Review: Sugar and Spice by Leda Swann

Leda Swann was one of the authors who joined us for Avon Red Week. I completely fell in love with the cover for Sugar and Spice. Sadly this turned out to be one of those times where the cover was the best part. Genre: Erotic Romance (I think... could be Erotica) Grade: D- Sensuality: Burning Jane Meter: SKIP This an ever popular anthology, although it is a single title. It has an interesting set up and is somewhat different. Each of the stories involve an already married couple struggling to find their HEA. They all end up at a 'naughty house' in Cornwall that caters to married couples and is ran by a Mrs. Bertram. Click for rest of review Our first couple - Gwendolyn and Adam are unhappily married but have great sex. Just about every night, or at least Adam is having great sex, Gwendolyn thinks she is just a convenient fuck. She lied and 'forced' him to marry her and Adam is holding something of a grudge. Hard to have a happy marriage with the groom thinking the bride is a lying, manipulative bitch. I loved the set up and the first scene with the Turkish slave girl setup is great. Adam is very much the man as he lays there thinking a hand job isn't 'really cheating' until it dawns on him if he is there... where is his wife. The two play out a list of fantasy and find their way to sharing their true feelings. The stories biggest downside is it is too long and the very played out ending. Obsessed gets a C. Lillian and Felix have a very Mary Balogh tradition regency plot. They got married. A few months later he gets bored thinking his wife is cold and doesn't want him. Felix starts to fuck around and Lillian tries her best to ignore it. After Felix takes off to Mrs. Bertram's with his newest 'soon to be mistress', Lillian is blackmailed by the Mr. of 'soon to be mistress'. After a chorus of 'Hail, Hail the Gangs All Here' there is a great scene where Lillian give Felix a piece of her mind. And after he figures out how badly he screwed up with his virgin bride - SIX YEARS ago - Felix does the only thing any good regency hero would do. He decided it is a good time to teach his wife to blow him and stick his fingers up her ass. I was never able to get over the thought that she would have been better off leaving with Gareth. Enslaved gets a F. Speaking of Gareth the hero of the last story and over all good guy. I liked him except for he spends most of the story being a doormat for Cora. In case you forgot, Cora was the woman who went off for a week with Felix. She is... hell really I am not sure what Cora is suppose to be. At one point she is mad because he married her to have door opened for him in socially At another point she is mad because she married him because he is in trade, so she figured she would never care for him but does. At another point it seems she thinks she can never make him happy and has a secret that would hurt him. Or some such thing, really by this point I just wanted the book over. I guessed the end pretty early then decided I was wrong (turns out I wasn't). I think Exposed is the shortest of the three and the most sexually adventurous. They confront the big bad thing, learn they can deal with it together and Cora figures out Gareth will stick by her no matter what. Exposed gets a D. I think the biggest disappointment I had with Sugar and Spice is it could have been so much better. It had a different plot than you normally get in today's historicals and I was willing to go along for the ride when I normally run from anything that deal with adultery. Maybe that is why I got hung up on Felix's character and his actions. He has this big 'ah ha' moment and handles it so stupidly. I would have just closed the book and walked away, if I was the type to not finish books. And Cora was such a horrible character. I understand we are suppose to excuse her actions because of her big bad secret but Gareth was just too good. So over all the first story was the only I could say I liked and really not that much. Anyone else read this yet? Like it? Have any other thoughts on Sugar and Spice? Next: The Price of Desire is the next book by Leda Swann. I still have no clue what this is about other than it has something to do with a workhouse. Currently I am reading Pleasure Control by Cathryn Fox and liking it. Have you tried an Avon Red yet?

Team Sports

Writing as a team is fun. Cathy writes: Yeah - Brent has to do as I say :-) Brent writes: But she pays for it after :-) But seriously, we have different strengths. Cathy is better at dialogue and emotional stuff, whereas Brent is better at descriptions. Cathy is a hopeless world-builder - her worlds always get mixed up, so Brent is currently working on sorting out the mess that she has made of a Victorian-era paranormal we are working on. Writing can be a very isolating job - so having someone to talk to about what you are doing makes it all so much more fun and less like hard work. What are we reading now? Lots. Cathy has a huge pile of books sitting next to her bed that Brent grumbles about every so often. But his pile is very nearly as big! Cathy writes: Brent and I have very different reading tastes. I tend to read out of the romance genre a lot - I've just finished Kazuo Ishiguro's NEVER LET ME GO, and before then I was reading KAFKA ON THE SHORE by Haruki Murakami - one of the best books I've read in a long time. Strange books, both of them, with very romantic elements, but definitely not what you would call a romance. I tend to buy my romances as ebooks so I can read them easily on the train. I love Michelle Pillow's books, and Eloisa James - I'm a sucker for anything historical or historical/fantasy. It can be difficult getting hold of all the latest releases in paperback over on this side of the world, not to mention that postage is horribly expensive, so I wait with bated breath until my favorite authors come out in ebook format. I will read everything except for horror novels – they are the only thing I won’t touch. Reading widely keeps me fresh – I look forward to reading romance novels as part of my overall reading diet. Brent writes: Yes, we have different reading tastes. Cathy is more voracious than me, which means she takes up more room on our bookshelves. I lend her some of my space in return for favors ;-) I have quite eclectic tastes, I love the writing of Louis De Bernieres and the sci-fi of Greg Bear. I also like to read non-fiction tales of the ocean, ranging from marine biology (I’m a fan of nudibranchs – look them up!) to shipwrecks.

Games of Sugar and Spice

[click the question to see answer] What do you think Avon Red has to offer readers that is different from the other erotic romance prints? The best authors :-) and some really hot, romantic storylines. Speaking of erotic romance, how do you define the difference between 'erotic romance' and 'erotica'? To us, pure erotica is a bunch of sex scenes strung together with a minimal plotline, minimal character development and minimal emotional connections between the characters. The sex is the main point of the story. Erotic romance has the focus on the relationship that every romance has - it's just that the sex scenes are hotter and more graphic than is common in other romances. In our erotic romances, the characters use sex to help work through their issues and to strengthen their relationship - their sex is never gratuitous. That, we believe, is the difference between pure erotica and erotic romance. Personally, we also describe ourselves as writers of super-sex romance novels because that is the way we think about it. First and foremost, we write romances. Do people know you write erotic romance? If your friends and family do know, how has their reaction been? Everyone knows we write erotic romance and is very accepting of it. In fact, we often write on the train, and the other day a man, a perfect stranger to both of us, got in and sat opposite us, looked sideways at us, and said with a laugh that he hoped we weren't going to be writing naughty scenes opposite him all the way into town. It turned out he'd seen a recent article on us in the local paper, and recognized us from that, and congratulated us on our success. Then again, one of our daughters is very good friends with a very good Christian girl, who apparently hid that edition of the local paper from her parents so they wouldn't see it and be shocked! Our children are quite proud of our writing. We had to forcibly restrain our 12 year old son from going into the local bookstore and asking if they had a copy of PARLOR GAMES coz he'd heard it was such a fantastic book. Cathy’s mother also writes romance novels (under the name Rosie Graham) so it's a bit of a family tradition. As a writer do you have any 'do not cross' lines or do you go where ever the story takes you? Have you looked back on something you wrote and been surprised you came up with it. Wanna share what it was *g*. As writers, our most basic "do not cross" line is we will not write anything that we consider in the least bit demeaning or degrading towards women. We write what we find sexy, which means it’s pretty much open slather! What is up next? We are book whores, give us names dates and summaries! PARLOR GAMES is our current title which in came out in June. Next out is SUGAR AND SPICE - out in October. This is a series of three interlinked stories about 3 couples in the Victorian era who visit a very special house in Cornwall in order to repair their marriages. And then THE PRICE OF DESIRE, a full-length novel, comes out with Avon Red in February next year. Again it's Victorian set, this time in the world of the workhouse.

Sugar and Spice by Leda Swann **October 2006**

Even the primmest Victorian garb cannot mask Gwendolyn's delectable attributes—yet her handsome husband regards her with icy disdain. She has but one chance to save her marriage and avert a future of dashed hopes and despair . . . and it requires a visit to a house where sensuality reigns. Unable to satisfy the needs of the man she adores, Lillian is devastated when he seeks the amorous attentions of another. But there are passionate lessons to be learned if she joins the lovers in their erotic hideaway. . . To possess a bride as voluptuous and exciting as Cora would be any man's dream, yet Gareth cannot understand why the woman he wed despises him so. Still, he will not give her up without a fight, though it may take extraordinary imagination to make Cora's most wicked secret fantasies come true. So sweet. . . So hot! From "Obsessed" in SUGAR AND SPICE “Please.” To her horror, Gwendolyn Farrell felt the tears well up in her eyes. She blinked them back, not wanting him to see just how desperate she was. He could not refuse her. His refusal would toll the death knell of their marriage, a marriage that she was not willing to give up on. Not yet. Not until she had done everything humanly possible to win him back, to make him love her even just a tiny fraction as much as she loved him. She gazed at the man in front of her, at the hard planes of his face and the even harder look in his eyes. Being married to him was supposed to be her dream come true. Instead, it had turned into a waking nightmare. She swallowed convulsively. The very worst of it was that he was in no way to blame. Their estrangement, the utter desolation of their marriage, was all her fault. From "Enslaved" in SUGAR AND SPICE Lillian Rutherford stared into the mirror, her unblinking reflection staring straight back at her. Her fists were clenched out of sight in her lap, her knuckles white with tension. Her rapscallion husband would not make a fool of her. He absolutely would not. Felix, the rapscallion husband in question, lounged at his ease against the doorjamb, looking at her with a mocking grin. How she wanted to jump up from the seat at her dressing table and smash that grin right off his face with one angry blow of her fists. That would take him by surprise, wouldn’t it, if his placid, obedient, non-entity of a wife were to turn on him with murder in her heart. How she wanted to scream and yell at him, to rail and curse at him like a fishwife for breaking his vows to her. Again. And again. And again. But she was nothing if not a lady, and ladies did not scream or yell, curse or fight. Ladies always kept their voices low and their expressions calm. Ladies did not harbor anger so deep that it corroded their soul, or hurt so painful that it robbed them of breath.

The Price of Desire by Leda Swann **Feb 2007**

From Leda Swann: And then THE PRICE OF DESIRE, a full-length novel, comes out with Avon Red in February next year. Again it's Victorian set, this time in the world of the workhouse. Excerpt! Caroline Clemens pasted a smile on her face as she gazed belligerently over the assembled company. Her insides cramped with fear, but she did not let any sign of her discomfort show on her face. Any sign of weakness, and the pack would race in for the kill. They did not deserve the satisfaction of watching her crumble. She would outface all the malicious gossip from those old spinsters who had always envied her and all the false condolences from pretend friends who had come to crow over her misfortune. Heaven help her, but tonight she could even bear the unfeigned sympathy of the handful of people who genuinely loved her. She cast her eyes over the sea of color in front of her, looking for the red and gold jacket of Captain Bellamy. He, at least, loved her well. The small matter of her family’s bankruptcy would not matter to him a whit. Only last week, when the rumors of her family’s financial troubles were starting to make the rounds, he had sworn to her that he would love her even if she were a pauper. The Captain’s earnestness had made her smile at the time, but she clung wistfully to the memory now. Last week she had known only that she could not afford the new pair of kid gloves she needed, even though her old ones were worn and stained. Tonight she knew the whole nasty truth. Her entire family was ruined. Utterly and irretrievably ruined. At the end of the month, their house in Mayfair and all their household effects would go under the hammer. Her father’s untimely death had made absolutely sure that nothing would be left for them to live on. Nothing. Were it not for her impending marriage to Captain Bellamy, she and her all younger brothers and sister would be facing the workhouse. She shuddered. There was no point in dwelling on the horrors of the workhouse – the rough clothes, the hard labor, the poor food that scarcely kept body and soul together, and the disease that carried you off in the end if starvation and exhaustion didn’t claim you first. The Captain would save her from that. He would save all of them. As she scanned the crowd looking for her savior, her gaze was arrested by that of another man. He was a stranger to her, which in itself was enough to catch her attention. Few strangers successfully braved the close-knit society of London merchant bankers to which her family belonged. Though they took carefully calculated risks in their business dealings, when it came to making acquaintances for their wives and daughters they eliminated any chance of risk. Only the most impeccably respectable personages were ever allowed to visit or to mingle with them in their infrequent evening soirees. Caroline allowed herself a wry smile. Those same impeccable personages were now watching avidly from the sidelines, salivating at the thought of ripping her to shreds. The stranger caught her smile and evidently thought it was meant for him. He raised his eyebrows at her in a friendly, if somewhat surprised, acknowledgement and returned her smile with one of his own. Caroline caught her breath at the sight. His smile transformed his face from that of an eminently respectable personage into an enticement to sin. Devilry danced in his eyes, promising delights that she had never dreamed of. His face, tanned a deep brown by the sun, no longer looked weather-beaten and oddly out of place in an English autumn, but somehow full of dangerously alluring mystery. He stepped forward as if he would claim the right to make her acquaintance. Though his figure was stolidly dressed in a dark suit similar to those worn by nearly every other man in the room, underneath the drab clothes he moved sinuously, gracefully, with the barely controlled energy of a panther. He radiated an energy too powerful to stop, wrapped in a gorgeous pelt that begged to be touched despite the obvious danger. What caught her most about him, though, were his eyes. They hypnotized her, she could not look away. With deliberate focus he held her gaze with his, not allowing her any chance to move away as he came towards her.

Guest Author: Leda Swann

Really that should be Authors not Author since Leda Swann is the writing duet of Cathy and Brent. Cathy has written under two or three other names as well but I am not certain about Brent. Although according to Cathy he did name them. Brent decided that Greek gods and goddesses and their various mortal lovers were always having a lot of fun ... [but] most of their names are terribly difficult to spell. Then we thought about the tale of Leda and the swan and we liked the idea of combining the seducer and the seducee in a single name. Leda was one of three authors in Avon Red's debut Historical Anthology, Parlor Games. And they have two more novels set to come out from the line: Sugar and Spice and The Price Of Desire.

Parlor Games by Jess Michaels, Leda Swann, Julia Templeton

Parlor Games Summary Do you dare open the door and enter a place like no other? In these three historical tales of sensual awakening, nothing that stimulates and titillates is taboo, ecstasy comes in many sizes, and pleasure is its own reward . . . a world of seduction and sensation, where inhibitions are unlaced and desires long corseted are gloriously freed. . . . Fallen Angel Jess Michaels London's greatest beauty and most notorious madam employs the services of a disgraced Bow Street Runner to keep her safe from a stalker . . . and satisfied after dark. Parlor Games Leda Swann An innocent virgin enters a brothel to escape starvation and receives expert tutelage in the steamy Victorian parlor games that rakish gentlemen indulge in. . . . Border Lord Julia Templeton Fleeing an unfaithful fiancé, a nubile young lovely finds herself the prisoner of a lustful Scottish laird and must bow to his every erotic whim. . . . Parlor Games Excerpt Sarah Chesham pushed open the door to the coffee house and stumbled over the threshold. The interior smelled heavenly – of dark roasted coffee beans and mouth-watering grilled meat – but it was dark and smoky, and her tired eyes took a few moments to adjust to the dimness of the light. She made her way through the gloom to the closest table and sat down at it, settling her skirts over tops of her sturdy work boots. Elbows resting on the table and her head in her hands, she concentrated on catching her breath and calming the over-rapid beating of her heart. A buxom young woman in an apron bustled up to her. “What can I get you, dearie?” Sarah raised her head. “A ha’penny cup of coffee. And a chop,” she added with reckless haste, just as the serving woman had turned to walk away. She counted out three pennies with careful deliberation and placed them to one side on the table. Her purse was left anxiously light, but there was no help for that. A girl, even an unemployed girl with scarcely a shilling in her pocket and no prospect of getting more, had to eat. Her plate, when it came, was piled high with more meat than she usually eat in a month. The smell as the chops wafted past her nose was so delicious that she almost fainted with the joy of it. Still, she shook her head and pointed to the three pennies on the table. “I can’t eat all that. I only wanted the tuppence ha’penny dinner.” The young serving woman winked broadly at her. “You look like you need feeding up. I won’t tell if you won’t.” And she set the entire plate of food down on the table in front of her. Sarah had been brought up to eat daintily, but she was too hungry to remember her lessons. She wasted no more time arguing in the face of such unlooked-for good fortune, but tucked into her pile of chops with gusto, barely remembering even to use her knife and fork in her haste to fill her belly. The serving woman pushed the door of the study closed with the toe of her boot. “There’s a girl out in the front parlor who looks a likely prospect.” The older woman sitting behind the desk took off her spectacles and laid them aside on the blotter. “Is she pretty?” [note: beta blogger is being goofy if you have issues posting use the option 'other' and type in your name... if you use anon, make sure you type your name in the post]