What to Read If You've Read #50Shades of Grey and Want More BDSM Romance

So this week I've been in my writing cave, busting butt to meet an end of the month deadline. So I didn't get a chance to collect enough links for my usual Fill Me In Friday feature. I'll just save up the few links from this week and add them to next week's. 

Instead, I've decided to offer some suggestions to those who may have discovered the BDSM/kinky romance genre via the book everyone is talking about, Fifty Shades of Grey, and want to read more in the genre.

I'm not going to talk about the controversy surrounding it. I've vented enough about Dr. Drew on Twitter this week. And I'm not here to review the book. There are many respected reviewers doing that out there.

However, what I do hope all this talk stirs up, is interest in the subgenre of erotic romance. There are so many talented writers and great stories out there that I hope readers will check out. 

So here are a couple of suggestions:

BDSM romance with very alpha male Doms:

  • Shayla Black's Wicked Lovers series - starts with Wicked Ties

BDSM romance with the woman as the Domme but still very alpha heroes:

  • Joey W. Hill's Nature of Desire series - particularly Nature of Desire - Natural Law   (Believe me, even if you don't think you'd like reading about the roles being reversed, check these out. Joey Hill is fantastic. Though, warning, these will make 50 Shades seem very, very mild and vanilla.)
  • I have one coming out in October 2015 called Break Me Down.

BDSM Erotica (not necessarily a wrapped up happy ending):

Kinky Cowboys:

  • Any of Lorelei James's erotic cowboy novels
  • My book FALL INTO YOU has a kinky cowboy hero

Just Good Fun with some kink but not full-out BDSM:

 

There are so many more I could list including some m/m options (will save for another post) and some more envelope-pushing stories, but I think these are good ones to start with if you're new to the genre.

And I know there are so many more I haven't read that would be great options too.

So if you're an avid reader in this genre and have some suggestions to add to this list (I know I'm woefully under-read in the ebook market), then feel free to let me know your suggestions in the comments.

So what books would you suggest? Or if you're new to the genre, what of these appeal to you?

How Do You Like Your Endings?

 

Going Nowhere...

Photo by Leah Jones (creative commons)

This week I raced through the book Goodnight Tweetheart  by Teresa Medeiros. My friend Ashley March recommended it and the premise intrigued me--a whole romance novel composed mostly of tweets. My husband and I met online through chat (back when people still used AOL) and so of course, that kind of romance is something close to my heart.

The book was fun and full of pop culture references (many from the 80s and 90s) that I could relate to. I found myself laughing a number of times. However, this story is a poignant one and takes a turn 2/3 of the way through that deepens what started as a light-hearted story.

It was wonderfully written and I really enjoyed the book, but when I got to the end, things were left on a hopeful note but not a fully wrapped up one. And I was left turning the pages, dying for an epilogue. I even went to the author's website to see if there was "bonus" content that gave us more. 

Now this was an artistic decision and a testament to how good the story was because I was emotionally attached and wanted to know more about these characters. But it got me to thinking about endings.

I am an unapologetic happy ending whore. I like my stories wrapped up and riding into the sunset by the end. I don't necessarily need the big wedding or anything, but I want to be left with the sense that these two people will be together and will have a happy life. 

If someone pulls a Nicholas Sparks on me and kills off a main character in a romance, I'm ready to wield a pitchfork. Hence the reason I like to read romances where I'm guaranteed my happy ending.

And maybe it's just me, but I kind of want it spelled out for me. I don't want to be left wondering if the couple is going to make it. And not just that, but I want to see the big "we're so in love and everything is going to work out" moment. So that was the only reason I gave this book 4 instead of 5 stars. One extra chapter at the end and I probably would've rated it a 5. (Regardless, I highly recommend it for a great read.)

Now if I go into a book knowing that it's not a happy ending kind of thing, I'm okay. I'm prepared. I mean, I didn't go into watch Titanic and expect it to be rainbows and sunshine. But I do tend to gravitate towards genres that are going to give me my happy at the end. And I can't imagine writing a non-HEA story.

So how do you feel about endings? Are you a happily ever after whore like me or do you prefer more open-ended finales? Have you ever read a book where you just needed a little more to get closure?

Author Jane Kindred on Romance, Orgies, & The Devil's Garden

Based on what Jane is about to blog about, I feel a little bad saying I'm currently one of those friends at the RWA "orgy", but alas, that's where I am. Though I promise I am not scantily clad and I'm profusely cursing the stupid heels I had to buy.

So without further ado, here is Jane...

 

Click image to view full cover

 

When All Your Romance Writing Friends are off Having an Orgy Without You

Perhaps they’re not having an orgy, exactly, but it’s what I prefer to think. I mean, if everyone’s going to have fun without me, at the very least I should be allowed to imagine them all doing terrible, wonderful things to one another. After all, they’re not here to defend themselves, and I’m forced to live vicariously.

This week (if you’ve been here under this rock with me and didn’t know) is the annual Romance Writers of America Conference in New York City, where hordes of high-heel wearing, half-dressed women descend upon Manhattan. (I’m only guessing based on the tweets I’ve been seeing for months with pictures of shoes and dresses. Like I said, I get to make up what’s going on there, since none of them are here to defend themselves.) I understand there’s even a big, girl-filled dance floor at the infamous Harlequin party. Probably nothing like the all-girl dances I’ve been to, but what the heck, I’ll just imagine it is. What happens at the RWA Harlequin Black and White Ball stays at the RWA Harlequin Black and White Ball.

Right, um, where was I?

Oh, yes, so here I am slaving away at blog posts and novel revisions while everyone else is off having fun. So why am I not at RWA? Well, for one thing, it’s bloody expensive. For another, I’m not exactly a romance writer. My debut novella The Devil’s Garden is just out from Carina Press. Uh, yes, that’s Harlequin’s digital imprint. But I’m not a romance writer. I swear. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! It’s just that I feel compelled to explain when people hear I’m being published by Harlequin. I don’t want anyone to be disappointed when they pick up my novella expecting a typical romance hero and heroine with an HEA. (That’s Happily Ever After, for those of you who, like me, have been living here under this acronym-deficient rock.)

There is a touch of a romance thread in the novella, and an HEA of sorts, and even a tiny bit of very soft-heat erotica, but The Devil’s Garden is a traditional fantasy. And there is nothing typical about my hero and heroine. Or is it heroine and heroine? Or hero and hero? Well, it all depends. It’s neither and both. If I explain, I’ll have to give away spoilers.

What I can tell you is that the main character, temple courtesan Ume Sky, is also on occasion street urchin Cillian Rede. (That’s Cillian with a hard “C”, as in Cillian Murphy.)

*pic no longer available

Damn, look at those eyes. Can he be my B.O.W? (That’s Boyfriend of the Week for those of you who just fell into Roni’s blog out of the back of a turnip truck with me. Which reminds me, what is it with turnips being maligned, anyway? Well, there’s a Google search for that.) Are you getting the impression that I’m easily distracted? No comment. It’s been a long week. Plus, all my friends are off bumping and grinding in high heels and slutty dresses in the Manhattan heat without me.

At any rate, despite my illegitimacy as a romance writer, I grew up on gothic romances by Victoria Holt, Mary Stewart, and Phyllis A. Whitney. Not exactly the steamy stuff, but it left me with a love of intrigue mixed with mysterious, hot-headed gentlemen in fabulous coats and gutsy, conflicted heroines in gorgeous dresses. And I think you’ll find quite a bit of that seeped into The Devil’s Garden.


In The Devil’s Garden, appearances can be deceiving…

Ume Sky enjoys her place of honor as temple courtesan for the reigning Meer of In’La—until an assignation with a client ends in violence. Her elite status stripped away, Ume is forced to return to a life on the streets as Cillian Rede, the boy she used to be.

Cillian finds temporary harbor with dockhand Cree Sylva, where fear keeps him from revealing his former identity, but as the two become lovers, Cillian learns Cree is not without secrets.

When Cillian has the opportunity to regain his position through a liaison with the Meer himself, he is torn between his feelings for Cree and his need to live as Ume. But there’s even more at stake when Ume finds herself entangled in a plot to rid the Delta of divine rule…

The Devil’s Garden is available now from Carina Press.

* * *

 

 

 

Jane Kindred began writing fantasy at age 12 in the wayback of a Plymouth Fury—which, as far as she recalls, never killed anyone…who didn’t have it coming. She spent her formative years ruining her eyes reading romance novels in the Tucson sun and watching Star Trek marathons in the dark. Although she was repeatedly urged to learn a marketable skill, she received a B.A. in Creative Writing anyway from the University of Arizona.

She now writes to the sound of San Francisco foghorns while two cats slowly but surely edge her off the side of the bed.

You can find Jane on Twitter: @JaneKindred
on Facebook: www.facebook.com/somewherebetweenheavenandhell
or on her website: www.janekindred.com

 

What To Read If You've Never Read...Erotic Romance

So I've done an occasional feature on here where I pick books that are "gateway" books into a subgenre of erotic romance. (To see the posts, here's the one on BDSM and the one on menage.)

However, I realized that many of you may have never tried an erotic romance at all and could be a bit intimidated to start with something that has a BDSM or menage theme. There is erotic romance out there that is simply a great romantic story with super steamy love scenes--no alternative sexual practices required, lol.

So today I'm picking a few books that I think are good choices if you've never read erotic romance, but want to give it a shot. And if you are a fan of erotic romance and  haven't read these, get to it! Great books.

 

Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun

Blurb (from Ellora's Cave website): 

Newly divorced Lacey Meyers wasted too many years yawning through sex in the missionary position. Now she’s looking for a hookup with a man who can make her shatter. What she gets is a hot younger cop with handcuffs…and he’s not afraid to use them.

Hunter Anderson knows the score—though classy, successful women like Lacey might play with guys like him, at the end of the evening, they walk. But when one night leads to another and then another, he finds himself getting too attached to a woman he can’t have.

Lacey knows Hunter—gorgeous, hard-edged and eight years younger—won’t want anything permanent. No matter how hot and daring he makes her first public sex, quickie, backseat encounter and secret fantasy role-play, she can’t mistake adventurous sex for emotional involvement.

They both know it’s got to end, and soon, or someone’s going to get hurt. But can either of them go back to life without the other?

(You can also read an excerpt over at the site.)

 

 

Riding on Instinct by Jaci Burton

 

 Blurb (from Amazon):

Department of Justice agent Shadoe Grayson is out to prove she's no rookie, and eagerly accepts her first undercover assignment at a strip club in New Orleans. Working with the Wild Riders, a government agency of bad boy bikers, her goal is to expose a corrupt DEA agent. All she has to do is learn to strip like a pro.

Standing in Shadoe's way is arrogant and smokin' hot Spencer King, her new partner and one of the Wild Riders. Spence thinks she looks more like a schoolteacher than a stripper, and doubts her ability to do the job. But when he mockingly challenges Shadoe to strip just for him, he finds out there's more to the surprisingly sexy agent than by-the book rules and Government Issue pantsuits...

 

 

Deeper by Megan Hart

 

Blurb (from Amazon):

Twenty years ago she had her whole life spread out before her. She was Bess Walsh, a fresh-scrubbed, middle-class student ready to conquer the design world. And she was taken. Absolutely and completely.

But not by Andy, her well-groomed, intellectual boyfriend who had hinted more than once about a ring. No. During that hot summer as a waitress and living on the beach, she met Nick, the moody, dark-haired, local bad boy. He was, to put it mildly, not someone she could take home to Daddy.

Instead, Nick became her dirty little secret— a fervent sexual accomplice who knew how to ignite an all-consuming obsession she had no idea she carried deep within her.

Bess had always wondered what happened to Nick after that summer, after their promise to meet again. And now, back at the beach house and taking a break from responsibility, from marriage, from life, she discovers his heartbreaking fate—and why he never came back for her. Suddenly Nick's name is on her lips…his hands on her thighs…dark hair and eyes called back from the swirling gray of purgatory's depths.

Dead, alive, or something in between, they can't stop their hunger.

She wouldn't dare.

 

Any of you erotic romance readers have other recommendations for someone who may not have read anything erotic before? What was the book that hooked you on erotic romance? And if you've never read any erotic, do any of these blurbs intrigue you?