Friday, 14 June 2013

Special Guest Author - Raven McAllan

Today we have a very special guest on the blog, Raven McAllan. Raven's book, Master was released on the 5th June and I've invited her here today to tell us a little bit about the book and how she came to write it. Take it away Raven :)

Hi all, I'm somewhat excited about the release of Master. It's a book that had very definite idea on how it was going to go. Seriously I wasn't sure at times if I could write their story, and do it justice. Anna and Caden's route to happiness isn't at all straight, or easy.
I get so involved with my characters, and boy do I feel their angst. These two have more than most. Caden is a Dominant, Anna, is a sub…or is she? As they try to sort out their lives and their relationship—if they even have one—was a roller-coaster of a ride. I only hope I've done it justice.
What I will say, is I suspect you'll love or hate their story, that it may touch a nerve at times, and you might wish it hadn't. You might even cry. I love it (well it'd be awful if I didn't, after all they let me write it), and it did strike a chord, several chords in fact. And yes I did cry whilst I was typing. There was one bit I had to check over and over for typo's, as I'd typed with teary eyes.
But as it's a romance, well there's got to be a HEA, or HFN…or does there? Well you'll have to read Master to find out…
 Master is available now from www.evernightpublishing.com, and will also be available from Amazon, Allromance eBooks and Bookstrand.
 If you're like me, you like to be nosy…and why not eh? So how about the blurb and a tease? Just to get you started. 

Master by Raven McAllan

The blurb... 
Cade and Anna are both caught in the same nightmare...
 When Anna ran from Cade fifteen years ago, his pride stopped him from going after her, but he had never forgotten his wife and sub.
When he finds her again at a BDSM club in Glasgow, he is determined to get answers.
Anna ran from Cade, convinced she cannot be the sub he needs. Plagued by nightmares her only way to cope is to reject her need to submit.
When she is forced to confront her fears, can Cade and Anna find common ground, or is the nightmare simply going to continue?

An excerpt…
 She stopped speaking again. Bloody hell, we'll be here for a week come Tuesday if she doesn't get a move on. Cade held his tongue. He'd wait for a while.
"Um, okay, I've done a lot of thinking. And I know now, that it wasn't everything we did that I hated. In fact, quite a lot made me more than hot and bothered." She giggled, and Cade saw the younger woman she'd been, before she sobered suddenly. "And a lot made me feel sick. It's sorting out which is which that's difficult. Will you help me?"
She stared at him, and his body tensed as if he was waiting for a blow. That was stupid. It was Di … no, Anna, for goodness sake.
"Anna, love, I'd be proud to. Tell me what you need, what you want, and how I can serve."
His choice of words made her giggle—or something did. Yeah, that'll be the day. "Okay, I need to try to see what I can do. No worse than that. Oh hell, Cade, I need to see what would satisfy you. Therefore." She took a deep breath, and Cade watched as perspiration dotted her brow. "Um, I want … will you do things?"
How the hell could he answer that? "What sort of things, love?"
 Anna nibbled her nail. Cade forced himself not to grab her hands and demand she stop. This had to be her show.
"Well." She tucked her head to one side, something he remembered her doing when she was deep in thought. "Will you handcuff me and make me come?" she asked in a hurry, her words tumbling over each other. "I bloody loved that."
He waited to see if she would say anything else. She didn't, so it was all up to him.
"If I do that for you, what else?"
She stared at him like a rabbit caught in a trap. "How do you mean?"
"If I handcuff you, how do you want me to make you come?"
It was obvious she hadn’t thought that far. Anna stared at him and licked her lips. "I don't understand. I mean you'll make me come."
Cade closed his eyes so she wouldn't see his frustration. "Oh I understand that. But in what way? Tied?  Over a bench, blindfolded? Making you fuck yourself? You need to be more explicit, Anna. I don't know at which point the 'I loved it' became the 'I hated it'. If I'm to help you here, I need a little bit of direction."
Anna looked startled. "But you're the Dom. Don't you tell me?"
Oh shit.
"If I do, love, we might not get any further. What I want could perhaps be three steps too far. So you tell me. Do I shackle your handcuffs? What do you want?" He paused took out a bottle of water from his desk drawer and had a swig of water.  "This time, let's assume there's no Dom and no sub and only a beautiful lady asking her man to play." Would she go for that?
Anna wandered around the room, not really looking at anything, but he could sense her mind whirling. Then she stopped dead, swiveled, and walked to stand in front of him.
"If I cry ‘red’?" she demanded. "What then?"
"Then we stop. I'm past trying to persuade you. What I want here is secondary, I reckon. You know what I want. We need to work out what I need." Who the hell knew if that chasm could be breached? It seemed as unlikely as snow in the Sahara. Cade stopped talking. "It's up to you, love. We need to see what you want to give as well. I'm happy to follow your lead for now. But we both know, for me to meekly sit back and watch as you destroy anything we might have is so not going to happen. I want to fill you, bind you to me with more than physical ties, and hear you cry out for me. Can you cope with that?"
He watched her go through the colors of the rainbow on her skin, and swallowed. Hell’s bells, she does that a lot, and it sends my body to high alert. Promises, promises.
"Can you, love?" He pressed her for an answer, because he had to know. His skin was so tight that he thought if she touched it she'd bounce.
God almighty, even the air held its breath. It was getting to be a habit.
Slowly, Anna nodded. "I need to try. Hell, Cade, I love you, and I want you. Whether that's enough, who knows? But really, honestly, I want to try. So can we?"
His heart swelled, and he wanted to punch the air. Yes!
"I reckon so, love. I reckon so. Now, if I say assume the position, just for me, can you? Will you?"
 Ana smiled, the enticing smile of a siren home from the sea. With a graceful movement, she knelt in front of him, put her hands behind her back and dipped her head.
"Oh, I reckon…" The muscles in her neck moved convulsively. "Well, I reckon. Yes, Sir."
Cade thought all his birthdays had come at once. Surely, surely this was a good start. He hardly dared look at Anna in case he saw desperation or negativity on her face.
Come on, act the part. Look and help her, that's your remit. You're a bloody Master, for goodness’ sake, so be one. Cade gave himself a minute to collect his thoughts before he turned to the woman who kneeled in front of him. As he watched, a faint tremor shuddered through her. So she wasn't really comfortable. That little movement made him stiffen his resolve. He would push and prod, and see if they could come up with a compromise.

 About Raven...
 Raven lives in Scotland, along with her husband and their two cats—their children having flown the nest—surrounded by beautiful scenery, which inspires a lot of the settings in her books.
She is used to sharing her life with the occasional deer, red squirrel, and lost tourist, to say nothing of the scourge of Scotland—the midge.
A lover of reading, she appreciates the history inside a book, and the chance to peek into the lives of those from years ago. Raven admits that she enjoys the research for her books almost as much as the writing; so much so, that sometimes she realizes she's strayed way past the information she needs to know, and not a paragraph has been added to her WIP.
Her lovely long-suffering husband is learning to love the dust bunnies, work the Aga, and be on stand-by with a glass of wine.

More nosy links… 
You can find out more about Raven here…

Thanks for being here today and sharing a little bit about Master, Raven. It certainly looks like a great read and I wish you all the best for it's success. 



3 comments:

  1. THanks for inviting me over Jan. I hope people are intrigued...

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  2. Oooh...Love the snippet, Raven. Congrats again.

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  3. You're welcome Raven, feel free to drop by anytime.

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