Hello, I’m D. River, author of Moon Born, Feral Hearts Tales #2. Today I thought I’d talk dirty to you. Wait, that came out wrong. I meant I’d whisper dirty things…
I’ll come in again.
In any book with a romantic element, sex is pretty much a given. As a reader, I know I like to see when the two romantic leads finally, after challenges great and small, get it on. Er, that is, they finally bond in a beautifully emotional and spiritually satisfying way.
When I wrote my first M/M book, “Wild Horses,” I was coming to it from years of experience with erotica and friends telling me I wrote really good sex scenes and that I should write erotica for a living. No, really, my friends said that. It wasn’t the voices in my head.
As time has passed and I’ve read even more gay romance, in particular paranormal romance, I’ve seen sex handled well and seen it handled badly. With a romance novel, it could be argued that sex is the whole point of the book, that getting to that moment with the characters is the story’s climax, as it were.
However, with a paranormal story, there’s other stuff going on. As with the Feral Hearts Tales, while certainly the point at which the straight friends give in to their mate urges and have sex is important to the story, they had a whole lot of other things going on. So that creates the interesting dilemma that this post is all about:
How much sex is enough? How much is too much?
A very clever review of a shifter book (not mine but not naming names either) remarked that the sex scenes felt like “commercial breaks” in the story. The reviewer hit it right on the nose with that one. Of course the sexy times are fun and all, but if they are actually causing a pause in the story, that seems like a problem. And I’ve seen enough feedback from readers to suggest that a lot of people are getting tired of books with a lot of sex in them.
What I like to read, and what I try to write, are sex scenes that forward the characters’ growth. In that way, they mesh with the story and become a part of the plot. Put another way, they’re not just a part of the story that you can skip. If that means a book only has one or two sex scenes, that’s fine with me. If that means a book needs a dozen (there is one shifter title in particular I can think of where this is true) then by all means, have at.
Anyway, that’s how I feel about sex scenes in books. How about you fine folks? Do you like your books with a little or a lot of sex in them?
Moon Born
Feral Hearts Tales
Book 2
D. River
Genre: Shifter/paranormal romance/gay romance
Publisher: Lightbane Publications
Date of Publication: 9/14/2015
ISBN: 978-1-4675-7745-8
Word Count: 90,000
Pages: 332
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde
Tucker and Ryder figured that the worst was over. They’d gotten used to being lycans, they’d managed to not get killed by werewolf hunters and they’d stopped a crazy magician from trying to unleash Armageddon.
However, as they try to get back to their lives, they find a whole host of new problems awaiting them. The government has established a task force to deal with paranormal threats and lycans are at the top of that list. There is a monster prowling the dark places of New York City. And the Moon Spirit has an agenda for them to fulfill.
Moon Born continues the story of Love Bites, with new characters, new dangers and new complications for Ryder and Tucker’s relationship.
EXCERPT
Ryder awoke very slowly, and only because there was an obnoxious ray of sunlight trying to burn a hole through his eyelid, undoubtedly seeking to find a way into his brain. He grumbled and swatted uselessly at the sunbeam and then rolled over to get away from it.
After three nights of glorious hunts, he and his pack were all thoroughly done in. Ryder wasn’t even sure where they were, other than the Wild Wood somewhere. He didn’t really feel inclined to care, either. The Wild Wood had been strangely hospitable to them, which made him resent it a little less even while he suspected the trees were just biding their time.
Having escaped the sunbeam, Ryder now had a twig under his ribs. He sighed and surrendered, sitting up and looking around. Tucker was already awake, standing nearby and examining a tree. Ryder didn’t ignore the fact that Tucker was gloriously naked, but after the last three days, sex was not his primary interest.
“You were twitching a lot in your sleep,” Tucker said. “It was kind of adorable.”
“I was having a good dream.” Ryder looked over at Trey, who was sleeping on his stomach and snoring peacefully. “We really need to find him a mate, you know.”
“Do they have a dating app for that sort of thing?”
“No, I don’t think anyone’s created ‘Wolfr” yet.” Ryder smiled and yawned. “It’s just…. I mean, we had so much fun these past few days and he had only his hand.”
“Which he used liberally.”
Ryder stifled a giggle. “It was hard to miss that. But anyway…. We need to look into it.”
Tucker nodded. “I think we’ll need some advice on that, though.”
Ryder cocked his head to one side. “Oh?”
“Yeah, we should head to the lycan cave, get the Moonstone and talk to the Moon Twink about his crazy idea for making more lycans.”
“You’d be willing to consider doing that?”
Tucker shook his head. “It sounds like a terrible idea. But I’m willing to hear what our friend has to say.”
Trey started to twitch violently in his sleep. Low, unhappy moans spilled from his lips. Ryder was just about to poke him awake when the younger lycan started awake. He looked around with wild eyes for a moment that were full of terror. His auburn hair was a fright, sticking up at all angles and full of leaves and twigs.
“Trey?”
For a long, unsettling moment, the young man just stared blankly ahead. Then he shook himself and rubbed at his eyes. “I’m fine.”
Tucker eyed him. “That seemed like one bitch of a nightmare. And I’ve had my share.”
Trey pulled his knees to his chest. “It…. It’s fine.”
Ryder sighed and looked skyward. “Why am I doomed to be surrounded by guys who can’t talk about what’s going on with them?”
Tucker smirked at him and then went over to sit beside Trey. Even as the younger lycan stiffened in a defensive posture, Tucker slipped an arm around his shoulders and gave him a firm sideways hug. Trey looked down at his knees, his eyes clouded with misery.
“Hey, dude, look, I get it. More than you know.” His expression grew somber. “When I was growing up, my asshole old man beat the shit out of me too. So I get nightmares of my own.”
Trey relaxed a tiny bit against his Alpha. “It’s not that. I’m used to those.”
Ryder wished he could live in a world where no one ever had to get used to that sort of thing. “Then what was it?”
“It’s hard to explain…. When I wake up, the dream sort of dissipates like smoke. But in the dream, I’m somewhere dark and someone’s hurting me….” He swallowed hard. “I think it’s Matchitehew.”
Ryder frowned. “Maybe it’s just because of that horrible place we raided?”
Trey nodded. “I think so. I mean, that’s what makes the most sense. It just…. It feels so real.”
Tucker eyed him sidelong. “Well, we’ll add it to the questions for the Moon Twink.”
“I wish you wouldn’t call him that. He might turn us into wereturtles or something,” Ryder said.
Trey giggled. “Wereturtles….”
Tucker gave Trey a pointed look. “No more keeping secrets from your pack, puppy. If something’s bothering you, you tell us.”
“Yes, sir,” Trey mumbled.
“Hey, you get all grumpy with me when I call you ‘puppy,'” Ryder complained.
“You’re not the Alpha,” Trey said.
Tucker laughed. “He’s got you there.”
“I suppose. So, homeward?” Ryder asked.
Trey nodded and stretched mightily. “Absolutely.” He smacked his lips. “I could use some coffee first. And maybe some eggs.”
“You’re not full from last night?” Ryder asked. “I’m still stuffed.”
“Well, you two hogged most of that deer, so yeah.” Trey frowned. “Not sure when I stopped thinking of raw meat as icky, but whatever.”
“Well, Clif bars will have to do.” Ryder looked around. “Now, where did we put that pack we brought?”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
River has been writing for many decades, and most of it is filthy, dirty stuff that you absolutely shouldn’t read. Highly-trained experts have successfully quarantined most of that work to keep save innocent bystanders from debilitating cases of blushing.
River started putting out books for sale with Wild Horses. Since no one told him to stop, he went on to publish other novels, including the popular Love Bites. The men in white coats caught up with him, though, and he vanished off the face the of Earth. Having made his escape and having set up shop in an abandoned adult toy factory, he is now ready to unleash more paranormal romances/adventure stories on an unsuspecting world.
http://lightbane.com/driver.html
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4123971.D_River/blog
GIVEAWAY
D. River will be giving away 1 $25 Amazon gift card to one lucky reader! Enter via rafflecopter.
Love Bites: 
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Spencer Dryden is a new writer, but an old guy on the threshold of draining any reserves left in Medicare and Social Security.
Charlie Cochet is an author by day and artist by night. Always quick to succumb to the whispers of her wayward muse, no star is out of reach when following her passion. From adventurous agents and sexy shifters, to society gentlemen and hardboiled detectives, there’s bound to be plenty of mischief for her heroes to find themselves in, and plenty of romance, too!
Title: The Homecoming
Evelyn Shepherd 