Saturday, 10 September 2016

Welcoming my guest, Juliette Banks, talking about her new book "Snatched"

I'm delighted to welcome Juliette Banks as my blog guest today. Her new book, "Snatched", has just been published.

I recently enjoyed her book The Artist and posted well-deserved good reviews of it on Amazon and Goodreads, and she was here in August to talk about that book. 


Hello Ian, Thanks for inviting me to be your guest today. 

So, your new book, Snatched. Didn't you have an earlier book with the same title?

The first erotic story I published with Blushing Books over two years ago was a short novella of 17,000 words called Snatched, released under my other writing name of Rachel de Vine. At the time I was new to Facebook, Twitter, and promotion in general, so it didn’t sell very well. However, the publishers felt it had promise and asked me to re-write it as a longer book. The first part of the story is the same, with some amendments, but then I have continued the story much further. It is now around 43,000 words.


Where and when is the story based?

It is set in an impoverished Eastern European country around 1850.

Tell us about the main characters.

Laryssa has been a widow for many years, and has lived a simple village life with her eighteen-year-old daughter, Sofiya. One day, while she is not at home, a gang of bandits kidnaps Sofiya. Laryssa is distraught and vows to track her daughter down and rescue her.

Bhodan is the leader of the bandits. A harsh upbringing, leading to tragedy when he is a young man, gives him two livid scars across the face and leads him to a life of crime. He appears to have no saving graces, but Laryssa discovers a chink in his armour that leads her to sense that behind his harsh exterior, there lurks a better man.

So what happens when the two meet?

Laryssa arrives at the castle where she thinks her daughter is held, and begs Bhodan to let her enter the castle as a cook/housekeeper for the four men. He at first turns her away, but Laryssa, in desperation, offers her body as a last resort. She becomes Bhodan’s lover and finds a passion that she has never experienced before – not even with her husband. She becomes very conflicted and feels guilty that she should feel like this with the man responsible for her daughter’s capture, even if he personally was not involved.

Does Laryssa succeed in freeing her daughter from her captivity?

The bandits are attacked, while out robbing, and Bhodan comes back to the castle sorely wounded. Without Laryssa’s care he will die. This is her opportunity to set her daughter free, but she's come to care for Bhodan and can't leave him to die. Her dilemma is acute.

Can your reassure erotic romance fans that sparks fly between Laryssa and Bhodan?

They won’t be disappointed, I’m sure. Bhodan is a very masculine, dominant man, and Laryssa discovers that, after all those years of deprivation, Bhodan awakens a sensual woman who begins to enjoy the hot sex and erotic spanking that he provides. However I would like to tell readers that this book is a little darker than some of my previous works. It contains some explicit sexual scenes, including spanking, as well as erotic horror themes. If such material is likely to offend you, please do not purchase this book.

Any chance of an excerpt from the book?

Certainly, but first, let me give you the buy links for Snatched.







Excerpt (Rated R)

His eyes were dark pools and his chest was rising with shorter breaths than usual, and Laryssa saw desire in his face. She steeled herself to gaze calmly at him. The time that she had dreaded since arriving at the castle was upon her.
“Come,” was all he said, then turned and walked away.
Laryssa took a deep breath and followed the man with the scarred face. It’s strange, she thought, but the scars no longer seemed repulsive. How quickly she had become used to them. It wasn’t the scars that bothered her now. She now had to fulfil the bargain she made when she arrived, and her stomach was churning with thoughts of what she was about to do, but she could not go back now. Her daughter depended on her.
She followed Bhodan into his room. There was a large bed in the centre of the room, with a chest against one of the walls and a small table and chair against another. Laryssa was horrified to see on the table a leather belt and a long, flexible birch stick.
Bhodan, closing the door behind her, saw the look on her face. He stood very close to the trembling woman and ran his hand lightly down her front, stopping to caress her breast beneath the thin layer of her under-garment. Looking intently into her face he said, “I don’t think those will be needed tonight. All I want at the moment is to sink into that cunt of yours. After so many years of neglect, I think I shall receive a warm welcome there.”
A shiver travelled down Laryssa’s body. It was partly fear, but she was ashamed to admit to herself that it was also partly anticipation for a feeling that she had not experienced in so long.  There was something about this wild, nearly handsome man, with his gruff manner that caused unexpected and unfamiliar shivers in that most neglected part of her body, and it disturbed her.
“Take off your clothes.” Bhodan turned and began removing his own clothes. Laryssa removed her petticoat and waited with downcast eyes. The naked Bhodan strode towards her, his cock now stiff and leading the way. He lifted her chin with his hand.
“You may not have the body of a girl, but you have a body that any man would want to sink into. Don’t be modest. Lay on top of the bed and let me look at you.”
She did as she was instructed, trying to calm the thumping of her heart. Bhodan looked down at her, his erection clearly demonstrating his desire. He ran his hand down her belly and down one of her legs, before returning it up the inside of the other leg. It came to a halt as he reached her groin. He slid it towards her sex and, parting her labia, pushed his finger into her and gently swirled it around.
She was already moist with a desire that she tried not to feel, but was incapable of preventing. Had she become a harlot so easily?
Bhodan leaned close to her ear and whispered in a way that seemed so intimate that Laryssa’s breath caught in her throat. “I see that you are more than ready for me.”

A tasty excerpt! Perhaps you can tell us a little about yourself?

I write erotic romances as Juliette Banks, but some of you may also know me as the author Rachel de Vine. I'm British and live in a beautiful rural part of England. However, I also like travelling to remote and unusual parts of the world, and have visited places as diverse as Tibet, Bhutan, Peru, Namibia and China. Our world is so beautiful and I hope that it'll always remain so, and I see myself as being so lucky to have the freedom to travel that was denied many previous generations. I hope I never take it for granted.

I write mainly romances, because I am an incurable romantic, and I write erotic romances because I am always attracted to the sexuality and sensuality that is within so many of us. I like to write about interesting characters who often have to survive life's challenges before they can reach the happy ending they deserve.

Here are my contact details:
- Facebook http://facebook.com/juliettebanksauthor
- Twitter www.twitter.com/juliettebanksuk
- Website www.racheldevineauthor.com (a site for both Rachel and Juliette)

The Amazon Author Page for Juliette Banks is here
The Amazon Author Page for Rachel de Vine is here

Thank you very much for inviting me to your blog, Ian. I hope that you and your readers enjoyed hearing about my new book.

I certainly did, Juliette. Thanks for dropping by, and I do hope your new book is widely enjoyed.

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