Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Three Times the Fun

By Lily Harlem (Guest Blogger)

Thanks so much for inviting me to your lovely blog today, Lisabet. It is, as always, great to be here. Lately I’ve been incredibly busy with three new releases. The first being Confessions of a Naughty Night Nurse published by Mischief at Harper Collins.


Blurb

When scalpels are set down, the ward lights turned off and the patients asleep, there is always time for Mischief

I guess you could call me a jack-of-all-trades nurse. I find work satisfaction in whichever department the hospital needs me most, as long as it’s through the darkest hours. Needless to say I’ve seen it all over the years, been there and done that, what’s left to shock me isn’t worth knowing. But it’s so often the quieter nighttime where the real high jinx abound.

Yes, the nocturnal life is the one for me. With a weakness for sexy guys wearing white coats and dangling stethoscopes, my fantasies are often realised and I’m adept at finding relief from the hospital grind in shadowy corners and cozy linen cupboards.

Of course my dedication to patient comfort is paramount. What kind of nurse would I be if it wasn’t? But when one act of extreme, albeit highly inappropriate, kindness forced me to become the hospital director’s snitch, the length I went to in order to keep my job satisfied my desires and found me the love that had always evaded me. A love that made me push even my not-so-professional boundaries to the extreme.

Before I picked up a pen, or rather opened a laptop and started writing, I worked as a trauma nurse in London, England. The work was adrenaline-inducing, the long shifts exhausting and the never ending stream of patients have proven to be an endless well of characters for me to draw on in recent years. I realised, as I wrote, how much I missed my nursing days - not that I'm about to jump back into it, I don't miss it that much! But what really tugged my heartstrings was how much I missed being part of a team - working and playing with a group of women (mainly) who all know each other well, have a Carpe Diem attitude (you get that in trauma) and a terribly wicked sense of humour! 

Nurses have this wonderful way of supporting each other too and it's very rare to come across a lazy nurse (well it was in a London A & E anyway) and that was what gelled everyone. When the going got tough the tough got going, if you couldn't cope, then you didn't hang around. Things could get pretty high octane, the pace was fast, things happened most people never witness or are part of, again that cements a team, the shared experience of the highs and the lows. The hospital social club was were debriefs happened over a few alcoholic beverages!

Naturally there are always a whole pile of real-life love stories going on, between doctors and nurses (obviously) nurses and patients, patients and doctors, cleaners and consultants - I kid you not - radiographers and secretaries, porters (the biggest players in my opinion - lol) and well, anyone!! Whatever combination works seemed to occur, and in fact I met Mr Harlem at work!

The night duties could be gruelling and not my favourite shifts at all - my body just doesn't cope without sleep - but when I sat down to write Confessions of a Naughty Night Nurse, it was this blanket of night, the privacy from the prying eyes of the day that meant I could really let Sharon run riot. She doesn't mean too, well maybe a little bit, but things just seem to happen to her and before she knows it she's in deeper than she thought, not just with the studly Javier but also sweet Carl and the witch they call Iceberg!

Sharon has a higher libido than most, she also has a history of a broken heart, and when a patient - a gorgeous fireman with burnt hands needs a hand with er, something, she can't resist helping him out, it's her caring nature you see, even if it is above and beyond her job description! Oh, yes, this book was fun, some of the things in it are drawn from real experiences but most are made up. Mmm, I suppose you want me to tell you which are real, well you'll just have to read it and see if you can guess :-)

Buy Links For Confessions of a Naughty Night Nurse

Amazon US

Another new release of mine is Dangerous to Know at Ellora’s Cave. This novella isn't my usual romance story, in fact there's no romance in it at all, that's why it's in the Exotika line at Ellora's Cave. Dangerous to Know is dark and dirty and follows New Yorker Karen as she explores a dangerous whore fantasy with a man she really should have stayed well away from.

Blurb

For too many years I’ve hidden a sinful, erotic craving in the darkest corner of my soul. Within this deeply buried sliver, shameful fantasies rule and images—seedy, degrading, filthy images—burn through the dark of the night and hold my dreams hostage.

Luckily, the center of my whore obsession is keen to play my slutty game. I know nothing about him, other than his taste, touch and smell, but that’s how I want it, because the one thing I’m certain of is this man is dangerous to know. But despite the risks, in the very heart of New York, in open view, I’ll tempt him with my wares, show him my skills and prove I’m up for the job.

I’ve just had a first review in for this book and I have to say I’m extremely glad the reviewer took the time to write her opinion. It showed me that I’d got across exactly what I’d wanted to with this story. The material was uncomfortable, right there on the edge, but I still wanted it to be beyond sexy, dig into the psych of my character and justify her risks and actions. Here are a few lines from that review…

Dangerous to Know is a twisted tale that still managed to be oddly titillating. And slightly offending to my soft and sweet side... while arousing to my dirty and debauched side.

You see, our heroine has a whore fantasy. The object of her desire is a dark and dangerous-looking man that she's been watching from her apartment window. The guy looks like a bruiser. A thug. And when she approaches him, he is more than willing to treat her like the whore she wants to pretend to be. She gets to experience the best and worst parts of acting out her depraved dreams with a total stranger.

Miz Harlem had me on the edge of my seat, both afraid for and turned on by the things Karen was willing to do. The risks she was happy to take for the thrill of danger and the unknown. And even though Karen's kink isn't my kink - different strokes and all that - I didn't have any trouble embracing the fantasy.

If you're in the mood for a down and dirty rendezvous with a rough and unapologetically callous hero, give Dangerous to Know a try. Miz Harlem packs quite a punch in these 50 pages. She has a way with writing dark fantasies that are shocking and exciting.

Buy Links For Dangerous to Know


Finally - some of you may have seen on the international news last summer that Total-E-Bound were publishing classic novels (in the public domain) with the previous unwritten raunchy scenes included. A whole host of authors were involved and stories such as Wuthering Heights, Sherlock Holmes, A Christmas Carol and Pride and Predjudice were given the smokin’ hot treatment! Well, lucky old me, I only went and grabbed myself a hot jungle man didn’t I!! Tarzan of the Apes by myself and Edgar Rice Burroughs is now available in ebook and print (18th Feb) and has all those sexy Tarzan and Jane scenes readers previously had to use their imagination for included.

Blurb

The Classics Exposed…

A wild man with primitive desires, will anyone be able to tame him?

A handsome English aristocrat raised in the jungle by apes, self-sufficient, thriving on danger and with a head full of unanswered questions. Where is he from? Why is he different? What will satisfy the hunger that eats away at the very core of his being and finally feed his appetite for something other than food and shelter?

A delicate American woman, expected to be the best she can be and marry well, but with a craving for adventure and exploration as well as a hope in her heart to find true love with a man who can sweep her off her feet.

When the two very different souls collide, in deepest, darkest Africa, only one thing can happen, and it’s raw and feral. Lust a common language, satisfaction the ultimate goal. But will the gentleman outshine the savage-man? Is virtue to be honoured? And when faced with a civilised decision, can Tarzan do the right thing?

Reader Advisory: This book contains one scene of dubious consent.

More information on the fun I had writing Tarzan’s story can be found on my dedicated Tarzan page – http://www.lilyharlem.com/tarzan-of-the-apes.html and yes, you can listen to his yell too!


Buy Links For Tarzan of the Apes


Thanks so much for reading, I hope one or all of my new 2013 releases appeal to your naughty side and you can find the time to take a break and immerse yourself in some erotic fiction.

Have a great day

Lily Harlem

Bio

Lily Harlem is a multi-published, award-winning author of contemporary erotic romance. She lives in the UK with her husband and a bunch of animals, all rescued, and loves to spend her days immersed in imagination.

 Her books are a mixture of full length novels and short stories, some are one offs, some are sequels or part of a series (all can be enjoyed as stand-alone reads).


Follow, friend, read or pin with Lily Harlem by clicking these links.


5 comments:

Lisabet Sarai said...

Hello, Lily,

Welcome to Beyond Romance! You are a very busy lady. I'm particularly impressed by the diversity of your titles. I sometimes feel that I'm too much of dilettante, that I should focus more on a particular genre (though if I did, I'd probably be so bored I'd stop writing entirely). You're definitely a counter-example!

Good luck with all three titles!

Lily Harlem said...

Thank you, Lisabet for your kind words and for having me on your blog.

Dangerous to Know is probably the biggest step from my normal writing because of the complete absence of romance. I'm not sure if I'd do a full novel like that, but for a novella it just blasted out of me!

In contrast my WIP is very sweetly romantic, several chapters in and no hot action yet and there won't be for a while, I'm wondering if I have an internal set of scales that need to be balanced out- harmonise the hot and dirty with the ahhhh moments.

:-)

Unknown said...

Hi Lily,

How am I ever going to get on top of my TBR pile when you release so many interesting and varied books! Choosing which one to read first will be difficult.

Cheers
Donna

Author H K Carlton said...

You are the busy one, Lily. There's a little something for everyone to enjoy. From no romance naughty, to sweet and everything in between. Plus a classic! Where to begin.
Congratulations on all your new releases. I love the Dangerous to Know cover!
H K

Lily Harlem said...

Thanks Donna and HK - its all good fun this writing game, as you both know :-)

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