Adult


Interview with Sarah Fawcett

Sarah Fawcett, author of The Research Project, took time out of her busy life to do a really quick interview for me and the answers are fantastic!

Thank you so much for doing the interview Ms. Fawcett as well as contacting me over the book. I wish you tons of success with your series in your future.

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Courtesy of Sarah Fawcett

1.     What got you interested in writing and how old were you?

I loved the brainstorming aspect of writing that I learned in grade 4.  I would have a short outline of a story and then brainstorm ideas to make a more interesting storyline, the weirder or more unusual the better.  I took 8 different English classes in Grade 12 and OAC, loving creative writing and women’s literature.  

2.    What got you into the erotic genre of writing?

I’m not sure how that happened.  Honestly!  I loved the thought of writing about meeting someone and the initial attraction or spark that comes with first dates and first times, so I knew I wanted to write an entire book about those feelings and those moments, it just became sexual.

3.    How did you come up with the idea for The Research Project Trilogy?

I knew my main character was going to be a smart, professional woman who was organized with OCD tendencies and she was going to evolve in the novels, becoming more relaxed.  When I chose to make her a psychologist, Everything else just fell into place.  There was going to be lots of sex, lots of different men, but in very realistic situations.  

4.    What types of habits do you have when writing (a candle, box of mints, tea, etc)?

I always carry a notebook and would rather write the story and add details when I transfer it to my laptop.  Other than that, once I get started, nothing stops me…the kids had to make their own dinner more than a couple of times.   Oh, and everyday I change location.  My kitchen table, my bedroom, my office, the art desk…Starbucks!  I like change.

5.    What’s your top 5 favorite books?  How bout top 3??!!

Anything Sidney Sheldon- his novels actually inspired me to research different scenarios when my character met men.

Butterfly by Kathryn Harvey
Beverly Hills by Pat Booth

6.    What are 5 things you cannot live without?

Orange Pekoe tea

Peanut m&ms
Aussie Spray Sprunch hairspray (I have naturally curly hair)
EOS lip balm
My iPod

7.     f you could travel to anywhere in the world (money not an issue) where would it be and why?

Galápagos Islands- I have to take lessons first, but it’s the best place to dive in the world.  It’s on my husbands bucket list for good reason.  We might see hammerhead sharks, whale sharks, eagle rays and much more.  Even out of the water, I could see wildlife like blue-footed boobies, albatross and penguins during hikes around volcanoes.  It may be our 25th anniversary trip.

8.     What is the most exotic food you have had?

I love Indian food.  I’ve only been once with a girlfriend and can’t convince my husband to go with me.  Butter Chicken, Lamb Vindaloo, Aloo Gobhi (cauliflower and potatoes)…  It was a great experience and hope to get someone to go with me again!

9.     In your spare time, what can you be found doing?

Since I spend most of my time teaching group fitness classes, like spin, yoga, kickboxing, etc, I enjoy my down time sewing, scrap booking, painting and doing crafts with my girls.  My newest interest is stained glass.  I start a 6 week course this week.

10.  Where do you hope your career with writing will take you and where can you see your writing in the future?

I’m starting small.  My goal is to sell 5000 books at the moment, while writing my next 2 novels.  If I hit my goal this year, then I’ll continue writing.  If not… I’ll have to make a serious decision about a writing career.


The Research Project (The Research Project Trilogy Book 1) by Sarah Fawcett

The Research Project coverSummary

“It seems like a good idea. Psychologist Colleen Couisneau is organized and logical. She even schedules date nights with her husband Steve once a week. Unfortunately, Steve leaves Colleen, stating that her robotic and methodical behaviour is the cause of his unhappiness.

Colleen believes that her lack of experience in the bedroom is the root cause of their split and recognizes that she needs to improve her repertoire to reconcile with Steve. She decides to begin a research study about casual sex.

New environments and testing her limits are all key to the research. The samples and data she collects open her eyes and lead her to form new hypotheses about what makes a marriage work.

As Colleen learns about her own wants and needs, she starts to reevaluate her own life. Will she be able to put the new theories to the test?”

From Sarah Fawcett’s website

Review

Ms. Fawcett contacted me asking to review this book for her and I am sooooo glad she did as I loved it. It does fall into the erotic romance genre, but it did have a lot more going on as well with the whole relationship aspect.

It follows Colleen who has a horrible husband and he leaves her because she is supposedly mechanical in sex, though you find out more is happening later, and she decides to go and explore her sexuality and figure out what she’s doing. I really did like the protagonist because I was able to connect with her because she was so real. She didn’t seem to be this extraordinary woman and she was easy to connect to.

One key thing I also did like in the writing was there was a lot of verbal communication and the use of protection. A lot of romance stories assume that the woman says yes and, I’m guessing, assume that protection is used. But if it’s not there, then I usually assume it didn’t happen. So I was really happy that it stated that protection was used and there was verbal consent as it also made it more realistic as well.

There was a lot going on in the book too. Colleen was searching for her sexuality and finding her way which was nice but she was also doing it for an interesting reason. She wanted her husband back, after everything which happened. I did want to sometimes shake Colleen and make her see what her husband was truly like, but of course I can’t do that. I did like that the story evoked many emotions in me. As a reader I don’t want to be reading it and just reading it for that purpose. I like to feel something or many different something. And when I can dislike a character I really like the story more because I can easily like character, but disliking them is sometimes hard, so I did like that aspect.

But my main love for this book was the whole consent aspect. With sexual assault being a massive issue and some of the new sayings being ‘If she doesn’t say yes, assume it’s no’, I liked how with all of the guys she had relations with they always were asking about consent and that really was comforting. While it isn’t completely realistic in every case, it was nice to ready a story where the consent was obvious.

Overall I really did enjoy the book and do recommend it. I really want to read the other two books in the series to see where it all goes as I’m extremely curious. Enjoy and happy reading!


Interview with Frank Carlyle

I would like to thank Frank Carlyle, author of Lady’s Submissionfor taking time and answering these questions. His responses are fantastic and he’s written the most out of all of my author interviews, so many thanks!!

Disclaimer: The following answers do contain adult themes, so under 18 is not advised!

Enjoy and do check his new book out! 


 

Black hole by burnt paper, author picture

Black hole by burnt paper – author ‘headshot’

1. What got you interested in writing erotica, and also what got you interested in Christian Erotica specifically?

Well once upon a time I was addicted to erotica as a teenager. Without the love of my life yet to be in my arms erotica for me, as a Christian youth, became a frustration more than anything as I had no honorable outlet for my stirred up desires much less the ramped up hormones of simply being a teenager. I was raised very conservatively and everything that occurred at that time with me to do with erotica was done very clandestinely and I felt a good deal of shame towards my double life so to speak. Years into it I gave it up and went cold turkey as it were and six months later I met my wife. Nine months later we were married. I thought married life would be the cure so to speak, but I made the mistake of approaching my marriage bed as a ‘Nice Christian Guy’ and I for lack of a better word for it stumbled inthe application of relating who I was inside with what a ‘Nice Christian Guy’ should be like on the outside as Christianity defines it. I was a very repressed individual. Later on in an effort to break free and in the frustration of an alpha chained into acting like a beta slave I attempted to write erotica themed stories for my wife with the intent of spicing my marriage life up. It failed. The writing was bad and I still felt guilty for having anything to do with something I had relegated with as being something sinful to partake in. Time went by and through the grace of God I became a prolific author in multiple genres of Christian fiction such as Fantasy and Action Adventure. My stories were bestsellers and very different than the usual fair to be found on the Christian market. They were full of romance, action, and gripping reality. That said even though they were sexy and quite passionate I closed off what the audience could see of the world of ultimate intimacy by closing the bedroom doors as it were. For a while I believe that was exactly what God wanted of me, but with time I also came to the understanding of more indepthly of the ties that bind us. Ties within the spirit realm that have nothing to do with God and have more to do with the orthodox structure of what is known as the Christian Religion, that has become in many ways something apart from what it was started out to be, as it relies heavily now on the doctrines of man than it does the doctrines of what God has actually said. I am a Bible literalist, meaning I believe everything that God’s Word says and so upon reading the Song of Solomon with my wife one night imagine my awakened surprise at just how much of an erotic tale it is right down to the sexual positioning for intercourse and full on descriptions of oral sex. Right there in God’s word was full on erotica and why not because after all God created man and woman to enjoy each other and though I’d read that book of the Bible many times before I now looked at God’s healthy and entirely sensual view of sex in a new light and it changed me. I didn’t know however that God had a purpose in the path He was setting down before me though. As a former addict of erotica I’ve fought recurring battles over the years of my marriage to delve into it to assuage what I thought missing in my marriage bed. Any relapse only ever led to more of a sense of shame so imagine my surprise one night when I specifically felt the Holy Spirit of God move on me to buy a book from an author I had once read with a lot of delight in the past. I was appalled as it seemed to be a denial of all the safety parameters that I had built up over the years and yet I was a vastly different person spiritually than when I first started my forays into erotica as a teenager. I also at present am willing to deal with people hating on me more for pursuing what I feel led by God to do, as I want to please Him more, than them. That wasn’t always the case, as I tend to be a people pleaser, but now God always comes first. I told my wife what was going on and we talked about it and through lots of prayer I made the move to venture back into territory I had sternly avoided. What I found was part of why I wrote over fifteen of my own books. Yes some aspects of some erotica stories are good, but I couldn’t as a man of God identify with every aspect of the story from the endless clichés to the men willing to shove their unit in every available female only to become miraculously monogamous when they met the right woman to the bratty females populating so many of the stories that one is brought to the point of, as a male, with the desire to strongly avoid any such individual, if ever one should encounter them in the flesh. Once again it became very real to me that there was a void that needed to be filled. Erotica as the world often does it doesn’t satisfy me as it’s not conducive or spiritually aligned with my born again relationship with God and His commandments and yet I have a firsthand example of what He does approve of and went so far as to include in His Word. It was at that time I felt very convinced as to what God wanted me to do and so I have proceeded to do that very thing. I’ve taken it upon myself to represent my faith in the one true God in a genre where He’s never talked about. A genre that dwells and revels on the very physical aspects and elements of erotic form and function that He created from the beginning and so this is why I write Christian Erotica. My God has called upon me to represent Him in yet one more avenue of fiction than I already have and while it is not without its hardships chiefly represented in the loss of friendships, which may occur because of such a decision on my part to proceed past established ‘Christian’ custom it is still worth the doing, because my heart is to be obedient to my God above all else and represent Him as He really is and not how He has been distorted by the keepers of a religion named Christianity.

2. What’s it like being a guy in a mostly female populated genre?

It really doesn’t bother me. I had two older sisters who tried to be my boss growing up. They failed by the way, but in general I have always gotten along better with women. As a man I am both very passionate and yet very emotional and I’ve been gifted heavily with the gift of empathy. So much so that in several of my non pen name books I have told the story from the perspective of the female, as the first person perspective, versus always being from the male view. I’ve had really good success with being able to tell the stories that I have because of that and for readers of my current erotica series they’ll get to see that shift in perspectives in Book 4 of The Warriors of Ar’mora, Possessing All Of A Lady. Even though I can shift perspectives to the feminine I am and always will be a man at heart and yet I have a great deal of God given adaptivity as an author in order to write what the story needs most. Adaptivity aside I can promise readers of my erotica fiction that they will never read anything outside of what God has ordained as ‘good’ contained within the scope of the story or any implication thereof and again I know this is going to get me my share of haters, but as the Bible says in Galations 1:10 “For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”KJV

3. How did you come up with the idea for Lady’s Submission?

I borrowed heavily in terms of location and the aspect of essentially a mail order bride being delivered to a plantation owner from the classic 1950’s movie The Naked Jungle starring Charleston Heston and Eleanor Parker. Again let me state how conservatively I was raised by stating that the first time satellite TV was introduced to my childhood home was when I was 16 years old. To make up for the time before that though my parents bought us all the classic movies of the 40’s,50’s and 60’s. To some that might not seem so great, but I loved those movies and as a result I have an older mindset and approach to the way I do things than I believe is common today and that has served me well. Being steeped in the era of such a classy bygone time also taught me among other things to be a gentlemen and yet also a passionate defender of all that is mine and that along with other literary influences continues to come out in my fiction today. I highly suggest watching The Naked Jungle to anyone who hasn’t. Some movies do get outdated with time, but this isn’t one of them.

4. How old were you when you started writing?

I wrote my wife a short story when I was dating her and that was really the first time I ever attempted to do anything along those lines besides some poetry I wrote in my teen years. I was 23 at the time I believe. Several more years went by though before I really took off in terms of writing stories of a book length nature.

5. What’s some writing habits that you have (such as eating mints when you write, using a specific computer, lighting a candle, music, etc.)?

I write all my stories out by hand first. To that end I prefer Signo Uniball pens with a .05 stylus size and always Noir black ink. I have thrown away literally hundreds of those pens drained away of their ink supply. Getting off topic for a moment can someone please explain to me why the replacement cartridge for a perfectly good and entirely reusable pen costs more than simply buying a whole new pen? Also along with writing I prefer a specific flip up steno journal pad that only seems to be able to be found at Dollar General anymore. You can’t go wrong with having some good chocolate on hand either.

6. How did you choose your pen name?

Have you ever wondered about what it would be like to one day have to flee for your life and live under an assumed identity? Well I have and Frank Carlyle, for I’m not sure what reason, was the preselected alias I had contained within my imaginative daydreaming of future circumstances and so it seemed natural to use it to pave the way into my double life of fictional tale telling.

7. In your spare time, what can you be found doing?

It might sound clichéd but spare time is in short supply for me. Really the attainment of more ‘spare time’ is a goal for me, but unfortunately that often only means more work for me in the present in order to hopefully effect that future that has more time for other things. In general though I enjoy farming, splitting wood with a splitting maul (no joke), building structures out of rock and daydreaming about what I want to write next.

8. What are your top 5 favorite books?

Growing up I was a big fan of the epic scale of fantasy to be seen in Tolkien’s writings and in terms of action I’ve always been partial to science fiction and westerns. Leaving my forays into the more erotic side of storytelling left unsaid I will confess to the fact of a time one very boring summer as a boy when out of desperation for something to read I took advantage of my sister’s entire collection of Jane Austin. It did me good, but I don’t think I’ll ever be reading Mansfield Park again in my adulthood. Who knows though maybe I will.

9. If you could vacation anywhere in the world (money not being an issue) where would it be and why?

That is an increasingly difficult question to come up with an answer to. Let me sum it up by stating a range of factors. Somewhere that the crops aren’t being sprayed with pesticides. Somewhere the food isn’t genetically modified and intentionally designed to render the eater of it both sterile and with a much shorter life span. Somewhere where my next door neighbor isn’t a crime boss, a former government agent or a reality tv star. Somewhere that still has honest hard working people, who aren’t debt slaves, and at heart are happy and content with what they have in life. If anyone knows of such a place please don’t hesitate to contact me about it. I’m serious.

10. What are the top 5 things you cannot live without?

This kind of ties into a funny story that came out of dating my wife, which I met through an online dating service. One of the profile questions was much the same as this question. In truth I’ve forgotten what my 5 most important things were at that time of my life, but I well remember how I waded through the female matches that were delivered to my Inbox based solely off what they had listed as the most important things in their life were. I know oral hygiene is important, but seriously one woman had it listed down as her number one priority in life to brush her teeth at least three times daily! I have to admit that superfluous statements like that and whether or not she ate red meat(vegetarian was a popular #1 option and no offense meant to those of you who are vegetarian, but I personally require a well fleshed out diet in order to function properly) or not was how I largely rejected a lot of matches that came my way. But all joking aside my top 5 are: #1 Close/Obedient relationship with God, #2 Loving/Protecting my Family, #3 Being an Honorable/Righteous man, #4 Helping/Teaching Others, #5 Creating a legacy of Righteousness/Faith for my children to follow in and one day God willingly surpass me in.


A Lady’s Submission (The Warriors of Ar’mora Book 1) by Frank Carlyle

Book CoverSummary

“Last of a clan that once ruled over a vast trade network and determined the fate of empires, Mahlon Arn, has the task of reclaiming a place once lost and now hidden within the jungled corridors of a tributary river that feeds into the mighty Amazon River. It’s a past that almost no one remembers except for the few who dare to return and once more reclaim all that once was and begin to build what is to become.

Journey deep into the jungle and follow the story of a warrior who reclaims a kingdom, only to ache for the completion of a prophecy spoken over him by a dying father. A prophecy that comes in the form of a red haired fantasy lady, who is born up the river by chance and circumstance or perhaps by Divine will, and that must be claimed and utterly brought into submission by the man, who has been tasked to not only reclaim a past but to build a future based on righteousness.

A Lady’s Submission is the beginning of a five book journey into the exotic realms of a place that has never been spoken of and is now just beginning to be realized through the lives of the five remaining blood heirs of the House of Arn, of the kindred of people known to the ancient world as the Ar’morians. This is a tale of overcoming faith and erotic conquest. A reality of an ancient place comes alive in this tale of Christian Erotic Themed Fantasy Fiction.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

I was lucky enough to have Mr. Carlyle contact me over this book and ask me to read it and I’m so glad that he did because I really did enjoy this book. I will start off by saying that this is adult literature, as it is erotic themed. And while I don’t usually read blatant erotic literature (while Nalini Singh’s books (as well as others) do count but it’s much more than that), this one definitely needs to be reviewed.

First off, it’s written by a guy. I mean how rare is that?! All the erotic literature that I know is written by women, usually older women as the younger ones don’t want to write it, and so this book automatically caught my interest when I received the email as I was intrigued as to what a male author would be able to do with such a feminine topic. I have to say, I was definitely impressed. Instead of a lot of it being from the females perspective, it was mostly from the main male protagonist of the story which was quite interesting. I thought that reading about sexy thoughts from a guy would be strange, but it didn’t change how I read the story at all. It was just as enjoyable and an interesting touch. I wouldn’t have known that it was written by a guy at all and the different perspective was awesome. So kudos to Mr. Carlyle.

Next, this book falls into a new-ish category (one I’m not terribly familiar with) called Christian Erotic Themed Fantasy Fiction. Now, this is kind of interesting. It’s erotic literature with a christian twist which is different. This means that in the story the main female protagonist spent time praying to God and there were references to Jesus. Now I don’t have an opinion for or against something like this, but I know that some people may view strongly against this, due to the fact that sex and the bible don’t necessarily go hand in hand perfectly. No I’m not trying to start a war here, so please don’t bite my head off. I’m merely stating that when the bible and sex get mixed together, sometimes things can get messy which I respect and understand, but I don’t feel, that in this book, such a problem came up, so if that is a worry for a reader, I don’t believe that they need to feel that way. The writing was respectful and the incorporation of the religion and belief was interesting and added to the story in a very unique way. I was confused when God and Jesus references appeared, but once I realized the genre, then I understood instantly. So another bonus point for the author because he broke two barriers so far: being a male author and adding religious aspects.

Now, more about the story. It was a very decent story. It fit perfectly into the traditional erotic romance category. Think of a basic Harlequin novel, with the two aspects above mixed in, with a little historical kind of feel to it. For some reason, when reading it, I kept having this image of like Conan the Barbarian mixed with Game of Thrones going on. Maybe I’m just loosing my head but that’s what I was picturing the entire time.

The story was interesting and it was nice to see a real commitment between the male and the female. A lot of times the sex scenes which happen is more superfluous sex. I guess you could call it a hook-up a lot of the time and then the love develops through the novel. This one the love was there and it was an interesting story and development.

As a reader, I would have liked more of a story line, a little more something in the story, but that’s just a personal thing as I always like lots going on. But for erotic literature, this fit the bill perfectly in my opinion.

Overall, I thought it was fantastic and I would recommend it. It was only about 135 pages or so and I was able to read it in just over an hour or so (I read fast so maybe more like 2-3 for some readers) so it wasn’t a difficult read. I would say to check it out if you have some spare time and are looking for something. It is unique in my opinion and is different from other erotic literature stories, but not so different that it’s bad. A job well done in my opinion.

Happy Reading!


Debt Inheritance (Indebted #1) by Pepper Winters

Indebted #1, Debt Inheritance Book Cover

Summary

“”I own you. I have the piece of paper to prove it. It’s undeniable and unbreakable. You belong to me until you’ve paid off your debts.”

Nila Weaver’s family is indebted. Being the first born daughter, her life is forfeit to the first born son of the Hawks to pay for sins of ancestors past. The dark ages might have come and gone, but debts never leave. She has no choice in the matter.

She is no longer free.

Jethro Hawk receives Nila as an inheritance present on his twenty-ninth birthday. Her life is his until she’s paid off a debt that’s centuries old. He can do what he likes with her–nothing is out of bounds–she has to obey.

There are no rules. Only payments.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This review is going to be extremely blunt and to the point and unlike any other ‘gentle’ review I’ve done before.

So that is my disclaimer.

I absolutely hated this book so much. The only reason that I actually finished reading it was because I was curious to see if it may get better due to the fact that so many people gave it a positive reviews and seemed to love it. This book falls into the dark romance genre, sub-genre is dark erotica and it completely fits into that genre, no questions asked. This book was pretty damn dark and that was one reason I hated it so much. I’ve read dark books before, more apocalyptic books, but this was dark sexually.

Technically the author is known as a BDSM writer (apparently according to research on her) and she has made the NY Times best seller list and a lot of people love her but this writing was just beyond messed up. No, there wasn’t any rape, per se, but there was a lot of coercion and sexual threats. The main characters were Nila and Jethro and I despised them both.

Jethro was cold and he was supposed to be hated, as that was his part, but he was beyond horrible. He was controlling all around, kind of like Mr. Grey from 50 Shades, although instead of readers having to infer that he was insane, it was blatantly obvious that Jethro was beyond screwed up in the head and I would define him as a psychopath. By the BDSM terms, based on the reviews I’ve read, he was considered to be a Dominant, but he was not even close to that. Jethro was a killer and more than a lot deranged in the head and I wanted to just run away from the book. But having a good and hated main character is great, so it was talent to make him hated so much, but my serious problem rested in Nila.

Nila was essentially Anastasia Steele, from 50 Shades, on steroids and a hell of a lot dumber. She knew, the moment that she met Jethro, that he was dangerous and didn’t have an option to say no to getting a drink with him, but everything after that went downhill. All of her ‘creep’ warning bells were going off and she was smart in the beginning, choosing to leave him (not a spoiler because it doesn’t affect the story), but then…THEN she decided to go back and met up with him to get revenge on a guy she didn’t even know. A little back story, she was texting a guy who had been a wrong number a long time back, and he pissed her off, a guy she didn’t even know, so she wanted ‘revenge’ or some rubbish like that.

As the story progressed, she pushed Jethro’s buttons soooooooo much. I mean, pardon my french, but she was a dumb bitch, big time. Sure, there are times you fight when you are technically being taken hostage, or kidnapped, but there are times you don’t push it. If you think your captor is going to snap and potentially kill you, you do NOT push the buttons of someone who would snap your neck in a second. Like no!

The story continued and eventually Nila was degraded to no more than a slave, due to a debt which had happened with the family hundreds of years back.

I kept thinking that maybe Nila had Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological phenomenon where you have empathy, sympathy, or feelings towards your captor,  or something, but she knew what was happening was wrong, but would continue to push Jethro. AND THEN! IT GETS BETTER! She’s technically a captive and wants to have sex with Jethro. She doesn’t care that he is cruel. She’s just a lustful young woman who has ABSOLUTELY NO SELF-PRESERVATION SKILLS!

This absolutely infuriated me. I wanted to reach into the story and beat the hell out of her and tell her to wake up and stop being so god-damned stupid.

As you can gather, I absolutely hated this story. And I would NOT recommend it at all. It gives an extremely twisted view of sex as well as BDSM since apparently this has those qualities in the writing. I didn’t see it though – all I saw was some serious messed up stuff.

Yes, it was free on iBooks so that’s the only reason I downloaded, and I am so glad it was free because I’d be annoyed if I purchased it.

Best part(?!) is it is a series and there are 6 books in this series. Will I read them? Absolutely not. I don’t want to know where this story goes now and I can make my own ending.

So please, avoid this romance book at all costs unless you’re into dark erotic romance.

Happy reading!