With all the publicity
about the Fifty Shades Trilogy one
would think erotic romance has just been discovered like the New World.
Not true!
Erotic romance has been
around since Fanny Hill, Lady Chatterly’s
Lover and Pearl. And today it’s
one of the biggest sellers in romance fiction. And I am so excited to be a art
of this growing market.
Ellora’s Cave copyrighted
the term Romantica when it opened its doors more than ten years ago and blasted
open the bedroom door with it tastefully crafted erotic romance. Others
followed. And now Total-e-bound has taken the Fifty Shade phenomenon one step further. Clandestine Classics are
red hot versions of classics like Jane
Eyre and Pride and Prejudice. And
my own selection, Northanger Abbey.
Trifle with an author’s
voice? you cry in dismay.
Not at all. The five
authors selected to launch this exciting series have been very careful to
maintain both the author’s voice and style as we weave highly erotic scenes
into the original manuscript. Implied sex is now vivid and scintillating and
hopefully as arousing for the reader as for the characters in the novels.
So what’s the debut list
to choose from?
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Sierra Cartwright
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and Amy Armstrong
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and Desiree Holt
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne and Marie Sexton
A Study in Scarlet by A. Conan Doyle and Sarah Masters
The series is creating
quite a stir, with media from the London Daily Mail and the BBC to The New York
Times, Fox News, The Hollywood Reporter, CNN and Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC
discussing it. The news has gone viral. Did I pique your curiosity? I hope so.
And here,
for your tasting pleasure, a tiny bite of Northanger
Abbey:
Darkness impenetrable and
immovable filled the room. A violent gust of wind, rising with sudden fury,
added fresh horror to the moment. Catherine trembled from head to foot. In the
pause which succeeded, a sound like receding footsteps and the closing of a
distant door struck on her affrighted ear. Human nature could support no more.
A cold sweat stood on her forehead, the manuscript fell from her hand, and
groping her way to the bed, she jumped hastily in, and sought some suspension
of agony by creeping far underneath the clothes. To close her eyes in sleep
that night, she felt must be entirely out of the question. With a curiosity so
justly awakened, and feelings in every way so agitated, repose must be
absolutely impossible. The storm too abroad so dreadful! She had not been used
to feel alarm from wind, but now every blast seemed fraught with awful
intelligence. The manuscript so wonderfully found, so wonderfully accomplishing
the morning’s prediction, how was it to be accounted for? What could it contain?
To whom could it relate? By what means could it have been so long concealed?
And how singularly strange that it should fall to her lot to discover it! Till
she had made herself mistress of its contents, however, she could have neither
repose nor comfort; and with the sun’s first rays she was determined to peruse
it. But many were the tedious hours which must yet intervene. She shuddered,
tossed about in her bed, and envied every quiet sleeper. The storm still raged, and various
were the noises, more terrific even than the wind, which struck at intervals on
her startled ear. The very curtains of her bed seemed at one moment in motion,
and at another the lock of her door was agitated, as if by the attempt of
somebody to enter. Hollow murmurs seemed to creep along the gallery, and more
than once her blood was chilled by the sound of distant moans. She began to
wish for Henry Tilney to find his way secretly to her room to help allay her
nervousness.
When the door to her
room opened slowly she searched frantically for something with which to defend
herself, not knowing if it was ghost of human who trespassed. When she saw
Henry slip into the room, fingers to his lips, she poofed out a sigh of relief.
Had just thinking of him conjured him up?
“What are you doing
here?” she whispered as softly as she could, noticing that he had divested
himself of all his clothes save a thin pair of breeches and a loose shirt.
“I feared the storm
would disturb you and wanted to ease you through it.”
“But—But—But what if
someone sees you walking around like that?” Her fingers gripped the bedclothes.
“General Tilney and my
mother are long fast asleep,” he whispered back, “and I hope the same for my
sister. However, since she sleeps two doors down we must be careful not to do
anything to call her attention.”
“And what would we be
doing?” she asked.
With a smile Henry
approached the bed and eased himself down on top of the covers next to her. “I
hope many things,” he told her. “I have felt this strong attraction between us
from the first moment of our meeting and I have seen in your eyes a like
feeling. If I am mistaken please advise me of it and I will leave a once.”
Even as the blood
stirred within her and her pulse rate accelerated, she felt compelled to offer
at least a token protest. “I assure you that I am still an innocent, an
unsullied and respectable female.”
His hand cupped her
cheek, turning her face to his. “My dear sweet Catherine, I am fully aware of
that. I would take no advantage of that if you bid me leave. And if you bid me
so I will be gone and this will be as if it never happened. But understand that
you have my full respect as well as a number of other emotions that far surpass
it. From our first meeting I have dreamed of being the one man to show you the
pleasures of the body. I care for you so much. Please do not turn me away.”
She could have demurred
further but she was so eager for his touch that it seemed to her a waste of
time so she simply smiled and placed her hand over his. “And I have dreamed of
the same things.”
Henry leaned his head
closer to her face and placed his lips on hers. They were firm and moist and
the touch was utterly pleasant. He brushed his mouth lightly over hers in a
back ad forth motion, teasing her, until his tongue peeped out to trace he seam
of her lips.
“Open your mouth for
me, sweet Catherine,” he urged. “Let me in.”
She did so and when his
tongue swept inside it filled her with a sensation of pleasure that danced
through her body. Her nipples tingled and at once the sensitive muscles in her
cunt trembled. She felt the liquid of her arousal soaking the crotch of her
nighttime bloomers and had to press her thighs together. All this from a kiss!
Imagine! But it was far beyond any kiss she’d ever imagined. Henry’s tongue
touched the inside of her mouth everywhere, sliding over her own tongue in a
movement that coaxed her to let hers dance with him. He thrust it in and out,
mimicking the act of sex she and Virginia had read about and arousing her even
more.
You can find all of the
Clandestine Classics at www.total-e-bound.com.
And keep up with me at
Twitter: @desireeholt
Facebook: Desiree Holt
Hadn't heard of this series and love the idea and the excerpt. I'll certainly be getting at least all the Jane Austen ones. Thanks.Jean
ReplyDeleteDesiree, great excerpt. What an idea to make the classics hotter.
ReplyDeleteWe're hoping to cross all groups of readers with this everything from erotic to historical. It's an exciting project to be part of.
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Desiree. I hadn't heard the buzz yet, but it sounds as if the concept is grabbing attention. Very cool!
ReplyDeleteWow, Desiree, the series sounds great. I hadn't heard of it yet. I'm impressed, and I hope the Fifty Shades craze helps sell lots of better-written erotic romance. Good luck to you and the other writers in the series.
ReplyDeleteImpressive melding of that style with your inimitable writing abilities. Congrats.
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a tantalizing excerpt. This sounds like an excellent series.
ReplyDeleteThanks for bring this to us today. I love it.