Tina Donahue: The delicate balance of pleasure.

Giveaway Alert!  Stacey Kennedy wants to know about your panties for a prize, Holley Trent has an O For Two, Joey W. Hill is running a contest from yesterday still, JB Brooks wants to show you pervertables, Elle Wylder is giving away a copy of her book, Saving Grace AND Liv Honeywell is giving away a copy of Coming, Ready or Not. Don’t miss these!

I feel like today’s guest doesn’t even need an introduction, because we all know her! Tina Donahue, possibly one of the best connected women in romance. 😀

A willing slave to possession, punishment, pleasure…

I have to confess, it took me quite a while before I could bring myself to write a BDSM romance. Admittedly, I read The Story of O when I was in college. The shock value alone had me riveted to the page, and yes, turned on at times.

However, O wasn’t a romance. More a tragedy, I’d say, and that’s not what I’m looking for in a story. I like my heroines to be in charge of their destinies, even if what they choose is to be a sexual slave. To engage in acts of bondage and discipline because it heightens their satisfaction when it comes to sex and makes me all hot and horny. J

However, creating a delicate balance between pain and pleasure is tricky. As a writer, I want to arouse not horrify (had enough of that in O). The “Yes, Master” or “Yes, Mistress” language also has to be handled well or it comes off as kind of goofy. Especially in this age of women smacking bossy men upside the head and saying ‘lighten up!’

For me, the best way to get the effect I wanted was to have the BDSM in the past when gender roles were more stratified, the ‘men were men, and women were glad of it’ era.

Which brings me to Taking Eve, my first BDSM romance which is coming June 25 from Ellora’s Cave (http://www.ellorascave.com/taking-eve.html). The story begins with Faith and Colin who were once Eve and Anthony in a former life. Their paths intersect at a manor dedicated to all sexual pleasures—dominance, submission, bondage, punishment—where Eve willingly agrees to be a sexual slave. She’s curious about these decadent, wicked acts, and she’s attracted to Anthony, a handsome noble who collects her for the other men who will also be her Masters.

In the manor, nothing is forbidden or held back. Her sexual exploration is hot. Pleasure is assured.

Here’s a blurb and a brief excerpt.

Blurb:

A willing slave to possession, punishment, pleasure…

Dreams of a manor where submission and dominance once ruled draws Faith to hypnotherapist Colin Danes. Potently virile, he looks remarkably like her most cherished master from a past life. Desire smolders in his eyes, proving he’s never forgotten her.

Their carnal dance continues in the present and leads to their past when she was known as Eve. Through hypnotherapy, Colin brings her back to the Victorian era, a hidden estate where she eagerly submits to whatever he and her other noble masters crave. The exquisite discipline of the strap. Being bid on and mounted each night. Displayed and used for the enjoyment of all.

Most will take her. One will try to imprison her. Only he will be her true master in that life and this.

Excerpt:

(In this scene, Colin has hypnotized Faith, bringing her back to the beginning of their relationship in the early 1800s.)

Eve was still bathing when he came for her. A man whose presence she’d frequently felt. A stranger she’d often seen riding past this cottage, his steed magnificent, a sorrel with a startling white mane and tail.

At those times, she’d noted the man’s well-defined features, noble bearing, the way his attention had focused on her alone. How his gaze had lingered and possessed, warming her skin, calling to everything female within her, demanding her submission. She’d given it, not moving, scarcely drawing a breath, her work forgotten.

Nothing except him had mattered.

Not once had he spoken or made a demand. During his increasingly prolonged observations of her, he’d been content—or obliged—to do no more than look.

Now, she saw the rope he held in one gloved hand.

Eve’s belly fluttered.

The ends of the rope jumped as he moved past the doorway, his height requiring him to stoop to avoid striking his head. He wore no top hat. Snow dusted his dark hair and shoulders. His ankle-length cloak was of fine black wool, lined with fur, his eveningwear consisting of a dark coat cinched at the waist and trousers of the same color. Fresh milk couldn’t compete with the flawless white of his vest and cravat, tied perfectly about his throat.

He closed the door, bolting it against interruption of what he was about to do.

The thought of it—and the metal’s sharp clack—caused Eve to start. Her pulse pounded fiercely. The candles Mrs. Trumble had lit stopped flickering at the wind’s departure. A few stray snowflakes floated in the air.

Eve felt none of the chill that he’d brought inside, only intense heat, spreading from her chest to her belly and cunt, then to her neck. Her throat tightened, not allowing her to make any sound as he stopped just short of the tub. Close enough for her to see his lushly lashed eyes, of the purest blue, more glorious than any sky.

He regarded her naked breasts to the exclusion of every other part of her and spoke for the first time. “Pull back your arms and arch your back. Present yourself to me.”

His voice was quiet yet commanding, smooth yet rough with arousal.

Unsteady with desire, Eve did as he wanted. She had no other choice. She wanted none. With her back arched and her arms drawn back, she lifted her breasts in offering.

He studied the ripe globes and her tightened nipples at a leisurely pace, moving from one side of the tub to the other to get his fill.

Eve remained a silent, obedient witness to his brazen perusal. Craving and enjoying it, desire pulsing through her.

A small smile touched his lips as her breasts quivered with her quick breaths. At length, his attention moved lower, to the part of her the bath continued to hide. Its violet-scented water reflected the candles’ flames, which tinted it gold and orange. Warm colors that hardly matched the heat blazing within Eve.

“You know what to expect?” he asked.

She nodded.

“All of it?”

Eve thought not, so she shook her head.

He seemed pleased by that and began, “From this moment forward, you’re never to cover yourself in any of your Masters’ presence. Your breasts, nipples, mouth, cunt, ass and anus are ours to use as we please. Whatever we require of you, no matter how demanding or indecent, you’re to obey with the greatest haste. You belong to us now. We have your agreement. Did you make it willingly?”

Eve had. Just a few days ago, she’d signed the document. Years before, Mrs. Trumble had taught her to read and write, educating and training Eve for her future Masters.

She murmured, “Yes, my lord.”

Bio:

Tina Donahue is an award-winning, bestselling novelist in erotic, paranormal, contemporary and historical romance for Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Siren Publishing, and Kensington. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. Three of her erotic romances (Adored, Lush Velvet Nights, and Deep, Dark, Delicious) were named finalists in the 2011 EPIC competition. The French review site, Blue Moon reviews, chose her erotic romance Sensual Stranger as their Book of the Year 2010 (erotic category). The Golden Nib Award at Miz Love Loves Books was created specifically for Lush Velvet Nights, and two of her titles (The Yearning and Deep, Dark, Delicious) received an Award of Merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competition (2011 and 2012). Take Me Away and Adored both won second place in the NEC RWA contest (different years). Tina is featured in the 2012 Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. She was the editor of an award–winning Midwestern newspaper and worked in Story Direction for a Hollywood production company.

FB Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/TinaDonahueBooks

Email:

Website: http://www.tinadonahue.com/

Blog: http://www.tinadonahue.com/blog/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/tinadonahue

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tina.donahue.75

Triberr: http://triberr.com/tinadonahue

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/authortina/my-books/

Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/tinadonahue

My page at TRR: http://erotic.theromancereviews.com/mypageprofile.php?location=tinadonahue

EC Author Page: https://www.ellorascave.com/index.php/authors/index/author/slug/tina-donahue/

Samhain Author Page: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/Tina-Donahue-pa-1630.html

Contest:

Like my FB Fanpage – https://www.facebook.com/TinaDonahueBooks – and I’ll enter you in the drawing for your chance to win one of fifteen erotic romances (ebooks) from this list:

1. Adored – RWA award-winning; EPIC 2011 Finalist; 4 Stars RT

2. Deep, Dark, Delicious – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Holt Medallion Award of Merit

3. Lush Velvet Nights – EPIC 2011 Finalist; Golden Nib Award

4. In His Arms – SIX 5 Star Reviews; 4 Stars RT

5. Sensual Stranger – 2010 Book of the Year (erotic); 4 Stars RT

6. The Yearning – Top Ten Bestseller

7. Take Me Away – #1 Pick, Miz Love Loves Books

8. Unending Desire – Best Book Rating LASR

9. SiNN – Nominated for Book of the Week LASR

10. Sinfully Wicked – Magnificent – Romancing the Book

11.  Claiming Magique – Top Pick – NOR

12. Illicit Desire – Four Stars Romantic Times

13. Come Fill Me – Five Stars – Guilty Pleasures

14. Losing Control – Four and a Half Stars – Sensual Reads

15. Shameless Desire – Four and Half Stars – The Jeep Diva

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