Live on the Edge with L.M. Somerton

Hi Sue!  and thanks for inviting me to your blog!

I’ve written a lot of blog posts recently and was browsing a list of quotes about writers – looking for inspiration – when I came across this:

“I suspect that most authors don’t really want criticism, not even constructive criticism. They want straight-out, unabashed, unashamed, fulsome, informed, naked praise, arriving by the shipload every fifteen minutes or so.”

― Neil Gaiman

Do I agree? Well, bucket loads of praise would be lovely and I feel terribly anxious waiting for the first responses to a new book, but I also appreciate a constructively critical review. I hope that my writing has improved because I listen to this kind of feedback. I’ve altered the pace of my work, focussed on more character development and tried to make sex scenes integral rather than irrelevant to a plot. A lovely review or comment from a reader leaves a warm glow behind it, but I hope that every one of my books is better than the last and that can only happen if someone tells me how I can improve.

So here I am with another new release, feeling a mixture of nausea-inducing apprehension and excitement as I wait to hear what my readers think! Living on the Edge, Book 2 in the Tales from The Edge series is on general release from August 16th.

Tales from The Edge – Series Blurb

 The Edge is a training company with a difference. Its weekend clients come for classes in bondage and domination, not team building and problem solving.

The management, staff and customers of The Edge do not lead boring lives. In fact they have a habit of getting themselves into all kinds of trouble. Put Dominant, possessive alpha males together with bratty, loveable submissives and sparks are bound to fly. These Tales from The Edge are their stories.

  Living on the Edge – Book Blurb:

Sometimes it takes willpower to resist temptation but courage to give in.

Aiden Keller is a brilliant and intriguing young man. When he’s convicted of hacking, his sentence takes him to The Edge, a high-end corporate training company with a mysterious sideline. There he is given into the custody of its owner, the enigmatic and demanding Heath Anders, and his business partner Joe Dexter.

From the moment Heath takes charge of Aiden he recognises the boy’s submissive nature, even though it is well hidden beneath a veneer of snarky attitude. But for twelve months, Aiden will be his responsibility and Heath cannot allow himself to get involved whilst the boy is obliged to obey him.

Aiden settles into his new life with the help of Olly, Joe’s pretty, submissive boyfriend, who is very perceptive when it comes to noticing the sparks of attraction flying between Aiden and Heath. Slowly and gently, he teaches Aiden that submission is not a weakness and to accept his desire to be dominated.

Unable to resist, Heath starts to test Aiden’s willingness to be obedient, and against all the odds, love (and lust) start to bloom. Aiden, however, is not quite what he seems and his past is about to endanger all their lives.

Excerpt:

Aiden watched as he walked away. Broad shoulders topped a body wrapped in a dark fleece and black jeans. Every movement spoke of restrained strength. He moved confidently with a measured, unhurried pace. Aiden couldn’t stop his gaze from drifting down to a very nice arse—the guy was exceptionally well put together. It wasn’t difficult to imagine what it would be like to be held down by Heath, and somehow Aiden knew that held down was what he would be. Heath didn’t look the type for caring and sharing. He was so obviously dominant that it oozed from every pore.

“Probably straight.” Aiden hoped he had only thought the words rather than said them out loud. It was hardly appropriate to be thinking about the man in that way. Still, if he had to be stuck in some godforsaken place as slave labour for twelve months, at least there would be something nice to look at. Twelve months. Fuck. It felt like a life sentence, and Aiden wondered for the millionth time if what he had done was worth it.

Heath returned, levered his long legs beneath the table and placed a large cup of steaming coffee in front of him. Aiden’s hands shook just a little as he ripped open a sugar sachet and sprinkled a few grains into his drink. The fight with the miniature milk cartons proved a bit more challenging until a large hand closed around his own, took the annoying little pot away and opened it for him. The burning sensation would have been less if Aiden had plunged his hand into an open fire. Skin on skin contact with Heath short-circuited his brain and turned his cock into a very hard problem.

He shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t need your help.” He fought the second milk carton and sprayed white liquid across the table.

“Of course you don’t.” Heath wiped up the mess with a serviette. “Look at me, Aiden.”

Aiden suddenly found the tabletop very interesting indeed, but there was something about that voice that stripped away his resistance. Slowly, unwillingly, he raised his eyes.

“Better. I have one ground rule that we need to get out of the way. I know you don’t want to be here. Well, suck it up—I don’t care. You did something wrong and this is punishment, not a fucking day trip.”

Aiden blinked and clenched his fists beneath the table.

“From this point on, you do what I say, when I say it. Disobey me and you will be punished. Do as you’re told and we will get along just fine.”

“So, you say ‘Jump’ and I say ‘How high’? Is that how this works?” Months of frustration and worry brought sharpness to Aiden’s voice.

“How high, how far and what kind of fucking landing is required.”

© L M Somerton

Buy links:

You can buy Living on the Edge from Total-E-Bound at:

http://www.total-e-bound.com/product.asp?P_ID=2242&utm_source=bookpromostrategy&utm_medium=authorpromo&utm_campaign=livingontheedge

From August 16th, it’s also available on general release at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, All Romance Café etc. just search for the title.

Author bio:

L M Somerton lives in a small village in the English countryside, surrounded by rolling hills, cows and sheep. She started writing to fill time between jobs and is now firmly and unashamedly addicted.

She loves the English weather, especially the rain, and adores a thunderstorm. She loves good food, warm company and a crackling fire. She’s fascinated by the psychology of relationships, especially between men, and her stories contain some subtle (and not so subtle) leanings towards BDSM.

Links

http://lmsomerton.wordpress.com

http://www.facebook.com/lmsomerton

http://pinterest.com/lmsomerton

https://www.amazon.com/author/lmsomerton

Twitter: @lmsomerton

 Your blog hostess:

Best-selling, award-winning author Suz deMello, a.k.a Sue Swift, has written over sixteen romance novels in several subgenres, including erotica, comedy, historical, paranormal, mystery and suspense, plus a number of short stories and non-fiction articles

Sue Swift/Suz deMello

on writing. A freelance editor, she’s worked for Total-E-Bound, Liquid Silver Books and Ai Press, where she is currently Managing Editor. She also takes private clients.

Her books have been favorably reviewed in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus and Booklist, won a contest or two, attained the finals of the RITA and hit several bestseller lists.

A former trial attorney, her passion is world travel. She’s left the US over a dozen times, including lengthy stints working overseas. She’s now writing a vampire tale and planning her next trip.

–Find her books at http://www.suzdemello.com

–For editing services, email her at suzswift@yahoo.com

–Befriend her on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sueswift, and visit her group at http://www.facebook.com/HotWriters

–She tweets her reading picks @ReadThis4fun

–Her current blog is http://www.fearlessfastpacedfiction.com