Serious #SixSunday Sentences from Just Ask by Mia Downing

If you're here for the blog hop, you'll need to jump down to here:

Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Hop Post

The rest of you, get ready for...

Today's Six Sentence Sunday features Just Ask, my m/m that is FREE 12/16 on Amazon.com! 

The set-up: Jordan has inherited half of an island resort from his half-uncle, Blake. Ryan, his business partner and lover, wants to know why Jordan's so afraid to own a piece of his uncle's dream.  Here's 6 sentences of their discussion. 

Six Sentences From Just Ask

Jordan swallowed, and the lump in his throat finally let go of his Adam’s apple. “I’ve tried to buy peace. Money only gets you great seats for a ball game.” 

Ryan said, “Maybe you’re afraid of the things you can’t buy.”

“That’s stupid.” But it wasn’t, not if you thought about the huge, long list of things not for sale and considered that Blake had found a lot of those, right here.

Just Ask Buy Link: Free on Amazon 12/16

For more Six Sentence Sunday goodness, visit: Six Sentence Sunday Website

Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Jump with @Miadowning007!

It's a Happy Holiday from your favorite Authors and Bloggers. While we know everyone celebrates a different way, we wanted to make sure that you guys knew how much we treasure you all.

Personally, I hate the holidays and sometimes it's hard to find the love in the mix of shopping, wrapping and finding parking spaces. I will say as my kids have gotten bigger, our traditions have gotten more interesting. Last year the kids took on a new tradition--extreme wrapping. That means your new sneakers in a shoe box may be transformed into a wrapped robot with moving arms and legs. Or your kitchen utensils may become a dachshund. Other unique presents were wrapped to look like a mouse, a cat, and a dolphin. The kids were so proud of their handiwork and it made the day really fun.

 
In my writing, none of my characters have gotten to celebrate the holidays on paper. I would think their gifts would be fairly interesting, though, seeing Chase and Kate Sanders gave their close friend, Jake, a menage for his birthday in Birthday Games. I can't imagine what Santa could shove in a stocking to beat that.

I do have a fun gift for you guys. My newest m/m Just Ask is free on Amazon this week! If you haven't tried m/m this is a great book to cut your teeth on. The book has spent the last 20 days on the top 100 list for Gay and Lesbian literature peaking at #4 and it's free until 12/16.

I'll leave you the link, go check out the blurb and download!

Amazon link for Just Ask

On to the prizes!!!! 

We have THREE grand prizes. You as a reader can go to EACH blog and comment with your email address and be entered to win. Yep, you can enter over 200 times!

Now what are those prizes?

(INT) 1st Grand Prize: A Kindle Fire or Nook Tablet

(INT) 2nd Grand Prize: A $200 Amazon or B&N Gift Card

(US only) 3rd Grand Prize: A Swag Pack that contains paperbacks, ebooks, 50+ bookmarks, cover flats, magnets, pens, coffee cozies, and more!

And I have something, too! 

I'm giving away a $10 Amazon gift card and an e-copy of one of my books. 

All you have to do is leave your email in a comment. What's your favorite holiday tradition?

 Are you a Grinch or do you love the holidays? Weigh in and get a little more than coal in your stocking.

To continue along the candy cane trail of holiday gifts, hop on over to: Carrie Ann's Holiday Gifts of Love Blog Hop 

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First Impressions #SixSunday Sentences from Lethal Limits

I'm doing six sentences from Lethal Limits this week! Secret agent Jake Anderson has just been informed he's getting a new partner by his boss and best friend, Chase. Unfortunately, the person who walks through the door is the last person he expects to be working with! I don't think she's too happy, either... 

Six Sentences from Spy Games: Lethal Limits

“I don’t want a new partner.”

Tia walked in, so beautifully exotic, even in casual wear, her dark hair tumbling down around her face, her shoulders. And suddenly in his mind, she was in black crotchless panties, a bra, and thigh-high stockings again.

Jake sucked in a breath, and the fact that air came though his mouth meant he wasn’t gagged and bound to her bed, she wasn’t hot for him, and this wasn’t Paris. 

Chase beckoned to Tia, who had frozen in the doorway. “Jake, meet your new work wife, Tia Richards.”




Buy Link: amazon

For more Six Sentence Sunday goodness, visit: Six Sentence Sunday website

Backdoor Lovin'--What Do Readers Think?

Okay, this is definitely an over 18 blog post, so if you're a youngster, hit the road. The rest of you, gather around. We're going to get down and dirty.

An acquaintance had commented on the amount of anal sex that takes place in erotic romances and erotica books (it was more of an eye roll and "God, please no more," comment.) It got me to thinkin'--scary, I know--do readers like reading about anal sex? Do they expect to read ALL about it in their steamier smut?

Yes, there tends to be a lot of backdoor lovin' in the true erotica/erotic romance books. Adding anal sex to a book tends to up the rating factor, which does make it sell better. For example, in our Scarlet Rose line of TWRP, adding anal sex will up your rating from a single rose to a double rose rating. There are other factors that can land you a happy double rose score, like heavier bondage and BDSM, but an episode of anal and you're in, no lube needed. Now, the editors aren't going to let us toss in anal for a rating--it has to work for the book. But give readers an anal-loving cowboy or military man and they're swooning and begging for more.

But I'm a nosy girl, and I wanted proof from actual readers. So I asked my friend Bookie, queen of the Erotic Enchants group on GoodReads to set up a poll for me about anal sex in erotic romances. The results were very interesting. Before we get to the results, feel free to join the naughtiness on Erotic Enchants. The link is embedded above (and you could weigh in on the poll yourself.)

The Poll!

Anal sex!
Inquiring minds would love to know what you think about backdoor lovin' in your reading material.


Out of 170 total votes...

88 votes (51.8%) weighed in as: "Hell yes! Love it!"
67 votes (39.4%) weighed in with: "With lots of lube and a good set up, it's acceptable."
15 votes (8.8%) weighed in with: "::Squirm:: Keep it in the front, mister!"

The demographics aren't broken down into percentage of male/female voters, but I know we have guys in the group. I would assume, however, the overwhelming majority consists of women.

The comments were interesting, too. Some readers expected anal sex in their erotic romance but preferred not to see it in contemporary books. Others just loved reading that aspect of sex. Some liked that some more generally mainstream contemporary authors were starting to press the envelope and add it in, where others weren't on board with that.

I personally don't like it tossed in for a steamier rating, and the characters I write truly want to experience that adventure (I voted for the middle choice, in case you hadn't guessed from this statement.)

Anal sex in my writing:

• In Trained for Seduction, anal sex was the one thing Chase refused to do with Kate, because he was afraid it would drag him back into his old ways of deeper kink, and he didn't want to take her there for many reasons. However, Kate feels it's just one more way for Chase to own her completely, which she truly wants. 
• Lethal Limits--Jake and Tia are just dirty, happy kinksters and they just love it. 
• In Endgame (to be released) the hero, Aaron, wants to try, but struggles with the religious aspects of whether it's right or wrong.
• And finally, in the work I have in progress, anal sex is actually important for plot reasons, and the hero, Marek, is going to make it as romantic as possible so Skye is thrilled enough to do it again (and again, and again. But not all the same day.)

Are you brave enough to weigh in here? What do you think? 

Ripped #SixSunday Sentences

I haven't done Six Sentences from Ripped in eons, so I think we'll see why Gavin is so conflicted. Today is the anniversary of his sister's death, and unfortunately, he was driving when a drunk driver hit them. He's come a long way since then--cleaning himself up, sobering up, graduating from college--but he still blames himself. His friend, Erik, is there to help him through this rough day.

Six Sentences from Ripped

Gavin raked a hand through his spiky hair, giving the ends a ruthless tug. “The one day I’m sober— yeah, I was hung over— but I was clean. No drugs, no booze. Clear-headed, driving like my grandfather across town. I even had my seatbelt on. Every single fucking T crossed, every I dotted, and I still manage to get her killed.”

For more six sentence fun, visit: Six Sentence Sunday website

Ripped buy links: The Wilder Roses (The Wild Rose Press Erotic Catalog)      Amazon          B&N

Keeping the Prose Active

You'd think something as active as sex would call for a host of really good words, but yet erotic romance writers seem to get stuck in the same host of inactive words that don't lend anything to their writing. I fall victim to this as well. 

Every book it seems my editor finds some new weak or repetitive word that drives her insane and leads to a herd of red scratches and little comment boxes. The last email I sent of a scene for her to look at was returned, pointing out I had used the word brush four times (ack!) Another time it was the word suck (in my defense, it was  blowjob, and the word was part of the discussion.) It's also really hard to come up with alternate body part words, seeing there are two main active parts in all of this excitement, unless it's a menage, then there could be a host of fun parts, but still lacking on the variety.

So what words should you look for in your manuscript to keep the evil red scratches and comment boxes at bay? Here's a list I use. Ready? Go.

The first big search/delete: THAT--95% are removable without changing sentence structure/meaning

Basic Verbs:
Push, look, gaze, press, pull, move, bring, brought, was (you can't avoid all of them, but you can most)

Move and look of the above are pet peeves of my editor's.

Eh: He moved toward her.
Better: Stalked? Ambled? Tip-toed? Stampeded? Flew like a flying squirrel?

Eh: He looked at the volcano.
Better: He snapped his attention toward the flaming, spewing volcano.


Repetitive body parts:

Body, body parts, any buzz word that is a body part

Overusing the body parts is a hard one, because there are only so many parts doing the action. Hands, fingers, mouth, lips...there are only so many ways to vary using them, but vary you must. Seeing the same words over and over feels repetitive to the reader and gives the sex scene a Slot A/Tab B feel. The key is to get creative with how you word the various actions. Some examples...

Body is a pet peeve thanks to an editor friend.

Eh: He moved his body toward her hand. (I was sneaky and got two in.)
Yeah!: He arched his hips, shoving his aching, hard shaft into her willing hand. (Oooh, baby.)

Buzz words: Yep, the names for the naughty but fun parts. Penis and vagina sound clinical. It's hard to vary, but try not to use cock twenty times on a page, six times in a sentence. Womb is not a good choice, since it makes people think of babies, and when you're smexing (unless you're smexing to make babies) it's not a good thing.

Passive/telling words to avoid:

Thought, knew, felt, that, because, now, saw, watched, noticed, heard, thought, knew, decided, realized

These are all words that tell instead of show. Telling is a horrible trap to get into. Yes, I'm telling a story, but showing how the character feels is much more inviting to the reader. Here are some examples. 

Eh: I felt scared. 
Better: Terror raced up my spine. 

Eh: I saw the alien ship land. 
Better: Holy shit, an alien ship landed and they are making crop circles in my field! (They better not, I'd be angry.) 


If you're like me, now you're whining and tired. That's a lot of searching! But your story will be better for it, and your readers will thank you.

A Moment to say THANK YOU! 

It's hard to believe Just Ask was released two weeks ago to Amazon, and I'm so grateful to everyone who has supported me in every way. It's been hanging around the top 20 GBLT lists for over a week, and has been in the top 100 since the debut weekend. That means a lot of thanks are needed to be offered up because I'm grateful for every second of this fabulous ride. 

So...Thanks to the GBLT community, for being special, open, wonderful people. Thank you to the many m/m authors who have given me great stories to read and dream about, sparking my own ideas. 

Thanks to the ARC readers and reviewers! Thank you friends and fans (my family is blissfully unaware of my smut writing capabilities. Except my sister.) Thanks to the inner ring of friends who have to hook up the IV tequila/coffee lines and who listen to me complain about running out of coffee and tequila on a regular basis (I'm not that difficult, really.) 

Lastly, thank you Diana Carlile, my editor and cover artist. She dared me to write it, so I did. Sometimes dares are a good thing. 

New Stuff #SundaySix Sentences

So this is a six sentence selection from a work in progress. Alone was a challenge project for The Erotic Enchants group on Good Reads (there's a link on my sidebar to join if you like erotic, book loving fun!) We had to work with a blurb and a cover either designed by ourselves or another member. I chose something my friend Bookie Nookie came up with, because it was dark, mysterious and a challenge. So far, it's definitely been a challenge to write! 

Skye Bellew has always been alone, right from the get-go. Bounced from foster home to foster home as a kid, she's always had to look out for number one. Yet, she dreams of a family somewhere far away and has searched for them without much luck. Enter Marek Young, a mysterious yet hotter-than-hell stranger, who vows he knows the truth about her past. He'll tell her everything, if she'll spend the weekend with him. She should want to run and hide, but she's unable to resist his magnetic pull. If she gives in, she might finally know the truth about her past, but is the price more than she's willing to pay? 

Six Sentences from Alone 

He closed the door and Skye sat before her knees buckled. Oh, my. So many emotions swirled, dancing with the lust, tangling with the shame of what she’d done. So many parts of her sang out, their voices like an unruly crowd in her mind, begging her to let him in, vowing this will be different despite how it all started. And yet, the voice that protested the loudest belonged to the scrappy girl, the orphan. No matter how sexy he was, Marek was not to be trusted, not for one minute.


For more reading goodness, visit: Six Sentence Sunday Website