The Dark Side
(re-released), by Ashe Barker
- Totally Bound, 2016
- Contemporary erotic romance
- BDSM
- Three
books, average 66,000 words each
- Cliffhangers,
but eventual HEA ending
Introduction
Hi, and thank
you for inviting me over today to chat about the re-release of The Dark
Side. This series was my first attempt
to write anything more steamy than a birthday card and I was delighted with it.
I’ll always be proud of how well the books did and the fabulous reviews they
received. I am eternally grateful to Totally Bound for accepting them and for
taking a chance on the unpublished rookie I was back then.
So, if it
ain’t broke, why mend it?
As I wrote The Dark Side I had no idea if anyone
but me would ever read the books. I knew next to nothing about the world of
publishing or professional writing, so although my editor did a fabulous job of
making the books fit to be seen among decent folk (or should that be indecent
folk?) there were always aspects of the story I felt could be improved. There
were scenes I thought about writing but left out, and ways in which I believed
the connection between Nathan and Eva could be deepened. The re-release was a
rare opportunity to have my time again and complete the job.
There’s new
content in each of the three books, but I won’t spoil it by saying exactly
what. Suffice it to say we see yet another quirk in Eva’s already complex
nature, and aspects of Nathan which I hope will endear him to readers even
more. He’s a hard Dom, stern, demanding and insanely sexy. We lose none of
that, but the additional content helps to bring out his caring nature a little
more.
There’s also a
whole new epilogue to conclude the story. This picks up a loose end which
always bothered me so I feel the series is better rounded now.
Enter
my Rafflecopter for a chance to win ALL THREE BOOKs in the series. The
competition ends on 1 May.
Series Blurb
The Dark Side trilogy charts the sensual journey of academic
musician Eva Byrne as she struggles to overcome painful shyness, sexual
inhibition and personal tragedy. Lonely, unsophisticated, desperately seeking
love and approval, Eva is easy prey for sensual and experienced Nathan Darke.
He wants her submission, and he knows how to go about getting it. Eva is quickly caught up by the whirlwind of his effortless seduction, though she has her own reasons for agreeing to join him in his world of pain and pleasure, on the dark side.
Inexplicably fascinated and at the same time totally frustrated by his new submissive, Nathan is increasingly drawn to her as she opens up in his hands and he realises there is much, much more to his latest playmate than he ever could have imagined.
The Dark Side charts the turbulent relationship between Eva and Nathan as their mutual fascination builds. They both discover what surrender truly means as together they explore the fragile bonds of desire, trust, risk and reward, and the destructive power of betrayal.
He wants her submission, and he knows how to go about getting it. Eva is quickly caught up by the whirlwind of his effortless seduction, though she has her own reasons for agreeing to join him in his world of pain and pleasure, on the dark side.
Inexplicably fascinated and at the same time totally frustrated by his new submissive, Nathan is increasingly drawn to her as she opens up in his hands and he realises there is much, much more to his latest playmate than he ever could have imagined.
The Dark Side charts the turbulent relationship between Eva and Nathan as their mutual fascination builds. They both discover what surrender truly means as together they explore the fragile bonds of desire, trust, risk and reward, and the destructive power of betrayal.
Darkening, Book 1 in The Dark Side Serial
Who knows where pain ends and
pleasure begins?
The chance of a new life out in the
wilds of the Yorkshire moors sounds too good to be true to shy musician Eva
Byrne. Stifled and smothered within the cocoon of her brilliant academic
career, Eva yearns for something different. Something real and exciting.
Something she can feel.
Excitement. Passion. Pleasure. She
finds that sexy, enigmatic Nathan Darke can provide all these and more when she
moves into his home as violin tutor to his young daughter. But Eva’s sensual
encounters with her demanding, domineering new employer quickly evoke her
deepest fears, as he introduces her to the trauma of submission and marks her
with his particularly dark brand of love.
But will Eva’s natural curiosity and
thirst for new experiences be enough to withstand the sting of Nathan Darke’s
exquisite touch? Will simple surrender be enough as he challenges her every
inhibition, taking her on an erotic journey of self-discovery and liberation?
Darker, Book 2 in The Dark Side Serial
Can Eva outrun the secrets of her
past, or is surrender her only choice?
Eva Byrne’s first encounter with the
darker side of Nathan Darke’s sensuality ends in disaster. Frightened, hurt, betrayed,
she struggles to regather her shattered confidence—in him, and in herself.
Desperate to continue her journey of
exploration and self-discovery, Eva has to convince a skeptical Nathan that
she’s worth the trouble. And that she can learn to submit to him. When she is
forced to reveal elements of her past she has preferred to keep hidden, both
her brilliance and her vulnerability are laid bare. Will Nathan accept Eva as
she is, and help her to become the woman she longs to be, or will she face yet
another rejection?
Terrified and intrigued in equal
measure, Nathan has no idea how to deal with the exquisitely enigmatic Eva
Byrne. Should he cut his losses and run, or allow their relationship to
continue, and watch as Eva’s delicate beauty unfurls in his hands?
Fascinated and ensnared by Nathan,
Eva longs to taste what he offers and her erotic journey continues. But how
much will she have to surrender to him in order to liberate her own desires?
Darkest, Book 3 in The Dark Side serial
When his past destroys Eva’s trust in
her Master, can he win her back?
As their turbulent, complex
relationship deepens, Nathan Darke is increasingly aware that Eva Byrne has
become much more to him than his submissive. She’s in his home, in his family.
And in his heart.
Eva hasn’t found it easy to trust, to
believe in herself and in a relationship that might last. But happiness, once
so elusive, is within her grasp. Nathan is her Master, her lover and her
soulmate.
However, no sooner do they manage to
find a fragile balance between them—a way of entwining both their worlds—and
start to build a future than their past comes crashing back to destroy their
emerging love. Jealousy and hate brutally shatter Eva’s and Nathan’s delicate
trust in each other, and their life together crumbles.
Can they overcome the crushing pain
of betrayal and deceit to regain some sort of future together, or are some
wounds just too deep to heal? Are some risks too great? Some rewards just not
enough?
Excerpt from Darkening (Book 1)
He breaks the kiss to start nibbling his way
down my neck. As if not finding the angle to his liking, he suddenly,
effortlessly lifts me from the chair, turns and lays me down with my bare back
flat on the table top. He holds both of my wrists in one hand, pinning them to
the table above my head and, standing between my legs, leans over to look down
at me, stroking his other hand the length of my body from neck to waist.
“Beautiful… Holy fuck, so lovely,” he murmurs
before he leans down to take my right nipple between his lips.
I squeal, the shock jolting through me even
though I had sensed what he was about to do. His body weight and his hand
around my wrists hold me in place as he continues his work. The sensation is
everywhere, starting at my nipple, which is now painfully engorged. The tingling
pulses radiate out through my whole body, connecting as if by some sort of
internal electric current to that spot between my legs, which is now drenched.
It feels exquisite, acute, intense, forbidden and overwhelming. I arch my back,
pushing my breasts toward his mouth, his tongue, his teeth, this source of
ecstatic pleasure.
One or two ill-fated fumblings from other
students when I was a teenager at university did nothing to prepare me for
this. I have never, ever felt anything remotely like this before. I might have
read about it, known the theoretical possibility was out there, somewhere.
Happening to other women—women who were attractive and had lush, sexy bodies
and soft, wavy hair. But this is here, now, happening to me.
I feel the hard table beneath my shoulder
blades as I writhe under his skilled lips, his expert tongue and teeth,
desperate for more. And he knows what he is about—he knows what I need and he
has more for me. Opening his mouth wider, he takes more of my breast in and
sucks hard, first one side then the other. He slides his free hand, palm up,
between my shoulders and the table to raise me up, giving him easier access
with his mouth, his tongue, his teeth. Gently grazing my now helplessly
sensitized nipples with his teeth, he suckles me relentlessly, nipping slightly
harder, just enough to hurt, maybe—I’m not sure where pain ends and pleasure
begins now. What does it matter, anyway? He can do whatever he wants to me as
long as he doesn’t stop.
He is no longer holding my wrists—he has no
need to because I’m lying boneless under him, spread across his kitchen table,
pleading wordlessly for…for what? More? Less? The ecstatic pleasure tinged with
a hint of pain is so intense now that I can only moan, ride the waves of
sensation pulsing from my breasts out through my fingers and toes, each wave
bigger, heavier, more compelling than the one before until I am writhing with
need.
“I can’t. Please, it’s too much…” Is that me? Or someone else whimpering
nearby?
“Yes, you can, you are. Don’t fight it,
sweetheart, come for me. Now. Come now.” His words—insistent, soft and low,
seductive—are breathed into my ear before he returns to my breasts, nibbling
and sucking mercilessly, building the tension, increasing the sensations
coursing through every part of me, winding me tighter and tighter until I
burst, screaming out loud as fireworks explode in my head, my groin, everywhere
as the earth shifts beneath me. My inner core clenches violently, the wetness
surely flooding across the table. I feel I am falling, floating as the tension
is released and I hear myself moan in delighted satisfaction, drifting back
down toward reality.
Me, the girl who can’t bear to be touched.
Somehow—God only knows how it happened—I have just spent the last ten minutes
spread out half naked on Nathan Darke’s kitchen table, his hands and mouth all
over me until I totally lost control, and he watched me thrashing about in the
throes of my very first orgasm, right in front of him. Christ! How wonderful, how intimate. How unlike me. And he’s
achieved all this without so much as a button of his coming undone.
About Ashe Barker
I’ve been an
avid reader of fiction for many years, erotic and other genres. I still love
reading, the hotter the better. But now I have a good excuse for my guilty
pleasure – research.
I tend to draw
on my own experience to lend colour, detail and realism to my plots and
characters. An incident here, a chance remark there, a bizarre event or quirky
character, any of these can spark a story idea.
I live in the
North of England, on the edge of the Brontë moors. When not writing – which is
not very often these days - my time is divided between my role as resident taxi
driver for my teenage daughter, and caring for a menagerie of dogs,
tortoises. And a very grumpy
cockatiel.
I have over
thirty titles on general release with publishers on both sides of the Atlantic,
and I have several more in the pipeline. I write M/f, M/M, and occasionally
ring the changes with a little M/M/f. All my books feature BDSM. I write
explicit stories, always hot, but they offer far more than just sizzling sex. I
like to read about complex characters, and compelling plots, so that’s what I
write too.
I have a pile
of story ideas still to work through, and keep thinking of new ones at the most
unlikely moments, so you can expect to see a lot more from me.
Review Quotes
·
Holy crow! I knew
Eva was intelligent but WHOA! (OK no spoiler reveals).
·
The sex … is
bow-chica-wow-wow hot! Note to Eva - if you get tired I'll tag in for you! Yes
this is an erotic story but there is so much more than just sex. The soul
baring and secret revealings have me alternating between laughing, gasping and
tears.
·
Author Ashe Barker
has definitely mastered the art of cliffhangers because just when I think her
books are going to end on a high note, BAM! there it is. I know I will just be
crushed to see this story end … an absolute must read and I do highly recommend
reading the Dark Side Trilogy.
·
What a fantastic
third book. The ending was everything you could hope for. Ms Barker knows what
it takes to satisfy her readers, and she doesn't disappoint. My only complaint
is that there are no more books to read in this trilogy.
·
Wow, I have enjoyed
these three books so much that I would like his version of this love story,
please it would be nice.
Buy Links
NB. Darkening
is FREE at Totally Bound and All Romance until 30 April 2016
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