No Menage? Not Much Sex? Why Bother? (And a Giveaway)

Like Berengaria, a lot – well, most – of the books I write are hotter than hell. A good many of them are my favourite of the erotic romance genre: MMF Romance. Two make-your-teeth-ache-alpha heroes, a snap-your-spine-strong heroine, a storyline on steroids and a happy ending for all three.
My latest book, released April 1, Terror Stash, is the last in my big Romantic Thriller collection. It’s MF romance: bedroom shut, sensual only.
A good friend of mine, who knows what I like to write, raised a brow at this and asked: “Why even bother?”
Good question. I thought I would answer it in public as I’m sure he’s not the first to wonder, as my MMF romances out-sell anything else I write by five-to-one, they garner the most five star reader reviews, gather more critical acclaim, and win more nominations and awards than anything else I write. So why in hell would I bother writing anything else?
Not all my readers like menage romances

I didn’t always write menages, and some of my readers have been with me for a very long time. I like to keep them happy.

Not all my readers like erotic romances.

Some of my readers have been with me even longer than that. They’ve been with me since the beginning, before I started writing erotic romance. My most faithful readers and I go back to the dawn of time (and some mornings it feels like the beginning of evolution, and I am the primordial ooze). Some readers found me when I first started out writing erotic romance, when erotic romance was what is now just a hot romance. Again, something for everyone.

It’s a change of pace.

I love writing MMF Romance, but I suspect that if that was all I wrote, I might eventually get sick of it…and I don’t want to do that. So, I mix it up.

It’s a challenge.

I’ve been writing erotic romance and MMF romance for over a decade. You can get very comfortable writing the same genre and sub-genre for that length of time, even if your style and technique are evolving. By changing genres, I’m challenging myself to concentrated just on story and produce something highly entertaining, emotionally moving and page turning, without the distraction of hot sex and body parts to gloss over any potential plot weaknesses. (Although, that is not to say that writing hot sex is easy – it’s not. I’ve just had a lot of practice writing it.)

I like straight MF romantic suspense.

I like both writing and reading romantic suspense. It doesn’t make me a lot of money (alas), so I don’t write a lot of it, but I still like writing it every now and again.


This is the ONLY stop on Tracy's book tour where she will be giving away a copy of a menage story, BLOOD KNOT, to one lucky commenter. You must comment here, or on my Facebook page, to be entered into the draw.

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A stash of terrorists in a tiny town? No one believes her.

American diplomat Montana Dela Vega, posted to laid-back Western Australia, discovers a band of known terrorists hiding deep in the bush. Laughed at by superiors, she must find courage and her own resources to expose the ruthless zealots.

The only people who believe her wild story are Caden Rawn, the mysterious and physically intimidating man with a terrifying reputation, and a bloody history that dogs his every step; and Steve Scarborough, a local police officer with an instinct for the truth and a secret of his own.

Caden and Montana’s private investigation entwines them in tragedy and fear, and teaches them the meaning of friendship...and love. They must face the cost of truth and the courage of their convictions for Montana’s terrorists are very real and very deadly indeed—and they want Montana for themselves....

Available in print and ebook at retailers everywhere.

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Tracy Cooper-Posey is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author. She writes erotic vampire romances, hot romantic suspense, paranormal and urban fantasy romances. She has published over 50 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.

She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.

She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys sewing, history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
Catch up with Tracy at her website…Amazon…All Romance eBooks…Smashwords…Kobo…Facebook…Twitter

Elinor's Stronghold book 3: Restoring Garnet's Heart

Blurb: Restoring Garnet’s Heart

Tragically widowed, Garnet is loved by two men. If a noble lady can have two men, why can’t a mere sewing woman? Garnet decides she’ll marry them both! Then she adopts two orphaned, starving little girls.

Garnet, Byram, and Carlysle are sent to repair the demesne. Can they achieve this huge task before the harvest is gathered in? First a high stone wall needs to be built to protect them from attackers. The buildings must be cleaned and repaired, the crops sown, weeded, cared for, and hopefully reaped. Is it possible to complete such a huge undertaking before the next vicious winter arrives? Will the peasants help them?

Meanwhile Lady Elinor gives birth to the heir of the stronghold, and Lord Rhys and Lady Rhyannon, with Alistair and Lord Devon, go to court to sort out her inheritance.

And what about Garnet’s threesome relationship? Will that be successful?

STORY EXCERPT

Lady Elinor stared at the two children in front of her. One, a girl, looked to be about six years old and dragged a cooking pot with a few possessions inside it. Her arms and legs were stick-thin, her hair was falling out in clumps, and her belly was swollen.

The child had been eating bark and leaves to try to stem her hunger, and her belly was full of air, assumed Garnet, who was standing beside Lady Elinor among the other sewing women of the castle.

The younger child, which could be either a girl or boy, and was maybe three years old, clutched the older one’s tunic in one hand, and sucked hard on its other thumb. It, too, was painfully thin, though less bloated by starvation.

“You wish to become my slave?” Lady Elinor’s voice was even and mild, but Garnet knew she was shocked. Peasant men from the smallest of uncaring Lord Jeffrey’s hamlets had begged to become slaves of the castle in return for food during this terrible winter, but few females, and no one as young as this little child.

“Yes, Lady Elinor. I can scare birds from the crops when they’re planted, and clean for you. Ysabel will stay with me. I’ve always looked after her since Ma died, and she won’t touch the seedlings. She’s a good girl, and no trouble at all. And I will grow big, and learn to fight for you and Lord Rhys, and then I’ll kill the men who murdered our Pa and took all our hamlet’s food,” the child finished fiercely, almost in a shout.

Garnet felt her eyebrows rise and forced her face not to break into a grin. It was plain this tiny, starved child had the heart of a warrior indeed.

Lady Elinor rested her hand on her huge belly. It was almost time for the heir to the stronghold to be born.

“Well then, Nerida is already learning warrior skills, and if the heir to the stronghold is a girl, she will be a warrior, too. I see no reason why you can’t also be a warrior, if that is your desire. What is your name, and where are the other people from your hamlet?”

“I’m Ava, lady, and I promise to serve you forever. Most of the people left after the soldiers came raiding. Some have tried to help Ysabel and me, but I’d rather work for my food.”

Garnet watched Ava’s thin, little shoulders straighten as she spoke. At her age, Garnet would never have dared to approach the Lady of the Castle, and Garnet had never been a shy child. But this girl was truly a warrior born. She was that rare being who combined the ability to think of a solution to a problem with the courage to step outside any rules of society and do it, no matter what the consequences may turn out to be.

Without stopping to think, Garnet moved to stand where Lady Elinor could see her. “The two girls may share my room, lady, and I will supervise their activities.”

“It is decided then, Ava. You and Ysabel may join the stronghold. We will feed you, and you will work. You will obey Garnet in all things. Do you understand?”

“Yes, lady, thank you.”

Ava dropped to her knees and pressed her face to Lady Elinor’s feet. Ysabel copied her.

Garnet’s eyes flooded with tears. Peasants always died when there was trouble in the land, especially the very old and the very young. They weren’t strong enough to fight back or fast enough to run away. But this child deserved to live.

Garnet’s husband, Roldan, had been one of Lord Rhys’s soldiers, and was killed in the battle that took the lives of Lady Elinor’s father and brothers and caused Lord Rhys to lose his demesne to Lord Jeffrey. They had been married only six months, not long enough for her to worry about not getting pregnant, but now he was dead, the parents of these children were dead, and Ava was a daughter any woman would be proud to call her own.

BUY LINK: http://www.bookstrand.com/restoring-garnets-heart /

Berengaria

Genre jumping

I write menages, MM, and FF. I like to read all different kinds of books so that's the way I write.

Several of my menages are series like the "Raw Claiming" books ("Raw Craving", "Raw Need" and "Raw Want") or the "Possessive Passions" series ("Shared Possession", "Possess Me" and "Ultimate Possession".)
For each of these series I began by building a world where there was a specific reason why several men would marry and share a woman. One menage story is eminently believable, but when a whole society is living in that way, I needed there to be a reason why they'd chosen to do this. Hence the traditional beliefs in the "Possessive Passions" series, and the end-of-the-world scenario in the "Raw Claiming" series.

How do you feel about menage stories? Do you need there to be a reason for people to act this way, or is lust a good enough reason for you?

Berengaria