Title: Hear Me
Series: Dark Erotica #3
Author: Skye Warren
Published: September 2012
Tour: Yes
Format: Ebook provided by author for review
She doesn’t remember her past, only her training. She can’t talk, not that a good slave should speak out of turn. None of that matters when she wakes up in the warm, rustic room. Her new master is distant but kind. There’s only one problem: he doesn’t want her.
Longing for the shackles of safety, she pulls from the last dregs of her will to prove her worth as a slave. It seems to be working. He responds first to her body and next to her submission. The secrets of his past haunt the cabin, fraying the tightening bond between Master and slave, but it is her own memories that may finally unravel it.
This book contains a bonus short story Escape, set in the same dark erotica world.
This book contains explicit scenes of sex, including dubious consent and captivity situations. The BDSM does not conform to literary conventions, making it sometimes more realistic, and other times not. This is a work of fiction not appropriate for anyone uncomfortable with these situations or anyone under the age of eighteen.
“Even if only to drift down to the bottom, entombed in sand castles and chained in seaweed.”
Skye Warren is one of those authors that quickly made it to my favorites list. Her writing is dark and captivating, and it can haunt you long after the last page is turned. Her words have such beauty, she can make the scariest and ugliest thing seem precious.
The first chapter jumps right into it. There is a woman who can’t speak. She can’t remember anything before her captivity, but she knows she is a slave – a sexual slave. It doesn’t take long before my heart is just breaking for her. I can’t even imagine what kind of things have to happen to someone to make them forget everything other than how to serve you.
“Her fragile happiness lay on the floor of the kitchen in shards, plowed again and again by the fierce iron cock of her Master.”
This book has some brutal situations in it. This woman isn’t just a submissive, she is a shell of a human. She has no choice to make for herself, no decision is her own. Kneeling with her nose to the ground is nothing but an everyday effort for her. And its taken over. This makes her feel safe. But now she has a new Master, and he is rewriting the rules. She feels safe. She feels cared for. But just as soon as you begin to feel that with her, just as soon as you exhale – BAM! Skye rips it all out from under you and you are floundering, wondering what is happening. How can this woman survive this??
Right from the first page I was drawn into this story. It was exciting to see the slave struggle to discover who she is, while trying to learn about her new Master and his wants and needs. As the puzzle starts to come together, and new facts come to light, I was shocked over and over. To say that this story had surprises puts it lightly.
If you like stories about power exchanges, dubious consent, some hot sex and BDSM, you will like this story. There is a heart here that has been broken by a series of people who took control of a young woman who got in over her head without even realizing it. And it cost her everything. But the question you are wondering throughout the story is will she make it or not? Will she be happy? And just whois she anyway? Well, I know. I read the story. Now its your turn, so hop to it!
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Guest Post
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How Dark is Too Dark
By Skye Warren
By Skye Warren
Thanks so much for having me on Fictional Candy! I’m Skye Warren, author of the Kindle bestselling Dark Erotica series. I’m here to share with you guys my latest release, Hear Me, which early reviewers are calling “disturbingly arousing” and “beautifully written.”
I write dark erotica, which means that there’s plenty of sex, explicit acts. I also write about taboo or kinky acts. I can choose to be more detailed or less. Include a certain act that thrills or disgusts me, or not. But already I am out of some reader’s comfort zones.
Of course the warnings should clue readers in, but how far is too far? When should I pull back?
All of my warnings are pretty strongly worded to scare off the undecided, although some still slip through the cracks and end up shocked. I even put “erotic nonconsent” right there on the cover!
Dark erotica often depicts immoral acts, like dubious consent. But the point isn’t that these things are okay. In fact, part of what dark erotica is about is exploring the (often negative) effect that these events have on the people who commit and receive them. For me, that is the appeal. And in my opinion, insisting no one writes about these issues is just putting our heads in the sand. It doesn’t make them go away. It just makes it easier to get away with and to shame victims.
When I’m daydreaming in the check-out line, my mind travels to darker places. If I didn’t write, I would continue to dream, but I have found it to be so fulfilling to share my work with like-minded readers.
So back to the question: where do I draw the line? The truth is, I don’t. The distributors and credit card processors (aka. Amazon and PayPal) do it for me. While there are certain things I wouldn’t be comfortable writing, I would do anything to tell the story. That doesn’t mean that I enjoy every kink. I don’t. Sometimes I may write about something in a positive light that I find disturbing, just to explore. Other times I may write about something that I am perfectly fine with in a negative light, because that is right for the characters.
Dark erotica is about exploring, thinking, learning about sex. Yes, it’s also often hot. And the romance can be sweet, depending. But I think there is a power in knowledge, and that’s what really drives me to write and read dark erotica.
Skye Warren
Excerpt
Even the earth conspired to keep her. Branches grabbed at her skin like talons; the beach was quicksand, dragging her down. Hope was too abstract to compete with the sound of men shouting behind her. Even her fear was drowned by the ragged beat of her heart.
“Melody!” The voice sounded closer than the thrashing of leaves and branches.
Run, run away, don’t look back.
Her eyes, already stunted by lack of food, filled with grit and precious moisture. If she made it to the water, she could float away. Even if only to drift down to the bottom, entombed in sand castles and chained by seaweed. They would take her prisoner; they would keep her safe.
A battered person was cracked soil, but dreams were like weeds. She could survive this. That was the goal she set for herself, huddled in the cold, damp cell. She had clung to it as they touched her, beat her. Trained her.
The line of frothy water was in her sights, but disappointment seared her. She was too far away, the sand too thick.
An extra burst of energy propelled her two more stumbling steps. Her legs gave out. She clenched and released fistfuls of sand, not even sure she was actually crawling forward.
Coolness lapped at her fingertips, surprising her. Her mind, tired and rusty, turned that information over. She had made it. Water. Safety? No, freedom.
A slow, steady thwapping noise drew her gaze upward. A small green boat bobbed in the shallow water. Gentle waves flicked its hull, almost soothing, like the caress of a flogger. The rhythm thrummed through her. Even without the sting of impact, her mind began the slide.
No. Subspace meant security but not today. Right now it meant death, and she refused to die.
She blinked away the salt in her eyes and clawed through the water to the boat. With a strength that surprised her, she climbed over the edge, tumbling into the grimy bottom. It rocked gently with her weight then settled back into the gentle bob.
The boat wasn’t tied down anywhere, but there wasn’t an oar. Not that she had the strength to use one or a place to go.
Never mind. Her wish had been granted. She would drift out to sea, like a message in a bottle.
Her head lolled against the rim of the boat. She breathed in the pungent smell of earth and moss. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was fanciful. She imagined a giant plucking her from the water, unfurling her like a scroll, and reading the lines slashed into her skin.
She wondered what they would say.Read HEAR ME Now
Giveaway
The line of frothy water was in her sights, but disappointment seared her. She was too far away, the sand too thick.
An extra burst of energy propelled her two more stumbling steps. Her legs gave out. She clenched and released fistfuls of sand, not even sure she was actually crawling forward.
Coolness lapped at her fingertips, surprising her. Her mind, tired and rusty, turned that information over. She had made it. Water. Safety? No, freedom.
A slow, steady thwapping noise drew her gaze upward. A small green boat bobbed in the shallow water. Gentle waves flicked its hull, almost soothing, like the caress of a flogger. The rhythm thrummed through her. Even without the sting of impact, her mind began the slide.
No. Subspace meant security but not today. Right now it meant death, and she refused to die.
She blinked away the salt in her eyes and clawed through the water to the boat. With a strength that surprised her, she climbed over the edge, tumbling into the grimy bottom. It rocked gently with her weight then settled back into the gentle bob.
The boat wasn’t tied down anywhere, but there wasn’t an oar. Not that she had the strength to use one or a place to go.
Never mind. Her wish had been granted. She would drift out to sea, like a message in a bottle.
Her head lolled against the rim of the boat. She breathed in the pungent smell of earth and moss. Her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was fanciful. She imagined a giant plucking her from the water, unfurling her like a scroll, and reading the lines slashed into her skin.
She wondered what they would say.
Read HEAR ME Now
Giveaway
Skye Warren is giving away a $100 Amazon gift card and four $25 Barnes & Noble gift cards on this tour. Enter to win by leaving a comment below. What do you enjoy about reading dark books?
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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Or go to this page for instructions: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/share-code/Yzc4ZGVmYzNjM2IyOTk2MGU3OThjZTBlMDc5OWEwOjA=/
