Liz Everly's Blog, page 66

Sell Some Books, Damnit

By Elizabeth Shore

Hey Fab Readers! I’m tied up this week and am plum outta time for blogging, I’m sorry to say. However, far be it for me to let you go away empty-handed. My publisher sent out a nifty book marketing link that I’m happily passing along. It comes from the BookBub Partners blog. Never heard of it, you say? Hmmm. Well, when you get a free moment, jump on it. There are fantastic ideas galore out there. As a preview, check out these 98 Book Marketing Ideas That Can Help Authors Increase Sales.

Some of the ideas are obvious, but not so with them all. Take a look – BookBub Partners provide both a list and a slideshow with the ideas so you’ve got your pick. Good stuff.

See you next week!

 

Hardback Lovin’ for Valentine’s Day

Excellent bedtime reading … if you don’t really need the sleep. Click to buy!

By Alexa Day

Is Valentine’s Day passé?

I wonder.

I myself have grown accustomed to viewing Valentine’s Day as the end of Engagement Ring Season, which began about the time we started to see Christmas decorations. This year, I don’t think I’ve seen quite so many engagement ring commercials, but this is also the year I discovered Roku. I don’t see many commercials at all anymore.

Still, I think the popular stance is that we should all be over Valentine’s Day and its various trappings. Gifts and dinners and luxuriant weekends at the hotel. That’s just for shallow, materialistic people, right? We’re all supposed to be confident enough in our relationships to eschew Valentine’s Day gifts, right?

I hope not. I’m still a firm believer in the Valentine’s Day gift, and I don’t think I’m by myself. Maybe that makes me shallow and materialistic, but you know, before everyone was supposed to be better than gifts, I spent a great deal of time being the bigger person and buying my own flowers. So I guess I just don’t care if I look materialistic these days.

Generally, I appreciate any gift that shows I’m in someone’s thoughts. I do love a bouquet of flowers, and I’m a sucker for those little plush animals. Music boxes, snow globes, all those trinkets delight me equally.

If you really want me to think well of you, though, the way to my heart is paved with burgers, beer, and books. I will, for the time being, sidestep the powerful allure of the handcrafted burger and the tall, frosty beverage beside it. Instead I’ll focus on what makes a good book into a great gift.

I think it is — and should be — daunting to choose a book for any person whose thoughts, opinions, and feelings matter more than most. These guidelines have served me well.

Sacrifice a tree. In my world, an old-fashioned paper book makes the best gift, and the more frou-frou the book is, the happier I am with it. Even if I’m not going to read it, I’ll find joy in a beautiful dust jacket, gilded pages, and that little ribbon bookmark sewn into the binding. The paper book is an absolute must for Valentine’s Day, a holiday that celebrates the senses. Until I can fondle the Kindle like that, I’ll always be partial to paper.
Choose your favorite author. The gift of a book from one’s own favorite author is like offering the recipient an intimate part of oneself. It invites the recipient to share an experience that was special to the giver. Closeness like that is hard to come by.
Choose something daring. Now is not the time to get that hot story everyone’s talking about. Go deep. Somewhere back there is a very pretty little volume of erotic poetry, just right for passing back and forth after dinner and … well … before dessert.
The inscription is your friend. A few words about what the book means to you, what you hope it will mean to the recipient, or what you hope you will mean to the recipient. An affectionate nickname. The date. An artful inscription cements a place for your gift on the keeper shelf.

My favorites? Well, oddly enough, two of my favorite Valentine’s Day page-turners have come from friends with benefits. One of them gave me a copy of The Game, Neil Strauss’s foray into the world of the pick-up artist. I still consult it quite regularly; being able to recognize pick-up artists is an incredibly valuable skill for single girls. My other buddy gave me a copy of Dating Up, a guide for women looking for quality men. He insisted that it was a gag gift, and maybe it was. But to me, it always felt like recognition of what my dating life was supposed to look like.

One of my exes noticed my Latin lyric poetry books from high school and gave me Ovid’s The Art of Love, which is pure, racy fun. Another gave me that book of erotic poetry I mentioned just above, a plump purple book with gilded pages and a little ribbon bookmark.

I’ve been fortunate to have such literate valentines! I look forward to the continuation of that trend. I can’t wait to hear about the sexy little secrets on your shelves! Now’s the time to tell all.

And follow Lady Smut. We’ll keep you turning pages into the wee hours.

 

Sebring by Kristen Ashley: A Review

by Kiersten Hallie Krum

It’s no secret that Kristen Ashley is one of our favorite romance novel divas here at Lady Smut. We even had the pleasure of hosting her on the site last month when Lady Smut Blogger Elizabeth Sa Fleur (with an assist from yours truly) chatted her up. (Didja miss it? Check out Pink Jimmy Choos and a new series from Kristen Ashley!)

At that time, we spoke a bit with Ms. Ashley about her new release Sebring, the final book in her erotic romance series, The Unfinished Heroes. Personally, I’ve been anticipating this book for a while and believe me, it was worth the wait.

Look! A blurb!

Click on image to buy!

Nick Sebring has issues. Born feeling like an outsider in his own family, growing up under the shadow of a brother who could do anything, Nick isn’t that great of a guy. But when this culminates with Nick lashing out to hurt his brother through the woman he loves, Nick turns inward and makes some decisions about the man he intends to be.

And as he does this, he falls in love and truly learns the man that he’s grown to be.

When his love is murdered right before Nick’s eyes, Nick knows he has to avenge her. He knows how he’s going to avenge her. And he has no qualms using Olivia Shade to exact that vengeance.

Olivia Shade has grown up on the outside of her family too. Her problem is that they don’t want her outside. They want her all the way in, right under their thumbs. She pays the price for seeking escape and learns her lesson—she’ll never see a dawn where she wakes up free.

Then she meets Nick Sebring, and even as she fights it, the hope that died years ago starts to blossom. She can find love. She can have a man of her own. She can be happy. She can be free.

Olivia hopes while Nick schemes.

However, as Nick peels back the layers of all that is Olivia Shade, he finds something surprising. He understands its fragility. He falls in love with its beauty. He seeks to protect it.

But he forgets to protect his Livvie from one thing: Nick Sebring.

Nick Sebring started out as little more than a troublemaking prick in the first book of the Unfinished Heroes series, Knight. At the end of that book, he was sent home to Hawaii to be proverbially smacked into shape by his father, but soon after returned to Denver. Since his return, he’s been slowly working his way to redemption with varying success, nearly ruining a bad-guy takedown in Creed, popping up to been the portent of doom in Raid, and making an off-screen appearance in Deacon as his shit came to a bloody head and his brother Knight and his friends (you guessed it) Creed, Raid, and Deacon, had to come to Nick’s rescue. They arrived in time to save Nick, but were too late to save Hettie, Nick’s FBI partner and lover. 

Since that horrible night, Nick has spent four years laying the tracks for his revenge. Now he’s ready to make the first move. And Olivia Shade is the unknowing pawn through which Nick is going to destroy The House of Shade and its king, her father, the man who ordered Hettie’s murder.

The Shade Family has held Olivia under their murderous thumb her entire life. The one time she tried to run away she paid an excruciating price…and learned new depths of betrayal. Since then, Olivia has existed but she doesn’t live. She breathes, she eats, she goes to the movies, she runs the legitimate side of the House of Shade, but she doesn’t hope and she doesn’t believe and she doesn’t live.

Until she meets Nick. They start a purely physical affair after hooking up at an exclusive sex club (that, unknown to Olivia, Nick owns). They continue to meet every night in a hotel room where they battle for dominance of their sexual union. But Nick sees glimpses of the true Olivia, glimpses that so intrigue him, he pushes for more and more until he’s drowning under the pull of Olivia’s true, vulnerable self. Until revenge for his murder love is no longer Nick’s primary motivation.

Nick was now drowning in the mystery of Olivia Shade. Which meant he had no choice but to solve it so he could surface. And maybe survive.

Olivia is dying for freedom. In her family, she is little more than a pawn; a tool for her homicidal, border-line insane father and her sociopath of a sister. The painful price paid for the mistake of thinking her life was hers to determine drove home the lesson that she is there to do as she is told. Her secret affair with Nick is the first time she’s had anything or anyone for herself in years. As her feelings for him grow, so does the near constant fear that her family will discover their affair and do horrible things to Nick to once again drive home to Olivia that she is owned by the House of Shade forever.

And I stared at the ceiling knowing I’d lost. But all could not be lost. I couldn’t endure it again. And I wasn’t going to let another man endure it. I allowed myself that moment of him pinning me to the bed, his body my whole world, my legs wrapped tight around his hips like it was my right to hold him to me.

Nick’s made mistakes, some that have been paid for in blood, but he’s fought hard to repair family breeches, build a (somewhat shady) business of his own, and become a man other men in his world respect.

Back in the day, Nick Sebring had been known as the incompetent, unprincipled wastrel younger brother of a successful man…He was no longer any of that. What he was was a dark horse. No one had expected anything of him except, perhaps, the frequently earned title of baby daddy and an early death due to his own folly. But now, in our world, he was respected and even feared.

Nick’s driven and focused on his revenge and prepared to use Olivia to achieve it, regardless of how his end game (killing her father) might impact her life. Which makes his attraction to Olivia at first inconvenient and a then a growing and significant problem. He’s intrigued by Olivia from the moment she turns his plans upside-down by taking the reigns and making the first move to make them fuck buddies. He expected her to be the cold, stone bitch of her reputation, not a hot lover who makes each of their early assignations a sexual tussle for dominance and makes him laugh whenever he cracks her shield enough to glimpse the real Olivia.

Olivia Shade was not made of stone. She was warm and soft, smelled good, and her sheet of straight black hair felt like silk. And if he was another man, he knew her green eyes had the capacity to brand ownership. He knew it because, as they held his while he thrust into her, he had to fight giving over to it.

As he reveals her scars and unveils the fragile depths of her heart, Nick is torn between avenging his beloved–or saving the love of his life.

Olivia Shade was not a mystery…Olivia Shade was something of an exquisite beauty not allowed to be what she needed to be. Beauty bound. She was not a ghost who could be seen. She was a hostage in a lavish cage…It was not his job to set her free. It had nothing to do with him. She was not his end game. He had to let her be…He had the power to save her from one ugly thing that infected her life…He was going to save her from Nick Sebring.

Olivia’s ice-cold demeanor is her only protection against her crazy, violent father and a sister who’s always looking for new ways to use and manipulate her.

I didn’t give anything away in any way, not ever. I didn’t raise my voice. I only allowed the minutest reactions to show on my face, to leak from my eyes, to set in my frame.

Despite being raised in a gangster’s criminal world, there’s still an innocence to Olivia. Even after all she’s suffered, she can still be appalled and surprised by the depths of evil to which her father (and later his sister) stoop. Outside their orbit, Olivia has no problem asserting herself and certainly not with a sexual partner. But that’s all she’ll allow herself to have–meaningless sex with nameless partners. She’s been crushed by so much betrayal and abuse, she no longer bothers to hope for a life that involves more than just surviving–or a man who could ever make her safe enough to take a chance on happy.

But she still can’t walk away from Nick. Despite knowing better, he makes her hope. He makes her want to believe.

And that tingling in my throat hurt so bad, it felt like it would strangle me, knowing how bad I wanted that, and using his words–knowing how down deep in my soul I could never risk it. Which meant I could never have it. Not with him. Not with anybody. But that pain wasn’t about anybody. That pain was about not having it with Nick.

Sebring is a painful book, but in that way that Kristen Ashley has perfected that makes you love the pain.

“If you let whatever you got inside you loose, you’d make a man incredibly happy. You’d be a dream he couldn’t build. You’d be everything…You should find one you can trust who knows nothing for certain in the world except you’re his everything.”

When he stopped talking, I turned my head and drew in a slow, deep breath, taking him in, my nose brushing his skin, knowing, the day I died, my last thought, my last feeling, the last scent I’d experience was going to be the memory of that breath. Drawing in what I wanted but could never have. Drawing in Nick Sebring.

I’ve really enjoyed The Unfinished Heroes (my favorites are Raid and Deacon) and Sebring is a great closing for the series. We started out with Nick being a dick in Knight, so it’s fitting that we end with Nick shedding his dickishness and coming into his own in Sebring. But this is just as much Olivia’s story, a severely wounded woman who has survived unspeakable horror but somehow kept her battered core from being completely poisoned. It’s this woman who slowly allows Nick to rekindle her lost hope and who, by doing so, ultimately alters the course of Nick’s revenge until neither one of them can avoid taking the ultimate risk–to believe irrevocably in each other.

Enjoy the exquisite pain.

Follow Lady Smut. We make the pain worth it.

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.

 

Sexy Saturday Round Up

Hello Lady Smut readers!

February is the cruelest month, they say.  Yet we’re here with little hearts and flowers for you in the form of fun links and scandalous news about romance, sex, and gender.  Throwing you kisses!

From Madeline:

From Salon.com: People who are passionate are more likely to experience multiple orgasms. 

From Bust: I said ‘I guess, whatever’ to the dress.

Like to fat-shame your employees like this lingerie franchise? I know, me too.

You’ve heard of bi-sexual, right? Well here is someone who is bi-gender.

From Time: Are romantic comedies BAD for you?

Teens are wary of carrying on their romances via social media.

From G.G. Andrew:

45 of the best romantic comedies of all time, according to Rotten Tomatoes. Do you agree?

Because why not: check out these photos of men with bubble beards.

The Gilmore Girls reboot on Netflix is definitely happening. Huzzah!

 

The Best Forbidden Romances Streaming on Netflix

It’s a little over a week until Valentine’s Day, and the time is ripe to queue up some romance movies. You’re in luck: there are hundreds of love stories to stream.

But sometimes you want to watch something that’s a bit more racy, a touch more taboo…

I got your back. Here’s a list of four of the most tantalizing films on Netflix of people falling in love with someone who’s forbidden by their family, society, or marital vows. There’s something for everyone here: these films are set all over the world and throughout time, and each have different steam settings–from the repressed to the ultra-hot.

A Royal Affair (2012)

If you like your taboo dressed up in period clothing, A Royal Affair is the forbidden romance you’re after. Set in Europe in the late 18th century, it tells the story of Caroline Matilda (Alicia Vikander), an English woman who marries the king of Denmark–whom she soon realizes is mentally unstable. To deal with the king’s erratic behavior, the court hires a German doctor, Johann (Mads Mikkelsen), to be his healer and confidant. Gradually, the doctor and Queen Caroline are drawn to each other, against all good sense. The romance here is a slow burn, and much of the couple’s attraction is intellectual, as they’re kindred spirits as book lovers and supporters of the Enlightenment. But once their passion catches fire, it burns as hot as any candle. Along with gorgeous sets, A Royal Affair features some of the most well-developed, three-dimensional characters and relationships I’ve seen in a movie.

I Am Love (2009)

Possibly the most lush film on this list, I Am Love is the tale of Emma Recchi (Tilda Swinton), a Russian married into a prominent Italian family. When she meets her son’s chef friend, Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini), she quickly falls into a love affair with his food–and eventually with him. Set in Milan, this May/December film is beautiful and sensual, especially with its many scenes involving cooking (not to mention Emma and Antonio making love in the mountains). The many closeups of Antonio focusing on his hands, as he cooks or touches Emma, are especially great. So much of the movie is intense and melodramatic, but it suits the setting so well. Watch it when you’re in the mood for drama, or at least Italian scenery. Plus: food porn.

Like Water for Chocolate (1992)

Based on Laura Esquivel’s novel, Like Water for Chocolate is a charming little film that feels almost like a fairy tale. In late 19th century Mexico, Pedro (Marco Leonardi) asks for the hand of the young Tita (Luma Cavazos), but is rejected by her mother, who upholds a tradition that the youngest daughter of each family must care for her mother. Instead, Tita’s mother suggests Pedro marry Tita’s sister, and he agrees–if only to be closer to Tita. What follows is Tita’s journey as she watches the man she loves marry her sister, and she’s denied the passion she craves under her abusive mother’s watchful eye. This film plays with magical realism: as Tita grieves, the food she cooks imparts her emotions, leading to some interesting results for her family. And there are ghosts. And a sister who runs away naked on horseback. If you haven’t seen this one yet, queue it up ASAP.

Take this Waltz (2011)

Set in Toronto, Take this Waltz stars Michelle Williams as Margo, a writer living with her husband of five years, Lou (Seth Rogen). Despite her loving marriage, when Margo meets Daniel (Luke Kirby), she’s attracted to him and finds herself falling for him, even with many attempts to hold herself at arm’s length. Margo is a very realistic and relatable heroine in this film, as we see her care for her friends and family and struggle within her marriage. The movie also sizzles with sexual tension, as Margo tries to keep herself from entering into an affair that seems inevitable. There’s a scene at a restaurant where Margo asks Daniel what he’d do to her if he could, and his answer is one of the hottest, sweetest pieces of dialogue in romantic movies (and lasts at least a couple minutes). The film, though, is complex, and the ending is one of those surprising conclusions that cast the whole movie in a different light. Watch it when you like your steam paired with a great conversation starter.

 

G.G. Andrew writes quirky romantic comedy–stories about people who fall in love with the most unlikely person, and stumble through some awkward conversations, mistaken identities, and ill-advised kisses along the way. Her latest book is GRAFFITI IN LOVE, a romance between an infamous British graffiti artist and the American woman who hates him.

Equal Opportunity Liar. A Love Story.

By Elizabeth Shore

You know how sometimes you hear a story that makes you frown, knit you brows, shake your head, and utter WTF over and over again? I heard one of those recently. Not only did it result in uncomplimentary facial gestures on my part, but it gave me a moment of disdain and embarassment on behalf of my sisterhood community. It also had me wondering why the hell any woman – or any human, frankly – would do that to a fellow human. Pull up a chair. I’ll tell you about it.

Our cast of characters in this tale of woe are a man (a work colleague of mine) and a woman, his now ex-fiancé and love of his life. The guy, whom I’ll call Steve, met the woman, let’s call her…oh, what the hell. Let’s call her Lola. Steve met Lola while he was in a stale, sexless marriage. Like any good femme fatale, Lola played Steve with the virtuoso of a concert pianist. She seduced him into leaving his wife and eventually spending (he says) over $250,000 of his life savings on trips, expensive baubles, and other assorted gifts for both her and her son. But Steve, well, Steve thought he’d met “the one” and – truly blinded by love – gave her everything her wily heart desired.

Why wily, you may ask? Turns out, Lola was cheating and lying and using Steve to get whatever she wanted right from the get-go. Not even for a minute was she the faithful, devoted fiancé she’d led him to believe. After taking her all over the world – Thailand, Greece, Montenegro, just to name a few – declaring his love and slapping a giant ring on her finger, Steve came across emails Lola had written to not one, not two, but several other men, in several other countries, telling them the same thing she’d been telling Steve. She loved them, wanted to spend her life with them, wanted to have their babies. He was, in a word, crushed.

When Steve confronted Lola about why she was lying and cheating on him, Lola said it was because Steve wasn’t really serious about divorcing his wife and therefore hadn’t “proven” his love to her. Apparently, in her mind, the filing of divorce papers and giant engagement ring were still suspect. But the clincher that left me so gobsmacked about this story was the way in which Lola treated Steve when they were a couple. Here’s an example. They were visiting her family in Lola’s native country. They’d had what Steve said was a perfectly nice visit. They then packed bags and headed for the airport to fly back to the U.S. At the airport Lola told Steve she’d forgotten her passport. She’d have to miss the flight, she said. Steve was flummoxed. He said he told her they’d just return to her home, get her passport, and book another flight. No no no, said Lola. She told Steve to go on ahead, she’d book another flight later and follow him. Steve could find no logic in her bizarre behavior but did as she wanted. The next day, Steve later found out, Lola left for a trip to Thailand with another guy.

Now, I do recognize that I’m hearing only one side of the story. Who knows what Lola would say should she be asked. But when Steve confronted her about why she did it, Lola went back to the “I don’t think you’re serious about us getting married” excuse.

Most recently – I’m talking about in the past two months – Steve, who yet nurses a broken heart, decided he couldn’t take not hearing from Lola and contacted her. He said he missed her, he loves her, and he’d pay for her to come to the U.S. if she’ll just break up with the guy she’s now with and dump all the other guys she’s keeping on a leash. Lola agreed. Yay! Right?

She told Steve to call her back in a week and she’d let him know when she could free up her schedule to come. They agreed on a time when he would call back (they’re dealing with a significant time difference between the U.S. east coast and where Lola resides). At the agreed upon date and time, Steve called back. Lola didn’t answer. Steve texted her. She didn’t respond. He emailed her. Zilch. Then Steve got in touch with Lola’s nephew. The nephew was confused. Why would Lola come to the U.S. to be with Steve? Lola is married.

Steve didn’t believe it and after multiple attempts finally got in touch with her. She denied everything in a tearful Skype conversation. Lola said she’d come and visit Steve at the end of January and all would be straightened out. In fact, she added, they could even try to have that baby they’d talked about. Then she flashed him her breasts and Steve was happy. But, um, it’s now February and Lola’s nowhere in sight. Turns out, she’s moving to England.

Who does this? And why? Is it desperation for a better life? Thirst for power over others? A weird narcissistic urge for attention? Exploiting someone’s vulnerability and using it to your advantage is an utterly contemptible thing to do. Of course it is. But the writer part of me, the one who loves to explore people’s psyches, can’t help but wish she could sit down with Lola to hear her side of the story and get to answers to the simple question of why.

 

 

#ReadHotter, Go Deeper

Making your list? Checking it twice?

By Alexa Day

The best protection from winter temperatures? It’s the #ReadHotter challenge.

Just choosing the books is enough to give a girl a warm glow, right?

Where would I find a kink that’s new to me? Turns out, I found two. Don’t worry. You’ll hear about them shortly.

A romance with a guy I wouldn’t take home to my mother? That’s one of my favorites. You all apparently don’t know my mother, a sublimely non-judgmental woman trying not to be concerned that her daughter is aging brilliantly but is still unmarried.

But one challenge caught my eye right away.

A book with main characters of a different race or culture than you.

The Vampire Huntress Legend series begins here. Click to get yours.

For a great many romance readers, this particular aspect of the challenge is simply called reading. I’ve been reading romance for a pretty long time, and the wild majority of romance features main characters of a different race or culture than I am. For years, reading romance — honestly, reading in general — meant reading about other people almost by default. I know I’m not the only reader in this position, but I’m sometimes surprised by how widespread this experience is.

Late last month, I heard about Marley Dias, an 11-year-old girl who was so frustrated by the books available to her that she started a book drive. She’s trying to gather a thousand books featuring black girls as the main character. Marley’s a girl after my own heart. You heard me complaining about the sidelining of black female characters last summer.

And yet, to my shame, my first thought was: Where is she going to find a thousand books like this?

I’m a little embarrassed to admit that.

I skipped over the sorts of books I was assigned in school, the narratives of slavery and the civil rights movement and the stories of poverty and hard times from all over the country. I think Marley is, as I was, looking for characters she wanted to identify with. But it took me a long time to remember the late Eleanor Taylor Bland‘s Marti MacAllister mysteries and the Vampire Huntress Legend series from the late L.A. Banks. It was so easy to fall back on the familiar that I overlooked some real opportunities.

Clearly, there’s a limit to how much I can help Marley. I have no idea whether anything I’m thinking of is age appropriate for her. But this experience has taught me something important, which I now offer to you, in service of the #ReadHotter challenge.

So new it’s practically squeaking. Click to buy.

I’m always on the lookout for a way to add a dare to a challenge. I think all too many of us, off the top of our heads, know of one book — maybe three — that would fit this particular component of the #ReadHotter challenge. Hey, Beverly Jenkins’s newest book, Forbidden, came out just a week ago.

I’m going to challenge you to take it up a notch.

Go deep.

WOC in Romance just revamped their site; if you love cover shopping, it’s the place to be. Romance Novels in Color, with its reviews and free reads, is just begging to be browsed. The seminal works of diverse romance are a beautiful and tempting gateway to romance that reflects the world we live in, but what is a challenge if not an opportunity to go just a little farther? Go shopping. Explore a little.

As for me? I haven’t decided. I want to do a little shopping around first. There’s still plenty of winter left. And Marley’s reminded me to spend part of it re-reading Octavia Butler.

Read hotter. Go deeper.

And follow Lady Smut. We’re full of surprising options.

Doing It Justice

by Kiersten Hallie Krum

It’s 11:04 on Sunday night and I’m stuck. Stuck, I say!

I’ve been working on a review for Kristen Ashley’s Sebring for most of the evening and lemme tell ya, it is not happening. This is not the book’s fault: it’s a great book. A proper end to Ashley’s Unfinished Heroes series (despite my tendency to picture a convertible every time I see the title) and an emotional, at times painful-in-a-good-way story. Ashley’s a master at crafting a tale whose characters wrap around your heart in seconds and whose journeys suck you into a new reality. But, for whatever reasons, I’m finding it more difficult than usual to articulate why I liked this book so much that I literally inhaled it the day it was released.

I want to do it justice. And right now, I’m not.

I review what I like–I see no purpose in writing a “bad book” review (though I’ve been known to go on a book rant when properly motivated)–so when I do a review, I want to be sure to give that book the best shake I can. And tonight, I can’t.

Instead, I’m gonna go back to the page and read through Sebring again to make sure I’m doing the book and its author justice when I post my review next week. I can only hope it’ll be worth the wait. I know Sebring definitely was.

Finally, because I hate to leave you empty-handed–especially on a Monday morning–have some candy to sweeten your day.

Follow Lady Smut.

Sexy Saturday Round Up

Welcome to the pleasure dome this weekend with Sexy Saturday Round Up.  Cold and gloomy outside? We’ve got the wild and weird, the slinky sexual, feminist, and outrageous right here.  So settle on in and enjoy the ride.

From Madeline:

What do millennials want? A little luv, it turns out.

From Smart Bitches/Trashy Books: a little rant on slut shaming in romance.

A comparison of Poldark then with Poldark now.

From Elizabeth SaFleur:

Got snow? Outrageous demands from luxury ski resort clientele.

9 lies you’ve been told about penises.

From G.G. Andrew:

You can donate to charity and enter a raffle to win a date with the sexiest doctor alive. It’s for a good cause, right?

It’s not just me: Heroes & Heartbreakers shares 6 reasons why Rey and Kylo Ren have shipping potential in Star Wars* (*if they’re not related).

Barbie made better: Mattel will be making dolls with diverse body types.

From Elizabeth Shore:

Take care of your man. 10 tips for men’s sexual health.

Fad alert! – rainbow freckles.

On the set of virtual reality porn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darkhouse: Review by Sarah Driver

Hello folks, Madeline Iva here.  Today we have a guest post by Sarah Driver, who has a book review site: https://romancesforthewearyfeminist.w...

She’s reviewing Dark House today–check it out!

Darkhouse (Experiment in Terror #1)

Click to buy.

Ever wake up with nightmares? Startle your little sister out of sleep with your screams from said nightmares?

Perry Palomino, the intrepid heroine of Darkhouse (An Experiment in Terror) by Karina Halle, has just a few teeny problems with sleeping through the night.  Her recent nightmares have a way of coming true.

Spooky!

Darkhouse has been out since 2011 but you won’t find it on many standard romance book lists because it bends the genre firmly into horror. I’ll be honest; it’s neither your standard read-on-the-beach romance book nor do we get an HEA at the end of book 1, but it is a romance in its own way. The romance doesn’t really go anywhere until the fourth book in the series—and the series is nine books long—but the culmination is worth the wait. Also, you should know right now that the characters don’t always make the correct moral choices.

Perry is a young woman who sneaks into her uncle’s lighthouse and sees something that scares her. In her panic, she escapes and physically runs into Dex, an older man trespassing in hopes of filming ghosts for a new show. Instead of reporting him to the police, Perry eventually agrees to film the supposed ghost of the lighthouse with him. I’m not going to spill the beans on what happens next.

I advise you not to turn the pages at night.  All of the characters are well written and complex–even the supporting characters are well drawn. Currents of secrets run under everything.

Underlying secrets, the sea, and a spooky lighthouse–

It’s charming!

I see Johnny Depp as the hero.

The possibility of romance is one of the main reasons that Perry agrees to work with Dex. She thinks he’s hot. Dex calls her “kiddo” and “barely legal” because he’s all of a decade older than her 22. Darkhouse is peppered with Perry trying not to be attracted to Dex. But is it mutual? I think so, especially after reading this:

He was staring at my ass. At least that’s what it looked like. I guess when it’s the biggest thing in the room, it must be hard not to stare at it. I waited for him to look up. He eventually did and gave me a bright, innocent flash of straight teeth. I narrowed my eyes at him. ‘Were you staring at my ass?’ ‘Yes,’ he replied without hesitation. His eyes were round and crazy. Or playful, if you wanted to use a polite term for crazy.

Dex is complicated. He tells Perry that she is dangerous for him—but not exactly how. The implications just dangle there. If I were Perry’s mother I would tell Perry to run for the hills. But I’m not her mother, and holy shit I see why Perry thinks he’s hot.

I tried not to stare at him. It was tough, though. The longer I was in that car, the more I was mesmerized by his face. Sometimes it looked at peace. His soft eyelids would sort of half droop, the corners of his wide mouth would twitch intermittently like he was on the cusp of a telling a ridiculous joke. Sometimes he looked like he was consumed by some internal fire. His eyes became darker, harder, framed by deep chasmy shadows created by the brooding brow. His mouth would set in a hard, firm line and his smart-ass smirk would vanish.

Man, I adore sexual tension and with the forbidden romance undertones, the sexual tension in this book is delicious. You can understand why Perry’s attracted to Dex. Most people can probably relate to (or at least remember) Perry’s feelings of insecurity, occasional moments of jealousy, and general early 20s angst. She is tired of the banality of life and ghost hunting is a way to escape that banality, feel important, and hang out with a hot man.

The actual reality of ghost hunting with Dex proves to be somewhat less fun than Perry anticipated. A better word would be “horrifying.” The ghosts in this series do more than open windows or knock pictures off of walls.

Darkhouse was good enough to make it to my “Great Books” collection on Kindle.

I was thrilled with Darkhouse because it kept me in suspense and the character imperfections made the story feel real to me–even if it’s a ghost story.

So far, so good!    

No ragrets, dude.

Dark House is the first in a series, so like any reading addict, I promptly read Halle’s next two books, Red Fox and Dead Sky Morning, in the same day. I would’ve kept reading but I wanted to get at least a few hours of sleep. I have only read up to the fourth book in the series but I recommend all that I have read thus far.

Thanks for being with us, Sarah! Meanwhile, readers if you want more good book recommendations please follow us–we’ll never leave you alone at night.