michonne have been family for a long time.
Now, as the sun rises over a very different Alexandria, Rick makes a promise to his son. Rick has seen a world worth saving, a future worth claiming, and a place worth calling home. He pledges to make those things real for Carl.
I know Rick can’t do all that by himself.
Jessie was a barrier to the relationship between Rick and Michonne. In “No Way Out,” the barrier was abruptly removed. I’m sure the story has plenty of obstacles in store for Team Richonne, but Sunday night showed us that Rick and Michonne are ready to take all comers.
I can’t wait. Every romance fan knows how persistent real love is.
Follow Lady Smut. We’ve got your back.
Alexa Day writes erotica and erotic romance with heroines who are anything but innocent and fictional worlds where strong, smart women discover excitement, adventure, and exceptional sex. A former bartender, one-time newspaper reporter, and recovering attorney, she likes her stories with just a touch of the inappropriate, and her literary mission is to stimulate the intellect and libido of her readers.
February 15, 2016
Barefoot With a Bad Boy: An Interview with Roxanne St. Claire
by Kiersten Hallie Krum
I’m delighted to welcome New York Times bestselling author Roxanne St. Claire to Lady Smut today as part of my monthly focus on romantic suspense novels. For years now, Roxanne has been writing contemporary romances set in her fictional world of Barefoot Bay, Florida, but prior to that, she wrote two steamy, successful romantic suspense series, The Bulletcatchers and The Guardian Angelinos, and has returned to that genre with her Barefoot Undercover romantic suspense series set in Barefoot Bay…with one beloved bad boy smack at the center of it all.
Click on image to buy!
Barefoot with a Bad Boy, the book that finally gives fan favorite character Gabriel Rossi (from The Guardian Angelinos series) his own HEA, is available to buy tomorrow! But you can win your own copy of it today! At the end of the interview will be an opportunity to win a copy of Barefoot with a Bad Boy, but let’s begin with a Rocki Chat!
KHK: Welcome Roxanne St. Claire! Thanks for chatting with me today here at Lady Smut!
RStC: Thank you for having me here! It’s an honor and a pleasure!
KHK: Tomorrow, your hotly anticipated book Barefoot with a Bad Boy releases. Readers will FINALLY get fan favorite Gabriel Rossi’s story.
RStC: I know, right? SO FLIPPING EXCITED!
KHK: Tell us about the long journey to bring Gabe his own story.
RStC: It was a long journey that began in 2010 when I first introduced Gabriel Rossi as one of the secondary characters in a romantic suspense trilogy based on an extended family of bad asses called The Guardian Angelinos. I knew he wasn’t going to be a hero in the trilogy though I hoped he might someday get a book. As is often the case with a secondary, I went a little crazy with his character, giving him a shady background, a filthy mouth, an overdose of attitude, and an unfair amount of sex appeal. Readers loved him…but the series was canceled because the publisher suddenly decided “romantic suspense was dead.”
With my genre DOA, I moved to contemporary romance and happily launched the now long-running Barefoot Bay series. There seemed no place in the tropical resort full of heartwarming and emotional contemporary romances for a tough-talking, name-taking, gun-firing former spy. But the requests for his book started after the first time he was on the page and continued for SIX SOLID YEARS. Something about this character resonated with readers and I knew I had to figure out a way to tell his story the way it needed to be told. And I did!
KHK: Can you tell us a little about what’s in store for our favorite bad boy?
RStC: Heartache. Trouble. Adventure. Sex against a wall. More heartache. A son. Big problems. Oh, and a woman whose supposed to be dead but is very much alive. And did I mention that heartache?
If that doesn’t answer the question, here’s the blurb:
Former spy Gabriel Rossi is mourning the death of Isadora Winter, a woman he loved and lost five years ago, when a stranger approaches him on the beach and claims to be Isadora. She doesn’t look, act, or talk like his beloved Isa, but she knows things about their past that only a lover could know. Gabe knows that in the spy world, anything is possible, but doubts and distrust plague him. Still, glimmers of the woman he once knew shine through and begin to melt his hardened heart.
CIA agent Lila Wickham has been working deep undercover for so long that sometimes she’s forgotten who she really is. Finally free but utterly changed, she is determined to fix the broken life she left behind. With threats being sent from an unknown source and blinding headaches that torment her whenever she feels deep emotion, she seeks Gabe Rossi’s help and protection. But instead of setting her up with a new undercover identity, Gabe insists on luring her nemesis to Barefoot Bay so he can end the threats once and for all.
Even if they succeed in drawing out the killer who has Lila in his sights, a much more serious danger hovers over them…a treacherous, deadly truth that could not only destroy their love but end their lives as well.
KHK: What was the most difficult thing about writing Gabe’s story? What was your favorite thing about writing Gabe’s story?
Roxanne St. Claire at home in Florida.
RStC: The most difficult thing was…well, there were two. One was the weight of high expectations. In thirteen years of being a published author, I’ve never had a character capture readers like Gabe Rossi. I’ve never had so much mail about one potential hero or demand for his story. I knew that readers had a “certain” kind of story in mind–and a certain kind of heroine, back story, and ending. I wanted to respect and honor those expectations, but also tell the story that worked for me. The other difficult thing was staying utterly and completely true to his character, which is quite different from anyone I’ve ever written. He swears mercilessly, he has an almost destructive need to fix things and be in control, he can’t trust anyone, and he loves his family with a passion. Oh, and he has a quick temper, rapier wit, and huge heart. Knowing all that, he was “easy” to write because I had his character formed. I didn’t have to think about how he’d react in a situation, I knew. But that’s also difficult because I had to always be true to his character, no matter what was happening around him.
My favorite thing? Just…Gabe. He made me laugh, swoon, smile, and cry, and want to climb into the monitor and kiss his face off.
KHK: Gabe is known for breaking all the rules, extreme sexual prowess, and a creatively filthy mouth all of which just makes readers love him more. What do you think is the appeal of the bad boy? Why do you think it is that Gabe has resonated so deeply and for so long with your readers?
RStC: I wish I knew and I would write more and more of them! My heroes are alpha but always have a great big gooey mushy heart in their mighty chests. Gabe’s no different, he’s just bigger, badder, dirtier, and funnier. And readers love that. He’s irreverent, sarcastic, and always one step ahead of the next guy, but his love for his family is damn near crippling. I think his strengths can be weaknesses (that need to control and fix everything can make him resist much-needed help; his suspicious nature makes trusting someone almost impossible) and that makes for a layered character who is never boring.
KHK: Lady Smut readers know I’m a big fan of romantic suspense novels. You created an entire romantic suspense sub series—the Barefoot Undercover books—in your Barefoot Bay world in order to bring Gabe out of the shadows. How has it been to go back to writing romantic suspense after such a long hiatus? Did you discover you approached the genre differently after writing so long in the contemporary genre?
RStC: Let’s be clear: I created this world for Gabe. It rests on his sizeable shoulders. But the beauty of my Barefoot Bay series is that it is one big series–all set on one island, with recurring characters, centered around a gorgeous beach-side resort–but it is made up of multiple “mini-series” of three (sometimes four) books each. Each of those has a different tone and type. I’ve written sexy, sassy, snappy shorter stories in the Barefoot Bay Billionaires mini-series, and deeply emotional, feel-good novels in the Barefoot Bay Brides books. With that structure, nothing could stop me from introducing an element of grit and suspense, so I launched Barefoot Bay Undercover and put Gabe squarely in the middle by having him open a covert operation that acts as a “privatized witness protection” service to wealthy patrons.
I loved going back to romantic suspense but had forgotten how complicated and challenging it can be. The tendency is to focus so much on the danger, the chase, the villain, and the suspense plot that the emotional foundation suffers. Balance and interweaving the romance and suspense takes a whole different set of chops than writing a layered and lush romance with all the focus on the love story. And I did write the suspense differently after having written so many contemporaries–I’ve learned the incredible power of the setting and the “world of characters” behind the story. This one has a strong subplot involving Gabe’s grandfather and the Jamaican housekeeper who has become an unlikely “asset” in Gabe’s undercover operation.
KHK: Will there be more romantic suspense books coming in the world of Barefoot Bay?
RStC: Not in 2016, since I’m launching something new on the island. But, I’m listening to readers. If the romantic suspense novels are super popular and the demand is there, of course, I can create more Undercover stories. To be honest, as a writer, I need breaks and palate cleansers. The three romantic suspense novels I wrote over the last 12 months were creatively draining. I want to write something lighter, brighter, and funnier, but not lose the sexy, emotional, exotic feel I go for in every Barefoot Bay book. After that? Who knows?
KHK: What first made you create the world of Barefoot Bay?
RStC: When I decided to launch a small town contemporary series, it was natural to set it in Florida. I live here! Plus, there were very few beach stories at the time, and almost none of the small town contemporaries were set in Florida or on an island. I know this setting so well (I actually live on a coastal island) and I knew I could do justice to the world. I started with a hurricane clearing away “old Florida” and making room for a high-end resort and a lot of change and took it from there. Mimosa Key (the fictional island where Barefoot Bay and the Casa Blanca Resort are set) is quite real to me now and have grown from a seed of an idea to a thriving and colorful community. It’s been a fun four years with more to come!
KHK: Barefoot with a Bad Boy is your 14th book (novels and novellas) in the Barefoot Bay series. When you created this world, did you anticipate it getting this big?
RStC: Not in my wildest dreams. I would have made the island MUCH bigger! LOL! I had two series canceled by publishers so I went into this third with realistic expectations. This was way back in 2012 and super long series weren’t really the “thing” yet. Then self-publishing took off and authors could write seven, eight, 10, or 12 books in three years and series size grew to meet a voracious reader demand. I’m self-publishing Barefoot Bay now, which is why I have so much liberty with the kinds of stories I can tell, so there’s no limit to what I can do with this series.
KHK: What’s coming up next in the Barefoot Bay series?
RStC: I’m not announcing my 2016 mini-series until spring, but I’m 25,000 words into the first book and I LOVE IT. Like I said, I wanted something faster and funnier, lighter and brighter, and NO DEAD BODIES or SHADOWY VILLAINS. But plenty of sex, surf, sand, hot guys, smart women, and there might be a Gabe sighting or two…ya never know!
KHK: Thank you so much for joining us here at Lady Smut!
RStC: Thank you for having me!! Let’s give away some books!!!
Want a taste of what’s to come from Gabriel Rossi? Check out the expert below for a taste of the ultimate bad boy. Read all the way to the end for a chance to win a copy of Barefoot with A Bad Boy
Who are you?” And that low, slow growl of a barely restrained fury shifted all the power back to him.
“I am Isadora Winter.”
He suddenly turned and reached to the end table to turn on the lamp. The golden glow warmed the room, but he marched to the other lamp and turned it on, too. Then he hit the switch for two sconces in the dining area and tapped on the kitchen light.
“There’s a flashlight in the drawer,” she said. “And I bet I can find a magnifying glass if you’d like to look closer.”
Still near the kitchen, he stared at her. “I might. Don’t move,” he ordered. “Except your mouth. You can move that anytime. And for the love of sweet baby Jesus, please know that I was associated with the CIA for more than a decade, and there is not a trick of that trade I don’t know.”
“Then you know about the use of facial-reconstruction surgery to create an undercover disguise.”
Still staring at her, he took a few steps closer. “Facial-reconstruction surgery, yes. Not body, height, hair, voice and…soul.”
She let out a sigh. That was it, of course. She didn’t just look different; she was different. “You know there’s more. Body reshaping, chemical changes of hair color and texture, surgical alteration of fingerprints, permanent eye dye. And, of course, training on how to stand, walk, speak, and behave differently. A person can be remade, Gabe. I was.”
He approached her, openly looking her up and down and up again, and then he began to circle, very, very slowly, examining her with his arms folded, eyes intent, an appraiser looking to see if the art was real or a forgery.
He reached out and lifted her chin, turning her face one way, then the other, looking for scars she knew were artfully hidden but could be seen if he looked carefully enough.
He rounded her back, grabbed a handful of hair, and then slid his hand down the length of it, probably unable to feel the artificial straightening that gave her well-colored hair a glassy sheen.
He stroked a shoulder, one finger grazing her bicep, which she flexed, as she did regularly in weight training after having her once-feminine curves taken away, along with her curls and green eyes.
Finally, he was facing her again, that finger sliding to her throat, her collarbone, her breastbone, and over the rise of one barely there breast, a mere shadow of its once-formidable glory.
Of course, he lingered there longer, circling the nipple that jutted against the silky top, his gaze down as he watched his finger torture her. His touch still raised chills on her skin and shot fire through her whole body.
That much had not changed.
She breathed slow and steady, waiting out his assessment. She knew Gabe’s tastes, and they didn’t include lean, structured women. He was a big-tits and soft-ass kind of man. He liked laughter and lushness, a woman who’d rest on his shoulder, not on her laurels.
This new model of an old favorite had to disappoint him.
“I don’t believe you,” he said.
“Because you don’t want to believe me. Which, as you know, is the most effective element of any disguise.”
His eyes flared like she’d turned up the heat on a gas flame. “If you think I don’t want Isadora to be alive, then you haven’t done all your homework, spy girl.” He spat the words, shaking his head. “You can try to convince me you’re Isadora, for whatever effed-up mission you’re on for whatever coal-black op you work for. But I know every trick in the CIA handbook because I either invented them, used them, or rendered them useless. Which I’m about to do with this little game.”
“I know things only Isadora could know.”
“You could have interviewed the sweet shit out of her, read her journals, cracked her e-mail, stolen her computer, or dragged conversations from her brain using some Dr. Evil memory-retrieval software.”
She leveled her gaze at him, knowing her ebony eyes could land a very effective glare, and she decided to make her point by using her natural American accent again. “I am Isadora Winter, your former lover and an undercover agent for the United States government.”
His jaw and fists flexed as he scrutinized her, his razor-sharp brain obviously in high gear. “What I want to know is why,” he mused, ignoring her statement. “Not that I’m expecting a word of truth from you.” He turned his back on her, then grabbed her barely touched drink on the table and knocked it down his throat. “So I’ll have to figure out a very clever way to get you to tell me the truth. Torture. Coercion. Or maybe I can fuck it out of you. That’s why you brought me here, right?”
“Why don’t you just sit down and hear me out, like a smart, experienced intelligence agent who knows this is entirely possible?” She put her hand on his shoulder and tried to turn him around, feeling the ice in her words which, for the past five years, felt normal. With Gabe? That cold tone felt wrong.
“Please listen to me,” she said, softening her voice, letting the tiniest glimmer of Isa come through. “Even if you don’t want what I tell you to be true.”
He let her turn him, but she almost wished she hadn’t. The fire had dimmed, drenched by the Scotch or her words. Either way, pain was back, and she knew why.
If she was lying, it hurt.
If she wasn’t lying, it hurt even more.
Want to win an e-book copy of Barefoot with a Bad Boy? Subscribe to the Lady Smut Newsletter to be entered into the running! See the contest below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
Follow Lady Smut. We know what to do with bad boys.
Singer, writer, editor, traveler, vodka drinker, and cat herder, Kiersten Hallie Krum avoids pen names since keeping her multiple personalities straight is hard enough work. She writes smart, sharp, and sexy romantic suspense and can be found at http://www.kierstenkrum.com and regularly over sharing on various social media via @kierstenkrum.
February 13, 2016
Sexy Saturday Round Up
Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend! Read up today’s SSRU offerings and you’ll have some weird smexy factoids at your fingertips you can use to impress your guy or gal when you’re out this weekend being a fool for lurv.
From Madeline:
The tortured romantic life of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin who was married to Percy Bysshe Shelley
From H&H: The Hot Dudes Coloring Book
Got a warm place to park? Maybe you want some fun and sun like these Florida Manatees
Could too much choice ruin millennial chances at a love connection?
From G.G. Andrew:
The most romantic cities in America, according to Amazon.
What would the world be like if men had periods? Manpons, for one.
Amazon has a zombie apocalypse clause in its new game software. It could happen.
From Elizabeth SaFleur:
Who writes those kinky books? David Woolfall’s portraits of erotic fiction authors.
By Elizabeth Shore:
What men think about while they masturbate. You sure you really want to know?
Twitter’s Moments doesn’t appear to be gaining traction. Maybe because nobody likes it.
Are vibrators messing up our sex lives?
February 12, 2016
What to do about Valentine’s Day?
By Isabelle Drake
Who truly loves Valentine’s Day? Who wakes up on February 14, sure that the entire day will be wonderful, romantic, and filled with complete happiness?
Not most of us. There are too many pit falls. Too many possibilities to feel emotions other than pure bliss. Like what, you ask?
Non-bliss emotions caused by gifts:
Disillusionment: No gift from your SO. Not even a cheap box of conversation hearts? (SO = significant other).
Irritation: Wrong gift from your SO. You clearly said you wanted sparkly jewelry. Not an itchy brown turtleneck sweater.
Exasperation: Last minute gift from your SO. The orange price tag from gas station kind of ruins the mood.
Unworthiness: Much, much too nice gift from your SO. You expected a bag of Hersey Kisses and got a new BMW. How can you possibly live up to that?
Puzzlement: Unidentified gift when you have two or more possible gifters. Who to thank?
Non-bliss emotions caused by your “status”:
Irritation: Not so subtle, prying questions from your well-meaning friends and relatives who are older, wiser, and concerned about your ‘painful’ single status.
Annoyance: Not so subtle, prying questions from your well-meaning friends and relatives who are in new, sparkling, fresh relationships full of excitement and romance and are concerned about your ‘boring, been-together-forever,’ couple status.
Non-bliss emotions by sex:
Ecstasy: Okay. This one isn’t a non-bliss emotion. But it is a possibility and so must be included here.
Weariness: After all that pressure about the gifts, your status, where to eat and what-not, your just too wiped out for those extra steps to make it wild enough to lead to the ecstasy.
Bewilderment: After a bottle and half of wine, your SO suddenly decides to try __________ (< insert anything never talked about or even considered). You have no idea where to start and so spend all your energy trying to figure out what to do instead of relaxing and getting to the ecstasy.
See what I mean? It’s a wonder any of us make it through the day at all.
Because I like to leave you Lady Smutters with a little something more, I’ll offer a link to this quiz, How Sexually Adventurous Are You? It won’t help you avoid the above non-bliss emotions, but it might make you laugh. And hell, if you ask me, laughter is an absolute necessity on Valentines Day.
February 11, 2016
Hex: Michael Fassbender in Eyeliner
By Madeline Iva
V-day is coming, but seriously, who gives a f***? Sometimes you want a love story gone wrong. You want witches, hexes, blood, and pens skidding across the table into your hand.
You want to feel all the power of cloudy thunderstorms and spooky-spooky things at your fingertips, and you want to feel it now.
Oh, and you also want Michael Fassbender to play your bad-boy lover. He’ll be wearing eyeliner, and croon sweet nothings in your ear like, “There’s nothing more natural than death, Cassie. We’re born for it.”
World weary, but very hung up on you, he’s the anti-hero. A kind of naughty, I mean naughty fallen angel ready to do evil when you’re not looking and pin you with his icy blue eyes when you are. It’s enough to make your panties melt. You’ll never, ever redeem his cold cruel heart, but you won’t be able to resist trying either, will you?
The ultimate perverse joy of watching HEX, a not-new British television show is the way the show demonstrates desire as the art of withholding, namely by giving us just a little less Fassy than we want.
The show has other highly enjoyable qualities as well. For example:
Girl on girl titillation –
A funky lesbian roomie —
Cool manor turned into posh private school
Beautiful people moving around to slow creepy tension music
And a wonderful MASSIVE TWIST in the first two (the only two) seasons.
Lonely schoolgirl vs. a full court press of Michael Fassbender mojo? Poor Cassie hasn’t a hope.
Meanwhile here are my three Valentine’s day gifts to all you lovely readers out there:
Need more Fassy? Follow the mother of all Pinterest boards devoted to him HERE. And follow us on LadySmut, before we put a spell on you.
Also check out this REALLY cool promo celebrating diversity in romance. There’s a great give away contest and a free sampler!
Click HERE to go to their website. :)Meanwhile, as we aim ourselves squarely at a day that should be for celebrating stuffing your mouth with chocolates non-stop (but nothing else), here’s Joan Jett hating herself for loving you:
