Category Archives: reading

Summer Lovin’ Blog Hop T minus 3 Days

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SummerLovin_Button

 

Rebel Ink is going to give away a Kindle Paperwhite and some other swag just for following the blog hop. The posts will be about Summer and Lovin’. So be prepared for some heated posts. Hot. Hot. Hot.

Starts in 3 days. The count down has begun. 😉

Enough with the Hating

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I was informed that m/f sex in m/m books was offensive, disrespectful, yada, yada, yada. And all I have to say is Fuck You JesseWave.

Read what you want. Write what you want. Review what you want. But don’t couch your misogyny in terms of choice and needing warnings that a vagina is about to be used for sex. Warnings on books should be and traditionally has been about rape, incest, excess violence and the like. Not about vaginas being fucked. Ain’t nothing disrespectful about vaginas being used for their intended purpose. Not at all.

And trying to play off your vagina hating rant as anything but HATING is a lie. Don’t want to play in my sandbox? Fine. Don’t want me to play in your sandbox? Fine. But don’t call me, the toys I bring to the sandbox or anything about me names. Derogatory names and tell me I’m being disrespectful. Apologizing for calling my vagina and vaginas around the world as being cootie filled is full of hate. Cause you shouldn’t have said it in the first place. Now I know how you really feel about vaginas.

And I don’t normally write m/m stuff. I do write menage stuff. I read a whole lot of shit though.

This whole issue pisses me off.

Not long ago, just WRITING about m/m romances and sex could get you tarred and feathered. So the m/f community excluded it from ALL writing and pairings regardless of the reality of the situation. Then someone got a clue, smacked the shit out of the m/f community with a two-by-four of common sense, and viola, we get some m/m action. Then m/m took the fuck off. Which I applaud. Seriously. Love having some diversity in my ability to read some different stuff. But now, to be told that women writers of m/m are clueless and/or having women having sex in m/m stories is denigrating in some fashion pisses me the fuck off.

Don’t we have enough hang ups about fucking in this society without the m/m community- which, by the way, should be MORE tolerant, having hang ups about some people having sex. I don’t have girl cooties. None of my gay friends have fag cooties. None of my multi-gendered friends have freak cooties. I don’t care who’s catching or pitching. Nor do I care what instrument they are using. What I care about is the derogatory terms with which they are being described.

Fuck you. It is hard enough in this puritanical society to be free to express ourselves sexually. To be labeled as having girl cooties makes me feel about the same as being referenced as a breeder. I won’t stand for it in RL. I won’t stand for it in my writerly life. Just like I wouldn’t stand for nasty shit being said about others who have sex not in conformance with the “norm.”

It is beyond time to have m/m sex portrayed in mainstream fiction of all genres. Just as it is beyond time to have m/f sex portrayed in m/m fiction of all genres. M/m should be leading the way, not crying that there are vaginas in the m/m world. No m/m couple lives in a vacuum. Surprisingly, there are lots of vaginas in the world- yes, even in the m/m world. And sometimes, they even get used.

I don’t write off-scene sex often. So if the peeps in my books are fucking, you’re seeing it. I’m sure there are authors that write off-scene sex. I’m sure there are authors that write explicit sex scenes. I bet the heat level has nothing to do with sexual orientation or preference. It’s just the way they write about sex in their books.

So here’s your fucking warning: People in my books like to fuck. Some have dicks. Some have pussies.

That is all.

Smutty Sunday 6/30/13

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Doing something different again. Gotta give a shout out to my peeps at the AW Forum, yeah? So instead of telling y’all about books I’ve read, I’m telling you about books you should buy. And they are SMUT-TACK-U-LOUS. Just from the covers, you know they’re yummy!

America’s Darlings by Gail Bridges

Leah Collins is a sexual gymnast, a brilliant athlete poised to compete in the Mexico City Olympic Games of 2112. She takes pride in her advanced skills in the sexual arts, but performing Courtesan’s Treat and Raging Volcano in front of thousands of cheering fans is no easy task, especially when sexual malfunctions threaten.

At her side, a pillar of strength and compassion, is her best friend, Benson White. He is the one who scrapes her from the ground when her self-destructive tendencies surface. Benson is a talented sexual gymnast in his own right, the other half of America’s Darlings.

They hope for a gold medal. What neither of them expects is to fall in love.

Inside Scoop: This book contains a mixed-gender ménage, girl-on-girl, references to male/male sex, group sex, voyeurism, exhibitionism and everything else you’d expect from a society where sex is a game.

An Exotika® futuristic erotica story from Ellora’s Cave

Click here to go to the book’s page and buy.

 

Angel’s Redemption by Azalea Moone

Twenty-four-year-old Blaine Schneider is seasoned to hardship. Since the age of eight, he’s experienced nothing but a swarm of bad luck: from the funny electrical fire in shop class to failing grades and relationships gone sour. He believes he’ll never get past it; only his band, ‘Til Dark, and their dream, keeps him going through it all.

Shortly after he mysteriously inherits a beautifully carved angel statue, Blaine also finds an apartment big enough to display the lifelike sculpture, and he thinks his luck has finally taken a turn for the better. But when he discovers the spell inscribed on the statue’s base, he frees Lynsael from his stone prison, a handsome fallen angel who claims to be Blaine’s former guardian angel, and then his luck really improves.

But while Blaine is falling hard for the angel’s blue eyes and lively personality, in the shadows, dark forces are working to keep Blaine and Lynsael apart. It will take more than luck for the pair to come through unscathed—it’ll take a miracle.

Click here to go to the book’s page and buy.

 

Directing Traffic by Charley Descoteaux

Neil Sedwick expects to spend his vacation in a sleepy tourist trap mourning his late partner’s death. Instead, he puts his recently acquired CPR certificate to use and saves an elderly resident’s life. But it’s the survivor’s nephew, sexy middle-school teacher Ty Bigelow, who causes Neil to reevaluate his routine and consider reopening his heart.

Though the electricity between them is undeniable, Ty is struggling with his own feelings of inadequacy, and Neil is moored to the past. Even the healing peace of an old man’s garden and the ever-changing waters of the Oregon coast may not be enough to prepare Neil to overcome a crisis of the heart.

Click here to go the the book’s page and buy.

Plagiarism

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So there was a big brouhaha this past weekend when Lorelei James found out that @AlisonGilmore had ripped off her entire book and put it up as her fanfic and then to a blog. AlisonGilmore claimed she was writing the book chapter by chapter. She wasn’t. She was and is a thief of the highest order. She ripped off someone else’s work and claimed it as her own. There was a huge internet smack down. HUGE. Like by several people all getting into the act and it brought her blog pages down and she ended up shutting off her twitter account. She now has a new twitter account and has made it private. Only the internet isn’t “private.” Not at all. The internet is very public and is forever.

Limecello posted a blog about the internet takedown.  As did Rilzy on her blog. They both have several pictures of the images capturing the twitter logs and the blog and the subsequent takedown. They have a, forever on the internet for all time and for anyone to see and read,  blog entry about the blatant plagiarism AlisonGilmore engaged in when she ripped off Lorelei’s book. The book was ALL JACKED UP.

Plagiarist aren’t new. They are the necessary evil when you are an award winning author. Only the internet makes it so much easier to find them and ferret them out. Like ridiculously easy. Almost as easy as it makes for someone to do the ripping off. So the internet is both a sword and a shield. It cuts and protects all at the same time.

What it can’t do is make stupid people smarter. Or people who can’t write, write. And that’s what it boils down to. Plagiarist are inherently lazy, stupid and weak. No talent is involved when you steal someone’s ideas and storylines. Word for frickin’ word.

AlisonGilmore sent a tweet that said in effect- writing romance, erotic romance and erotica is for talentless dweebs. I won’t go into why writing GOOD smex is hard- almost as hard as writing comedy. But what I will go into is my response to AlisonGilmore’s talentless dweeb comments. My tweet is below. I bolded what I wrote in response to her tweet. What I wrote is true. And it was a kick-ass response to her assertions.

 

D.R. Slaten ‏@DRSlaten 14 Jun

Plagiarism is for people who can’t think. @laurahunsaker @megantgrimm @loreleijames smut is for people who can’t write.

Smutty Sunday 6/16/13

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Mine To Take by Cynthia Eden

 

Another smutty Sunday book rec deviation. Gonna focus on one author and one book. Cause that’s just what’s happening. One of these days we’ll return to my regularly scheduled program of doing a variety of different genre recs. But that day is not today .

Cynthia Eden. Need I say more? Hot alpha heroes. Wicked cool heroines. Lots of paranormal peeps. And Smoking sex.  Seriously, a girl who likes to read smut couldn’t ask for more. Not at all.

But here, I’m going to review her new contemporary romantic suspense novella- Mine to Take. Got an advance copy from NetGalley. It’s a longer novella. It is a really good length. I want to say it is a perfect length. But seriously, I love her writing so much that even a full length novel makes me want more. Never fails. I get to the end and I get the sads.

Mine to Take has a lot of goodness. I didn’t like the hero at first. I thought Trace was a douche of the highest order. But… but… but… as the story unfolded, I totally fell in LOVE with him. He has all the traits in an alpha hero that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. He’s a badass. He cares more for the heroine than himself. And when danger loomed large, Trace loomed LARGER.

Skye is being stalked. Her life is being threatened. And it is someone close to her. Someone who knows where she is and what she is doing. So she goes to Trace to ask for help in stopping her stalker. What she doesn’t know is that Trace has always looked out for her from the very first time they met in foster care. And that hasn’t changed. Won’t ever change. Can’t change. Because some people aren’t just people you meet and move on from. Some people get under your skin. And they become your very reason for breathing.

There are some twist and turns in this story. Both Skye and Trace have their trust, beliefs and sanity questioned. And the bad guy? Totally didn’t see it coming until the end. Which is the way a good suspense story should be.

Ten years they been apart. Cause if you love someone, really love someone, sometimes you have to do the thing you don’t want to do the most. Let them go. And it’s the hope, the undying, never-ending, all-consuming hope of them returning to you that drives you forward. Because if someone you love has a dream, and you are in the way of that dream and you love them more than you love yourself, there’s only one course of action. At least if your a badass alpha hero who has loved his woman since he was a kid.

And when she returns to you? Sheesh, not even a crazy-assed stalker is going to get in the way of THAT reunion and happily ever after. No way. No how.

So get Mine to Take on Amazon. Read it. Love it. I promise, you’ll like it. I did.

Smutty Sunday 6/2/13

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http://www.kristenashley.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/cover31216-medium.png

 

Gonna do something a little different for my smutty sunday recs this time. Normally, I try to give recs in various genres so that there’s a little something for everybody instead of just for the smut and smex readers.

But I got an advance copy of Kristen Ashley‘s book Fire Inside, her second Chaos Novel from Netgalley. It rocked. Seriously great reading. But before I go into all the reasons why this book rocked, I have to let you know that it is really the third Chaos novel. And we have to talk the the first two before we can talk about this one.

The first Chaos novel was Motorcycle Man. It was the last of her Dream Man series and probably my favorite in that series. It wasn’t my favorite because there were hot dudes on motorcycles. Although, that fact did add to its overall goodness. It was good because the characters in the book were great. I like Tack. And I like Tyra. I would want to know them in real life. They were interesting people living out an interesting life. Sure they had some shit to overcome. That’s called plot. This book also introduced me to the Chaos Motorcycle Club dudes. And what fascinating dudes they were. What I really like most about this book though was that Tyra had her dream life planned out. And she was going to go for the brass ring. She wanted it all, she let people know and then she made it happen. She didn’t want to compromise any component in that dream. She didn’t. Tack was her dream man. He was also good with giving her all the components of her dream life. So it all turned out good but it went bad before it could get there.

The second Chaos book was Own the Wind. It is the first in the Chaos series. It is about Shy and Tabitha. They had secret crushes on each other. Hid those feelings which brought other lovers into their lives. Were enemies at one point and then became friends. It wasn’t until much later they became lovers. Full circle. I didn’t like this book as much as Motorcycle Man or Fire Inside. But it was still a good read. You can’t like all books to an equal degree cause it is just impossible. some you just like more than others. The female character in this book wasn’t one I connected with as well as the other two. So there you have it. I gotta think the dude it hot. But I also have to like the girl. I liked Tab, I just didn’t like her enough. If you see what I mean.

Now, we get to Fire Inside. This is Lanie and Hop’s story. Hop is a Chaos brother and Lanie is Tyra’s best friend. Lanie’s old boyfriend, Elliot, got killed in Motorcycle Man. Lanie has taken years to come back to herself. Hop has been there watching it. They are attracted to each other. But it isn’t until Lanie propositions Hop that they get together. There’s drama in this book. But it’s the good kind. Where there’s personal growth, facing demons and becoming a bigger person. Living large instead of getting by small. I really liked Lanie. I really, really like Hop. And I really liked Fire Inside. Get it cause you’ll be rooting for Lanie. But you will be totally cheering for Hop. I liked the girl character in this book as much as I liked the guy character. So buy it and love it like I did.

Men Should Read Erotic Romance

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Normally I post random thoughts on Friday. But this Friday, my random though deserved a separate post. Men should read Erotica and Erotic Romance. They should do this for a number of reasons. Here’s a perfect illustration why.

*I used to be in a book club. It was a chick lit book club. But we had a dude in it. And he’s the one that turned me on to erotic romances. He told me he read them because his wife appreciated it.*

So guys, read erotic romances. Your women will appreciate it. Really they will.

First, read it because it’ll help you get into the mind of a woman. Now I’m not telling you to use lines from the things you read. But if your at a loss for what a woman wants in a particular situation, use the readings as guide posts. If your feeling at a loss because your brain is from Mars and her brain is from Venus, women writing men characters can give you a glimpse into the wants of how women might want you to respond. This isn’t rocket science dudes. And even if you don’t think any real life dudes would behave the way males behave in romances, still it’s like an outline for how she wants you to behave. Get as close as you can while still being authentic.

Second, read and reread the sex scenes. Seriously. Reading explicit erotic romance can make you a better lover. Trust me on this, you want to be a better lover. After many martinis and lots of heart-to-heart girl talks, LOTS of men need to do better. If you don’t think this is about you, it is. Your girl just won’t tell you. I will. Read some frickin’ books. Learn some new techniques. Figure this shit out cause YOU really need to. Really. I can’t stress this enough. Can’t. Stress. This. ENOUGH. This post is about you. Seriously.

If you’ve ever wondered what women want or the woman you are with can’t verbalize what she wants, read some frickin’ books and try out a variety of the things being written in those books. It’s a pretty sure bet, at some point, you are going to hit upon what your woman wants. If you’ve gotten into a rut or you don’t think your current technique is all that, don’t read dude publications to fix things. You want to read women’s writings, thought and wants. I mean it is women you are sleeping with. Who better to give you pointers on how to be a better lover than women? Ummm, no one.

Third, even if you’re not in a rut or your woman thinks you sex it up fine, it’ll still expand your mind. You’ll get ideas. And they are kind of fun to read. It’s not called mommy porn (a term I loathe but fits here) for nothing. Even though most dudes are visual, there’s only so much shitty porn on TV you can watch before you’ve seen just about everything. Reading erotica and erotic romance will help broaden your horizons and you can visualize as you read. It totally engages your imagination. See it’s a new avenue to get your stranger sex fix.

So there are a lot of reasons guys should read Erotic Romance and Erotica. For them and for their partners. Of the three reasons above, I find one of them to be the most relevant to me. But I hope I given some dudes some things to think about because all of the reasons are relevant to guys.

Smutty Sunday 5/26/13

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Okay smut readers extraordinaire. Here are some reading recommendations. In no particular order.

Eric Flint has a series about the Ring of Fire in which a group of people with in the zone- the ring of fire, are all thrown back in time. Lots of history to go along with the whole time travel concept. It is a brilliant read. Brillant.

Next month Nalini Singh is going to have her last Psy-Changeling book in her series come out. It is 11 books of goodness. And I am waiting with bated breath to read this last one. I have read all of the others and they are fab-u-lous. Seriously rocking good reads.

For all you 50 shades fans out there, Sylvia Day has written her Crossfire series and they are so good, so magnificent, I don’t let myself think about the fact that the series isn’t going to be finished for another year or so. If i think about it, I might cry.

I usually try to get in a nonfiction book. But this time, I am going to recommend a nonfiction topic. Go to your local bookstore, it is better if you can find a good used bookstore, and find books on something you want to learn about. I just bought a bunch of books on tea ceremonies. The ones I have are in regards to Japanese tea ceremonies. But I also plan to get books about English tea ceremonies as well. And recipe books that go along with this subject. It behooves us all to keep learning new things. Trying new things out. Stepping outside out comfort zone and opening our minds. Pick something, flower arranging, watercolor, etc. Get some how to books, or books about its history or something like that. It’s kinda fun.

Smutty Sunday 4/28/13

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Hey, looky here… it’s Sunday. Smutty Sunday to be exact. It’s that time again. So, here’s my weekly reading recommendations.

The sci/fi recommendation for this week is an oldie but goodie. This series helped one of my friends get into science fiction and fantasy as a genre. Made her excited to read that “weird” stuff. One of my other friends, a guy, scoffed at this series and the Eddings  series I started her on. He wanted her to jump right into Piers Anthony or something. You know, “real” science fiction. I told him that she would get hooked on this and then he could move her into the other stuff. You can’t just start someone on serious sci-fi. So I guess Melanie Rawn’s Dragon Prince Trilogy and it’s follow up series Dragon Star series is like one of the gateway drugs. Cause we did get her hooked and she did move to more serious sci fi and fantasy. But still, this series will always have a special place in my heart.

Cynthia Eden’s Fallen series ROCKS! I love her books. All of them. Usually when I read an author, there is a book or two that I just can’t stand or don’t think is as good as the others. Not so with Ms. Eden’s books. And her latest series in her ‘verse, the Fallen, about fallen angels is all kinds of deliciousness. Seriously. Hot angel dudes, crazy supernaturals, fabulous sex and action that just doesn’t quit. A girl really doesn’t need much more, yeah? I can’t wait for the next in this series to be released this summer. Can’t. Wait.

Kate Pearce House of Pleasure series with Simple titles are historically hot. I started reading these books a while ago. They just kept getting better and better and hotter and hotter. When  I read historicals, I am not really used to fabulous sex in them. Not many writers go there. Sure, some of them put in a little more than mainstream sex scenes but really Georgian and Regency period books are lean on the smex. Not these. They are HEAVY on the smex. And not just the mainstream kind, but the kinky, dirty, naughty kinds. Now can you see why I like them? But it’s not just that. In addition to fab sex, they have a story. A good story. They are yum!

Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner is my weekly non fiction rec. If you want to know little bits of everything and not a whole of of something, this book will help you. It explains the economics behind all sorts of random facts. Like why drug dealers still live with their moms. They talk about the hidden cost/benefits behind crazy random things. This book is funny, interesting and it will get you to think. Not a bad thing for any book. But for a nonfiction book that talks about economics, you know a topic that makes most people’s eyes glaze over, well that borders on miraculous, yeah?

Smutty Sunday 4/21/13

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Yeah, Yeah. I know. Today is the day that I help point you in the direction of smut to read. But before we do, here is a thought for the day. I heard a comedian say this… it’s only a joke if we both laugh. Think about that. How many times has someone said something hurtful, racists, criminal, etc. and played it off as only being a joke. If we both laugh, then yeah. If only the speaker is laughing then it is something other than a joke. Something that most people would only think would be okay told in a joking format. But underneath? Well, that dog don’t hunt, yeah?

So on to my normally scheduled program. Ilona Andrews and her Kate Daniels books are a series that I have read again and again. Seriously. They are that good. Urban Fantasy at its best. Not all Sci/Fi has to be high fantasy or deep space nine-ish. lol Urban Fantasy is part of that genre as well. A sub-set to be sure but nevertheless it is a pretty damn entertaining sub-set. And when it comes to my dollars, I like to be entertained. I like to read stories that seem fresh with strong characters. Ilona Andrews is a husband and wife team. They write kick ass books. I like the Kate Daniels ones the best but their Edge books rock just as well.

New Adult has been all the craze for a while. Everyone wants to be a New Adult Author, to rep a New Adult Author or to publish a New Adult author. I have waded through a lot of them. Most of the writing sucks. But there is a gem or two to be had. R.K Lilley’s Up in Air series is good as is Jodi Ellen Malpas’s This Man series. Both are trilogies so you get the characters for more than one book. One is set in the US, the other in the UK. I like books about British people. They say funny things. lol Some of the New Adult stuff seems to have a lot of conflicts and issues that don’t ring true. These two have decent explanations for why the characters are the way they are and a decent storyline that holds it all together.

For adult smut, I really like Lorelei James’ Rough Rider series. First, there is an assload of books in the series. Always a good thing. Then there are smokin’ hot cowboys in those assloads of books. Another good thing. Last but not least is the sex in them there books. A great thing. It’s an amalgamation of goodness all rolled into one. Most are M/F but one is MMF and then there are instances of menage that the characters engage in on an individual basis. See, something for everybody. lol

Now to my last recommendation for today. It’s an oldie but goodie. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I have read this book at least once a year since it was first introduced to me. I love this book. When I first read it, I identified with Scout. Then I got to know all that was good about Atticus. At some point, I pondered Boo. But it wasn’t until I really thought about the old lady kicking her opium habit that I got the full flavor of the book. All of those things make this a book that I read again and again. Because as I get older, Scout, Atticus and Boo are people I wish I knew but it the little old lady that I wish I were. I want to be her. Courage. Strength. Determination. All of that. To be FREE of addiction and to meet death unfettered. And to make that happen. 30 minutes at a time. Strong. Brave. Resolute. Any of us can do that in 30 minute bites. Yup, I want to be her when I grow up. I surely do.