Eating Fiction

Oral Gratification

Post by Lily Harlem

Oh, you dirty lot, I can hear you snickering from here! What on earth do you think this blog post is about? Sex? Blow Jobs? Long, slow licks? No, I’m talking about food in the erotic romance books that we all love to read and write.

I recently read a novel which, for several reasons didn’t hit my spot. It didn’t do the job of engaging me in the story or making me care about the characters and I think one of the problems was that they never ate. Not a morsel, not a single scrap of food in several months on a timeline. They just didn’t need to, so it seemed, which was quite unbelievable.

Off course there are amazing books out there where the author hasn’t bothered with scenes of the protagonist/s eating and it doesn’t matter in the least. Thrillers have to keep the pace up, and eating isn’t thrilling (well, to most people). A short story might be over and done with before any hunger pangs set in.

But food can be a really useful tool to enhance storytelling. Another layer to add atmosphere and an indicator of things going on beneath the surface.

Need any more convincing of how fabulous food can be for fictional characters? Watch this delicious scene from 9 ½ week, a classic film that still holds me mesmerized.

Mmm, so now I’ve got your attention!

But back to the written word. How can food be used, well, some food has deep symbolic roots the author can work with. It can reflect regional tastes, enhance the visual of the world that’s been created and almost, if it’s done right, have the reader imagining the tastes the characters are enjoying. I’m thinking of the first story in my Hot Ice series, Hired , when the hero and heroine are having lunch. See if you can picture where they are…

“Don’t fight it, I’m not.” He paused as the waitress set down plates of barbequed fish and bowls of vibrant salad glazed with a honey and mustard dressing.

 “Anything else?” she asked, rubbing her hands on her floral apron and squinting in the sunshine.

“No, this is perfect,” Logan said, his gaze not leaving mine. “Absolutely perfect.”

Brooke and Logan are on a beautiful tropical island and enjoying an al fresco meal at a quaint harbor village. Did you get it? If not the harbour, it’s certainly a fresh, summery dish that’s light and full of flavour and one that could be associated with holidays in the sun and Caribbean Islands.

Food can also indicate the time of year in which the story takes place. In my novel Cold Nights, Hot Bodies, the couple have just enjoyed dinner in an English country pub with friends…

The meal was fantastic and well worth the walk. The landlord made the cottage pie himself and served it still wearing his blue-and-white striped apron. It seemed none of his staff had turned up for work but it didn’t worry him since the pub was so quiet and he was a jack-of-all-trades.

The conversation between the four of us flowed easy and light. Rachel and Jeremy certainly seemed well matched and very comfortable with each other. Jeremy even went as far as spooning chunks of his chocolate torte into Rachel’s mouth.

It was cozy by the fire and after a few glasses of wine and sitting within the curve of Shane’s arm I began to feel my mood soften to one of utter contentment. I could stay here forever.

Oh, transport me there right now! I love to snuggle up with Mr H in our local pub before a log fire and with a nice meal warming my belly and a glass of Merlot to hand – sigh!

This little snippet, also from Cold Nights, Hot Bodies, tells a tale of it’s own about the morning after the night before…

Breakfast arrived, a fabulous spread of smoked salmon, eggs and fresh fruit, another pot of coffee and a basket of croissants and Danish pastries. I tucked in eagerly as Shane reached for a white envelope balanced against two glasses of freshly squeezed orange juice.

“What’s that?” I asked.

He read it with a serious expression then looked up at me and grinned. “It seems the hotel is advising guests to avoid travel. The lane to the nearest main road is impassable because of the snow.”

I cocked my head and nibbled on a slice of melon.

“They’re offering a fifty percent discount to stay tonight,” he said, “No one coming in, no one going out, they’re as stuck with us as we are with them.”

My heart flipped with hope. Was my one-night stand about to turn into a two-night stand?

Mmm, that makes me hungry and the thought of a beautiful breakfast like that delivered after a night of intense exercise between the sheets is just perfect.

The mention of food can also show emotion and the relationships between characters. Missed meals indicate stress and urgency but so can eating peanut butter out of the jar with the biggest spoon in the drawer or wiping out all six portions of chocolate mousse chilling in the fridge. In Breathe You In  Kate is racked with grief in the beginning of the book but as life takes a turn for the better, that’ll be meeting Ruben Strong, she puts on weight and is pleased with that her curves are returning. Food in this case shows an upward curve in the character’s emotional wellbeing and several times she digs in hungrily to cream cakes and picnics when she’s feeling positive.

A wonderful meal can also offer amazing sensory data for the reader and in Dessert, sushi eaten from a naked woman is what gets my hero John in a very aroused state. Here’s a snippet…

I glanced at the woman again. As her chest rose and fell with her slow breaths her breasts shifted slightly. She had a freckle beneath her left nipple, on the downward slope toward the heavier underside. My dick responded to my perusal of such a perfect set of tits, my shaft filling and pressing up against the zipper of my suit pants.

Damn.

“She has bathed in fragrance-free soap and her body will warm the sushi and sashimi to perfection,” Rai said. “As you can see she has absolutely no body hair for us to worry about.” He looked pointedly at the aperture of her thighs and I couldn’t help but follow his gaze. The satiny skin of her outer labia was a fraction darker than the rest of her, a little rosier than the just-baked-biscuit look she sported everywhere else.

I shifted on my seat, irritated by my arousal when Rai was so calm and matter of fact. I guessed years of dojo discipline could come in handy in more ways than one.

“The girls have many hours of training, learning to lie still and quiet. For they are not allowed to move or speak throughout the meal, though if they feel they are touched inappropriately they ring.” Rai pointed to the brass bell just within reach of our living plate. It had a red tasseled pull string and a fire-breathing dragon etched onto the dome. “If the minders hear the bell, all diners in that booth are physically removed and will never be allowed back to The Geisha Plate.”

“Oh, okay.”

“You understand that there must be such rules to protect the girls who work here.” “Yes, of course.”

 “And you must also understand that The Geisha Plate does not advertise its unique style of serving Japanese cuisine. As you are my guest, it is my duty to ask you not to discuss the evening’s unconventional serving methods with anyone.”

“Well, no, of course not. If that’s what you want.”

“Some Western and Eastern cultures see nyotaimori as degrading. But for many Japanese, we see sushi as an art form and it should be a delight to every sense. What better way to serve it than on a truly beautiful woman?”

“Well, I love sushi and I have to say I love women too, so I couldn’t agree more.” I held out my glass and had a sudden rush of appreciation for my supplier who had thought to treat me to such a unique experience.

Rai filled my glass and his. We drank once more.

Do you agree with me? Do you think food/eating can enhance a story? Or do you think it detracts from the important action? As a reader, do you enjoy culinary touches in a book? As an author, do you use food as an element of your writing? Leave me a comment, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Lily

Sexercise!

Post by Lily Harlem

I guess like most people I've tried all sorts of exercise over the years, some I've stuck with for a long time, others not so much. A few things have hurt like hell (spinning), other times they've been quite pleasant (yoga). But I've settled into a routine now - so as not to let the dreaded writers bum take hold - of walking the dogs, swimming and sex.

Sex, yes, sex is great exercise and here's why I'm into 'horizontal jogging'…

People who have regular sex have fewer sick days, which must mean fewer illnesses in fact, researchers at Wilkes University in Pennsylvania found that college students who had sex once or twice a week had higher levels of antibodies compared to students who had sex less often, meaning a better immune system.

The more sex you have the more you want, which, unlike getting on a treadmill (for me at least) is a great motivation for exercise.

I enjoy pilates and yoga, but if you engage your core while having sex and isolate the muscles around your pelvic floor, it will give you the same benefits. It will not only strengthen your six-pack, it'll make your tummy look flatter and heighten the orgasm - or rather coregasm!

Calorie burning - Men on average burn 120 calories during lovemaking while women lose around 90, the equivalent of a brisk uphill walk, a game of doubles tennis or a 15 minute jog. Of course it depends if you're going for porn-star exercise or muffled under the duvet late a night exercise! If you want to see what positions burn the most calories check out this Fitness Magazine Article.

Flexi-sex. In the average yoga class, you can burn anywhere between 100 and 300 calories per half hour. Incorporating some of your favorite yoga poses into your sex life can definitely up the caloric ante and stretch your hip flexors at the same time. (I'll let you take creative liberty with this one.) 

So, there you have it, no more excuses, have more sex right now and get in shape :-)

Lily x

Little Monsters

Post by Lily Harlem

Mice…. and I'm not talking about these…

I'm talking these!

Mice with long tails and twitching whiskers are little  monsters - though I do find them quite cute and I'm not scared of them. This winter a family have set up home in our old stone garage. Mr H and I call them the Mickey and Minnie (not very original I know) and have yet to see them, but we know they're there.

We live out in the countryside, there is farmland and woods and bracken-covered hills all around us so it's not surprising that they've found their way into the peripheries of our home. The garage, where we only happen into on occasion in the colder months, seems to have been perfect for them.

The evidence these little monsters are there…

There is a bag of old horse feed that has been munched from the bottom up, spilling the contents on to the floor. I'd imagine that Mickey and Minnie are now obese as it was high-calorie horse feed!

Mr H went to wash his car the other day only to discover his bright yellow sponge half gone and teeny tiny pieces of it spread around the base of the bucket - oh yes, they can climb.

I then went to get a vase from one of the shelves and was greeted with a few droppings - yuk!

I do have a cat, rescued like all of my animals, and she is actually a pretty good hunter (or she was in her younger days) so I could set her in the garage to solve the problem. But no, I can't, Mickey and Minnie are all fat and cozy in their yellow sponge bed with a feast fit for a king and no doubt reading from their Kindles. They can stay for now, because soon they'll be off. Once we start banging around and clearing out the garage they'll dart away into the hedgerows once more, no doubt multiplied but that's just the way it goes. I guess I'm a live-and-let-live kind of gal - as long as Mickey and Minnie stay in the garage and don't bring all their mates for a party that is, because that would be a disaster!

Stumbling Ever Forward

Post by Lily Harlem

Technology for me is like maths. I can't actually do any more than I need to. Words, writing, science-geek-stuff (particularly human anatomy and physiology) is my thing, but numbers and wires and codes, well, that gets me stumped pretty quickly - my eyes glaze over and I just nod and shake my head randomly hoping it will all draw to an end soon!

As Lisabet already said, however, being an author requires you to have some basic knowledge and a system for wandering through all the techy bits and pieces required to submit a professional manuscript, use social media, and if you're like me, be your own webmistress and blog designer. I adored Lisabet's book Naughty Bits and have gratefully dipped in and out of it for the last few months - thank you Lisabet :-)

For me the key really is using something on a daily basis. My brain just doesn't seem to hold information it doesn't need to. I'm not sure if this is because I have an over-active imagination or if I'm just super forgetful (I prefer the first option). There was a time when I could work out complex drug calculations, kick-start a problematic drip machine and sweet talk a cardiac monitor into behaving properly. Back then, when nursing full-time I wouldn't have believed I could create a website, self-publish a book in several formats or help others out with their misbehaving blogs. Mr Harlem, who is a whizz at most techy stuff, is as amazed as I am at how much I've learnt over the last five years. It seems constant use and building on a little bit of knowledge is the key to grasping a larger skill. Baby steps leading to a bigger accomplishment.

Here is one of my favourite songs. It's called Wires and is by Athlete. The lead singer, who wrote the song after an experience when his baby was born and taken to special care, fills his lyrics with both a fear and an awe of technology. It's clear the sense of running was also with him during this time and the helplessness that went with it. I adore the hope in his words, the relief at the end of the song that everything will be all right - see what you think…

 

Feeling Comfy?

Post by Lily Harlem

Comfort is vitally important to all of us, we all like to feel physically and emotionally comfortable. However, for some professionals, such as nurses, the responsibility for other peoples' comfort becomes part of day-to-day life.

Many of you know that before I put pen to paper I nursed in London, UK. I loved my job and took great pride in the fact that my knowledge and experience could promote comfort for patients going through very uncomfortable experiences, be it acute or chronic. I remember in particular one patient, a young woman who was in terrible pain post surgery. She didn't know what to do with herself, how to lie, whether to cry or stay frozen still, it really wrenched my heart. I went through her medication, tweaked and fiddled as nurses do, and promised her, actually promised her that I wouldn't leave her until she was comfortable. She looked at me and said 'you can't promise that,' and I said 'I can and I am'. It was a risky move on my behalf, I had a train to catch after shift to travel north and see family, but I absolutely knew that I could make a difference. I also knew that I wouldn't rest until my patient was.

To cut a long story short, I made my train and left my patient feeling perfectly fine - sitting up in bed, smiling and sipping on a cup of tea. I'm sure there were many elements and dynamics at play between us that day. My absolute resolution, her belief in me plus my experience in the surgical field and in particular her type of surgery.

I miss nursing, I miss being able to make a difference in peoples' lives when they're going through a tough time. But I've drawn on characters and situations I came across in hospital in two of my books - Breathe You In, Confessions of a Naughty Night Nurse - and whenever I do, I remember what a huge part of my role providing comfort was.

Shhh….

Post by Lily Harlem

That's the word that comes out of my mouth most when I'm immersed in a good book, and my latest 'shhh' book has been Thrill Seeker by Kristina Lloyd.

Oh my goodness this lady can write erotica. That's not a new concept to me, I've been devouring Kristina's books for years and eagerly await her new releases. Thrill Seeker is a hot off the press from Black Lace, re-launched, and I have to say it completely captivated me to the point I was rubbish company until I reached The End.

Blurb

'I'd never set out to snag Mr Right but I'd veered so far off that track I was now at the mercy of Mr Dangerously Wrong...'

Betrayed by her lover, Natalie Lovell finds herself exploring the world of internet dating.

Then she meets a dark sexy stranger online who promises all the danger, excitement and dominance she craves. But how far will Natalie go to get the ultimate in thrills…?

* * * *

Thrill Seeker both entertains and shocks. Natalie is a controversial heroine but that suits me just fine. I like a bit of crazy thrown into the mix! There are three heroes strutting through the pages, all essential to the plot and each will ignite a different reaction from the reader. Ms Lloyd is eloquent, fresh, dirty and raw and I absolutely love her style. If you haven't read her work treat yourself, any lover of erotica won't be disappointed.

Patiently Recovering

Post by Lily Harlem

When you've been sick or had an accident, it's hard to be patient with yourself when your mind wants you to get going again but your body says no. Recovery is a long process and takes time. I've worked with people in all sorts of situations. In accident and emergency when the event has just happened through the journey of surgery, medication and physiotherapy. This can all takes months, years even.

Often there are scars left, mental and emotional, and the charity anthology Coming Together Triumphantly deals with reclaiming the body and sexuality after trauma. It contains stories of triumph, of healing, and of appreciating the body and its abilities after (and in spite of) the changes brought about by illness/injury. All proceeds from the sale of collection benefit the National Women's Health Network. 

Here is an excerpt from my contribution to this anthology. It's called Shy Bird and the couple in it have been very patient. The hero, Ray, a bad-ass biker boy, is recovering from a serious road traffic accident. He's been battered and scarred and had to slow his life right down. However, during this changing down a gear he's taken up bird watching in the Norfolk Broads - I can testify this is a stunning part of the world and much admired by ornithologists - and during this time he's met timid, shy bird Lisa...

His lips were so close to mine, a whisper away. “I want that too.”

“Thank goodness.” He smiled briefly then kissed me, softly, sweetly, his tongue just skirting into my mouth, the tip warm and wet and laced with the whiskey tea we’d just drunk. 

“Ah, you taste divine,” he said, pulling back.

I smiled and licked my lips, drawing his flavor into my mouth. Reaching up, I traced the scars at the center of his cheek then followed one of the trails to his nose and over to the outer corner of his eye. They were smooth on the tip of my finger, flat, they were part of Ray and they’d brought him my way. For that reason I would always adore them.

“I love you too,” I whispered, “I have done for so long.” I set down my mug, feeling bashful that I’d said what was in my heart but also feeling freer because of it.

Suddenly he was kissing me again, harder this time, more urgent. I opened up and let him in, slid my hands over his shoulders and hung on tight. My breasts were pressed into his wide chest, my nipples spiking against my bra. His heat, his scent, his taste consumed my senses.

“Jesus,” he muttered pulling back. “I’ve waited so long to kiss you, hold you. I didn’t think you would want to, what with me like this, all messed up and—”

“Ray.” I rested my index finger over his lips. “Please, don’t say that. I think you’re gorgeous, beautiful. And if it wasn’t for these marks on your face then you wouldn’t even be here, let alone be kissing me.”

Night Time Worries

Post by Lily Harlem

Now there's a topic that's fresh on my plate. Worries! I'm doing Dry January, which many of you probably know makes the first month of the year a no alcohol month. Mr H and I do this most years, after the excess of Christmas and the New Year celebrations we always feel like we need a detox and to give our livers a good rest.

Not that we drink copious amounts but we do like our wine! He's a red man and I'm a fan of the white grape - fizzy if I'm lucky and if it comes from a certain region in France that begins with C all the better!

So with this health plan, which includes a return to normal eating with extra lashing of fruit and veg and a reduction in mince pies and chocolate, I thought I'd be sleeping better. Especially since the weather in the UK - unlike the US - has been mild, if a little wet and I've been spending a lot of time on the beach walking the dogs and generally sorting out my thoughts and planning some new plot lines.

However, I go to bed and all is good until about 4 in the morning and then ping, my eyes open and a bundle of worries tumble into my brain. They're not major worries, little things really, but they pull me from sleep and suddenly my mind is whirring away, talking to itself, going through all the scenarios of things that could happen, could go wrong. Not for me particularly, but for the people I care about. And my animals, well, I worry about them constantly, even though they're all absolutely fine and I care for them every day.

When the day breaks I make my usual cup of tea and, like pebbles slipping beneath the surface of a river, my worries go, they disappear. The light of the morning sends them scurrying away and although I'm tired and I know my emotions have been tossing and turning along with me, I can't really remember why, and if I do, it's not important.

Sigh... I guess it's just one of those things. Roll on February, a nice glass of Pinot and a romantic Valentine meal out. Though now I've said that, tonight I'll probably wake up worrying what to get Mr H as a little present, if there are any tables left at our favourite restaurant and, and, and...

Shelves and Inappropriate Elves!

Post by Lily Harlem

Happy Christmas to everyone, I hope the festive season is going well! I had some great books on my wish list and I've been lucky enough to get a few delivered to my Kindle from the lovely Mr H! But, as a little light-hearted fun, here's a few pics from Elf on the Shelf, captions welcome...

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And if you want a few bargains for your ereader, details on my blog.

Lily x

Music to my Ears

Post by Lily Harlem

Some authors can listen to music while they're writing, they enjoy it, it helps their muse and their flow. But not me, I need silence. I thrive on peace and quiet and the knowledge that I won't be disturbed for a reasonable length of time - enough time to immerse myself in my thoughts and see and hear the story in my head that's coming out onto the page.

That's not to say that music doesn't inspire me though. I'm often driving along or cooking (the two things I always do with music in the background) and the lyrics will give rise to an emotion that spins into a story, or at least a scene within a story. Lyrics can be so wonderfully precise, capture a whole scenario or a particular angst that I can't help but wonder about the history behind the words, and that of the singer/songwriter.

I do enjoy songs with a story behind them, this is one of my favourites. It's Beth Rowley sing an old Etta James song, Almost Persuaded.

I love the line 'a smile any girl would understand', it works in way that is personal to the listener. It has a nice sentiment too. Yes, I know, I'm a softie :-)

When creating characters I nearly always have in my mind what kind of music they like, it's part of their makeup the same way it is part of mine. In fact the first short story I had contracted at Ellora's Cave was called Mattress Music - here's a snippet - it's a dose of naughty fun...

Elton was killing me. I needed to do something—fast. I glanced at my iPod in the far corner of the room. The small blue circle stared at me uncaring, as if it knew I’d lost the remote in the move and could do nothing, in my current compromised position, to shuffle the droning song.

And boy, did I need to fast-forward Candle in the Wind. It had conjured a head full of images of Marilyn and Diana, big hair, sweet smiles, churches, orphans—

And it seems to me you lived your life—

I pulled in a deep breath and focused my attentions. What did it matter what song played? Its purpose was to mask noise as I concentrated on Ian, the hot guy I’d picked up at the Solo Bar. He was where my thoughts should be trained, not icons and princesses and worrying about my new flatmates hearing our sex noises.

Because bless him, Ian was doing his best down there, licking and sucking, swirling and fondling. Hell, he even had two fingers searching out my G-spot. But what could I do? My head wasn’t in it—

Your candle burned out long before—

Neither was my body...

“What’s up?” Ian asked, throwing off the duvet as he came up for air.

“Nothing, I’m fine.” I curled my hands over his wide shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss. He tasted of me, hot and spicy, slippery-tongued. He settled his sheathed erection between my legs and prodded my entrance. All I could think of was Marilyn being found in the nude, Diana forever in England’s greenest hills.

“God, you feel good,” he said in a tight voice. “So damn good, I won’t last long.” He had a rugged, should’ve-shaved look and now, hovering over me with his face flushed, pupils wide and a sheen of sweat on his brow, he really was drop-dead gorgeous.

I wrapped my legs around his hard thighs and encouraged him in. Despite his appeal, it was just as well he wouldn’t last long. Because there was no way I was going to climax, not with Elton warbling on miserably about dead people. Might as well get it over with, then I could turn off the abysmal mattress music and get some sleep.

* * * * *

Mattress Music initially, as you can tell, is about how the wrong music can really ruin the mood in the bedroom for lovers and send your mind in all kind of directions it shouldn't be going in. In this sense, writing is like sex for me, if I had the wrong music playing in my little pink office when I was writing, it could spoil the mood for both me and my characters! That's why when it comes to music it stays in the car and the kitchen for me.

Thanks for reading

Lily x

PS - My favourite Christmas song - Wham's Last Christmas!

Guilty Characters

Post by Lily Harlem

Guilt according to Wikipedia - Guilt is an emotion that occurs when a person believes that they have violated a moral standard that they themselves believe in.

Now I feel guilty on a frequent basis, I'd say daily and it's usually for something small. "I should have remembered to send that birthday card" or "I really should have taken my make-up off before bed" or "damn another sweater shrunk in the wash" (I do that a lot!).

So I'm guessing we're all familiar with the daily self loathing - I'm dramatic, I know, but we've all be chatting about guilt on a variety of levels from deeply scarring to more minor irritations and it certainly is an emotive topic. But how about when it comes to the erotic novels we all love to read and write? Where does guilt come into it then?

Mmm, this has me thinking about a character called Hannah that I created with my co-author Natalie Dae. Hannah stars in a book called Anything for Him and, to be honest, the girl is off her trolley! She's obsessed, lust-crazy and has a single-track mind when it comes to getting the man she wants. She goes to extreme lengths from spying through his window in a storm, to chopping her long blonde hair off and dying it black, to being heavily involved in the seedy underworld of a London criminal gang. But does she ever feel guilty?

Only for some things! She panics, sure, she paces and she dabbles on the edge of madness. But I digress, what I'm trying to point out is that guilt is a natural response and it has to be seen in some form in fictional characters because it is such an every day trait, be it if the protagonist does something small or if the individual breaks the law on an enormous scale.

Natalie and I call Anything for Him our Marmite book because readers either adore Hannah and can understand her obsession and dark desires, or they are irritated by the fact that she isn't a sickly sweet heroine who has all her morals intact and feels hideously guilty all the time for the things that are happening. But hey, what is the most real behaviour? How many women who are head-over-heels in love and lust do behave rationally? Is there a female out there who wouldn't lie to protect the man she loves and who hasn't sneaked a peek at someone their crazy about? (Even if it's just to Google their name.)

Guilt, I would say, is an awesome tool for authors but it has to be handled carefully. Too much of it, too little of it, can say a lot about a character, it can also push forward or pull back a plot line and it certainly can get a violent reaction from readers if it's not in line with their moral views and what they'd feel guilty about.

You can read the first chapter of Anything for Him here if you're intrigued to meet Hannah! But certainly playing with a character's levels of guilt can be like playing with fire. Personally, I like the heat!

Lily x

The Good Ol' Days

By Lily Harlem

When many couples first meet there is a first spark of lust. Eye's connect across a crowded room, flirty little lines might lead to a dance, a date, and then at some point there will be a passionate (passion can be slow, it doesn't have to involve a ripped bodice and buttons pinging across the room) meeting in bed, or in a car, or a hot-tub or in the restroom on a plane - you get my drift.

But what about after a year, two years, ten years? How does the erotic element of a couple's relationship change? I've been with my hot hunk of love muscle for a few of decades now, much the same as my co-author Natalie Dae. It was discussing all things sexy with Natalie one night over wine that we got to thinking about a plot where a married couple decides to spice things up again - big time.

This conversation gave birth to That Filthy Book, which, although yes it is filthy, uses a long forgotten book to remind the heroine of what she used to enjoy before the trappings of children and housework and shopping. It also gives her new ideas which her husband, Jacob, is more than happy to go along with. The pair of them revisit the sexual relationship they had when they first met and them move it forward into a whole new territory that works as the people they have grown into and that fits the loving, committed relationship they have. I'm really proud of this story and it's had excellent reviews, including "every woman should read this book."

So if a book could help a relationship hit those first highs again, and possibly go even further and reach for the stars, could a spice jar? You'll think I'm mad and I am, but I'm also shamelessly plugging, because today I have a new book out called Joy Ride.

Joy Ride is part of the Spice Rack series at Ellora's Cave and it's all about long-term couple's spicing up their sex life. Revisiting a steamy, hot and naked place they used to exist in. The Spice Rack is of course fictitious (though I don't see why it wouldn't be possible to make your own) and the idea is there are a range of bottles either Sweet, Savory or Hot that have to be picked off the rack (novelty toy bought at wine-infused girly parties or online) and inside is a saucy suggestion. It can be anything from tie your partner up, treat them to a massage or get your kink on!

My story is about the task 'express your love on the move' and it is a lot of fun and very naughty. Like in real life though the characters have children to farm out to sitters, work is in the back of their minds and finding that moment to just 'be' again, as a sexual couple, takes a bit of hunting out.

It's like that in life though. The move from constantly wanting to be naked together and in the final throes has to progress onto cooking and cleaning together, watching TV and filling in tax forms.

But as an author, it is these long-term couples that I particularly enjoy writing about. The characters are established, comfortable together and so when boundaries are pushed and they step out of their comfort zone it adds many more layers to the experience and a whole host of different emotions and dialogue to play with. I'll keep writing about married couples, living together couples because I find it so very real, and I also think that there are many readers who can relate to this type of hero and heroine.

You can find out more about the Spice Rack on my website. Have a wonderful day.

Lily x