LIBERATED HEART By Measha Stone

The lovely Measha Stone is here today with her latest from Blushing Books - Liberated Heart! Measha is also sharing a little about her writing!

 

Maybe she wasn’t made of sugar and spice. Maybe she was made of leather and lace.

Erin’s life has crumbled. Not only has her fiancé run off with another woman, she realizes their entire relationship was a joke. After some soul-searching, and Googling, she jumps head first into a world that only existed in her darkest fantasies. 

Bradley Sorenson has come to terms that he will never have a lasting relationship with a submissive. After all, no woman could see to his darker needs in the playroom and continue his brand of power exchange outside of it. But when Erin shows up at his BDSM club, looking for answers to questions he’s sure she doesn’t even understand, his resolve begins to weaken.

Bradley opens the door to this new world and escorts Erin inside, promising to show her everything she wants to see and more. But just as she begins to find contentment in her true self, she receives a letter that starts a chain of blackmail that could ultimately end her new relationship. Between the blackmail and her new self-awareness, Erin must fight the urge to creep back into the cage she’s so used to hiding in, and work to liberate her heart.

He had a point, but it wasn't the same thing. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t help, it was that he couldn’t. They were a temporary thing, not long term. He couldn't fix that.

“You offered to help, Sir.” She sighed. This was not like her dreams. there was no fondling, or groping. Just more talking!

“So the next time you start to feel overwhelmed with fear, or sadness, what should you do?”

The discussion over one little reaction seemed so disproportional. “Tell you about it.”

“Yes. And why?” 

Couldn’t he just start spanking her now? It had to hurt less than this continual investigation into her psyche. “Because my worries aren’t just mine anymore.”

“That’s right.” His fingers stroked the back of her thighs. “When you keep your worries from me, you tell me you don’t trust me to take care of you. You show disrespect to me by trying to taking care of it yourself. You show me that you aren’t submitting to my rule, my authority and protection.”  Well damn. He had a good point there.  She had done just that. Suddenly, she didn’t feel so confident that the rest of the punishment was going to go well. A sour feeling began to build in her chest.  “And leaving the room when you were told not to unless you had permission. What do you think that said?”

“That I don’t respect your rules.” She sniffled.  Hanging over his lap was making her nose drip.  Again, less sexy than previously thought.

“Did you agree to submit to my rules when you came home with me last night?” The spoon ran over her thighs and she nodded. “I can’t hear your head shake.” His voice darkened.

“Yes, I did, Sir.”

“Good girl.” Those two words.  His approval sent a warm tingle through her despite the cool fear of having the spoon dangerously close to her sit spot.

Whack! She jumped, flailing her arms out to the side, unprepared for the first bite of the spoon. She hadn’t been ready! His hold tightened around her waist, and he hoisted her further onto his lap, elevating his knee until her ass was higher in the air and her toes didn’t touch the ground at all.  

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ALSO IN THE WINDY CITY SERIES

HIDDEN HEART, BOOK 1

A woman given up on love, second guesses her solitary life when meeting a man who won’t take no for an answer and opens her eyes to an entire world of pleasure she didn’t know existed before him.

SECURED HEART, BOOK 2

A headstrong, fiery woman seeks to fulfill her fantasies in all the wrong places, and it’s up to the security expert to tame her, and keep her safe.

INDEBTED HEART, BOOK 3

An independent woman, moves to Chicago to find a new start for her life, but finds those from the past aren’t always best to leave behind. A laid back, yet protective dominant steps in as her hopes for the future begin to unravel.

Measha Stone lives in the western suburbs of Chicago with her husband and their children. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Creative Writing from Southern New Hampshire University. Her vanilla writing has been published in the online magazine efiction and the DuPage Writers Group annual journal Possibilities. When she’s not writing, she’s reading and spending time with her kids- who are just as creative and crazy as her. 

Author Interview: 

What are your ambitions for your writing career? 

Every author has a different idea of what success looks like to them. For me, having readers look forward to my upcoming releases is success. I want to succeed in producing a world where my readers can lose themselves and fall in love with my characters. If I can do that, I’m successful. 

So, what have you written? 

I’ve written short stories that are completely non erotic and not romantic in the least. Those are mostly short thriller type stories. As for romance I’ve written 5 BDSM romances, a collection of flash fiction and short stories, and am working on my 6th novel. 

Give us an insight into your main character. What does he/she do that is so special?

Erin has so much hidden strength that even she can barely see it. But it’s this strength that she has to tap into in order to reinvent herself in the world she wants to live in. And Bradley is just so damn firm in his resolve to get her out of her shell he takes my breath away. 

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured? 

I write during my lunch at work and in the evenings when at all possible. 

Do you aim for a set amount of words/pages per day? 

My daily goal is 1,000 words if I’m only able to get work done during lunch and 2,000 if I get the night time hours too 

Do you ever get writer’s Block? 

Sometimes, but I try not to let that stop me. One of the most valuable exercises I learned in college was the stream of consciousness writing. You just sit down and write, doesn’t have to make sense or even form into anything more than ramblings, but just write. So when I have trouble coming up with something, I’ll do that and usually the first few minutes are just me spewing garbage, but then something forms that is usable. 

Do you let the book stew – leave it for a month and then come back to it to edit?

I do let it stew for a bit before a full edit. Fresh eyes see better. 

What advice would you give to your younger self?

I know you think you can’t, but do it anyway. I stopped writing for too many years because I was afraid I’d never be as good as Julie Garwood or Amanda Quick- my favorite romance writers at the time. And I’m not still not as good as them, and probably never will be, but I don’t let that stop me anymore. And if I could go back, I’d slap my younger self upside the head and tell her to keep writing. 

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