Category Archives: Reviews
Master Over You Blog Tour Mega-Post!
Hi! This is the Master Over You Blog Tour Mega-Post. I think that sounds kind of fancy, so I thought I’d go with it, haha.
Anyways! This post will be updated daily with links to all of the blog tour spots for the Master Over You: A Dark Romance Novel blog tour through Xpresso Books. It should be interesting and exciting. (It’ll go in reverse order, so the newest posts will be at the top, super easy to find)
Also, if you haven’t entered yet, here is a neat giveaway for you to join, too:
*Giveaway*
Master Over You Release Celebration Giveaway
(Day Nine)
Home is Where the Wine is Book Blog (Top 10 List + Review)
In My Secret -Book- World (Excerpt)
(Day Eight)
Naughty Moms’ Story Time (Excerpt)
(Day Seven)
LeAnn’s Book Reviews (Excerpt)
Turner’s Antics (Excerpt)
(Day Six)
MI Bookshelf (Excerpt)
My Book Filled Life (Review)
(Day Five)
Escape into a Book (Review + Top 10 List)
A British Bookworm’s Blog (Review)
Cornerfolds (Excerpt)
New Adult Addiction (Excerpt)
(Day Four)
We Love Kink (Review + Interview!)
Tattooed Book Review
(Day Three)
She Hearts Books (Review)
Girls With Books (Excerpt)
Broadway Girl Book Reviews (Review)
(Day Two)
Living in Your Own Story (Review + Excerpt)
Creating Serenity (Guest Post by Cerys!)
A is for Alpha, B is for Books (Blitz)
(Day One)
Sinfully Sexy Books (Review)
Craves the Angst (Excerpt)
Mommy’s a Book Whore (Excerpt)
Romance Novel Giveaways (Review + a bunch of stuff)
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Review: Raw, A Dark Romance
Raw, A Dark Romance by Tawny Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Beautifully Raw
This was a wonderfully exciting dark romance. I really enjoyed it!
The premise was interesting. I’ve read similar before, but nothing quite like this. Badgered by her friend, Kendall reluctantly signs up for a matchmaking service catering to the excessively wealthy. Presumably they’re looking for a wife, but that’s not quite the actuality of it. Generally they’re more in the market for a fling, or…
Well, then Kace comes into play. He’s a Spanish billionaire who knows no bounds. He’s also the first one to take an interest in Kendall, and he always gets his way. No one says no to Kace, except… well, Kendall does! Repeatedly, in fact.
After her presumed date with the billionaire turns much darker, Kendall’s kind of trapped between worlds. She’s been striving to make ends meet, and while she’s fairly satisfied with life so far, it’s not always the best, you know? Kace could provide that for her, except is he even looking for a relationship or does he just want to use her for his pleasure for the week? Whether she likes it or not, that’s what his initial plans are, but sometimes plans have a way of going awry…
What I liked about this was Kendall’s sort of rough nature. She’s not all that impressed by Kace and his billionaire attitude. Yes, he’s strong and demanding, but why should she do what he says just because of that? She can be pretty headstrong and stubborn herself. It’s a match of opposites, but they end up going together in an intriguing sort of way.
Who will break first? Except do they even want that to happen? There’s a bit of danger and risk here, but I felt an interesting connection between Kendall and Kace that I really enjoyed. He’s used to getting his way, but in order to get it this time he’s going to have to do things that he might not really be ready for. Kace is strong and stubborn, but maybe sometimes it’s hard to keep it up if you forget the reasons for your stubbornness, too.
They don’t really go together very well at first, but I think that’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed reading about them. I was curious to see where everything went and how things would progress. I can’t really say that I wanted them to be together at first, but I wanted to see how they would react to each other and grow on each other.
It was a fun story to read, with a lot of depth and psychological intrigue to it, along with a thrilling dark romantic allure. If you enjoy dark romances, I think you’ll really like this one.
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Review: Hurricane Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story
Hurricane Kisses: A Billionaire Love Story by Krista Lakes
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Stormy Kisses
I’ve read all of the Kisses books by Krista Lakes, so I was really excited to check this one out, too. It’s a bit different from the rest of them in a lot of ways. The premise sort of opens up similarly to Saltwater Kisses, but then it changes a lot.
Olivia is the CEO of a small travel company with a lofty goal. It took some work, but she’s started doing really well with her company and it’s something she’s extremely passionate about. I really enjoyed that part of it, because it’s something I can relate to. Everyone has hopes and dreams, you know? She went out on a huge limb in order to make her passion a reality, and it paid off in the end.
Though… not without a price. Logan is kind of her competitor, but not really. His company can basically crush hers, and she originally went to him for some help with starter funding, but… that didn’t go so well in the end. He’s kind of full of himself and a little formal and pompous, too. Not so great of a match.
So when they meet during a working vacation at a new resort that’s looking to build some good business relationships, things aren’t so good. He’s a jerk, she’s the new girl on the block, their businesses are in direct competition, and unfortunately he’s drop dead gorgeous. (Why does it always have to be the sexy ones that cause so many issues? I just don’t understand…)
There might be more to Logan than meets the eye, though. There’s definitely more to Olivia. She’s not some pushover, you know? He’s going to have to make some concessions if he wants to show her how he feels, except I don’t really know if that’s in his character. The tension is palpable and wonderful to read about because of all these things, though. It’s not just flirty and sexual, but competitive, which I think makes the story really attractive in a lot of ways. Who’s going to win? What’s going to happen? Except in this game of love, if one person wins, what about the other? You sort of need two winners for a relationship, but I don’t quite think they realize that at first…
This is a great romance story, though. It’s a different sort of Kisses story in a lot of ways, but a really good one. I think it’d be a great summer beach read, too. If you like sweet summer romance and “I like you but I hate you at the same time” sorts of love stories, this one is definitely for you. I really enjoyed it a lot!
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Review: Remember Our Song: A Billionaire Romance
Remember Our Song: A Billionaire Romance by Emma South
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Emotional and Touching
This was a wonderful story about love and all it has to offer. I really enjoyed it.
It’s kind of different from what I usually read for this sort of book, which I found interesting. The beginning starts off on the slower side, but not in a bad way. It’s setting up what needs to be said before the tragic events happen that bring everything completely to a stop. That part was really heart-wrenching, especially with everything before that being so sweet and cute and playful.
I love Bea and Jeremy together. They’re a wonderful couple and I think they both bring out the best in each other. Their initial dialogue is some of the best I’ve read and it’s really true and down to earth feeling in a ton of ways. I can imagine seeing them as a couple out and about, being happy, which is exactly what I think two people in love should be like.
When the amnesia occurs… it’s just a lot more difficult. It made me sad a lot of the time. It’s like… I mean, obviously they were happy, and now they aren’t, but it’s not through the fault of anyone, per se. I think amnesia like that is a really difficult thing to deal with, you know? In a way, it kind of reminded me of some of the scenes from The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, since I thought that was a wonderful love story, as well.
If you’re looking for a story that’s got love, but also all of the other emotions that come along with it, this one is definitely for you! It’s different, but really good. I think Emma South is a wonderful writer!
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Review: Me, Cinderella?
Me, Cinderella? by Aubrey Rose
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Beautiful
This is a beautiful story in all aspects. The prose is just delightful and was a pleasure to read. I know that maybe that’s not as important to some, but I’ve always had a thing for really poetic sounding sentences, and basically everything in Me, Cinderella? is like that. Kind of like high quality chocolate for the literary mind, as opposed to a generic Hershey bar.
The actual story itself is fascinating, too. To be perfectly honest, I’m not the best with math, but I really enjoyed the mathematics added into the plot. It’s different, you know? It gave the whole thing a somewhat exotic feel for me, like I was spying into some new and foreign world.
The plot starts strong and goes on to finish wonderfully, too. To be honest, some of it was a little off to me at first, but I enjoyed it still. The instant attraction between Brynn and Eliot seemed sort of strange, but it was just that – a flitter of intrigue, before moving on to become something so much more and full of depth and excitement.
I’m somewhat at a loss for words as to how to explain how beautiful this story. The whole thing really comes together. It’s not just the plot, or the characters, or the structure of the sentences and the power of the words used, but all of it combined, and I really feel like Me, Cinderella? is something special. There are a lot of good books out there, and even some great ones, but this one is beautiful.
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Review: Only Pretend
Only Pretend by Nora Flite
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A Seductive Confliction
I’ve read all of the Hard Body Rock books by Nora Flite and really enjoyed them. I’ve also read Tears of Tess, though I haven’t delved too deep into dark romance besides that. I do like it sometimes, but I think other times it’s done a bit oddly and too far for me.
Saying that, I really enjoyed Only Pretend. It had some of the same elements that I’ve come to enjoy from Nora Flite’s books, but with a sense of something more like in what Pepper Winters’ writes.
Only Pretend is a wonderful story, but there’s a definite sense of darkness and depravity going on. After Celeste is not only fired from her job, but also broken up with by her boyfriend, for being “boring” as he says, she decides to find a new life for herself. I really liked the idea of that, too. I think sometimes everyone imagines what it’d be like to pretend you’re someone else for a day, right? So this is like that, except…
She gets what she wants in a way, and then way more than she could have ever imagined. Leonide is sensually provocative, but with some absolutely dark desires. He’s that man you love to hate, who can pull your strings and bring out the best in you, providing you with immeasurable pleasure, but… what does he want in return?
That’s really the driving question that I kept wondering about throughout the novel, and I think that’s one of the things I liked most about it. We start off knowing a little about Celeste, but not everything. And Leonide is a complete mystery initially. Where did he come from, what is he doing, and why?
Celeste started off trying to pretend, but maybe there’s even more pretense to all of this than we know?
If you like Nora Flite’s other books, or Tears of Tess, I think you’ll really enjoy this one. It’s got a seductive style that really keeps you reading. I liked the thrill and suspense aspects, too. There’s some darkness, obvious, so you really need to be able to handle some adult themes, but… I think everything in this book is the sort of thing you really want to read about, but maybe not talk about in “polite” company? Haha. Curiosity is a dangerous and compelling thing! But oh so wonderful, too.
Highly recommended! I loved this book.
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Review: The Tower of the Alchemist
The Tower of the Alchemist by Aimélie Aames
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Sensual Sorcery & Storytelling
When I saw that this book was out, I was extremely excited to check it out. I was reading something else, but I put it off to the side for a second so I could start on this one. I might have gone a little overboard with that, too… it’s quite a long story, but I couldn’t stop reading. I might have put off a few other things in order to make more time for this book.
It was definitely worth it, though. I was excited to come back to the characters, especially after the last volume. The story starts right in the thick of things, with a lot of sort of magical mystery and intrigue going on. It reminded me somewhat of some of what happens in Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel’s Legacy series, with that kind of fantasy suspense and mystery, you know? If you’ve read that, I think you’ll know what I mean, and it’s done really well in this book.
What I really loved about this book is how a lot of the plot and excitement all came together. There were some great hints and foreshadowing previously, but I wasn’t exactly sure where everything was going. It was interesting, though, and I definitely wanted to see how it all turned out. One of my favorite parts of this book was the revelation of the Marechal’s past, and what he’s been searching for all this time. I mean, there were references to it before this, but it always seemed like there was more to it. And… there was! Haha.
The backstory was masterfully done, with a nice hint of love and lust, along with betrayal and redemption. I liked the glimpse into the past from the point of view of Melisse and her present predicament, too. She’s been torn away from her old life and pulled into this new and eldritch world that she’s just beginning to understand. The entire idea is wonderfully fascinating.
I love the world building involved, but one of the things I like most about it is that it’s not too over the top “fantasy” if that makes sense? I like fantasy stories that are more approachable, without too much confusion. This entire series is very well written in those regards, and it makes it a pleasure and a thrill to continue reading. I never felt lost or dazed and confused like sometimes happens with other fantasy books.
I love the romance aspects, too. It’s like a fantasy romantic suspense love story, basically.
I don’t want to give anything away, but I’m extremely interested to know what happens with Melisse and the Marechal, too. There were a lot of additions to their story in here, but I’m definitely wanting to read more about them and their situation. My favorite part was probably with the Goddess Tear from Lys. I just think that sounds so nice and fancy, haha. That part was one of my favorites because I think it started a huge turning point in the series, like the calm before the storm.
Overall, honestly, this is a really great book in a really great series. Definitely a must read for fans of fantasy and romance. If you like paranormal romance, this one is very approachable, too. I know that fantasy stuff can get kind of crazy sometimes, but this is more down to earth and nice. Highly recommended and one of my favorite stories so far.
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Review: Dark Passions
Dark Passions by Elixa Everett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’m a big fan of a lot of the authors in this boxed set, and I’ve started reading more dark romance, so I was really excited to check this one out. I started dark romance with Tears of Tess by Pepper Winters, and basically from there I was hooked. It’s a tricky thing with these types of stories, though, you know? Sometimes it can get a little too dark… or sometimes it’s not dark enough. I like the right amount of darkness, though it’s difficult to say exactly what that is.
I’m happy to say that, for me, this boxed set had the right touch! I haven’t read every single book yet, but I’ve read most of them, and the ones I’ve read are definitely worth it, especially for the price.
I’m a big fan of Skye Eagleday and I think most of Skye’s stories are always so interesting. Most of Skye’s stories take a different sort of twist from the norm, and they’re always interesting and exciting to read because of that. I liked this one, because it was sort of dark, but also with some of my other favorite genre things (BDSM and billionaires, I’m a huge fan of both, haha). Great story there!
I haven’t read a ton of Elixa Everett’s stories, specifically, but I’ve been a huge Terry Towers fan for awhile now. I like her coffeeshop girl’s books, but those are a bit more lighthearted. This was a dark turn away from that, though with a writing style I really like, and I enjoyed her book a lot.
Abby Weeks’ Tangled Rose is one of my favorite darker MC romances, and I read that one before getting this boxed set and loved it. I’m a huge fan!
Cheri Verset’s books sometimes take a turn for the dark and forbidden, and this one was definitely like that. It was a nice story, though. A perfect sort of dark.
I really enjoy most of M. Keep’s books, too. I’ve read a lot of others, but hadn’t had a chance to read this one yet.
I’m still working on some of the other stories, but I’ve read books by Savannah Reardon and Alara Branwen before, too. Emilie Criss and Adele Allaire are new to me. I recognize Aya Fukunishi’s name, but I don’t know if I’ve read anything from her before… I think I have. (I have to go look now… I can’t remember!)
If you like dark romance, and boxed sets, this is basically a sure thing. It’s a great deal and for some great stories by some great authors. I’m already a huge fan of most of it, and I like that I get to try something new from other authors, too. Definitely highly recommended! I think you’ll enjoy it a lot.
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Oyster
Hello!
I’ve been excessively ill as of late, so I haven’t really gotten to do as much as I would have liked. This is a bit unfortunate, but there’s not much I could do about it. I’ve mostly been huddled up in a sweatshirt and pajama pants, feeling achy and cold. Not too fun. I’m working on carrying on now, though. I don’t usually get sick too often, and not for multiple days when I do, so it kind of bothers me, but I know to take it easy or I’ll just keep staying sick.
Anyways! Besides sickness, a lot of things are happening in the e-book world, of which I figured I’d chime in and talk about. The bigger one as of now is Oyster Books and their Oyster reading app, which will be available for the iPhone supposedly sometime by the end of the month. I don’t know their exact begin date, so it could be more like the beginning of October, I guess, but it’ll be here soon.
For those who don’t know, Oyster is going to be a buffet-style e-book subscription service where you can read as many books as you like for only $9.95 a month. It’s similar to Amazon Prime in some ways, and not really in others. Mostly the borrowing. If you’re an Amazon Prime subscriber, you get to borrow one book a month that’s in the Kindle Owner’s Lending Library (KOLL for short). Most of the books in the KOLL are from indie authors or Amazon imprints from what I know, though I believe a few are from traditional publishers.
Now, random side trip here, but the KOLL is good and bad in some ways. First, you can only borrow one book, and it costs like… $80 a year or so (or $40 if you can get the student discount, which is a great deal). If you consider anywhere from $1 to $5 being a good price for most e-books (that’s what I consider a good price, at least), then you’re looking at anywhere from $12 to $60 worth of free books over the course of your subscription. This sounds weird at first, because you’re paying $80, but… you also get a ton of free streaming video through Amazon’s video thing (I totally forget what it’s called, I don’t use it), and you also get free 2-day shipping on a ton of Amazon products (I love this!). If 2 days isn’t fast enough, you can upgrade it to 1 day for $3.99.
So Amazon Prime isn’t just for book borrowing. Also, the only way you can borrow books is if you own a Kindle device. I have Amazon Prime, but I don’t own a Kindle, so that’s kind of sad, but I order a lot of stuff because I’m weird, and the free 2-day shipping is great, even if the UPS and Fed Ex delivery men probably don’t like me by now (I order a lot of small and dumb things).
This isn’t about Amazon Prime, it’s about Oyster and their e-book subscription thing, but I thought you should know what the only other real competitor is as of now (that I know of) and what they offer. Amazon Prime gives you less books in your subscription, but you get more other things, which is neat.
Oyster is just books, and you get as many books as you want. You aren’t going to get the same books as what’s on Amazon, though. You aren’t going to get those, because for the most part, for a book to be in the KOLL, the author has to agree to an exclusivity clause stating that they can’t make their book available in digital format anywhere except Amazon for 90 days (after which they can lose their KOLL “membership” or renew it for another 90 days). So Oyster just won’t have the same books as Amazon does ever, or at least not at the same time. That’s not a positive or negative, it’s just how it is.
Now… Oyster also offers you unlimited books for only $9.95, but… as an author, I have issues with this. Or, rephrasing that, I might have issues with this. Amazon Prime pays authors for borrowed books, and they pay at a really competitive rate. If you borrow one of my books for free (I have a couple that you can if you want), I get pretty much the same amount as if you’d bought the book. So you get it for free (for awhile, at least. You have to “give it back” eventually, but you can read it for free), and I get paid the same. That’s pretty neat, huh? I think so!
Oyster won’t announce their payment to authors yet, which is kind of a huge red flag. Smashwords, my potential distributor for them, also won’t be announcing the payment structure until 3 days before Oyster goes live. I write because I love to write, but one of the only ways I can continue to do this and provide quality material is if I’m paid for it, you know? I would seriously like nothing more than to live in some Bohemian society where everyone can do the things they like, and no one has to pay for anything, and we can all be creative and do whatever, but… my landlord prefers that I pay him my rent and the electric company doesn’t like it if I don’t pay them for the electricity they send me, and so on and so forth.
So I try to price my books as cheaply as possible, and sometimes I even give them away for free, but this is my career, so I can’t do that Bohemian lifestyle romanticized thing, you know?
I don’t know if that’s what Oyster wants me to do. I couldn’t tell you what they want me to do, because they won’t even tell me. They would like my books, and a lot of other people’s books, but they won’t tell us what they’ll give us in return for having our books available to their subscribers, which is kind of scary. It’s like going for a job interview, and the hiring manager says he definitely wants to hire you, but he won’t tell you what he’s going to pay you for working. Do you do it anyways, and then hope for the best? Or do you decline and go somewhere else?
It’s not exactly that, but it kind of is, too.
It’s not my favorite situation to be in, to be completely honest. I would love to offer you all my books on a subscription service basis. I know some of you could probably read a ton of them and get a great deal from it. I would be happy to do this if Oyster is offering competitive payments to authors, but I’m not sure if this is the case. If they were, why are they hiding it now? There’s really no reason to, from what I can tell. Or, there’s no reason to hide something unless you have something to hide, and… in this case I don’t want that something hidden from me.
Because of this, I don’t think Oyster is going to be very good. I know this is premature and I know a lot of people might be excited for it (because, honestly? It sounds really exciting), but I just wanted to go at it from another point of view as a “content provider.”
I love when people read my books. I give books away quite a lot, and I offer sales on books, too. I have paperbacks that are discounted, e-books that are discounted, permanently at $0.99, or some are even free. I have freebies I give away to you all if you’re a newsletter subscriber, too.
The thing there is that -I- and giving them away, and thus I’m not making anything from it, and that’s my choice. I do it because I like to, and I know that not everyone can afford to buy everything they like all the time, so I try to make it a little easier for you to buy the things you want if one of those things is something I have. I like doing that.
I don’t like giving someone something and then them turning around and selling it for a profit without providing me with anything, and I’m afraid that’s essentially what Oyster is going to become. It’s extremely unlikely they can stick with the same terms as Amazon has, and with an all-you-can-read subscription service, it’s unlikely they can do even half that. (To be completely honest, I’d go for half that, personally, at least for some things) So… for all I know right now (which is nothing, because they won’t tell me, or you, or anyone, really), they want me to provide them with free content so that they can charge for it and make a profit off of it.
I don’t like that and I don’t agree with that. It’s not a really nice thing to do, first off, and second it’s somewhat manipulative and rude (which are not nice things, so it’s like triply not nice, I suppose). It may turn out that they’re NOT doing this, in which case I’ll admit that I was wrong, but they literally just won’t tell anyone, so…
If you want some great deals, and free content, and all of that, I’d personally suggest you just sign up for my newsletter. My newsletter is 100% free, and if you like my sales and what I have to offer, I can basically guarantee you that you’ll get around ~$12+ worth of savings -at least-. And then my freebies (that you can download whenever, and keep forever), would add more savings to that. And I’m planning some holiday sales, and other sales… you’re looking at a pretty good deal. Free or drastically discounted e-books for… free. No subscription necessary, really (or, well, my newsletter is kind of a subscription, but it’s a fun one, and different than other stuff).
Also, honestly? I know not everyone likes buying e-books at Amazon, but Amazon Prime is a great deal. You can even get a free 30-day trial, which is kind of amazing. (Oyster doesn’t have any trial, from what I know, though they haven’t fully released yet, so I don’t know the full details)
This was way longer than I expected, but I just wanted to inform you all of Oyster and why I might not be participating (and why other authors you enjoy might not, either). You’ll still be able to find most of my books at the same places you always have, though. I currently have two shorter titles enrolled for the KOLL, so if you’re an Amazon (Prime) type of person you can buy (borrow them for free) there, plus I will be offering them for free on a rolling 90 day schedule (5 days at a time) whenever I can.
Random side note to that, but I’m actually hoping to eventually have enough of those so that I can have one story free on Amazon for 5 days at a time on a permanent basis (so one is free for 5 days, then another is free for 5 days, and then another… and so on and so forth), to provide you all with an even better deal. Anyone can read Amazon books with their Kindle app, PC reader, or on the Kindle Cloud servers on your computer, so even if you prefer to shop at B&N most times, you can grab them on the free days and check them out if you want.
Besides Oyster, would you like an e-book subscription service? I think it could be neat in theory, to be honest. I love my Netflix account. I also watch shows on Hulu a lot, but I don’t pay for Hulu+(or Plus, whatever they call it) so I get ads (like commercials), but I don’t mind them. I used to pay for Pandora for music, but they got rid of the monthly limit and added ads instead, so I just do that now. I know not everyone likes ads, but I don’t mind them if I get the content for free. I actually kind of like it. Hulu pays its content providers a pretty good amount per ad (I believe they split the profits 50:50, but don’t quote me on that), and it’s a really fair deal, so by watching the ads I honestly feel like I’m really helping the producers of the show (and then I get to watch the show for free, too!). Kind of a win/win/win there (Hulu wins, too, because they put the shows up, you know?).
I think I might like something like that, if it was possible. Like… if you could read e-books for free, but they had ads in them? And the author got paid for those ads? I envision it somewhat like watching TV and seeing commercials. I mean, I might skip the commercials, but sometimes I don’t mind commercials. Sometimes I really like commercials if they’re interesting, too. Is that weird? I don’t know.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on this!
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One Year Personal Review
I’ve been deliberating over actually writing this or not. I decided to go for it, because I don’t think it can hurt, and I think some of you would be interested in reading it.
Before embarking on my journey of self-publishing, I used to work in some not so fun places. Lots of customer service and all of that. Just plain, basic things, and nothing very entertaining, but I didn’t mind it. I didn’t really like it, though, and I’ve always wanted to write, so on July 10th, 2012, I published my first e-book. I think I did it on Smashwords first, then I put it up on the other places after, so those places didn’t have it until July 11th, but I like to think of my “official” indie author anniversary as July 10th. It’s a pretty nice day, generally speaking.
So, anyways! I’m sure everyone’s done them, but a lot of places I’ve worked at like to do those yearly reviews, you know? I never liked those, and I’m sort of argumentative about them. I once marked down that I thought I went above and beyond in regards to dress code, because I try to look nice, right? Except, no, I was told that it’s impossible to go above and beyond on dress code. If you come to work appropriately dressed, then that’s it. Why did they have little check marks for anything besides “acceptable” then? I have no idea, and I asked that, but no one gave me a good answer. Just because. That’s just kind of silly, but I digress…
Now, as an indie author, I’m going to evaluate myself. If you’ve been following me for awhile, feel free to chime in, too. Let me know if you agree or disagree. I’d be happy to hear it!
First off, I initially planned to just write erotica shorts. My very first stories were Princess Miri, Moonlight Secret, Burning Need, Princess Miri’s Wet Sticky Mess, all written within the span of a couple weeks. I kind of cheated there, because I’d written the Princess Miri and Moonlight Secret stories a long long time ago, but I fixed them up and changed some things, and *POOF*, published!
Out of all those, I honestly didn’t know what exactly I was doing besides with the Princess Miri stories. I love all my stories, don’t get me wrong, but Moonlight Secret and Burning Need were kind of difficult for me. I think they’re good stories, and lots of people have enjoyed them, but I probably won’t be writing much more in the same vein as those.
Mostly, what I noticed within a few weeks was that I liked to write longer things. Hunted by the Beast and Dominant Dreams came up soon after those first ones, and both of those are noticeably longer. They aren’t long by any means, but I got to delve into more of what I liked.
And, basically, what I really like is plot. I think plot is kind of sexy, you know? I don’t know if that makes a lot of sense. Some people like to just read stories with an idea, but I can’t do that very well. A decent, popular example is something like… let’s say, the barely legal babysitter and the single father (or maybe not single? Scandalous!). It’s just the idea that arouses people, which is perfectly fine, but I can’t really get into reading or writing that too much. Something like that is more writing towards kinks or fetishes.
I won’t lie, I do it sometimes. Generally I add some plot in there, too, though. To a lot of people, that’s weird, but it’s just how I like to write. I think I provide something different and entertaining for anyone who wants a little more with their story.
That’s basically when it began. After feeling things out and getting more accustomed to what I preferred and how I preferred to write it, I went on to continue the Princess Miri series, Hunted by the Beast, and I started The Billionaire’s Ultimatum. These were all great choices for me. I did write some standalones in there, and to be honest you can read most all of my stories as a standalone if you like, but the plot was what drove me onwards, and I think people like that, too. The characters can build upon themselves and their world and explore it more, you know?
Miri started out as a bratty princess who was targeted by the daughter of one of her father’s vassels, but she became something else entirely. I mean, sure, she’s still kind of bratty, but I like Miri. I think Miri’s a really fun character. Thump grew, too. Then Allysin came into the picture, and we got to learn a little more about the castle from her perspective. Fleur evolved into… well, we won’t talk about Fleur (she’s kind of a bitch). The King, the citizens, Roy, all of it.
I do that with all of my stories now, and I’m trending towards longer, which I think a lot of people prefer. I want you to know the characters and feel more intimately about them. When Miri clears out the dungeons and takes them over for her and Thump to use, and then she treats it like a very private place where they can hide together, be alone, talk and learn and explore their sexuality safely, I want you to kind of realize how Miri feels, you know? She’s a princess, and sort of a brat or a bitch, but she’s a human, too, and she’s not immune to weakness. She just doesn’t have anyone and she’s not sure how to relate to anyone, and so Thump being hers and exploring with her and letting her have her moments of being a spoiled princess while also being the dominant monster troll that he is, well…
I find that a lot sexier. Miri’s emotions and need and desires, and her shortcomings and fears and worries; it makes the entire scene more intense to me. It’s sexy and erotic, but it’s also something more, too. That’s how I feel about that, at least. You can’t get that in a quick barely legal babysitter story, you know? You can get the sexy and erotic part, but you can’t get the “more” that I personally want to go along with it.
I could give examples of this sort of thing throughout all of my stories, but if you’ve read them it’s probably easy to see, too.
In addition to all of that, I’ve started working more towards adding paperbacks, novelizing my serials, and working on audiobooks. The paperbacks and serials-to-novels are somewhat obvious, but one thing I’ve noticed is that I need to have a good schedule of this. I have a “Publishing Schedule” tab on my website, but I need to fix it up a bit. My general plan when I started, and what I want to do now, is to have a new novel for you all every ~2 months or so. The paperback first, then the e-book after. I have a lot of reasons for why I do it in that order, but they’re kind of boring marketing stuff, so I won’t go into that. What this generally will mean is that ~6 months after the start of a series, the novel version should come out soon after. That won’t always be exactly the case, but I should be able to stick pretty closely to that schedule for the foreseeable future.
Audiobooks are interesting and difficult, but in a good way. The thing with those is that I really want to find narrators that bring the characters to life, you know? Sometimes I go searching for the perfect narrator, and other times I’ll put a story up and let people send in their auditions. The audiobooks I have so far are good, but some of the auditions really miss the point. They aren’t bad by any means, and these are professional narrators, but I can tell when someone’s not really into the story and only wants to make money.
I want to provide you with an amazing experience, and so I will only produce audiobooks with narrators who can put the necessary emotion into the scenes. You’ll find a lot of audiobooks that lack this, and some of those audiobooks are alright. If you just want to “hear” the story, they’re perfectly great and I’ve got nothing against that. For what I do, because I want to provide you “more” in the e-book and paperback versions, I want to find narrators that will help you experience the story, too. Overall, I just want to give you more, because that’s what I would want.
And so! That’s about it. That’s where we’re at so far. I appreciate everyone coming on this journey with me, too. As an indie author, I think that the reader/writer relationship is a bit closer than with a big publishing house’s authors. I try to be a little closer, and like my stories I want to give a little “more” than what you’d get otherwise. I just want to let you know about what’s up and I like to provide you with as much as I can. I’m writing more, working on more, and will continue to try and discover ways where I can improve this in the future.
Also, my business attire is impeccable lately. Far above and beyond! (I like to write at night a lot while wearing pajamas. Shh, don’t tell anyone!)
What do you think? I’d love to hear your opinions. Whether as a new reader or someone who’s just started checking out my stuff, I think all opinions, feedback, questions, or comments are useful and valid, and I like to hear them!
Cerys du Lys 