Saturday, March 3, 2012

Tour: Trust In Me by Skye Warren (Guest Post/Giveaway)

Please give a warm welcome to author Skye Warren who is joining us on tour for her erotic novel, Trust In Me

Are You Afraid of the Dark Erotica?
by Skye Warren

Today I want to talk about why I love dark erotica, but first I better define what I’m talking about. Dark erotica explores taboo sexual themes. The hero might very well be the villain. The heroine will not only face her darkest fears, but walk through them. It’s compelling, disturbing and, well, erotic.

Sometimes it’s also pretty scary, so it’s strange that I like dark erotica, when I can’t even handle scary movies, but reading and writing are totally different. I don’t mean scary like blood and gore, although those can occasionally happen, but more like disturbing. When my critique partners and beta readers tell me that they loved it but they squirmed, I know I hit the mark. Heck, I even squirm while reading it. And to get through the proper editing process, there is a lot of re-reading!

Maybe it’s why we go to haunted houses or watch a scary movie. The adrenaline rushes through our veins, but at the end we get to go home with our families. One thing I always promise in my stories is a happy ending for my hero and heroine. So my readers can put their trust in me (like that play on words? *grins*) that I’m going to put their emotions through the ringer, make them squirm and even suffer a bit, but at the end all will be well. I wanted to share with you guys an exclusive excerpt of one such dark moment for my heroine, Mia:
I struggled to sit up. My breath caught at what I saw. Maybe I had underestimated Leo. He could be a decent replacement for Carlos after all, because I found that though my ankles and wrists were still bound, a knife winked at me from the cracked plastic bench. And between me and that bench was a thick layer of glass. I’d have to walk, or crawl, on broken glass to get free. It was like a macabre fairytale, except instead of a red carpet there was a carpet of glass, and instead of a prince there was a knife. The same principle.
With a wrench in my side, I maneuvered myself to a sitting position and inched my way across the floor in the slowest escape ever. I found that if I slid my butt through the glass, instead of over it, that saved me a lot of glass splinters. Still, there was no avoiding the cuts all over my ankles as I dug in and gained enough leverage to pull my ass along the floor.
Luckily, the pain in my bloodied feet was barely noticeable. Not over the breath-stopping pain in my stomach. I swore if I made it out of there alive, I’d die. There’d been a time that had seemed like a release, like freedom. Maybe it still held a certain allure, but I had unfinished business. Maybe I really was already dead, and I was just a ghost trying to wrap up the loose ends. A bloody, weary ghost whose uncontainable groans of agony tangled with the wind that gently rocked the boat.
Finally I reached the bench and hauled my ass up, wincing at the piercings of glass into my soles. My fingers fumbled for the knife, scraping and sawing until finally my hands were free. By the time I got to work on my ankles, blood had pooled at my feet, slithering under the glass to form a red sequined blanket. It was pretty, I conceded, the glittering blanket of suffering. That might have been the pain meds talking.
I glanced behind me out the porthole and barely made out lights bobbing in the distance. Or maybe the lights were stationary and this boat was the one bobbing. Slipping over my own blood, walking on my own cuts, I hobbled out of the cabin and onto the small deck. The ocean marked me with its spray, salty and thick, as I leaned over the railing. Away from me, dark swirls circled and threatened, but up close to the boat, they lapped disarmingly. Which was the true nature of the sea, the murky monster or the gentle lover? Maybe both, which was almost a scarier thought, because in the end, it didn’t matter. I was lost to them both.
I jumped. Cold water filled my mouth, my nose. Salt burned my feet, my stomach, all over. Like the lashes of a thousand jellyfish, they stung me into paralysis. I gulped water. I breathed it. I sank.

TRUST IN ME by Skye Warren

Can love be found between a whore and a knight in tarnished armor?
Mia longs for the daily torture to end, but one last task keeps her holding on. In a betrayal of the crime lord who pulled her from the gutter, she’ll free the shipment of human cargo, and if she’s lucky, die in the process. The alternative is unfathomable, even to a woman well-versed in erotic torture. But luck abandons her yet again when she meets the security expert in charge of the shipment and finds herself face to face with her childhood crush. The man she once begged for help. The man who failed her.
Tyler Martinez is an undercover FBI agent with one chance to right the wrongs of his past. Thrust deep into the seedy world of human trafficking, he must put aside his guilt over abandoning Mia all those years ago in order to save her now.
Someone’s pulling the strings in this sadistic play on trust, but Tyler and Mia may not live long enough to see the curtain fall. Trust in Me is a story of erotic pain and incipient romance, spiraling ever faster toward betrayal or redemption.

WARNING:
This book contains explicit scenes of dubious consent, graphic violence and sex. It also depicts abuse and captivity situations. Not appropriate for anyone uncomfortable with these situations or anyone under the age of eighteen. This is a work of fiction.



GIVEAWAY

Skye Warren is giving away a copy of Trust in Me to a commenter from each stop in the blog tour. In addition, every comment along the way enters you in the drawing for a $20 Amazon gift certificate. What do you think about stories that are so dark that they’re hard to read, heartbreaking or violent? Do you have to be in a certain mood to take them on?

15 comments:

  1. I think when you read a dark story you know what you are getting into. If it is not for you then, don't read it. Stories can entertain, inform, educate you, and if you get something from it, then it has done it's job. Thanks for the giveway.
    lfacchini(at)tampabay(dot)rr(dot)com

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  2. Yes, I definitely have to be in the mood for something dark to read dark erotica, because I usually read light ones. :) But I like to read time to time scary stories. BDSM or horror (I'm a huge Stephen KIng fan)

    cayce006 at yahoo dot com

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  3. I have not heard the term DARK EROTICA before. I can see how it appeals though.


    marypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com

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  4. I definitely have to be in a certain mood to read those kinds of stories, and I won't read them at all if I could imagine something similar happening to me.
    jen(at)delux(dot)com

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  5. I don't have to be in a certain mood to read darker stories. I was always a fan of horror films and like darker stories. Dark erotica reminds me that I should always keep an open mind when I read a story and that is one of the things I love best.

    lenikaye@yahoo.com

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  6. I don't have to be in a specific mood to read darker stories, I like variety in my reading, everything from light, fun reads to dark, intense stories. I get too bored reading the same type of story without change, and this often leads to burning out so I like to switch styles from book to book.
    This book does sound really good, I can't wait to read it. Thank you for the chance to win a copy.
    manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com

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  7. I have to be in a certain mood to read any book....but I've noticed that if I do read dark erotica or fantasy, I tend to "balance" it out by pulling something fairly light off my TBR shelf to read afterwards -- a UF with amusing dialogue or some chick-lit...

    Although to be totally honest, I've read some dystoptian YA that was far more disturbing than anything I've encountered in the erotica or fantasy genres I've read.....just sayin'

    elizabeth @ bookattict . com

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  8. Truthfully, I don't mind if I'm expecting it and I have to be in the mood for it.

    sophiarose1816@gmail.com

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  9. I;ve read BDSM erotica before. I'm not sure that is the same though...
    If dark only means violent and suspenseful, then I'm okay. but if it's creepy scary like a scary movie, then I wouldn't wanna read it.
    email: cruz042 at cougars.csusm.edu

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  10. I dont think I have ever heard the term dark erotica used before. But this book sounds great, quite the mix. To read a book that really takes you into a killers mind or down paths of the twisted and cruel takes a talented author. For you to keep reading you must be attached to the hero/heroine and still have a hope that they can make it through. If I read a dark book like that I do mix it up next with something lighter.

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  11. I am like you, Skye, while I never watch scary movies, I am drawn to dark and edgey romance stories. Definitely have to be in the right mood, since the emotional impact tends to get me teary.

    caity_mack at yahoo dot com

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  12. I get bored reading the same thing over and over. I like a lot of variety in my books. This book sounds great. Thanks for the chance to win.

    e.balinski(at)att(dot)net

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  13. I typically don't read really dark books but if a lot of people keep telling me how great it is I will give it a try

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  14. I don't mind dark reads as long as I know it when I start the book. This one sounds interesting, and I'd like a chance to read it. Thanks for having this giveaway.

    ayancey(at)dishmail(dot)net

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  15. I like to read dark/heartbreaking books, but only sometimes. I guess I need to be in the mood for them, and then sometimes I'm in the mood for a fluffy romance instead. Thanks!

    jessicamariesutton(at)msn(dot)com

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