Today we finish out our week-long Ravaged tour with another one of my favorite stories: Awakening, by Lucien Didier.
Awakening is fast, furious, and wildly passionate. If forced to sum it up in one sentence, I would say this is exactly what
short shifter erotica should be. This is another story I would happily
take to bed and read aloud to my lover, happy to watch him grow hotter
and hotter as each salacious description falls from my lips.
This
story is full of mysterious and tempting detail: strangers meet in a
bar; with hardly a word, she leads him into the darkness to share a primal, mind-blowing revelation. This story is about more than the sex, but the sex is so central to a deeper, core, personal understanding: something integral to a really good shifter character. What I love most about this tale is how predatory it
is: everything about the setting prowls and stalks, pulling you further
and further into the woods with the story's tempting stranger.
One very satisfying detail about Awakening is
that the story doesn't end with one gratifying sex scene: there's more
to be told and even the ending of the tale is full of the promise of
more.
This concludes our Ravaged blog
tour! If you haven't yet entered our giveaway for 1 of 7 free copies of
the book, do so now before the clock runs out! And be sure to drop by
Breathless Press to check out Ravaged, Volume 2 and all the other terrific bedtime stories they have to offer!
Showing posts with label ravaged. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ravaged. Show all posts
January 8, 2014
Ravaged Blog Tour Day 6: Review of "A Fine Line Between Love and Hate", by Ella Gray
Remember that kid in elementary school that just wouldn't stop picking on you? Did your mother ever give you the old, "Oh, it just means s/he likes you!"
There's a life lesson for you, and one that comes back to bite two young shifters in the ass in A Fine Line Between Love and Hate, Ella Gray's contribution to the Ravaged anthology.
Jack Deeks and Lissa Adams grew up together, and they couldn't stand one another! At least, that's how it appeared on the surface. Then Jack grew up and went off into the big wide world, and Lissa was happy enough to have him gone. Only now he's back, and suddenly he's got a lot more sexy on him than he used to.
A Fine Line Between Love and Hate blends the feel of Immortals After Dark with the softer side of shifters in The Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. The story is a fun a flirtatious one, featuring one of the sensual kinds of shifters: leopards. Like the big cat himself, this story is languid and a little teasing, but beautiful and oh-so-tempting. It has a nice down-home feeling but it isn't corny; as Jack comes home, you feel you yourself are coming home, back to friendly places and familiar faces. Lissa is a pert and pretty little thing with definite strong opinions as to the boy who used to torment her, and she puts him through his paces to prove he's worthy of her now.
Lighthearted but lusty, this was another quick but satisfying read, the kind you could share with your lover just before bedtime. Enjoy!
There's a life lesson for you, and one that comes back to bite two young shifters in the ass in A Fine Line Between Love and Hate, Ella Gray's contribution to the Ravaged anthology.
Jack Deeks and Lissa Adams grew up together, and they couldn't stand one another! At least, that's how it appeared on the surface. Then Jack grew up and went off into the big wide world, and Lissa was happy enough to have him gone. Only now he's back, and suddenly he's got a lot more sexy on him than he used to.
A Fine Line Between Love and Hate blends the feel of Immortals After Dark with the softer side of shifters in The Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. The story is a fun a flirtatious one, featuring one of the sensual kinds of shifters: leopards. Like the big cat himself, this story is languid and a little teasing, but beautiful and oh-so-tempting. It has a nice down-home feeling but it isn't corny; as Jack comes home, you feel you yourself are coming home, back to friendly places and familiar faces. Lissa is a pert and pretty little thing with definite strong opinions as to the boy who used to torment her, and she puts him through his paces to prove he's worthy of her now.
Lighthearted but lusty, this was another quick but satisfying read, the kind you could share with your lover just before bedtime. Enjoy!
January 7, 2014
Ravaged Blog Tour Day 5: "Pollen", by Jo Williams
Pollen was another Ravaged title I was exceptionally excited to read. The idea of bees as a possible sexy shifter? I had to see how Jo Williams was going to pull it off.
This story was quite a ride. All throughout it, I kept thinking of the recent Simon Pegg film, The World's End, and of True Blood. Pollen had such a strange, kind-of-gritty, darkly sexy tone to it. It catches you up rather quickly and despite some rather troubling hints of what's to come, you find yourself too engrossed in finding out, well, what's to come.
I originally expected a bubbly, dancing group of "Honeybee" ladies, the kind they turn out with the sexy bee costumes at Halloween time: cute and sweet and playful. The ladies in Pollen prove to be the Sexy Honeybee's deadly cousins. They are so captivating, though, you want to believe all your misgivings and all those alarm bells that are going off in your head are just the result of a little too much drink.
The sex in Pollen has a touch of very naughty exhibitionism, a touch of whirlwind flavor and a, shall we say, "surprise" ending. No spoilers, of course, but it was a scene that was both pleasing and a little bit shocking. Not one to be entered into lightly!
This story is titillating to the senses, especially taste and smell, which are two senses that should be pleasured in any erotic tale. Pollen is definitely something so good, you just know it's bad for you... and you're going to love it anyway.
This story was quite a ride. All throughout it, I kept thinking of the recent Simon Pegg film, The World's End, and of True Blood. Pollen had such a strange, kind-of-gritty, darkly sexy tone to it. It catches you up rather quickly and despite some rather troubling hints of what's to come, you find yourself too engrossed in finding out, well, what's to come.
I originally expected a bubbly, dancing group of "Honeybee" ladies, the kind they turn out with the sexy bee costumes at Halloween time: cute and sweet and playful. The ladies in Pollen prove to be the Sexy Honeybee's deadly cousins. They are so captivating, though, you want to believe all your misgivings and all those alarm bells that are going off in your head are just the result of a little too much drink.
The sex in Pollen has a touch of very naughty exhibitionism, a touch of whirlwind flavor and a, shall we say, "surprise" ending. No spoilers, of course, but it was a scene that was both pleasing and a little bit shocking. Not one to be entered into lightly!
This story is titillating to the senses, especially taste and smell, which are two senses that should be pleasured in any erotic tale. Pollen is definitely something so good, you just know it's bad for you... and you're going to love it anyway.
January 6, 2014
Ravaged Blog Tour, Day 4: Raschael's Top 10 Guide to Seducing the Clergy - from "Wages of Sin"
My second tale in the Ravaged Anthology is one of my own favorites, The Wages of Sin. While I'd love to regale you all with my own interpretation of the piece, instead I give you another of my "Special Features":
Angel
Raschael's Top Ten Guide
to
Seducing the Clergy
My name is
Raschael. I am of the First Blood of
Demons, the fallen ones. Nowadays we are
commonly referred to as incubi and succubae.
Among my clan, I am employed as a temptress and a spy; great men and
women are often at their most vulnerable when they have allowed themselves to
be seduced. I deal with some degree of
specialty in men and women of the cloth.
So it is with great pride I give you my own Top Ten Guide to Seducing the Clergy.
1. Make Confession – Oh,
the confessional booth. Is there any
place more perfect for whispering deep, dark secrets and salacious little
hints? The confessional provides an
ideal amount of privacy, and best of all, a tailor-made excuse to talk dirty.
2. Seek Faith –
"After hours", shall we say?
Discover a time when the church is likeliest to be empty, and be sure to
drop by... unexpectedly.
3. Offer up Your Heart –
Show him your soft side, your vulnerable side... that shy, innocent, wide-eyed Catholic
schoolgirl side.
4. Ask Forgiveness –.
Make a subtly improper proposition—then, when chastised, very quickly take it
back, and feign immediate chagrin. Oh, shame on you!
5. Where Two (or Three!) Are
Gathered... – There's ample space within a church
where an illicit couple might be alone: the vestry, the balcony, the choir
room. Find excuse to... 'make use' of
them.
6. Sing His Praises
–Be sure to mention often—and in dangerous proximity to the rest of his
flock—how very, very much joy he
brings you. What a good, attentive priest he is... so skilled in the ways of...
worship.
7. Search the Scriptures –
Do you know how many
naughty tales there are in the Bible? Hell, Song of Songs is a whole book
devoted to erotic love. If you don't believe me, ask your priest to explain the
verse, "his fruit is sweet to my taste"... then watch him turn red.
8. Receive Baptism – Think
of the sight of you in that
white robe, all wet, clinging to your curves... all the better if you wear
nude-colored underthings, or if you're very, very devoted, nothing at all.
9. Cast Your Cares Upon The Lord –
And then, cast your clothes upon the floor.
10. Call Upon the Name of God –
over... and over... and over...
Ravaged Blog Tour, Day 4: Behind the Scenes on "Equinox"
Hello, my lovelies! I hope you've been following along with our Ravaged blog tour and visiting all my fellow authors to learn more about their terrific stories!
Today on the blog tour, we're taking a look at my two tales, Equinox and The Wages of Sin. It would probably be a bit masturbatory to review my own stories, though, so instead I bring you some "Special Features", for the fun of it!
First, let me give you a bit of a behind the scenes look at my dragon tale, Equinox. This story was originally written for my best friend, and I dedicate its publication to her.
Equinox
tells
the story of a dragoness in love with her druid master. Sarayana, something of
a runt among dragons, can only
be with her lover once a year, on the night of the vernal equinox: Ostara.
Though Equinox was born on my blog, Foreplay and Fangs, as part of a
Valentine's Day request, I looked into
the actual druidic observance of Ostara, and the rituals involved, as well as
the importance of sex in magic. To be
sure of an authentic story, I wanted to be sure the druid and his dragon caught
the devil in the details of their naughty little romp.
One of the sources I
used to research, and the one that included the best overall summary of
the holiday, was
Witchvox.com (http://tinyurl.com/kt7o8). Though this wasn't the only source
I consulted, I've included it because it offers a great deal of information
compiled in one spot. Ostara, considered by some to be the
original Easter, signifies the return of the God (sometimes the Sun-God) to his
virile youth. This brings about his
contract of sacred marriage with The Goddess (sometimes Oestre, the Lunar
Goddess), similarly returned to her maidenhood.
It is the beginning of the yearly cycle and celebrates fertility and new
growth. In other words, it presented a
perfect backdrop to a rite of transformation and consummation for Sara and
Brennan, the two lovers.
Equinox
follows
the symbolic rites of Ostara: Brennan, an elder druid magi, draws continued
youth from the ritual, as Sara, his dragoness, transforms into a maiden. Their
ritual features traditional elements like the egg and the rabbit, sharing of
wine and herbs, and a emblematic marriage ceremony before the more pleasurable
sacraments of 'fertility' get underway.
Sex and sexuality are
strongly tied to magic and druidic/pagan rituals. A blog post by Rayne Hall (posted here as a
guest blog: http://tinyurl.com/kx6mbfa) examines the
connections and how to incorporate them into an erotic tale. For Brennan and Sarayana, the sexual side of
their holiday is always of paramount importance: it is the only night of the year they can be together, and so they
do their very best to make the most of it.
This, of course, formed the true backbone of Equinox: druid and dragon, brought together to make up for a whole
year's worth of longing and celibacy.
There, of course, is the story's true
magic.
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