By Katee Robert
BDSM has been around for years and years and year, though Fifty Shades of Grey really brought aspects of it mainstream. Up until this point, I’ve been on the side of the reader where these types of books are concerned. I love reading them. There’s something so raw and true that you only seem to get when one character is taking another well past their comfort zone and showing them truths about themself that they never knew existed. And sometimes those truths aren’t very comfortable.
MISTAKEN BY FATE is my first foray into that world—and it won’t be my last. It was such a difference experience to explore my hero and heroine’s relationship via dominance and submission.
Admittedly, I’m more than passingly familiar with that lifestyle, both in fiction and outside of it. I have more than a few friends who practice BDSM to one degree or another, and I’ve got more nonfiction books about it than you can shake a stick at (I’m a geek for research).
Putting that knowledge into use was such an interesting exercise. No matter how tolerant readers are, there are certain things they will balk at (no matter how realistic they may be). The BDSM community has a saying that I adore – not my kink. It basically means that I might not be even remotely into one thing, but I still acknowledge that there are other people who enjoy it. Tolerance and trust are key.
And it’s that trust that I played around with in MISTAKEN BY FATE. Because a BDSM relationship without trust is dead in the water. If you can’t trust that a Dominant will respect your safe word, you sure as hell aren’t going to let him or her tie you up seven ways to Sunday. And, on the flip side, that Dominant is trusting their submissive to be as honest as possible about their limits and their comfort level. A good Dominant is constantly checking on his or her submissive during the whole process, even—especially—when there is pain play involved.
I had a blast writing Garrett and Ridley’s journey from being damn near enemies to realizing the flame between them never quite went out—and using BDSM to do it. I hope the readers enjoy the journey as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Website ~ Blog ~Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Goodreads ~ Newsletter
MISTAKEN BY FATE
The man she should want, or the man she craves…
Fashion designer Ridley Ethridge thinks she’s found the perfect, stable sort of guy in her childhood friend Will Reaver. With seduction in her sights, she arranges to rock Will’s world at an exclusive club that caters to those with adventurous and erotic appetites. What happens next is both intense and satisfying—until Ridley’s blindfold comes off to reveal Will’s twin brother. The same twin who broke her heart eight years ago.
Former soldier Garrett Reaver hasn’t ever gotten Ridley out of his system. And now that she’s before him in all her submissive glory? He’ll be damned before he lets someone else have her, especially his brother. Because Garrett and Ridley have some seriously unfinished business to take care of, and it starts now. And this time, he’ll show Ridley how exquisite a relationship with him could be…if their past doesn’t catch up to them first.
Good post, Katee.