by Mlissa | Aug 2, 2012 | BDSM, Blog Hop
Well, here we are, y’all! Another fun, yet naughty blog hop. BDSM. Near and dear to my heart. I’ve been a student of the BDSM lifestyle for more than 10 years now and it’s as fascinating to me now as it was when I first began the journey.
For my part of the hop, I will be giving away two ebooks (via All Romance eBooks) and one print book (via Book Depository) of authors are have written BDSM books that have touched me in ways I sometimes still can’t even describe. And my giveaway is international.
Eden Bradley’s The Darker Side of Pleasure.
Prepare to enter a provocative, scintillating world where three women are about to take ecstasy to the limit–and beyond. In “The””Bonds of Love” a struggling couple will do anything to save their marriage, even if it means experimenting with a little bondage. But once their research moves beyond the bedroom, how will they know if they’ve gone too far?… In “The Lair” a woman answers an ad for a female submissive, ready to surrender to her body’s deepest yearnings. Finding love is the last thing she anticipates… And in “Love and Discipline” a journalist expects her interview with a sensual extremist to be business as usual. Instead she finds herself submitting to the dominant desires of a handsome stranger–and discovering more about herself than she ever dreamed possible. Sensual and mysterious, this captivating collection is sure to seduce you, page after tantalizing page….
Annabel Joseph’s Comfort Object.
Nell, an out-of-work professional submissive, is desperate to find a job when she meets handsome film star Jeremy Gray at the restaurant where she works. He says he needs a personal assistant, but the work contract he shows her details not organizational duties, but sexual ones. Jobless and homeless, Nell agrees to work for him anyway, on the promise that he will pay for her to finish her college degree when her stint as his “assistant” is complete.
The start of their formal Dom/sub relationship is rocky, but they soon fall into a mutually satisfying, highly sexual routine. They play vanilla boyfriend and girlfriend in public, while Jeremy uses Nell as his kinky comfort object behind the scenes. Then a stalker threatens their secret lifestyle, and their contract may not be strong enough to hold them together.
Sierra Cartwright’s Hawkeye One: Danger Zone.
Who’s watching you…?
The highly specialized Hawkeye team protects the world’s most valuable things, secrets, even people. But now one of their own needs protecting. There’s a cool million dollar bounty on Dom Wolf Stone’s head. Trouble is, Stone’s a loner and doesn’t want the help.
That doesn’t stop his submissive and former lover, Nate Davidson, or another determined agent, Kayla Fagan, from showing up at his Colorado ranch, uninvited. The spark, the anger, the hurt is still there between Wolf and Nate, and their first kiss reignites the flames that time and distance have not diminished. With Nate’s help, Wolf uncovers Kayla’s unexplored submissive tendencies. Under the Dom’s unyielding instruction, Kayla explores her sexuality in ways that make her dizzy.
For Wolf, there’s nothing better than having two very different, very willing, very pleasing subs at his command. But Kayla and Nate both want more. In addition to his love, they want him to give up control long enough to share his life completely. And that’s the one thing Wolf is incapable of giving.
Of course, there’s more going on with the hop than just my giveaway… Below you’ll find the form for the overall hop giveaway and the links to all the blogs participating.
In order to win the three books I’ve listed above, please answer one of the two following questions in the comments section of my blog:
1. Why do you read/enjoy BDSM books?
2. If you could try any act you’ve read about in a book (which I don’t recommend unless you’ve thoroughly researched it in non-fiction ways like talking to those in the lifestyle and reading up on it from a real practitioner’s viewpoint) but if you could try any act you’ve read about in a book, which would it be? Bondage? Spanking? Flogging? Blindfolds? Plugs? Being forbidden to speak or make eye contact? Cages?
Also, if you’d like, because I’d like you to but it’s not a requirement for the hop, to follow me or my blog, over on the sidebar are delightful little coffee cups with the various way and places to do so. There’s also my newsletter, email sign-up, Networked Blogs, and Pinterest (I have several pin boards dealing with my books and other passions, including coffee and food).
So, any questions? The hop runs until the 20th of August.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
by Mlissa | May 7, 2012 | BDSM
I was, in a word, thrilled when I received an email from my favorite BDSM author, Eden Bradley, inviting me to participate in this event. Just looking at the names on this list… I am truly in exceptional company.
We all feel different about BDSM, what it means, what it signifies. It’s individual in how it plays out in someone’s life and what it is to me will be something else to another. We all have different levels of experience. Some of us may not have any experience at all beyond in depth research. But I think we all have a respect for the lifestyle that comes through in our writing.
My own exploration into BDSM has taught me respect for different opinions, different feelings, different avenues, different sexualities. Pain has taught me focus and to breathe. Bondage has taught me release of control in a way that nothing else ever good and to just accept. Spankings, floggings these things have taught me the benefits of tears, of emotional release of pent up stress. Discipline has taught me…discipline, to do as I should which isn’t always what I want or what is expected, it has taught me to think before I act, to think over what has already been done, to focus me on what is ahead. Punishment has taught me respect of authority, how to face my mistakes and missteps. I have been taught humility, and to accept myself.
BDSM has opened my eyes in a way nothing else I’ve ever encountered has. I am profoundly grateful I happened up on the lifestyle years ago. And yes, the sexual benefits are…incredible. But it’s not all or even mostly about sex. Not for me at least. There’s more, much more below the surface.
The media, in television and movies, has promoted BDSM to be deviant, to be maybe not wrong, but not exactly right or acceptable, that there’s always something that could have been ‘fixed’ about the person or changed about them so they didn’t want or need these things any longer. It’s a shame the lifestyle is viewed this way, is broadcast this way. But, it’s easy to cast a shadow over things that aren’t understood…
I hope you’ll come visit on Wednesday and Thursday over at the Smutketeers blog. There are giveaways, as well as questions and answers.
If you have a chance before then, check out some of the authors listed. You might have read them all or there maybe some new to you ones…
~lissa
by Mlissa | Feb 14, 2011 | Birthday Blog Party
Yes! Yes that’s right! I’ve got the Smutketeers (who consist of Eden Bradley/Eve Berlin, Lilli Feisty, Crystal Jordan, R.G. Alexander, and Karen Erickson) on my blog today! Y’all just have NO IDEA how thrilled and man, thrilled is not even the word for how I felt when I got the reply email from awesome Smutketeer Eden Bradley herself stating that yes, they would be happy to join in on the Birthday Bash celebration! You could have knocked me over with a feather, I was that blown away. I mean… Wow!
So, anyway, enough of my gushing all about it or someone is gonna have to gag me to keep me from squealing with excitement. I’ll let them play now. We are, however, missing Smutketeer Lilli Feisty 🙁 . She was in deadline Hell and was unable to break away. We do have the newest Smut girl though, Karen Erickson, and I believe we’ll start off with her…
Karen:
I have a very vivid memory of my eighth birthday – and how sick I was. I was so excited. The party was going to be held at the local roller rink and all my friends were coming. I couldn’t wait! But then I got sick. Like coughing and fever and couldn’t get out of bed sick. What made me feel worse? We had to cancel the party! Oh, there’s a picture my mom has of me sitting there with my cake at the dining room table. I look pitiful and sad. Poor eight year old me!
Now my favorite birthday present? The year I turned thirty, I left for Maui the next day. Can’t beat that right? We were going for a friend’s wedding. And my boyfriend and I were so inspired we went there a year later and got married ourselves!
My favorite, favorite birthday cake is ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. Yummy. I hadn’t had it in years and finally demanded one last year. It was delicious! I think I want one again this year…
So now you ask for a favorite book that I’ve written? Oh goodness, that’s tough. I’m going to have to go with my book Forbidden. It has been my bestseller at Samhain out of all my books there and I really, REALLY loved writing it. Had a hard time letting go of the characters which is rare for me so…something must’ve resonated within me which in turn worked for the readers. Here’s the blurb:
He always wanted what he couldn’t have…
Playing With Fire, Book 1
Forbidden desires, secret needs…that’s not what girls are made of. At least, that’s what Michaela’s past boyfriends told her when she revealed her darkest, dirtiest fantasies. She knows she’s better off without the exes, but she’s lonely—and horny. It doesn’t help that her roommate, Austin, is the most gorgeous man she’s ever laid eyes on. Too bad he’s bisexual…or so he says.
There’s a reason Austin hasn’t been with a woman in a long time. The only one he wants is Michaela. He’s fought his attraction for months, waiting for a sign, desperate to show her she’s everything he wants in a lover. One illicit kiss leads to an explosive night of sex that leaves her wanting more—yet afraid. But Austin is a patient man, more than willing to tear down her boundaries piece by piece. Exposing her to pleasures she’s never known.
Trust leads her to whisper her most deeply held fantasy. One that rouses a new emotion Austin didn’t expect: jealousy. Possessiveness. He’s the only man he wants in her life. And he’ll do whatever it takes to prove it…
Available from Samhain Publishing
Happy Birthday, Lissa and thanks so much for having us on your blog! I’m a February baby too so yay for us! 🙂
~ Karen
Visit Karen at www.karenerickson.com
Crystal:
A very happy birthday to Lissa, and thanks so much for having the Smutketeers over to your place to celebrate! Let’s see, one incredibly memorable birthday–and not in a good way–happened a few years ago. I was in Texas with family (California girl here), and my cousins and their husbands dragged me out to a bowling alley to celebrate. I suck at bowling, but because I suck so badly, it’s kind of fun to revel in my badness. Like, so bad, I could have those inflatable bumpers and still not hit any pins. Anyway, we’re there, the guys are drinking pitchers of beer, the girls are wolfing down greasy bowling alley food, and we’re having a great time. Then, there was some mix-up with a custom bowling ball, and the guys at the next lane are freaking out, and a bar fight ensues. In a bowling alley. On my birthday. In Texas. At the time, I was really upset. Now, it’s funny to remember my 5’2 cousin trying to hold back her 6’3 drunk Texan husband. Oy.
The way I like to spend my birthday is laid back with my favorite people around me. In December, I hit the big 3-0, and my best friend and her mom made me the most awesome present ever–homemade cupcakes. I am obsessed with cupcakes. There’s a cupcakery down the street from my work, and if I walked by to often, I’d be as big as a house. So I try to stay away. But for my birthday? Oh, it’s on. They made me lemon cake and vanilla frosting from scratching. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Best. Birthday. (Cup)Cake. Ever.
Lissa wanted our favorite book, and mine is always the most recent one that came out, so every one of them gets their time in the sun to bask in my adoration. But my book adoration is a fickle thing, so at the moment, my favorite (which will change as soon as the next story releases1) is STOLEN PASSIONS, which kicks off the “Forbidden Passions” series I wrote with Loribelle Hunt (she did books 2 & 4, I did 1 & 3). Here’s a blurb so you can see a little more about my current darling…
Enemy mine…
Lyra Marcus tries to avoid her werewolf family’s political entanglements. Instead, she heals the wounds of the never-ending border skirmishes between lycans and wereleopards. It’s a bitter irony that she’s about to die in that war.
When she awakens after an attack, the horror of her situation dawns. She’s a wounded werewolf in the middle of wereleopard territory. And standing over her is a son of its most powerful family, Zander Leonidas. Her fate may be a swift and bloody end, but she intends to go down fighting.
Zander has no plan to fight the little she-wolf who’s landed at his Refuge Resort, a place where shifter species are free to be what they are—except wolves, of course. Yet Lyra fits him in a way she shouldn’t, and the urge to mark her as his mate is irresistible. A match like theirs, though, would rock the foundations of their world.
He intends to find out who left Lyra for dead on Leonidas land. And keep her safe from whoever wants to finish the job—not to mention the werewolf alpha who wants his niece back at any cost…
Available from Samhain Publishing
Visit Crystal at www.crystaljordan.com
R.G. Alexander:
Hmmm. The best birthday gift I’ve ever had? A part of me wants to say cable television, because until we had a gazillion channels for cooking and ghost hunting and housewives fighting over who got the first Botox injection–television on my birthday was all Elvis, all the time (we share a birthday). I can’t tell you how many times I watched Blue Hawaii or Kissing Cousins…but I can tell you it never got old *snark*
I suppose I would have to say that my favorite birthday present goes along with my favorite way to spend my birthday lately…singing via karaoke, open mic or Singstar. Also making friends and family who usually swear they never sing (forgetting all the times they had a bit too much to drink and climbed on a table to lead the room in a rousing rendition of ABBA’s ode to Fernando) perform in front of strangers or just a small group of friends. Though they all gripe and moan and drag their feet, by the end of the night I’m prying the microphone from their fingers. And I love it. Its not about the songs or how good anyone is. Its about having a blast. And sometimes laughing at your sister’s macho boyfriend singing I’m Just a Girl.
Favorite Book of mine? That is hard. I have to say that, right now, its still Possess Me. Rousseau, Ben Adair and Bone Daddy. Put them in New Orleans and you have got one gloriously happy RG 😉
POSSESS ME
Publisher: Berkley Heat
In the Big Easy, there’s a legend women long for: a sexual voodoo spirit who can fulfill their darkest fantasies. And in these three steaming-hot novellas, he helps three New Orleans couples achieve the ultimate satisfaction…
In Release Me, Allegra heads down to New Orleans to heal her wounds, but she never expects to lose her heart to such a quiet, troubled man as Rousseau. She’s even less prepared for the scorching, sexual spirit within him-and what he can do to her…
In Reclaim Me, Ben has loved Michelle as long as he can remember. But his beautiful artist has a way of running away from life-and what the pair could be. Leave it to the infamous spirit to help Ben prove to Michelle where she belongs: in his embrace…
In Redeem Me, it’s All Saints’ Day, the one day the voodoo spirit can walk the world in the flesh. When he bumps into Bethany, she might just be the reincarnation of a girl he once loved. Passion ignites, but can the couple overcome past mistakes and have a real chance at love?
Available from Amazon.com
Visit R.G. at www.rgalexander.com
Eden Bradley:
The best birthday gift I’ve ever had was from my boyfriend. As some of you may know from reading our Smutketeers blog or from one of our chats, I’m a bit obsessed with tattoos and have several. For my birthday last year he paid for some new tattoo work for me. I love tattoos, but also, because each of mine means something to me, this was a really special gift. I love that he accepts this part of me. J
My favorite way to spend my birthday is just with him and my friends. I don’t need to do anything crazy—just dinner out. I guess I like to eat-lol! And I have awesome friends, so we always have a great time. My second choice would be to go to Disneyland. Okay-this might be my first, but we already do that every year for Valentine’s Day, so asking to go again in September might be too much. Or hmm…maybe not…The last time we went we found this toy sword that makes an awesome pervertible, so another trip may be in order!
So-Lissa has asked us to pick our favorite book to post here, which is kinda like asking someone to pick their favorite child, but I’m going to choose BLOODSONG. It’s Book Two in my Midnight Playground series—vampires and BDSM and romance—what more could I ask for? The next in the series, THE TURNING KISS, will be out in March, which I’m very excited about, and I’m currently working on Book Four, EVERSONG, so my darling, dirty vampires are on my mind! Here’s a little taste:
An ancient vampire, an ancient grief…a love that makes his blood sing…
Midnight Playground, Book 2
London, 2069
Aleron is ancient, powerful, immortal…a vampire who idles away his time playing at his favorite haunt, Midnight Playground. His favorite toys: beautiful young men. His game: BDSM, experiencing through the minds of his partners the sensations he can no longer quite feel himself.
The one thing he has vowed to avoid at all costs is love, especially for a woman. In a hundred years he has never been tempted to break that vow—until a lovely mortal woman enters his dungeon to watch him play. And his blood hums the ancient song of long-forgotten desire.
Raised in the Indian slums of London, exotic dancer Meeraj enters Midnight Playground a woman with nothing left to lose, numb to all but the most extreme forms of stimulation. As she watches Aleron’s blood play, she knows only his razor-sharp skills will satisfy. And she catches an odd mental glimpse of the grief that shadows his heart.
From their first touch, they are caught up in a whirlwind of exquisite agony that releases their emotions from the weight of the past. Exposing them to risks they’ve both fought to avoid. Love…and loss.
Available from Samhain Publishing
Happy Birthday, Lissa! May all your fondest wishes come true!
Eden Bradley aka Eve Berlin
Visit Eden at edenbradley.com
(Lissa is now jumping up and down and squealing with delight… I had the Smutketeers on my blog! Happy Valentine’s Day to ME! Oh, well, and to YOU the readers!)
Visit the Smutketeers at Smutketeers.com
