#MFRWorg Book Spotlight: BONDED @JaymiHanako

MFRW Author Jaymi Hanako released BONDED, an Erotic Sci-Fi/Futuristic Romance, with Loose Id.

BLURB
Jaren Caradoc nearly lost his ship and his life when he fell under the spell of a black widow sorceress, but for the timely intervention of her personal slave. To repay the young woman, he plans to purchase her freedom—only to find she's being auctioned off as a virgin sex slave. Required to consummate the relationship by the auction house, he's soon caught in a web of attraction, guilt, and feelings he thought long-dead.

When Jaren buys Taimi’s contract, she thinks it’s a dream come true. But after their one night together, instead of becoming his lover, she is asked to be an employee – a medic on his spaceship. Nothing more. Can she really pretend her feelings don't exist?

Then Jaren's ex-wife, Lady Ethlinda breaks out of prison, Lorus officials impound Jaren's ship, leaving them stranded during the notorious Festival of Fertility – and vulnerable to Ethlinda's plans for revenge.

AMAZON BUY LINK

EXCERPT

“Do you not desire me, Captain?”
“Of course I do.”
Heat flushed her face and pleasure spiked through her veins, despite the rather reluctant admission. “Then I do not see how this is a difficulty.”
“I feel like I’m taking advantage of you.”
“Please don’t worry about that, Captain. I have long made peace with my fate and what is expected of me. Although”--she managed a smile but needed to swallow hard to moisten her suddenly dry throat before continuing--“my fate seems better than I deserve, now I know it is you who controls it.”
“What do you mean?”
“I desire you, Captain.” She resisted the urge to cross her arms over her chest. To shield her hard nipples, the most obvious sign of her desire for him. Acknowledging her attraction made her feel even more exposed than her lack of clothing did.
He hesitated, then crossed to her side with quick, decisive strides. Jaren reached out and traced the track of tears flowing from her drugged eyes, his touch surprisingly gentle for all the size of his hand. “You’re still crying.”
Taimi shook her head. “Belladonna eyedrops. It’s an old trick of the sex-slave trade, or so I was told. It dilates the pupils to mimic desire but also blurs my vision, and light is painful.” He slipped his fingers under her chin, tilting her head back. She partly closed her eyes to block out the increased brilliance. If only she could look at him... “That’s why I--”
“I see.” He dropped his hand and walked away. She heard the door open, and he called for a servant.
“They can’t hear you.”
“Why not?”
“They would have vacated the area, to give you some privacy to claim your purchase. Unless, of course, you requested otherwise.” The stone floor made it easy to track his movements by the changing sound of his footsteps. She opened her eyes and could just make out Jaren’s blurry form as he stood directly under the light cauldron.
“Maybe I could--”
“Please do not trouble yourself, Captain.”
“But you’re hurting.”
The worry in his deep voice made her wince. Taimi wished she had never mentioned such a minor discomfort, but she had not anticipated he would respond like this. No one had ever shown concern for her before. “It is of no consequence and will wear off soon.” She held out her hand. “Please.”
He returned to her side. “So you can’t see what I look like?”
“I still remember.”
He chuckled. “I could have changed since we last saw each other. Turned old and hideous.”
“I doubt that.” She reached up and touched his cheek. Felt the roughness of his whiskers against her palm, easily over a day’s growth. Surprising. The Captain Caradoc she remembered had always been carefully clean-shaven.
He covered her hand with his. “This still doesn’t feel right.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’ve never owned anyone before, for one thing. I don’t like it.”
Strange. Lorus marital laws granted him rights over Lady Ethlinda’s estate--including her slaves. “But you have.”
Perhaps he could read what she was thinking. “Not directly. Not like this.”
“This is the way the law works on Lorus, Captain,” she said gently. “You have the right to take your pleasure with my body. I accept that.”
“You should have more of a choice. Especially since it’s your first time.”
“It doesn’t matter. I would have chosen you if I could.” Desire strummed through her veins, giving her the strength she needed to be bold. “I have been taught how to please a man.”

ABOUT Jaymi Hanako
Jaymi spends so much time with the characters in her head, her husband’s co-workers believe she’s the imaginary one. She writes about spaceships, magic, and paranormal creatures. There may be sword fights. But whether set in outer space or in alternate realities, there will always be a happily ever after.

website  |  twitter

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Slow Satisfaction with #MFRWauthor @CeciliaTan

Cecilia Tan is "simply one of the most important writers, editors, and innovators in contemporary American erotic literature," according to Susie Bright. Her BDSM romance novel Slow Surrender (Hachette/Forever, 2013) won the RT Reviewers Choice Award in Erotic Romance. In a career that spans 23 years, Tan is the author of over a dozen novels including The Hot Streak, The Prince's Boy, and Daron's Guitar Chronicles, as well as the founder of Circlet Press. Her short stories have appeared in Ms. Magazine, Nerve, Best American Erotica, Asimov's Science Fiction, and tons of other places.

TODAY, Cecilia answers some questions for MFRW. Let's start by asking just how much of your personality and life experiences are in your writing? 

A: Oh, a ton. Especially since what I'm writing a lot of now are BDSM romances, and I've been able to draw on more than 20 years of ""hands on"" (and other parts, ahem!) experience with bondage and kink.

When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first manuscript?

A; I was calling myself a writer from when I was four years old and instead of drawing on manila paper like the other kids I would fold mine over into a book and write ""Th End"" on the back. I couldn't spell yet. I wrote for years, took creative writing classes in high school and college, but it wasn't until after college graduation I wrote a story called ""Telepaths Don't Need Safewords"" and felt like I was really on to something. It felt like a full and complete story somehow, when everything else had felt unfinished. It was erotic BDSM science fiction and I could NOT submit it anywhere because it was prohibited by the writers guidelines of literally every publication in the USA. The BDSM publishers and erotica publishers would not accept science fiction, and the science fiction publishers would not accept anything with sex. So I self-published it. That was in 1992.

Tell us about your latest book. What motivated the story? 

A: Well, we've come a long way from 1992! Publishers are finally catching up to me. Now all of a sudden they WANT all the BDSM that for the past 20 years they would not touch. So my latest book finishes off a BDSM trilogy for a big New York publisher, the Struck by Lightning series. Slow Surrender, the first book in the trilogy, was motivated by me reading 50 Shades of Grey and thinking, dang, I could write a much better book than that.

Where did the idea come from?

A: The genre demanded a mysterious billionaire, of course. I decided if I was going to give him a secret past or a secret identity it wasn't going to be like anything I'd seen before. Making James secretly famous, a rock star, let me play with two of my favorite things in one, BDSM *and* rock stars!

Do you feel humor is important in fiction and why?

A: Absolutely. I especially wanted my heroine, Karina, to have a sense of humor. She needed to be both smart and likable, and to be the type who isn't passive, instead she pushes back. Part of how she charms James is through her sense of humor and she never loses that throughout the book. Even as she's falling under his ""dom aura"" (as she calls it), she finds she can't take a lot of the play-acting common in BDSM seriously. She wants the real thing, real passion, not playing dress-up.

What is your writing routine once you start a book?

A: Start? You make it sound like I get to start and finish a book and then rest before starting the next book. I'm always writing a book, sometimes two or three simultaneously. My ""routine"" is I write in every spare minute I can scrounge out of every day, every plane flight, every train ride, every hour at the coffee shop before an appointment. I run a small publishing company and I am also the editor of two academic journals about baseball, I teach martial arts part time, and I'm a massage therapist. Yeah, my ""routine"" is just write whenever I can. I sometimes host ""Ass In Chair Day"" at my house on a weekend afternoon. It's like a knitting circle except everyone brings their laptops over and we all write like fiends. It's great.

What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries?

A: Hahaha! Relaxing and recharging isn't something I get to do often. When I do, it usually involves either travel or gourmet food, or both. Last year we took a trip to Spain and ate our way across Barcelona and Catalonia. We're hoping to do a cruise next year and maybe a trip to Japan after that. It's great to unplug during those trips: almost no email or Internet, and no writing. But you never stop being a writer. Every trip I take ends up providing a setting for a scene or a future book!"


MFRW Author Cecilia Tan released Slow Satisfaction (Struck by Lightning Series, Book 3), an Erotic Contemporary BDSM Romance, with Hachette/Forever in August 2014.

James has finally pushed Karina beyond her limit--not her limit for kinky sex play, but for his extreme secrecy. She has had enough and breaks things off. But James won't give up on Karina and will do whatever it takes to get her back. He's ready to share his deepest, darkest secrets, but is Karina ready to hear them? 

James offers Karina not only the truth but a place at his side... onstage. He wants Karina to star in his final musical production and enter his life and his world fully and completely. As the two work together, they rekindle the trust and love they'd lost. But James's world is full of deceit. When he is blackmailed by an unscrupulous music industry executive, James must give in to unreasonable demands or risk exposure of his and Karina's secret sex life. 

Will Karina and James's love be strong enough to withstand the many obstacles being thrown their way?

BUY LINKS
Barnes & Noble  |  iTunes  |  Amazon

EXCERPT

James's eyes were serious, even as his face and body were relaxed and languid post-orgasm. “Did I convince you to give me another chance?”
I considered. “You at least earned the chance to tell me what I don’t know.”
He took my hand in his, like he had so many times before. This time he kissed my fingertips, his eyes closing as he did. “I have a lot to tell you. More than any single interrogation might reveal.”
I squeezed his hand. “I shouldn’t have to interrogate you for the answers.”
He sucked in a breath. “No. Of course you shouldn’t. There’s so much I need to tell you if you’re really going to get to know me.” He reached up and traced the curve of my cheek with his fingertip. “Yet I feel like you know me better than anyone.”
“I do know you,” I said. “I just don’t know the facts about you.”
His gaze shied away from mine. “Many of the facts are sordid.”
“Says the man who put a six-inch dildo into me and walked me around the Metropolitan Museum of Art.”
“I mean much more sordid than that.” Now his face had completely clouded over.
“I want to know, James. I need to know. I have a right to, if we’re going to be together.”
He nodded, though his eyes were closed. “I know. I agree. That still doesn’t make it easy for me to open up.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Except during sex.”
“As you well know. Were you serious about what you said before? I would sincerely give you a piece of my past for every time you give me…” He kissed my fingertips again. “Anything. Sex. Your body. Your submission.”
Even though we’d just had sex, I felt a thrill go through my loins. “I wasn’t suggesting it lightly.”
“I want to be sure. Sometimes we say things in the heat of passion that seem less than wise afterward.”
“But sometimes we get inspired.” This could be the perfect solution, I realized. “I know the time you’re the most open is when we have sex. That’s the time your answers will be the best. Of course, if we do this, I could still revoke my forgiveness at any time.”
“Of course. Just as you can revoke your consent at any time. I understand, Karina. It’s the Thousand and One Nights, only this time I’m Scheherazade, telling the stories.”
I touched his face with my fingers, feeling like a weight was slowly lifting from my back. Maybe we were going to make this work after all. The fact that he was willing to try so hard made a huge difference in how I felt. And I wanted him.

A Short and Sweet Interview with #MFRWauthor @JenBritt

Author Jennifer Britt gives a short interview with MFRW. Ain't she sweet?
After graduating from law school, Jennifer Britt worked for a leading tax publication as a legal editor. She then moved to an accounting firm as an associate director and legal editor. While her day job keeps her busy, Jennifer has managed to find time to write and, most nights, she can be found in front of her laptop writing her next contemporary romance novel.

WEBSITE  |  TWITTER  |  GOODREADS

Why did you decide to write romance novels?
It's what I enjoy When I'm looking for a book to read or a movie to watch, I gravitate toward romance. I love happy endings.

When did you first think about writing and what prompted you to submit your first ms?
For years, I had different story ideas in my head, but I didn't do anything with them. One day, I was reading a book and I told my husband that I was going to try to write one. That was about four years ago. It was a romantic suspense and it's still hidden away on my hard drive. After I completed a couple of other manuscripts, my husband encouraged me to submit. He's always been very supportive of my writing.

What kind of research do you do for a book?
It depends on the story. I love to research different places, but with my current series, the town is fictional. Most of my research is done on the Internet, but I've also interviewed people if I need information about a particular area of expertise.

Tell us about your latest book. What motivated the story? 
Finding the Dream is the second book in my Lincoln Falls series. Jessica James is an out of work Broadway actress who is forced to move back home with her parents in Lincoln Falls. She meets their neighbor and sparks fly.

The idea for the story came to me one Easter. I was thinking about the people behind those Easter Bunny costumes in the malls and I started playing the what if game. An out of work Broadway actress came easy to me because I once had dreams of being on stage. While in college, I decided I didn't want to move to New York and struggle so I became a lawyer instead. I wish I could say I had the rest of the story planned out, but I didn't. I knew I wanted a little girl in the story and Sophie was created. Then Eric was developed and I went from there.

What is your writing routine once you start a book?
I don't have a set routine. I tend to write anywhere I can. Dialogue comes easy to me so my first draft tends to be all dialogue and then I go back and layer in all the details.

What do you do to relax and recharge your batteries?
I love to watch TV. When I want to unwind, I catch up on my Spanish novelas.

Who are some of your other favorite authors to read?
Nora Roberts, Rachel Gibson, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Carly Phillips

Tell us about your latest book.

Finding the Dream is an Erotic Contemporary Romance.

BLURB
Jessica James had her dream—a career on Broadway as a successful actress—until one night when it was taken all away. Forced to move back to Lincoln Falls and live with her parents, Jessica's only goal is to regain her career and go back to New York. She doesn't count on a honeysuckle hating man standing in her way or the town of Lincoln Falls itself. Now everything she thought she ever wanted may not be her dream at all.

Eric Mason and his daughter have quietly lived next door to Jessica's parents. That all changes when he meets Jessica. She is overly dramatic and the most annoying person he's ever met. Yet, he can't get her off his mind.

Will they find a new dream together?

BUY LINK

EXCERPT

"Great," Jessica said half-heartedly. She hung up and turned to Eric. ""Everything okay?""
""Just fabulous. My daughter's convinced she's getting a chocolate turtle. I can't seem to convince her otherwise.""
""You might be surprised.""
""I doubt it. Is the tow truck coming?""
""Yes, but it's going to be thirty minutes.""
""Sophie and I will wait with you. Then we can give you a ride home.""
""I'm fine. I'm going to have my mother pick me up. So you can head on home.""
He snorted. ""My mother raised me better than that. You might not be one of my favorite people, but I'm not going to leave you on this secluded road where some psycho can come along and do God knows what.""
Funny. She'd thought the same thing before she'd realized he was the one who'd pulled in behind her. ""No one is going to mess with me. Nothing ever happens around here.""
""I'm not leaving.""
""Yes, you are. I bet Sophie is hungry. Aren't you?"" she shouted to Sophie.
""I'm starving,"" Sophie said.
""You're dragging my daughter into this. You dislike me that much that you'd rather sit out here by yourself and take your chances.""
""I don't dislike you.""
""You don't?""
""Okay, maybe a smidgeon,"" she said, holding her thumb and index finger about a half inch apart.
""You're not one of my favorite people either, but I'm still not leaving. That's the end of it.""