RUBBERS & ROMANCE
I write contemporary romance. Hot and steamy and okay, sometimes dirty contemporary romance, erotic romance if you will. I try to make it as feasible and realistic as possible while still maintaining the fantasy element and keeping the reader grounded in the story. The last thing I want to do is have a reader pulled out of the story because of an element or the handling of it. It’s why I think a lot about the use of condoms in my books and how I would incorporate it into the story. Seamlessly. It has to be seamless. The bottom line is I don’t write dumb heroines. My modern heroines are aware of the risks of being sexually activity in this day and age and they wouldn’t think to have sex with a new guy without using protection. They would at least think about it—before, during or after. Of course, there’s always the spur of the moment, ‘we’re so into it that we might forget’ moments. It happens, right? I’m not trying to preach anything and I want my books to be as hot as possible, but I feel that if I just exclude this whole area completely, I wouldn’t be fair to my characters. Yeah, I know. I probably sound a bit nuts LOL. I don’t spend a lot of time or words on this in the actual story. It needs to be part of the action, it needs to flow and it needs to be done in a way where the reader thinks nothing of it. It can be a quick line of dialogue, a descriptive action, heck…it can even be a sexy element in and of itself and be a feature of the scene! Other sub-genres such as historical, paranormal, futuristic and sci-fi I think can get away with not dealing with this area, but it’s kinda hard with contemporary to leave it out completely.
So…what do YOU think about the use of rubbers in contemporary romance these days? Yes, no, depends??
PLAY ME
BLURB
Lily Hamilton had her quiet, predictable life all mapped out, including a hot-shot attorney for a fiancé. That is until she catches him screwing around and takes off in his prized Mercedes, for once not giving a damn where she’s headed. How clichéd is that?
Gabriel Jackson is raw and disillusioned. Driving a tow truck is a far cry from the dangerous career he turned his back on, but when he finds the classy blonde in a dangerous part of LA, he’s immediately back in the role of protector.
Lily is hot and sweet and so out of his league it’s not funny, yet Gabe can’t deny the sizzling heat between them. He thinks he wants hard, fast and rough—until he gets his hands on her. He knows he should stay the hell away, but Lily makes him feel, really feel, for the first time in two years. Is she just slumming or can she see beyond the harsh, broken façade to the man beneath? A man who dreams of making her his?
EXCERPT
In light of the blog topic, I thought I’d share an excerpt from PLAY ME that has a condom reference . ENJOY!
His jaw flexed and his gaze bore into hers. He took a couple deep breaths. He seemed to be weighing his options. Jeez, she didn’t want to have to twist his arm.
“I—”
“Why the fuck not?” he finally muttered.
The bottom dropped right out of Lily’s stomach. Okay, not exactly the resounding response she’d been hoping for, but she could run with it, couldn’t she? If she could get her nerves under control and didn’t make a complete fool of herself, of course.
She frowned when he opened the passenger door and leaned in. His gaze was direct on hers when he straightened, a small square packet held unapologetically in his hand as if he wanted to be certain she saw it.
“Are you sure?” he rasped.
Her heart thundered, her throat was dry and the damn trembling was back. Especially when it registered he was holding more than one.
God, she hadn’t been exaggerating when she said she’d never done anything like this before and she couldn’t say why she was now exactly. Sex had always been a natural progression in the relationships she’d had. After a reasonable time, after getting to know someone, after feeling a connection that came with spending time together, but this… This was a driving, aching need, a want so powerful it drove her to seize the moment, to not let him just walk away and to hell with the fact she didn’t know a thing about him. She just wanted to learn every inch of him, run her hands over the hard body she’d felt pressed against her, feel him on her, in her. She was drawn to him, her body attuned to his, every nerve ending tingling alive for him. And after knowing she’d wasted a year and a half of her life on a one-sided relationship, a farce, well, she was done with that.
She’d never gone for the bad-boy type before either. There was definitely something savage and untamed about him, something held tightly under control. He’d come tearing in, literally guns blazing and saved her from a fate that just might have been worse than death. It was hot and arousing. He was hot with this rough and rugged appearance, there was no doubt, but there was something almost vulnerable about him as well, something that reached out to her, as if he needed someone to keep him safe too. It was ridiculous. She knew it was. He was probably the last person who’d be in need of protection. He clearly didn’t need it, wouldn’t want it and probably wouldn’t appreciate it.
Mouth dry, she nodded.
About Me:
Kaily Hart, a seemingly straight-laced mother of four left corporate America and a high-powered, lucrative career to be a stay at home mom. Ha! That lasted about four weeks, during which time she realized she had a deeply repressed dream —to write. And romance at that! By day, Kaily plays conservative wife and soccer mom, but at night crafts hot and steamy tales of romance and love with gorgeous heroes who wouldn’t dream of leaving the toilet set up. Ever. She’s smart and sassy, at least in her own mind, and is trying her best to bring the alpha male solidly back to contemporary romance, one hot story at a time. Two years ago she never would have thought she’d be doing this, but now that she is? Well, you couldn’t pay her enough to do anything else.
Kaily’s books, PICTURE THIS, PAY UP & PLAY ME are all currently available from Ellora’s Cave and other ebook outlets.
If anyone would want to contact me (which I would love by the way) or just keep up with what I’m doing, you can find me all over:
Web – www.kailyhart.com
Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/kaily.hart
Twitter - http://twitter.com/kailyhart
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