I broke my own rule, but I’m in the midst of edits so it’s okay.
I do not read romance when I’m writing. This is my hard and fast rule.
I was writing, now I’m working frantically on edits because I’m leaving town Friday and I will be sans internet and indoor plumbing for a week. (God help me.)
Two days ago, hubby ‘o’ mine issued a challenge, who could finish Katalina Leon’s BDSM masterpiece, Noblesword, first - him on his Kindle or me with my pdf version. Because I was writing, he had a full day’s head start. But taaa daaa! I finished first since I didn’t sleep the entire fucking night. Pardon my French.
Noblesword is my first, ever (and his), erotic read about domination and submission. This is a foreign land. It feels a bit like eating forbidden fruit. If handled improperly, this genre could really really suck or blow or be flat out rotten.
However, Katalina binds together her subject matter and her characters with delicate, bright, lively, silken threads. Her writing style is intelligent, nuanced and elegant - she does not dumb anything down, which I totally appreciate. For crying out loud, she refers to M.C. Escher and the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries (which of course have to do with the cult of Persephone…i.e. Daughters of Persephone…gotcha!). The erotic scenes are, well, they are sensual rather than graphic, and quite frankly because of that, wildly arousing. Um…ask hubby about the first third of the book. Guess who got to be the recipient?
Noblesword is above all, about emotional growth and honesty - both as an individual and within a relationship. And, lucky Katalina, the book has a perfect cover.
From Katalina’s site: http://www.katalinaleon.com/book-shelf.php
Go. Buy. Enjoy.
