Don't you love it when you get unexpected, happy news? That's what happened to me yesterday when a very nice e-mail landed in my inbox informing me that the third book in Lisa Lawrence's erotic-suspense series starring totally kickass babe, Teresa Knight, is due out in late January. I really enjoyed the first two books in the series, and am beyond ecstatic that US readers will get a chance to read Sexile (Lawrence is a UK author).
As much as I love romance, my one true love, my first love, will always be mystery/suspense. It's what I cut my reading teeth on. It's the genre that made me fall in love with the act of reading. They say you never forget your first time (for good or ill), and my first foray into erotica was an erotic thriller, Topping From Below by Laura Reese. I was a 20-something college student, intrigued by a review I read in some magazine (I want to say Glamour). You think some of the erotic romance being published today pushes the envelope? Trust me when I say this book warped my fragile little mind. (Spoiler: There's a bestiality scene involving the heroine and a dog. No joke.) Then, of course, I passed it on to my BFF. Because that's how I roll.
Maybe it's because my first introduction to erotica was through a suspense novel, but I really think it's a travesty that the two genres are blended and mixed together more often. Sexuality and sex can be dark - and marrying that with a suspense tale seems like a perfect fit to me. The problem is, I'm not sure publishers know what the hell to do with it. It's "dark" and not "romantic, " so it's not romance - and do mystery/suspense readers really want to read sex when they're there for the whodunit? A recent example of this would be Sleeping With The Devil by Vanessa Marlow (AKA romance writer Cheryl Holt). I found the book very intriguing, but St. Martin's marketing of it problematic. Guess I wasn't the only one, because when I saw Holt at RWA this past summer she said that the book didn't do very well sales-wise. No wonder. Splashed all over the book was the fact that Marlow was Holt - romance readers were likely to think "romance" and be disappointed, while suspense fans were likely to think "romance" and stay far, far away.
But what do I know? I'm just a librarian. A librarian who would love to see more erotic-suspense hybrids. In the meantime I'm counting down the days to Sexile. I so want this book. Like yesterday.
Description:
There's a voyeur in each of us—
and Teresa Knight is no exception
Somebody’s shadowing Teresa Knight, watching the part-time investigator’s every move. And she’s about to find out why: tapped for an undercover assignment that takes her into the steamy world of erotic films, Teresa lands a job at Silky Pictures—and within weeks she’s directing the action, conjuring her own wildest fantasies onto film. But her employer is dabbling in something far beyond hard-core porn. And when the case culminates in murder, Teresa is at the center of the storm.
Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, Teresa’s on the run from Paris to Rio…and soon she’s playing hardball with the boys from Brazil while tangling with crime lords, terrorists, and one sexually adventurous clandestine agent. As she moves closer to the truth—and deeper into the erotic throes of her own unbridled sensuality—she’s following a trail that leads to the highest reaches of international government. Unable to trust anyone, caught in a tangled web of obsession and eroticism, suddenly she’s both hunter and prey in a deadly conspiracy that’s taking sex and power to a whole new level.…
8 comments:
Oh, man! Back when I first "discovered" that there were actually books out there hotter than those by authors like Lori Foster and Elizabeth Lowell (hush up, what did I know? This was even before most epubs) and then discovered that I could browse and buy them so easily from Amazon, I went into a hog wild frenzy of buying every bit of book porn that sounded interesting.
And now, for the first time in public, I too will admit that one of those was Topping from Below. Even years later, most of that book has yet to fall through the swiss cheese holes in my memory and, in fact, STILL pops up front and center frequently enough that I probably should be worried.
Bev: I always knew there was something "not right" about you...LOL
I still have my copy of Topping From Below. I'm determined to reread it one of these days.
My introduction to the hot stuff was Seductive by Thea Devine. Then I read one of Emma Holly's mainstream historicals, Beyond Seduction - which led to her Black Lace books. It's been all downhill from there......
And god bless Amazon. Before erotica went mainstream, I bought all my naughty books there. To this day, I tend to order all my Black Lace online. It's just easier that way.....
OH HELL YA! Those anthologies with Betrice Small, Thea Devine, Susan Johnson, and Robin Schone were, I think, where I first discovered truly erotic romance. Little did I know how almost tame they actually are in comparison to what I later found on Amazon, but DAMN they were good!
And, then, like you, I also found Black Lace (probably through Amazon recs) and could not buy enough of them (although the Pony Girls will always give me a WTF pause). The Big Three of Black Lace for me has always been Emma Holly's Menage, Portia Da Costa's Continuum, and Madelynne Ellis' A Gentleman's Wager. But those three are by no means the only Black Lace I've accumulated.
BTW, did you hear that Black Lace has FINALLY moved into ebook? 'bout damn time, too!
I did hear about the ebooks! I think it was on Portia's blog. I know her latest is available through Books On Board....
I have this at home...
Sybil: And you are currently under house arrest at your mother's. You are evil for telling me this. Pure evol.
We r going over there tomorrow. And I have some others to send to you. I am pretty sure I have this one with them because I knew you lurved her.
But I will double check. Don't let me forget... you know I have a bad memory to begin with and recently took a blow to the head (yep I am sooooo going ride that)
do mystery/suspense readers really want to read sex when they're there for the whodunit?
Yes! I love this genre and I love good erotica. It's one of my guilty pleasures. After reading too many sweet romances I get the urge to read something a bit more.. raw.. so I keep a stash of a few Black Lace with authors like Nina Roy (loved Tea and Spices) or Emma Holly. And I have really enjoyed some erotica by Joan Elizabeth Lloyd. Blending erotica with mystery/suspense seems like a great idea to me. My library has the first two books in this series by Lawrence so I will give her a try. This new one does sound good.
Sybil - I hope you are feeling better!
Post a Comment