Character Interview: THE LAST GIRL by Kitty Thomas

Hello everyone. Today we have a special guest here at the blog.  I’m interviewing Christian from The Last Girl by Kitty Thomas.

Hi Christian. Thanks for agreeing to this interview. First let me say that you’re a really sexy guy in a dark twisted sort of way. But you’re kind of a scary character to interact with so please forgive my nerves. And please don’t bite me (unless you’re offering a happy ending with that bite)!

Christian: Unfortunately my bite has no happy ending.

AsianCocoa: So, let’s start off with a few basic questions about your life:

How old are you?

Christian: 782. I’m a scorpio.

AC: Have you ever been married?

Christian:  No.

AC: Do you have any children?

Christian: I’ve turned two women, but it ended badly both times.

AC: How were you made vampire? How old were you when it happened and was it against your will?

Christian: I was drunk when I was turned and woke in a ditch an hour before sunrise after the requisite three days. I assume it was against my will since I was too inebriated to recall the event. I don’t know who turned me and I never saw him or her again. I was 27.

AC: What period of time has been your favorite to live in?

Christian: The roaring twenties.

AC: What do you think about the women of the 21^st century?

Christian: I think they worry too much about looking weak compared to the male of the species. I’m not sure what that’s about.

AC: You waited 70 years to take a new human pet. You discovered Juliette when she was only thirteen. Can you tell me what it was about Juliette that was so appealing? 

Christian: I couldn’t hypnotize her. I don’t like puppets for pets and especially with my age it is harder and harder to find a human who can resist my thrall. I could still read her mind, of course, but I couldn’t put my own suggestions in her head. I found that intriguing.

AC: There’s a really terrifying scene in your dungeon that shocked and scared the hell out of me. I know how Juliette was feeling throughout but what were you thinking and feeling during that moment with Juliette?

Christian: I can’t remember it. I’m sorry. I was too lost in the haze.

AC:  I know you own quite a bit of business real estate in Tampa including a boutique and a couple of clubs. I want to know some details about your BDSM club. What’s the wildest thing that you’ve seen or participated in?

Christian: I’m so jaded now that I’m not sure what you humans would think of as wild, though there have been some animals involved in some things. I assume that would be the most horrific/taboo thing to you humans that’s ever occurred in my club.

AC: Do you enjoy being a sadistic vampire? Do you ever wish you were less evil?

Christian: Sadistic implies enjoyment so, I suppose the question was answered before you asked it. Let’s just say I don’t enjoy that I lose far too many pets to my sadism and leave it at that. And I’m not evil. I’m evil from your perspective but humans are food. Do you eat meat? Are you evil because of it? It’s my nature to feed on and kill humans and it’s my nature to play with my food. I won’t apologize for that nature and don’t expect you to apologize for yours. I don’t consider it evil, but I wish I didn’t have to kill them. I don’t want my pets to die.

AC: Do you believe in love and happily ever after?

Christian: Of course I believe in love. Do you believe in sunshine or rain? But happily ever after? With me? No. For human beings with other human beings? Yes.

Now for a few easy questions.

Boxers or briefs?  Neither

Vodka or tequila shots? Maker’s Mark (so, neither.)

Virgins or whores? *chuckles* Oh you know the answer to that one. Virgins.

What’s your favorite:

Song?  It’s nothing you’ve heard before.

Book?  The Count of Monte Cristo. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Dumas once. I prevented Nadine from killing him, so that piece of literature wouldn’t be here without my intervention. I like to think of that book as his thank you to me for saving his life.

Sexual position?  Doggie

Body part on a woman?  Wherever the best artery is.

Is Juliette your last girl?  :-) What do you think?

Thank you so much for answering my questions, Christian.

No problem.

The Last Girl
by Kitty Thomas
Publisher: Burlesque Press
Release Date: February 12, 2012

Six years ago strangers broke into Juliette’s house; she was home alone and only thirteen. She kept her eyes closed, praying that if she didn’t see anything, she wouldn’t be killed. No one harmed her. In fact, one of the thieves protected her. Now Juliette’s dreams are haunted by him.

Christian has waited to take her, resisting the urge each night. It always ends badly with human pets. They’re too fragile. The longer he can wait, the better, because the moment he takes her, the clock on her life starts ticking down.

Then she’ll be gone forever.

Warning: This book is meant for a mature audience and contains master/slave, group sexual activity, sadomasochism, girl-on-girl, oral and anal play, exhibitionism, blood play, edge play, as well as one other thing I’m not warning you about because it would be a spoiler... but it’s not a big taboo. 

Excerpt

The Last Girl excerpt used with permission, copyright 2012 Kitty Thomas

I feel absurd being a nineteen-year-old virgin, a fossil from another time. Part of me is just glad to do the deed and get the fucking thing over. I feel like I’ve got a white V emblazoned on me, or as if I give off some type of scent. I don’t like the idea that something that should be private feels as if it’s somehow being broadcast.

I open the door a little bleary-eyed, my hair still mussed from oversleeping.

“Did I wake you?” 

He’s got this stupid grin on his face. And flowers. I want to smack him. I know this is all because I’ve decided to give in and put out after three months of dating. I feel like I should love him if I’m going to do this.

I run my hands self-consciously through my hair.

“You look great,” he says, holding out the flowers.

No I don’t. I know it. He knows it. He’s just so happy to be getting laid tonight that he’s seeing me through horny-guy glasses. I’m still too sleepy to be annoyed.

I put the flowers in a glass of water and slip some flip flops on. It’s Southern Florida. Flip flops are a year-round joy here. 

He’s got something romantic planned at the beach. Black cloth goes over my eyes as we get out of the car—a blindfold. I almost panic, but then I realize if I make a fuss, it will invite questions I can never answer. So I smile shakily and allow him to lead me down to the beach. My flip flops are still in the car. I breathe slowly in and out, listening to the waves crash against the shore, inhaling the crisp, salty scent of the sea, feeling the instability of sand collapsing beneath my feet. 

“Don’t move. I’ll be right back. I’ve got to get a couple of things.”

I try not to be in that dark closet. I try, but I can’t help it. I’m there again, my eyes squeezed tightly shut, silently begging not to be found, not to be killed. A hand is on my arm again, leading me away and I come out of the fog, remembering I’m here with Devon. Everything’s okay.

“Where are we going?”

“Shhh”

My heart starts to hammer faster in my chest. Then it pounds and vibrates in my head. My entire being is one rapidly thudding heartbeat with no slowdown in sight. Something is wrong here, but I can’t make myself remove the cloth from my eyes.

You’re being ridiculous. It’s just Devon. He has a surprise. 

I find myself in the passenger seat of a car. It’s not Devon’s car. I just know. Even blindfolded I know. This is the point where I should rip the scrap of fabric off and run. There is no evidence this person has a weapon, and he or she hasn’t spoken to me yet. But before my hands can move to the blindfold, the driver’s side door is shut and the car has started.

It’s so fast, I assume there must be more than one person involved. Tears gather and absorb into the thick cloth covering my eyes. Terror freezes me, keeping me from taking off the blindfold, from trying to leap out of the car that’s moving too fast now anyway. I’m suddenly thirteen again. The dream is real, and I believe that if I don’t see them, they won’t kill me. 

I’m silent and they are silent. The only sound is the wheels scraping against the rough road and the occasional bump. My tears are coming harder now. Why can’t I fight back? Scream? Beg? Try to escape? Just take the fucking blindfold off! But I can’t do it. I may as well be tied up because I’m so scared I don’t know what to do or what to think.

A little while passes and the car stops. Again, too fast for me to react, my door is open and someone is helping me out. How many are there?

I cringe away but find my feet moving in the direction I’m being led. “Don’t hurt me. Please.”

Then I feel stupid. What if it’s Devon? What if this is part of some stupid frat thing he’s gotten himself into? It would be just like him to combine my deflowering with a secret frat party or something.

I expect someone to start giggling or say I’m a spaz, but fingers gently grasps my wrist, lifting my hand. I feel the planes of his face as he guides me to see him. I shake my head in disbelief. 

No.

I was good. I didn’t say anything. I didn’t tell anyone anything. This can’t happen. I did what I was supposed to do. But it’s him. It’s my nightmare.

“I missed you, Juliette.”

Christian.

Author Bio - 

Kitty Thomas writes dark literary fiction that explores power dynamics and sexuality (back in the olden days people called it erotica). This work is fiction and meant for an adult audience. The author does not endorse or condone any of the behavior carried out by characters in her stories.

Her work is not “erotic romance”. Often on some level it is about love and/or obsession. Often the couple in some way ends up “together”, but the work should not be expected to follow the conventions of any type of genre romance, erotic or otherwise. If you are looking for genre romance (erotic or otherwise), please read a different author. Erotic romance is “more explicit romance”. This is something different.

Inspiration for Kitty’s work comes from many sources including Story of O, Nine and a Half Weeks, and the work of Claudia D. Christian.

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My review of The Last Girl can be found here.

Review: THE LAST GIRL by Kitty Thomas

The Last Girl
by Kitty Thomas
Publisher: Burlesque Press
Release Date: February 12, 2012
Source: Review copy from Author

Six years ago strangers broke into Juliette’s house; she was home alone and only thirteen. She kept her eyes closed, praying that if she didn’t see anything, she wouldn’t be killed. No one harmed her. In fact, one of the thieves protected her. Now Juliette’s dreams are haunted by him.

Christian has waited to take her, resisting the urge each night. It always ends badly with human pets. They’re too fragile. The longer he can wait, the better, because the moment he takes her, the clock on her life starts ticking down.

Then she’ll be gone forever.

Warning: This book is meant for a mature audience and contains master/slave, group sexual activity, sadomasochism, girl-on-girl, oral and anal play, exhibitionism, blood play, edge play, as well as one other thing I’m not warning you about because it would be a spoiler... but it’s not a big taboo.

I was eagerly awaiting the release of The Last Girl knowing that it would be another incredible read from a favorite author. I was not disappointed as this novel combines my love of vampires and dark erotica marvelously. The Last Girl was the paranormal version of Kitty Thomas’ debut novel, Comfort Food. Both novels contained pre-meditated kidnappings and themes of dubious consent. And both novels had a flawed hero who was evil yet somehow likable at the same time. Christian, like Master from Comfort Food, was definitely swoon-worthy in a dark twisted way.

The beginning of this novel introduces us to Christian, an almost 800 year old vampire. He hasn’t had a human pet for many decades but after meeting Juliette he finds the temptation to take another one too hard to fight. After six years of waiting and plotting, he plucks Juliette from her life of teenage innocence and forces her into an existence of servitude as both his food source and sexual slave.

The Last Girl is written in the present tense from Juliette’s point of view. This style allowed the reader to be present in Juliette’s mind and really feel like they were in the moment and experience all that the heroine was feeling and doing. I felt like the proverbial “fly on the wall” as I got to see their relationship unfold in real time. Juliette was a sensitive but strong character. I really connected with her and wanted so badly for her to survive and things to work out. She may be one of my favorites of Ms. Thomas’ heroines.

Christian is an evil sadist and very unapologetic about it. He’s both honest and blunt about the fact that his blood lust will become so overwhelming that he will eventually kill Juliette. Juliette’s first few weeks with Christian are extremely dark and harrowing. He shows her his wicked vampire side very early on and it is pure evil. He is a cruel master and her fear is like a drug to him. He even tells Juliette that he’s not some fairy tale vampire.

“There is no such thing as a noble or good vampire. I am a predator. You are my prey. When I am finished playing with you, I will kill you. But it will probably be years; it usually is. You have nothing to fear for the foreseeable future. Except pain.” ~ Christian

I was on an emotional roller coaster throughout the story. There were actually some lighter humorous moments in the beginning between the two characters that made me laugh. Then there were horror filled, cringe worthy, “Oh my God, he’s going to kill her” moments. But some readers might also shed some tears as we experience Juliette’s feelings of terror, surrender, acceptance, love, and eventually the overwhelming despair that consumes her. And of course, there were the erotic scenes that got me hot and bothered too. I loved the decadent vampire BDSM club that features hypnotic music and very kinky, sensual scenes between Christian & Juliette and others. It was extremely hot! 

The Last Girl is a brilliant addition to the world of dark erotica. This story is really dark and violent. Read the disclaimer & warning and if you’re still on board then I highly recommend you delve into this incredible novel.

Waiting on Wednesday: THE LAST GIRL

THE LAST GIRL

by Kitty Thomas

Release Date: February 14, 2012

Here's the official Book trailer:

There isn't an official blurb yet on The Last Girl but it's a dark erotica novel with vampires in it. Hell yeah! The cover is gorgeous too. I can't wait to read this one.

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine to showcase the books we can’t wait to get our hands on. What are you all waiting on?

Review: THE KING'S PLEASURE by Kitty Thomas

The King’s Pleasure
by Kitty Thomas
Publisher: Burlesque Press
Release Date: December 17, 2011
Source: Review copy from Author

In the kingdom of Himeros, Abigail is despised for her gypsy heritage. Pushed to the fringes of society, she’s forced to break the law in order to help feed her family. When a castle guard catches her stealing bread, he intends to cut off her hand for the offense.

Niall has just taken the throne and is determined to prove he isn’t a monster like his father. Awakened by the cries of a gypsy, he spares her from the guard’s blade and takes her as his slave instead. When he learns she doesn’t understand the kingdom’s carnal ways, he becomes determined to strip her of all inhibitions until her every desire is in service to the king’s pleasure.

* This book contains master/slave, group sexual activity, mild sadomasochism, oral and anal play, exhibitionism, and voyeurism.*

The King’s Pleasure is the third novella in Kitty Thomas’ erotic fairy tale collection. This novella was my favorite one out of all of them. It pushed every one of my dark, erotic, kinky buttons.

I know I’m in for a sexy treat when opening up a Kitty novel. I almost always love her heroes and this story was no exception. Niall was a dominant & dangerous hero with a soft spot for his slave. Abby was a strong heroine who would endure anything to prove her love and loyalty to her master. 

Living her whole life on the fringes of the kingdom, Abby is ignorant of the hedonistic culture of the King’s court. After deciding to take Abby as his slave, Niall begins to teach her the carnal ways of the Himeros society. She gets indoctrinated into the sexually open culture of the kingdom rather quickly as guests start arriving to court and preparations are made for the weekend feasts and festival. And, oh my! What a wicked, sexy festival! Once night falls, children and citizens not wanting to participate in the evening’s orgies leave and the debauchery begins. The author joked that she must have been on horny drugs when she wrote the scene and I think she was! It’s a very intense erotic scene with lots of dirty explicit activities going on.

Shortly after the festival the story takes a dark turn when seeds of doubt are planted in Niall’s mind regarding Abby’s intentions. The latter half of the novella is a bit alarming and tortuous and my heart went out to Abby. I was so caught up in the emotional whirlwind that I worried about how the story would end. 

This was another amazing story from the beautifully erotic imagination of Kitty Thomas. The King’s Pleasure is highly recommended for every erotica fan who likes their stories a little dark and their boundaries pushed. 

Winners of Awakening and Gabriel's Inferno

 Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaways. 

Congratulations to the winners!

Winner of Awakening by Kitty Thomas is:

Yto  

Winners of Gabriel's Inferno by Sylvain Reynard are:

 Flaming Junebug

&

Na

A special thank you to Kitty Thomas and Omnific Publishing.

Winners have been notified by email and have 48 hours to respond.

Interview & International Giveaway with Kitty Thomas

I'm so excited to have Kitty Thomas join me on AsianCocoa's Secret Garden today! Kitty's new novella Awakening was released in August.

AsianCocoa: Welcome Kitty. It’s a pleasure having you here on the blog today. Please tell us a little about yourself and why you became a writer.

Kitty Thomas: I'm not sure there is a reason I can give on why I became a writer. I think it's one of those innate things for a lot of people. It's sort of like how little kids who kill stray animals become serial killers. People who have stories in their heads all the time and have a tendency to start writing them down, become writers. It's just inevitable.

AC: Your new book Awakening was just released this month. Would you tell us a little about it? Why did you want to write a story with a mermaid heroine?

KT: Awakening is about a mermaid named Nerina (literally means sea nymph in Greek) who swims too close to the shore and gets caught in a fisherman's net. The people on the island eat mermaid fin as a delicacy, but Kyros, the master of the property where she's caught, decides to keep her instead. In the book there is a legend that if a human can awaken a mermaid's sexual desire, the mermaid will turn human and be forever at the mercy of the human's lust. Nerina believes it's a scare tactic to keep merfolk in line. But Kyros believes in it wholeheartedly. Mermaids really have no frame of reference either for love or sex, so Kyros has his work cut out for him. Nerina is afraid that when she can't turn human for him, that he'll have her killed.

I wrote a mermaid story because my cover artist found a great image. She said: "OMG, Kitty you HAVE to write a mermaid story so we can use this image for your cover." Ten minutes later I came back to her and said, "I think I just got an idea for one." So Awakening wouldn't be here without my cover artist. Ironically we ended up using a different cover image than what was originally picked out.

AC: You’ve published 4 other books since your incredible debut novel; Comfort Food was released in October of 2010. How do you get your incredible stories to paper (or computer screen) so quickly? Can you describe your writing process to us?

KT: Most of these ideas in one form or another have been percolating in my brain as fantasies for longer than I can remember. In fact, the novella I just finished, The King's Pleasure, (completing the set of three), is a story like that. It still has to be edited and formatted, but I'm hoping to have it out by sometime in October. The entire opening scene was part of one of my "bedtime stories". I have all these stories in my head that I fall asleep while they play, and a lot of my books start out as those stories. They change a lot from my brain to the page sometimes. So that's part of why it happens so fast. A lot of these stories, the rough draft is already in my head and has been for years. The other part is that I just write a lot and I don't second guess myself. Editing is for second guessing, not writing. So, while all my work is professionally edited, I have more work TO edit much more quickly because I just sit down and do it.

AC: You write mostly dark BDSM erotica. Do you think that BDSM is becoming more main stream? Why or why not?

KT: I honestly don't really class my writing as BDSM erotica. I consider it dark erotica that deals with the psychology of ownership. That might seem like splitting hairs, but BDSM is a consensual practice and what I write isn't about "consent". It's about power and surrender. This isn't to say that no story ever starts or ends with consent or that I won't write anything consensual, but it's about the totality of ownership in a fictional context where such things can be safely explored. I think BDSM is a very different thing. And while I'm sure my work appeals a lot to BDSM practitioners, I'm sure most of them would agree with me that what I'm writing isn't exactly what they're doing. My work may have many BDSM trappings and look similar on the surface, but I don't consider it BDSM.

Re: the mainstreaming of BDSM, I'm not sure but I think what you're really asking is: do I think erotica that pushes more envelopes and takes us out of the Ozzie and Harriet world is becoming more mainstream. And what I mean, of course, is overt power exchange. I'm not really sure if it is or not, but I don't understand the question. I'm not saying I don't comprehend what you've asked me, I just don't understand why BDSM is or ever could be controversial to anyone. Maybe it's just the way my brain is wired but I see dominance and submission games in nearly everything human beings do. And it's been like this throughout history. Human beings are mammals. Most mammalian sexuality is based on hierarchies of dominance and submission. People just get a little more creative about it. But to me a whip or bondage gear isn't the THING itself. The thing is the need of one to submit and the other to dominate. On the surface we all say we want egalitarian relationships. And maybe some people do. But I think what we really mean is that we want fair and caring/loving relationships. Otherwise the majority of women wouldn't be so sexually attracted to dominant badasses and sexually repulsed by men who are "too nice". (Which isn't to say that maledom and femsub is all that is out there or all that's okay, but it represents the social majority and it's what I write. So no judgment on other sexualities is intended in this answer.)

AC: Which character out of all of your novels was the hardest to write about? Who was your favorite and least favorite character?

KT: I'm not sure I can frame it as "which character was the hardest to write about", but I can say which book was the hardest to write, and that's Comfort Food. I opened a vein for that book. Emotionally it drained the fuck out of me. Later I realized it was because it was so personal. I didn't realize until after I'd written it but the whole book was largely a metaphor for how M and I weren't communicating at the time, at least not verbally. It was a rough period in our relationship and Comfort Food was what came out of that.

With favorite and least favorite characters, I'm pretty fickle. My favorite is usually whoever I'm writing about at the time. And least favorite... I don't write characters I don't like. Even villains who I wouldn't like in real life, I like them as characters because of what they contribute to the story. Like Lucas, the villain in Tender Mercies. I loved him as a character because he was just so scary and gave this wonderful contrast for when Asher bought Grace and took her out of that situation. If Lucas hadn't been so awful, it wouldn't have been such a relief to Grace (or readers) when Asher comes along and turns out not to be the monster she feared he would be.

AC: What was the last amazing book that you have read?

KT: Room. I found the book because someone compared Comfort Food to it. Of course Room and Comfort Food are very very different books in a lot of ways, but I can see where the comparison came from.

AC: Other than writing, what other things interest you?

KT: Psychology. How people think and how ultimately predictable we all are. Except crazy people. But even they follow their own bizarre internal logic, so even they can be figured out if you have their secret decoder ring.

AC: Is there anything else you would like to share with your readers? Are there any new projects you’re working on?

KT: Right now I'm in edits for The King's Pleasure. It's about a half-gypsy named Abigail (yes, she was purposely given a non-gypsy name), and a king named Niall. She is caught stealing bread in his castle and rather than allowing his guard to chop off her hand for it, he takes her as his personal slave. The book has a lot of worldbuilding for a novella with regards to their culture and how different it is sexually from ours. They have wholly different conceptions of sexuality and privacy from what we do. The King's Pleasure will round out my 3 novella series and will also be combined into a print anthology, so my readers who still read in print or just like to have my stuff on their shelves, it'll be available in that format. After a lot of 1st person stories, The King's Pleasure is back to 3rd again.

I'm also about halfway through The Last Girl, which is my first full-length novel since Tender Mercies. It's told in first person, present tense by Juliette, the main character. I know a lot of people don't like present tense, and many don't like first person, but I really think it's the only way this particular tale could be told. It makes it very immediate. It's a vampire story, which is fun to do because I love metaphor and vampires are really all about metaphor. I really shouldn't be but I am utterly in love with Christian.

For those who felt my writing has gotten a little tame with Awakening (and I agree that the mermaid story is "kitty-lite"; it's just what that story called for), The King's Pleasure ramps the dirty meter WAY up. (I'm not sure what it is about me and books with the word "pleasure" in the title, but... I go a little crazy.) And The Last Girl is rather dark and in some ways reminiscent of Comfort Food, but still a very different story.

AC: Thank you so much Kitty for  stopping by the blog and answering my questions.

KT: Thanks for having me!

For more information on Kitty Thomas:

Blog: htt://kittythomas.com
Twitter: @kitty_thomas
GoodReads: GoodReads author page

Giveaway Time:

Kitty is giving away an e-copy of her fantastic novella Awakening  (my review) to one lucky winner. Open Internationally.

To Enter:

Leave a comment or question for Kitty with your email address.
Entry deadline: Wednesday, September 28th, 2011 at 11:59pm (PT)

Winner will be announced and emailed soon after and will have 48 hours to respond.

Review: AWAKENING by Kitty Thomas

Awakening
by Kitty Thomas

Publisher: Burlesque Press
Release Date: August 25, 2011
Source: Review copy from Author

Nerina has lived all her life as a mermaid, fascinated by humans and land but also repulsed by sex and unable to understand love. Her curiosity gets her captured by a human male intent on awakening her lust and turning her human. But Nerina doesn’t believe the legend is real and fears Kyros will kill her when he learns she can’t transform.

Awakening was an interesting, dark love story between a human named Kyros and a mermaid named, Nerina. Legend says that if you catch a mermaid and can seduce her and awaken her lust she will be transformed into a human. Merfolk don’t have sex for pleasure or reproduction. They live together in large schools, like fish, and don’t show each other affection through kissing or touching. Nerina has seen humans and monkeys having sex and the thought of it does not appeal to her at all.   

Nerina never believed the legend that a mermaid could be turned human. She always dismissed the story as a scare tactic to keep mermaids from swimming too close to the shore. But the adventurous sea nymph would soon find herself swept up into a fisherman’s net and kept against her will. Rather than have her killed so that they could eat her mermaid fin, Kyros decides to keep her for himself. She fights the transformation in the beginning and tries to ignore the burgeoning feelings that Kyros incites in her. But slowly her lustful feelings take over and soon she can’t imagine life without Kyros’ touch and affection. The thought of going back to the sea starts to hold less and less appeal. Although she knows she will miss her family she begins to crave the touch of her Master.

This wonderful Kitty Thomas book wouldn’t have been complete without a dungeon scene which of course was one of my favorites. Nerina was deathly afraid of it and confused by all the contraptions and strips of leather on the walls. But Master Kyros once again patiently showed her how pleasurable pain can be.

        “Nerina, there are many different types of pleasure. Some types look like pain to the untrained eye. I’ll show you.”

~

          I managed to calm myself and the next time the flogger came down, my body was relaxed, loose. I gasped at the sensation skimming across my skin. Inexplicably I felt safe and warm and loved.

~

          As we both came down from the peak, he let himself fall forward over my back, his sweat-slicked skin resting against mine, his fingers threading through mine.

          “Tell me you love me, Nerina.”

          “I love you, Master.”

~ Kyros and Nerina

Kitty Thomas created a really incredible love story. Nerina’s fear, disbelief and conflicted feelings were skillfully conveyed. Her journey from a naive mermaid to a lustful woman was full of love and passion. Kyros was affectionately patient and firm with Nerina as he truly believed that he could make her human. I love a merciful Dom and Kyros fit the bill perfectly. Nerina was an innocent mermaid that Kyros was able to awaken and mold into his perfect submissive woman. I thought the pacing was perfect as the novella never seemed hurried. And I didn’t feel it was lacking in content or detail. Awakening was a beautifully written erotic mermaid fairy tale and gets 4.5 dragons.

Review: THE AUCTION by Kitty Thomas

The Auction

by Kitty Thomas

Publisher: Burlesque Press

Release Date: June 24, 2011

Book Source: Review copy from the Author

Belle Walker lives in a strict society where women are treated as property, sold to the highest bidder soon after their eighteenth birthday. But the auction isn't the only danger. Though she's never seen them, she knows monsters live outside the city. These creatures have allowed the humans a small area to inhabit with the promise to leave them in peace as long as they never cross the boundary. On the day Belle is sold, one of the monsters breaks that promise and enters the city, intent on having her as his own.

~ Goodreads

Book Warning:
This book contains sexual situations of dubious consent, master/slave, multiple partners, girl on girl, alien sex, and oral play.

The Auction takes place on a distant unnamed planet. Annabelle Walker has been on her own ever since her parents were killed by the monsters “out there” years prior. As a part of their society the humans auction off every young woman when she turns eighteen. This is a way for the city to make money to buy supplies from transport ships. Belle’s turn has come up and she is up on the block. She has been working on and pleasuring Stephen Thurman for over 2 years in hopes that he will keep his promise to buy her at the auction and then set her free. Belle is known as a feisty, trouble-maker so no one else bids on her except for Stephen until a mysterious hooded stranger makes an offer and outbids him.

After he pays for Annabelle, the stranger reveals himself to the shock and horror of everyone. He is one of the dragon-winged aliens that inhabit this distant planet. He has come into the city for the first time to buy himself a mate. Belle is both afraid and aroused but then adrenaline kicks in and she decides to run away. But wait. The alien can fly so of course Belle is captured and then flown away to the alien’s cave dwelling high in the mountains. 

Annabelle is told to call him Master. He lives with his brother who she is told to call Sir. In this alien society the males share their mates amongst family members and Sir gets the first chance to sex up Belle. Does she consent to this? No. But she doesn’t really have a choice. She worked so hard to gain her freedom and avoid enslavement only to find herself in the service of two big, bad, scary aliens. 

“Why didn’t you go with my brother?” His voice came out a snarl. What was I supposed to say to that? I just looked at the ground.

“Answer me!”

His shout pissed me off and suddenly the intensity of my anger matched his own.

“What do you mean why didn’t I go to him? Why didn’t I just go and rip off my clothes and throw myself at the strange alien guy with wings and a cock too big for me? Because I’m not crazy?”

“It’s not too big for you. I know you can take it.”

I put my hands over my ears and squeezed my eyes shut because something in his voice was turning me on, and I knew that wasn’t the appropriate response. These were monsters that were going to kill me.

~Master & Annabelle

Annabelle is Master’s mate but she is also Sir’s plaything. She is attracted to both brothers especially Master and slowly, over time she accepts her fate and begins to enjoy her role as their slave. I can’t tell you about all the kinky things that happened in the cave. You’ll have to read the story to get all those hot, steamy, sexy, delicious details. I will tell you that it filled my smut fix perfectly. 

Kitty Thomas’ writing is superb as always. I usually fall in love with her twisted, depraved heroes but not so much with Master and Sir. I mean, I liked Sir who was the “nicer one” of the two brothers and I liked the sadistic Master even more. But I wasn’t in love with them. The nice brother had blue skin and the mean brother had red skin. I’m not sure why but that made me laugh. The sci-fi was very light in this story. I’m not a huge fan of aliens but dragon-winged heroes make me swoon, especially when they use their wings to protect their mates. As is my usual gripe with novellas, this story wasn’t long enough. I’m left with questions about the humans’ and aliens’ back story and I would have liked to see Master’s and Annabelle’s relationship expanded. Sequel, please?!

The Auction gets 4 Dragons.

Review: Tender Mercies by Kitty Thomas

Tender Mercies
by Kitty Thomas

Publisher: Burlesque Press

Release Date: May 6, 2011

Book Source: Review copy from the Author

“Grace. That word that finally meant something again. Mercy. Favor. Good will.”

Fed up with play kink, Grace Warner moves to an island that embraces erotic slavery to be with a man she met online. Within hours of her arrival, everything is ripped from her, and she quickly learns play is preferable to the realities of actual enslavement.

Asher Collins has spent the past year mourning and blaming himself for the death of his slave, Darcy. When Grace catches his eye at a showing, obviously abused, he becomes obsessed with buying her and finding a way to atone for his own past sins

~ From Goodreads

This is Kitty Thomas’ third novel and probably the most emotional. I cried, worried, felt anger and disgust, worried some more, felt despair then hopefulness and finally I was awestruck at this author’s ingenious story-telling ability.

This is a story which depicts scenes of abuse, slavery, and dubious consent. The prologue is a tear-jerker. If you make it past the disclaimer, sit back & buckle up. You’re about to take a plane ride to Eleu, also known as the Island of Kink.

Grace Warner is a submissive who is bored with safe, sane and consensual play kink. She wants to be truly owned by a man. Ever since her best friend off-handedly mentions Eleu, Grace has been obsessed with thoughts of moving there. Eleu is an island where there are no human rights for the slaves. Once you enter the island you give up your citizenship and all your rights. That’s it. Once you agree to move there you become your master’s property in every sense of the word.

I was so worried for Grace as she was contemplating her decision to move to the Island of Kink. Her best friend, Lainey tries to no avail to convince Grace to find a Master in the real world. But after a year-long “courtship” with Lucas Stone, Grace is convinced that moving is the only way she can be happy. But how sure can you be about someone you’ve only known through chat and web-cam?

Fast-forward 8months into Grace’s life on Eleu. I was horrified and disgusted by Grace’s living situation.  She was kept nude and chained in Lucas’ dungeon under the most heinous conditions. She had been brutalized both physically and sexually in the vilest ways possible.  I felt angry at Lucas’ relentless assaults to strip Grace of her soul.  

“Tell me you’re mine, you worthless slut.”

Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes.

“This slut is yours, Master.”

Only because it’s what he wants to hear.

She had to hold onto that thought and repeat it in her mind so she wouldn’t forget. Her body may have submitted to him, but she hadn’t yet lost her mind. ~ Lucas & Grace

Asher Collins lost his slave Darcy during an unfortunate night of punishment. He has mourned her for a year but his need to own another woman has re-emerge and he soon wants to buy another slave. He sees Grace at a showing and immediately feels a sense of compassion and lust towards her. He seeks atonement for Darcy’s death and feels that he can redeem himself by bringing Grace back to life. 

I became hopeful for Grace after Asher brought her home and patiently helps her to overcome her nightmares and fears. He was the perfect hero and quite a merciful master. There was nothing that Asher would not do to keep Grace safe. He would kill for her. 

“Grace, listen to me. I know you’re scared. You don’t have to feel any particular thing about any of this. So stop fighting with yourself. All of this is out of your control. I am taking what’s mine, but you can keep your heart. For now. You don’t have to give me everything, just your body. When your body trusts me, your mind will follow. Now open.” ~ Asher

Yes, Tender Mercies is erotica and there are slavery, rape, and disturbing themes but it’s also a compelling story about a woman’s psychological survival and the man who gets her through it and finds atonement along the way. Although Grace toiled in the depths of hell with the devil, she managed to survive it when her angel of mercy swooped down to rescue her.

As I mentioned earlier, I am in awe of Kitty Thomas’ storytelling abilities. I was deeply caught up in the psychological conditioning in her novel Comfort Food and was titillated by the kinky sexual training in Guilty Pleasures. But the plot twists and multi-layered characters in Tender Mercies have made this book one of my all-time favorites. 

This novel absolutely gets 5 out of 5 stars