Expanding

I didn’t realize that the bigger my body got the smaller my life became – how much hiding; how much not doing.  The more I realize how much my body can do now, the more I see how much I’ve closed myself off while at the same time believing that wasn’t true.  As my waistline is shrinking, my life is expanding.  Cool and scary all at the same time.

Christy’s Erotic/Smut/Romance Recommendations – non BDSM version!

The series I am currently wrapping up reading is the Beautiful Bastard series by Christina Lauren (pen name of writing duo Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings.  The first book in the series was originally published as Twilight Fan Fiction; however, unlike FSoG, they didn’t just change the character names and publish.  They really worked on the story, tightened it up and then took it further with the additional characters and books.  The third book, Beautiful Player, is so well-written and is the most perfect romance/smut novel to me.  It’s everything I have ever wanted in a couple, story and plot line.  It’s going right up there on my list with The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks and God-Shaped Hole by Tiffanie DeBartolo.  This is NOT a BDSM series though there is some kink, just a group of men and women that you will fall in love with!

#1           Beautiful Bastard

#1.5       Beautiful Bitch

#2           Beautiful Stranger

#2.5       Beautiful Bombshell

#3           Beautiful Player

#3.5       Beautiful Beginning

At least one more coming!

The Big Girls Do It and Rock Stars Do It series’ by Jasinda Wilder are just fun.  So is her Delilah’s Diary trilogy.  There’s just something about the way she writes that makes me happy.

Believe it or not, I do read books that are not smut or erotica at all.  My favorite author of all-time being Maeve Binchy.  I own everything she’s ever written.  While her books aren’t billed as a series, starting with Evening Class in 1996 and ending with Minding Frankie in 2010, the same characters and places pop up throughout her writing.  She is just the best story teller, in my opinion.

·  Evening Class (1996)

·  Tara Road (1998)

·  Scarlet Feather (2000)

·  Quentins (2002)

·  Nights of Rain and Stars (2004)

·  Whitethorn Woods (2006)

·  Heart and Soul (2008)

·  Minding Frankie (2010)

Another great Irish author is Cecelia Ahern.  I’ve read two books by her that were completely whimsical and two that were more reality based.  All of them are standalones.  Loved them all, need to read more of her stuff!

Whimsical

A Place Called Here (one of the coolest books I’ve ever read!)

If You Could See Me Now

Non-Whimsical

P.S. I Love You (was made into a movie)

Love, Rosie

If you read any of them, let me know what you think!  I'm on Goodreads:   https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4696172-christy.

Christy’s Erotic/Smut/Romance Recommendations – BDSM version!

There are several sets of books that I think are far better than Fifty Shades of Grey.  The penultimate being The Original Sinners series by Tiffany Reisz.  It is not for the faint of heart though; I am not kidding or exaggerating when I say it makes FSoG look like cheap, store-brand vanilla.  The Sinners are true doms, subs and switches.  The stories contain copious amounts of sex, sin, taboo naughtiness, and bad behavior.  That said, Tiffany writes the most vivid, complicated, REAL characters who stay with you long after you’ve put the book down.  I could spend hours discussing and dissecting her characters, their motivations, and what makes them tick.  This is my FAVORITE erotic novel series.

The Original Sinners series will contain a total of 8 full-length books divided into two different time periods.  The first set of four are published; the first book in the second quartet will be out June 24, 2014.  There are also novellas and free stories on Tiffany’s blog (http://www.tiffanyreisz.com/free-stories/).

Here is a list of all the novels in The Original Sinners series:

The Red Years Quartet (The adventures of Nora Sutherlin, Dominant and erotica writer)
#1           The Siren
#2           The Angel
#3           The Prince
#4           The Mistress

The White Years Quartet (The adventures of Eleanor Schreiber, submissive)
#5           The Saint         June 24, 2014*
#6           The King           December 1, 2014*
#7           Untitled          
#8           Untitled          

*US publish date as of 4/27/2014 but is subject to change

You really must read the Red Years in the order listed.  For a recommended reading order that includes the extra novellas and free stories, go here:  https://www.goodreads.com/series/79635-the-original-sinners.

Tiffany also writes Cosmo Red-Hot Reads.  The first one Misbehaving has been published; thoroughly enjoyed it.  The next one will be coming out October 28, 2014; I think these are all standalone stories that are loosely based on Shakespeare’s works.

Another series that explores BDSM in a way that is similar to FSoG but better, in my opinion, is The Submissive Trilogy by Tara Sue Me.  It’s probably a better place to start than to just dive into the Sinners as this falls in between the two in terms of the vanilla to hardcore BDSM scale.  A note about this series:  Like FSoG, it was first published as Twilight Fan Fiction.  That is how I originally read it and I have not re-read it since it has been published.  The Submissive was her point-of-view, The Dominant his over the same time period, and The Training alternated POVs from where the previous two books left off.  I don’t know if that is still true or not.

Another lighter BDSM series is the Club Volare books by Chloe Cox.  On the BDSM continuum, I’d place these between The Submissive Trilogy and the Sinners.  These are so much fun!!!  The great thing about the Club Volare books is that they really are standalones so reading order doesn’t matter; that said, there are characters that re-occur so I do recommend reading them in order, especially 6 through 8.

I cannot get enough of Chloe’s writing so I’ve also read The Bad Teacher and Doctor’s Orders collections, which are also good but a little darker and edgier.  Chloe’s books are lendable so let me know if you’d like to borrow one before buying them yourself.  She’s also starting a Redemption series but so far only one book is published and it stars characters that appear briefly in Volare #6 - Savage Rhythm.

Seductive Shadows (Shadows, #1) and Seductive Secrecy (Shadows, #2) by Marni Mann is a great little two book series that is dark, twisted and crazy.  It’s kinky and dark, not for the faint of heart.

Another BDSM-ish series is the Inside Out series by Lisa Renee Jones.  It’s also got a thriller/whodunit aspect to it.  This is another one with main books and novellas.  The premise of the first novel, If I Were You, hinges on private journals found in a storage locker auction.  The journals are available to read themselves as novellas.  I started there and then red everything else.  This series is still in progress too.  While I love the original premise and the characters I got a little annoyed with the author with the third book, Revealing Us.  It felt like she dragged the story out to get more books published; however, I will keep reading as I can’t wait for Mark’s books.  Skip Behind Closed Doors, it’s being published online and is not finished plus it’s really a spin-off not a main story.  Outside of Rebecca’s Lost Journals, following the reading order (1, 2, 2.5, 3, etc.) because you won’t be able to follow the story otherwise.

The Power to Please series by Deena Ward is crazy but good.  It is dark in a completely different way than The Sinners.  Book 2 is VERY DIFFICULT to read in that it is cautionary tale of what can happen when you trust the wrong person.  It didn’t get as dark as I feared it was going to and it was worth pushing through because the overall four book story arc is really good.

If you read any of them, let me know what you think!  I'm on Goodreads:   https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/4696172-christy.

2012 Goals

• Read 52 books
• Create 52 layouts
• Work my way through all my unfinished projects
• Start converting my VHS tape collection to DVD
• Work through "Breathing Under Water" with group
• Complete 30 day gratitude challenge
  
• Make ornaments and send out Christmas cards (yes, we just finished the holidays but with my busy season at work being the holidays, I really have to plan ahead)
• Take a trip to California
• Get a car