Guest Author & Giveaway: Tori St. Claire featuring Lie to Me

They say sex sells, and no doubt that is true.  But when it comes to romance novels, it has to be about more than just the sex to make a romance a good love story...at least IMO, and I love, love, love the erotic romance genre!  

My guest today, erotic romance author Tori St. Claire, is here to share with us her thoughts on erotic romance and why it's here to stay, as well as the second book in her Black Opals series, Lie to Me.  Enjoy!

~~~***~~~

What Makes Erotic Romance Work?

About two years ago I would have said Erotic Romance worked because of the shock value and the sudden opening of repressed subject matter.  But if that were the case, the market wouldn’t have made it longer than those initial first releases.  Instead, it’s a thriving market, with some very respectable authors in it.

So what is it about erotic romance that has been such a big hit?  Well I have a couple theories:

Sex

Let’s get this out of the way first, although I don’t believe that it is necessarily, it is the foremost draw to the topic.  Erotic romance has sex in it.  A lot of it.  In new and unique ways.  Sometimes even with newer and more unique toys. 

…but so does most mainstream romance, so what gives?

As readers become more savvy and society becomes more open in general, the euphemisms, the sweetly written sex scenes are a bit stale.  Erotic romance gives readers, and authors, the chance to candidly expose sex without having to worry about offending someone.  It’s almost a given – if a reader doesn’t want to read it, they won’t.  But a reader may not want too much steam in a mainstream romance so those books still come with a bit of stilted reserve. (And I say that as a mainstream author too.)

Broken Barriers

I can think of very few people who look forward to living life in a box.  As the ‘bad boy’ has always been a temptation, women are drawn –even just in thought—to complete freedom and a separation from the constraints expected of them.  Erotic Romance provides an outlet.  It breaks barriers, it comes with a shock value, and in some stories, there’s a touch of taboo that is darkly attractive.  This is part of our human nature, and an element I think is core to what has made erotic romance successful.

Emotional Bonding

Above all, an erotic romance takes the reader through the emotional bonding of a couple that occurs through sexual encounters.  Because the characters’ limits are usually pushed, and usually there’s a high degree of ‘damaged’ characters who struggle to overcome something from their past, or struggle for acceptance, the between-the-sheets encounters, while steamy and enticing in their own right, tend to pack an emotional punch.  Romance has always been about the emotional connection of characters, and when this can be emphasized to the degree erotic romance tends to do, it is a double-whammy for a reader.


So what do you think?  Do you have other thoughts about why erotic romance has made such an impact and remained such a strong presence?  Please share!

A man of action…

After helping to break up a Russian human trafficking ring as part of the CIA’s elite Black Opal team, Alexei Nikanova’s newest assignment is to rescue one of the stolen women and return her to her father. When he arrives in Dubai, he discovers his target is Sasha Zablosky—a woman he knows all too well, and who has haunted him ever since their one unforgettable night together. But he finds Sasha reluctant to leave her Sheik, the only true friend she’s ever known. Only Alexei can’t give her a choice.

A woman of deception…

With their yearning roused by intrigue, Alexei and Sasha can no longer resist and spend night after night in forbidden pleasure. Soon Alexei finds himself falling for her even as he battles a shadowy menace to protect her. But Sasha is no innocent. She has a past darker than she could ever admit or that Alexei could ever forgive. And it is about to explode into her life once more. Now, as the lies they tell themselves—and each other—pull them deeper into a perilous desire, what began as simple passion becomes a love certain to destroy them and end the lives of countless innocents.

 Read an excerpt

And enjoy this special excerpt for Musings readers, and just so you know...it's a steamy one (18+):

He swallowed down the sound, and his kiss took on more languor, aggressive demands ebbing into a gentle play until his mouth left hers altogether and he lifted his head. His lustful gaze scorched into her. The hard fall of his breath stirred the fine blonde hairs on her forehead. He pressed his cheek to hers, grazed her sensitive skin with the coarse stubble along his jaw.

The pleasant friction sent another bout of delightful shivers surging through Sasha’s body. She dropped one hand to his waist, plucked his shirt free, and slipped her fingers beneath to explore his warm flesh.

“Ah, Sasha,” he murmured against her temple. “Tell me you don’t hate me.”

Her hand stilled at the base of his spine. Hate him. How could she explain that feeling had never once struck? If she confessed to the truth, she’d look weak, sound like a fool. She should hate him. And yet . . . she didn’t. After everything, even after all he’d done to destroy her life, she could not hate Alexei. Turning her head, she met his gaze. “Alexei, I—”

He closed his eyes, but not before he could shutter away a flash of anguish in those green depths. “Lie to me, princess. I need to believe.”

It was a plea he hadn’t needed to utter. She lifted up into him and caught his lips with hers. “I don’t hate you,” she whispered against his mouth.

A low snarl rumbled in the back of his throat a second before his mouth crashed into hers and claimed her savagely. His hands speared into her hair, holding her head in place, imprisoning her to the fierceness of his desperate kiss. She met the stroke of his tongue eagerly, tugged on the hem of his shirt, pushing it up, exposing his abdomen, equally desperate to feel the warmth of his skin against hers.

When that moment of blissful contact came, Sasha let out a plaintive mewl. Blessed torture. Perfect.

Nowhere near enough. She hooked an ankle around his calf and levered her hips into his, stroking herself against his hardened cock.

Alexei tore his mouth away with effort. “Easy, princess,” he rasped. Bracing his hands on both sides of her shoulders, he lifted his upper body away from hers. The faintest hint of a smile touched the corners of his mouth. “Don’t ruin me for the race. I’m already halfway to the finish.” The faint smile disappeared as he lowered his head and grazed his teeth along the delicate shell of her ear. “I want to be inside you when I come,” he whispered. The tip of his tongue flicked against her earlobe. “I want you to come around me. I need that. Can you give it to me, princess?”

 

Thanks Tori for being my guest today!  I really enjoyed Stripped, the first book in the Black Opals series, and have been eagerly awaiting Lie to Me.  And what a dilemma Sasha has...choosing between a Sheik and a sexy CIA operative, LOL.

If you'd like to learn more about author Tori St. Claire and her alter ego Claire Ashgrove  you can find her at her website www.toristclaire.com, her blog, & Twitter.  

To celebrate the release of the second book in the Black Opals series, Lie to Me, author Tori St. Claire is giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one lucky commenter during the tour, and two additional commenters will receive a basket of swag.  Follow the tour – the more times you comment the better your chances of winning!   Here's how you can enter to win:

Ways to earn entries:

• Mandatory: Answer the question Tori asked readers in her post (good for 1 entry)

How to enter:

• Leave a comment at each stop on the blog tour to earn additional entries for the $25 GC. 

Rules and disclaimers:

• The winner(s) for the $25 GC will be selected randomly from among all of the comments of the blog tour by the author who will also be responsible for contacting the winner(s).
• Seductive Musings is not responsible for prizes that are not honored, distributed in a timely manner, lost, stolen, or damaged during transit 
• All giveaways are subject to change/cancellation without prior written notice

Good Luck!

 

*Seductive Musings is an Amazon affiliate and receives a very small referral fee for purchases made via the links on the blog and through the Seductive Musings Amazon Store. Read the full disclosure here.