Guest Blog: Party Time with Lynda Bailey + Giveaway #RB4U #BDSM

Happy Last Weekend in November! In keeping with RB4U’s monthly theme, we’re gonna party like rock stars. <wink>

November has always meant a lot to me – and not just because of Turkey Day. This is also my birthday month…the 20th to be exact. AND it’s my sister’s birthday month as well. In fact today is HER birthday. To commemorate, I’m doing a giveaway…details at the bottom.

To start things off, I found this pic of me and Sis taken a very loooong time ago. (I’m the one on the right…)

Cute kids, huh?

As you might imagine, November was a busy month for my family. First my birthday, then my sister’s, then Thanksgiving – which sometimes fell on Sister’s bday – then we’d slide right into December and Christmas. Talk about a toy boon. <grin>

My sister and I had birthday parties with all our friends, plus balloons, presents, games, cake and ice cream. While I can’t share actual party favors and food with y’all, I can share my guest list – and you can share yours…but there’s a catch. Whomever you invite must be fictional; someone from a book or a movie or a TV show.

Here’s my list:

From a book, I’d invite Rhys Rhodes, the Marquess of Blackhurst from Lorraine Heath’s FABULOUS historical romance, Love With a Scandalous Lord.

If you haven’t read Love with a Scandalous Lord, you need to. Absolutely. Rhys is the quintessential romance hero. Dark and brooding, hiding a tortured past, but with a drool-worthy tender side. I’d spend my time talking to Rhys, soaking up that glorious British accent, or maybe we’d play a genteel game of croquets.

From TV, I’d invite Worf from Star Trek, the Next Generation.

Gotta love a man – or Klingon – in uniform, right? I must confess that I’ve always had a crush on Worf. Guess I’m a sucker for the strong silent type. *sigh* And Worf’s so athletic. Bet he’d crack the piñata with one swing.

Finally, from a movie I can’t resist Captain Jack Sparrow.

Handsome, adventuresome…and being a little bat-sh*t crazy is a bonus. Who wouldn’t want Captain Jack at their party? He’d be the one with the rum.

So what about you? What fictional book, TV or movie character or characters would you invite? 

Share and be entered to win a $5 Amazon gift card. 

(And attention authors…no fair saying one of your own characters, ‘kay?)

Thanks to RB4U for letting me hang out today!

Learning to love is the easy part…

As a young woman, Kate Landry trusted the wrong man, and she paid dearly for her naiveté. Alone, pregnant and destitute, she survived by the sheer force of her will. Now forty-two, Kate has made a good living for herself and her daughter as the owner of the Bluebird Saloon. But she’s forgotten how to live. That is until he comes into her bar…

Liam St. James loved a girl once. And only once. After an accident paralyzed her, she didn’t trust he would continue to love her. Brokenhearted, Liam left and soon discovered a world where women did trust him—to be their sexual Dominant. He plays out the scenes masterfully, but the unexpected request from the stoic bar owner will pose his greatest challenge yet…

Kate and Liam embark on a journey to uncover repressed urges and, in the process, they discover new desires. They also fall in love with one another. But when you’ve been shattered as badly as they have by mistrust, deceit and abuse, loving is easy. Trusting is harder, if not impossible, especially when the heart is involved…

Shattered Trust is a BDSM romance. It contains explicit language and graphic love scenes, including bondage, domination, spanking, whipping and multiple partners. It is intended for mature readers only.

Purchase from Amazon today: 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MJPJRX0

About the Author: 
Lynda has no doubt she's born a storyteller. Her romances are full of passion, with heat levels that range from hot to sizzling! She's been a finalist in numerous writing contests, including RWA’s® prestigious Golden Heart® in 2010. Please join her for laughter, love and that all important HEA.

Where you can find Lynda:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Guest Blog: Lynda Bailey: Happy Birthday - to ME!

Yes, today is my birthday… First I want to thank Romancebooks4us for hosting me on the anniversary of the day I was born. To celebrate I’m giving away presents! *** Leave a comment for the chance to win one of my digital titles plus a $5 gift card. (I’m also running a month-long giveaway over on my website, www.lyndabailey.net, for a $100 GC. All you have to do is sign up to be on my mailing list before Nov. 30th!)

Okay. Birthdays. More specifically…my birthday. While I’m not going to a reveal just how old I am, I will tell you that I remember (barely) where I was when President Kennedy was shot, when the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show – hell I remember Ed Sullivan, the (first) Hula Hoop craze and watching news feeds from the war in Vietnam. In other words, I’m part of the 80,000,000 who make up the *Baby Boom* generation; those individuals born between the years 1946 and 1964. Everyone from Madonna to Oprah and Bruce *the Boss* Springsteen to Barack *the President* Obama.

What does all this mean you ask? Truthfully, I’m not exactly sure. But I think it has something to do with me not having an accurate perception of age – or at least not having an accurate perception of MY age. I find myself doing things today that I did twenty years ago when I was…well…twenty years younger. Things like sitting cross-legged in my easy chair. (I don’t think I ever saw my mother sitting cross-legged, not even on a picnic…) Things like giggling. Not laughing…giggling. Things like running through leaves in the fall just to hear the whishy, crunchy sound. Things like wanting to buy a Jeep. Not a Jeep Cherokee mind you, but a circa mid-1970’s Jeep Wrangler, complete with a badass stick shift between the bucket seats.

What’s causing my age misperception? I believe that answer comes in the 80,000,000 number I quoted above. Companies understand they can’t afford to alienate such a large number of customers. They know it’s in their best interest to cater to this huge – and aging – demographic. That’s why Diane Keaton and Andie MacDowell (two more famous Boomers) are major spokeswomen for L’Oreal makeup and hair products.

But probably the real reason I don’t have a good grasp on my age is because I don’t want to have a good grasp on my age. It was the same when I was younger; I never wanted to “act my age.” Why change now? Things are just getting interesting…

So what *generation* do you come from? Are you a Boomer like me, or from the X-generation? Are you a thirty or forty something? What’s YOUR perception of age? Remember to leave a comment for the chance to win your choice of my titles + a $5 gift card. And pop over to my website and sign up for my mailing list for the chance at a $100 GC.

Now here’s a sneak peek at my newest release, GRACE, the third novella in my Heartache and Hopeful series, coming soon!

BLURB:
On the Corner of Heartache and Hopeful…

Revenge is a dish best served cold—and according to Grace Harrington, while wearing three inch stilettos and wielding a flogger. No longer the bullied, nerdy kid she was in high school, Grace is now a take-charge corporate lawyer in Omaha, Nebraska. She’s also a take-charge Top in the bedroom. The last thing she wants to do is go back to the small town of Tatum, but to save a treasured landmark from destruction while exacting retribution on the guy who ground her heart to dust? Hell yes!

Seth Reisner never wanted to leave Tatum. He thought being a country lawyer slash gentleman farmer would be the perfect life. But his agricultural kingpin uncle had other ideas. And when dear uncle foots the bill for law school plus signs your paycheck, you suck it up, alter your plans and move to Dallas, Texas. Now Seth divides his time between litigating on behalf of his uncle’s company and trying to find his “Mrs. Right.” When the opportunity to return to Tatum comes up, he’s grateful for the chance to go home.

Grace and Seth end up on opposite sides both in and out of the courtroom. Grace is determined to get her vengeance while Seth only wants to make up for his unintended past transgressions. When the verdict is read, who will win—and at what cost?

BIO:
I’ve always loved stories, especially romances. For me the only thing better than reading a romance is writing one. That and drinking red wine while eating dark chocolate.

My romances are full of passion, with heat levels that range from hot to sizzling! I’m proud to have been a 2010 finalist in the prestigious Golden Heart®. I hope you’ll join me for laughter and love, and where the good guys always win in the end.

I live in Reno with my husband of thirty+ years and our two pampered pooches.

Stalker Links:
Website: https://www.lyndabailey.net/
Blog: http://www.lyndabailey.net/category/blog/
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/LyndaBaileyRomanceAuthor
Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorlyndab
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/baileylynda/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6472849.Lynda_Bailey
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Lynda-Bailey/e/B007UQHW9E/

Thanks again to Romancebooks4us for letting me hang out on my birthday!

Guest Blog: Lynda Bailey: Writing Techno-colored Kink from a Vanilla Perspective

I want to extend a really big THANK YOU to the crew at Romancebooks4us for hosting me today. Leave a comment for the chance to win a $10 gift card.

Anyone who knows me knows I write contemporary romance for a reason. I loathe research. While some writers go ga-ga over research, for me it’s in the same category as a tax audit and dental visit. Me no like.

But as an erotic romance author, it seemed a natural segue for me to progress into writing BDSM romances – which meant coming face-to-face with my archenemy, my nemesis, my Waterloo…research. (And no, I’m not talking about the kind of research that had me tied up in a dungeon with whips and chains and floggers – oh my! Really, I’m not…

For Shattered Trust I wanted to do some honest-to-goodness research versus flying by the seat of my pants. Why? Because there are real people who live this lifestyle and I did not want to offend them. (Just ask any Regency author the penalty for getting historical details about clothing or transportation wrong. It can be worse than death.)

So, how does a vanilla (aka, someone not in the kink/leather lifestyle) author go about doing research involving BDSM without having to – ahem – do the research? The first thing I did was read BDSM romances by other authors – and NOT 50 Shades. A few of my personal favorites are Delilah Devlin, Lavender Day and Lily Rede. But, as with historical writers, taking what you read in someone else’s fictional book doesn’t make it so. But reading non-fiction BDSM books does. My ‘go-to’ non-fiction books are BDSM, The Naked Truth, by Dr. Charley Ferrer and The Ultimate Guide to Kink by Tristan Taormino.

Then there’s the research I did by Googling kink toys/equipment which gave me ideas of what various floggers, spanking benches and St. Andrews crosses actually look like. However, all the reading and Googling wasn’t helping me get into the emotion of what transpires during a scene. For that I needed a personal connection to the lifestyle.

Enter *Kim.*

Kim and I share a mutual friend who introduced us. Kim’s a “bottom” in the local leather community and was more than willing to help navigate me the uncharted kink waters. She answered my questions, showed me some of her Top’s favorite toys and agreed to be a beta reader for Shattered Trust. (She also turned out to be an amazing line editor!)

I took every scrap of her advice to heart. If Kim said something wasn’t right, I changed or at least modified it. One example was when Kate (heroine) scoffed at Liam’s (hero) compliment of her body. Originally, I had Liam “punish” Kate by spanking her. Kim pointed out a Top/Dominant wouldn’t set their bottom/submissive up to fail like that. She suggested turning the scene around so Kate got rewarded by being spanked. So instead of it being a punishment, it became a “fun”ishment.

Without question Kim helped to make Shattered Trust a deeper, richer, truer portrayal of a D/s relationship, and I’m extraordinarily grateful for her assistance. I’m also looking forward to working with Kim in the future, given that Shattered Trust is the first book in my Trustworthy Texas trilogy…

So what about you? If you’re a vanilla author like me, just how far would you go to get the kink right in your story? Inquiring minds want to know, don’tcha know… *wink* Remember to leave a comment for the chance to win a $10 gift card. Thanks again to Romancebooks4us for letting me hang out today!

BLURB:
Learning to love is the easy part...

As a young woman, Kate Landry trusted the wrong man, and she paid dearly for her naiveté. Alone, pregnant and destitute, she survived by the sheer force of her will. Now forty-two, Kate has made a good living for herself and her daughter as the owner of the Bluebird Saloon. But she’s forgotten how to live. That is until he comes into her bar…

Liam St. James loved a girl once. And only once. After an accident paralyzed her, she didn’t trust he would continue to love her. Brokenhearted, Liam left and soon discovered a world where women did trust him—to be their sexual Dominant. He plays out the scenes masterfully, but the unexpected request from the stoic bar owner will pose his greatest challenge yet…

Kate and Liam embark on a journey to uncover repressed urges and, in the process, they discover new desires. They also fall in love with one another. But when you’ve been shattered as badly as they have by mistrust, deceit and abuse, loving is easy. Trusting is harder, if not impossible, especially when the heart is involved…

Buy Links:   Amazon   B&N

BIO:
Lynda grew up loving stories, especially romances. For her the only thing better than reading a romance is writing one. That and drinking red wine while eating dark chocolate.

Her romances are full of passion, with heat levels that range from hot to sizzling! She’s proud to have been a 2010 finalist in the prestigious Golden Heart®. Please join her for laughter and love, and where the good guys always win in the end.

Lynda lives in Reno with my husband of thirty+ years and two pampered pooches. You can visit her at http://www.lyndabailey.net/. Or drop an email at Lynda@lyndabailey.net