A Sexy World Trip for One:
Travel the World with Three Erotica Authors
While Harlequin is known primarily for romance, they also offer hotter fare. Today, authors Stephanie Draven, Laura Kaye and Leia Rice are here to tell us about the unique settings of their books.
Stephanie Draven: The Fever and the Fury is a contemporary paranormal erotic novella set in Budva, Montenegro, near Greece. I chose this location for a few reasons--not the least of which is that it’s known as sort of a place for sinners. Without an extradition treaty to the United States, it has become a sort of wild resort beach town, complete with bright blue ocean and terracotta rooftops. I would love to be sitting under a beach umbrella listening to the ocean during the day, then climb up into the old fortress of the old city where open air theatre takes place under the starlit sky to enchant visitors. It seemed like a very sexy and very hot place to set an erotic novella and I enjoyed every minute of it.
Laura Kaye: In the Service of the Vampire King is an erotic vampire romance novella set on the cliffs of County Antrim in Northern Ireland. This story is the first in my new Vampire Warrior Kings series, and each will tell the story of one of the seven remaining warrior kings and be set in a new exotic location (the second story, which I’m writing now, is set in Moscow, Russia!). Kael was the first of my heroes to speak to me, though, which is why I started the series in Ireland. One of my goals for this series is to weave in the unique culture, history, and material culture/architecture of each featured location into the series, and Castle Dunluce, a real historical site, and the wealth of Celtic symbols (for tattoos), both offered a rich pool to draw from. I’ve never been to Ireland, but it’s on my bucket list of places to visit, particularly as I can trace some of my ancestral roots back to southern Ireland.
Leia Rice: My novella takes place in Revolutionary France, which I find to be such a daring and passionate time in history. Emotions were already peaked then, and people from all over France pushed for change and found it, albeit violently. You’d think it would be hard to write erotica set during a war, but I love the dynamic of it. Soldiers and patriots, Royalists and Citizens. There are so many facets that you can explore and manipulate into really sexy and dramatic situations.
So how about it? Where do you want your erotic romances to take you? Is there somewhere you wish authors would write about?
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About the Authors:
Stephanie Draven is a multi-published award-nominated author of myth-inspired paranormal romance. Writing for HQN Nocturne, Stephanie’s Mythica series asks the question: What if the monsters of ancient mythology still walked the earth...and what if you found out that you were one of them? Currently a denizen of Baltimore, that city of ravens and purple night skies, Stephanie lives there with her favorite nocturnal creatures–three scheming cats and a deliciously wicked husband. And when she is not busy with dark domestic rituals, she writes her books.
Laura Kaye Voted Breakout Author of the Year in the 2011 GraveTells Readers’ Choice Awards, Laura is the bestselling and award-winning author of a half-dozen books. Hearts in Darkness is a finalist for the EPIC eBook Award for Best Novella, Forever Freed won the NJRW Golden Leaf Award for Best Paranormal of 2011, and North of Need, the first book in the Hearts of the Anemoi series, was named GraveTells’ Best Book of 2011 and won their 5-STAR Gold Heart Award, and won Sizzling Hot Read of the Year at Sizzling Hot Books. Laura lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.
Leia Rice is an avid lover of everything Parisian, Ancient Grecian and Ancient Roman. She wishes that women would still wear the pretty dresses and petticoats that they did back in the 18th century, but she’s well aware how much of a pain they must have been. Leia writes historical fiction, romance and erotica in these areas, because she cannot get enough of each respective time period.