Sex – M J Mallon YA Author and Poet

Thank you to Jenny at Neverlands Blog Tour for this wonderful opportunity to host Claire Ayres and to the author for a copy in exchange for a fair, unbiased review.

Blurb:

Cellist, Luka, has moved to Bristol to start a new job and recover from the betrayal of finding his best friend and his girlfriend in bed together. He doesn’t plan on the emotional thunderstorm that meeting his next-door neighbour Jess causes.
Jess had everything, a man she loved, friends she adored and then the world crashed around her. Depression came from nowhere and slowly started ripping her life away. Now she lives a lonely, sad life but the music which she keeps hearing next door is waking her up and she doesn’t know why.
Join Luka and Jess as they discover life after heartache, how to forgive and how to live and love again.
*Entrapped is an 18+ Contemporary Romance with several graphic sex scenes*

Goodreads:Goodreads: Entrapped

Amazon: Amazon UK

My review:

Well this was a surprise. I agreed to join Netherlands Blog Tour for Entrapped and thought it was a contemporary romance, which it is, but I didn’t realise that it was an 18+ novel with several graphic sex scenes.

What I was looking for in this novel was plot, storyline, interesting characters as well as sizzling sexual chemistry and I have to say I wasn’t disappointed.

So if you like your contemporary romance on the sexy, graphic side THIS IS FOR YOU.

This novel wasn’t smutty, or lewd. It was utterly, deliciously sensuous and the message conveyed was very much about our human desire for physical, as well as companionable love.

My other observation is I absolutely LOVED the musical aspect to it. It was so enticing – the cello – and the man! No wonder she was enthralled. Who could resist such a sexy combination?

I couldn’t help but ogle the cover art. Isn’t that cover wonderful?

The story follows Jess’s initial reluctance to get involved with another guy – Luka – after her previous boyfriend finishes with her because of her depression. Luka and Jess are insanely attracted to each other and readers will be glad to know that they can’t resist each other for long!

I liked how Claire Ayres touched on depression and how debilitating this can be. Entrapped didn’t dwell on this topic too much – I reckon that would have dragged the narrative down and would have made the tone of the novel too serious. So, Claire Ayres handled this well.

This is not a novel to read at bedtime if you want to fall sleep!

Overall, it was a sizzling debut read that I devoured very quickly. It certainly wasn’t boring!

Recommended for those who like their contemporary romance on the 18+ with graphic sex scenes, side.

My rating: 4 stars.

Goodreads: Entrapped

Musical Hope – The Inspiration

Ask most authors what made them want to write and they will say they always wanted to write. For me that’s not true, I’ve always enjoyed writing and have always been good at it, but my creative passion originally lay elsewhere. I took inspiration from that dream when planning my musical hope series.

As a teenager I was determined to become a professional musician, I was being classically trained in several instruments starting with the cello which features in book one and two of this series, moving onto the clarinet which will feature in book three and finally I played the saxophone. In addition I wrote music and I sang. My dream was to attend the Royal College of Music and train as a musician, ultimately, I wanted to be a composer. Still writing just a different type of writing.

My love affair with music came to an unfortunate end the combination of diagnosed bipolar and a pushy teacher colliding with my GCSE’s left me feeling the most anxious I have ever felt at the prospect of picking up an instrument or a pen to write music. To this day I have not played another piece of music or ever written anything else.

But I’ve never stopped loving music, I absorb music like a sponge and have spent the majority of my life around music, albeit heavy metal. Working as a freelance music journalist for many years and writing about the music I love. I also attend classical concerts regularly, unable to let go of the music which had my heart from the beginning and that is where we pick up my story about this book series because it was at such a concert one evening that it all came together.

I had gone to see the London Philharmonic play The Planets in full (very good I recommend it) and while I was sat there absorbed in the music and watching the musicians I became caught up wondering what their personal lives are like and what my life would have been like if I had succeeded in achieving my dream. Just like that Musicians Hope was born and Luka my first character in Entrapped started to take shape, a cellist who moves from London to Bristol to escape a bad break up we see him juggle his life in the orchestra and as a passionate musician, with his personal life which is far from simple.

In each book we will spend time with a different musician from the Bristol Symphony Orchestra, and while each story is standalone, they will interweave so that you can see the world growing, characters you know and love coming and going from later books and development of characters you’ve met in earlier books into main characters in the later books.

I may not have become the musician I planned but I am passionate about writing and to put my love of music into fiction in this way has been one of the most inspirational things I’ve ever done. I have so much more planned for the musicians in this orchestra and I can’t wait to continue sharing their story with you.

About Claire Ayres:

Claire lives in Bristol, UK and has taken her inspiration from the people and the places she has seen over the years. She always has a book close at hand and devours Fantasy and Romance like some devour chocolate! Claire loves a happily ever after followed by lots of bloody sword-fighting and dangerous dragons! But when writing her debut novel Entrapped drew on her childhood ambition to be a musician and one of the instruments she played and still loves as a centre-point.

Claire is also a passionate mental health advocate who lives with bipolar disorder and has done regular radio interviews and even some TV. She is also a huge heavy metal fan and can regularly be found banging her head at a concert or festival.

Website: https://brizzlelassbooks.com/

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BrizzleLass

Giveaway

International

1st Prize: Signed copy of Entrapped and a copy of 7th Symphony by Apocalyptica
2nd Prize: eCopy of Entrapped

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Buying Link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Entrapped-Musicians-Hope-Book-1-ebook/dp/B07DD6ZJHR/

Have you read Entrapped or intend to grab a copy? I’d recommend that you do!

Feel free to comment below.

Bye for now,

The Curse of Time Book One Bloodstone:

Buy Paperback Book link: http://mybook.to/TheCurseofTime
Unique Selling Point: Unique, Imaginative, ‘Charming, enchanting and richly layered this is purely delightful.’
“This delightful book will appeal to teens and young adults who love stories filled with magical crystals, dark family curses, and mysteries waiting to be solved around every corner. Each chapter leads you on a journey of discovery where Amelina earns the right to use three wizard stones to reset the balance of time and finally break the curse that holds her family hostage. A captivating tale!” – Colleen M. Chesebro (Editor)

My Social Media:
Authors Website: https://mjmallon.com
Collaborative blog: https://sistersofthefey.wordpress.com
Twitter: @Marjorie_Mallon and @curseof_time
Facebook Authors/Bloggers Support Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1829166787333493/
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I’m too sexy for this book! Am I talking about myself again? Eh, I think I better confess it was a YALC panel event, and it was rip roaringly entertaining. So of course, I want to share it with you. The chair James Dawson started off the proceedings by donning a fetching crown, announcing his role as Queen of Teen! Well, he deserves the title as he now has his first YA book out, Hollow Pike, watch out, witches never sleep! A very fetching Queen he was too. I was sitting next to my teenage daughter, well she’s eighteen, and still a teenager, just, and I heard her giggling just as much as me throughout the proceedings. This panel event was an absolute MUST.

James Dawson introduced us to the panel of fellow authors, Cat Clarke, Non Pratt and Beth Reekles who were more than happy to join in with a frank and illuminating discussion about sex and sexuality in YA. There was no skirting around the issue, sex reared its head and was allowed out to play.

Should writing sexy scenes be an issue in YA?

Why not write sexy scenes? Cat didn’t feel that writing sexy scenes should be an issue. Non said that she was a “horny and curious” fourteen year old. She wanted to read ‘horny and curious’ books. Beth was fifteen when she started writing Kissing Booth.The Kissing Booth was winner of the Most Popular Teen Fiction Watty Award, and was also shortlisted for the Young Adult Romance Novel of the Year in the 2014 RNAs. Non Pratt’s Trouble touches on a subject that all parent’s dread, teenage pregnancy. The overriding opinion of all the panellists: kids are exploring anyway so why not write what’s happening, rather than pretend that it isn’t happening. Well, this takes me back to my teenage self, I remember reading Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I don’t suppose I told my mother I was reading it but there you are. We’ve all been there, done it. Nothing has changed.

What’s the process of writing a love scene? How do you get in the mood?

passion-flower-284291_640 — Passion Flower! Pixabay.com

Beth

I don’t go out and buy a flower. Maybe she should! This Passion flower is getting me in the mood! She watches romantic movies, and reads chick lit, and tries to write with her younger teenage self in mind. What would she have wanted to read at that age?

Non

Likes sex to be graphic, realistic. In order to get in the mood, “she hammers it out!” Her words! She writes her favourite scenes first, drinking, fighting, and sex scenes! Hey, Non, don’t hold back!

Cat

She has a sexy time playlist, via twitter which includes Prince but stays clear of Rod Stewart. She likes to write revenge sex, check out her book, Undone, in Goodreads it is described as ‘A searing story of love, revenge and betrayal.’ Don’t get on the wrong side of Cat, she scratches!

Gatekeepers reaction to sex in YA books.

Non

Fear creates taboos. Parents and children don’t like to think about each other having sex. This sounds fair comment to me! Non didn’t have to alter her sex scenes but she did have a problem with the bureaucracy that tends to accompany school visits. She found that form filling, and opposition on the grounds of parents not liking it or on religious grounds were evident in school visits. All of these can of course be a problem for writer’s of YA ‘sexy’ books.

Cat

Parents don’t like to see sex in YA books. They like to see good, worthy content. It’s crazy. Cat hasn’t had too much trouble with gatekeepers (agents, editors). She has never had to change her books, even though there is an oral sex scene in her book. Cats just get away with so much don’t they?

tabby-114782_150 — Yes, I get away with everything! pixabay.com

Beth

Is aware that some of her readership tends to be younger, say eleven years old, so she writes her books with that in mind. When Beth goes on Goodreads she find that parents sometimes have problems with content. Hey, stay away from Goodreads, they’re bound to tell you off!

The chair, James Dawson has so many enlightening things to say. He announces that kids are at the mercy of google and it is better to read a novel than to be subjected to much harder hitting sexual images on google. I absolutely agree.

With that in mind should there be age ratings on books? All the panellists said…………………………. you guessed it NO.

Has Fifty Shades of Grey paved the way?

Both Beth and Non were published after 50 Shades came out so did this make it easier for them?

Beth

Beth felt that Fifty Shades has lifted the taboo to a certain degree.

Non

Fifty Shades was titilatting, and there were fourteen and fifteen year olds reading Fifty shades.

James Dawson steered the panellists onto the subject of Taboos.

Non

Non’s taboos: Religion, alternative hole use! Her words! Prefers good vanilla variety sex, and recommended Helen Walsh’s The Lemon Grove. This sounds a great read. Thanks for the tip Non.

Beth

Religion. Depression. Wary of graphic sex due to the age of her readership.

Cat

Torture. Yes, I agree with her on that one.

What about New Adult?

Non

Don’t believe in New Adult, think it is a marketing tool.

Beth

It’s a way of labelling books for gatekeepers.

Cat

Excited when she heard of the term New Adult, she thought it was about kids going to University. She would like to see books about that time in a young adult’s life. I agree.

In Cat’s opinion violence is more disturbing than sex. Sex is private. Violence is more visable, nobody complains about children killing each other in the Hunger Games. A very valid point.

Influences:

The panellists were influenced by the following authors:

Laurie Halse Andersen’s Speak. Liz Bankes’s Undeniable

Sarah Dessen, John Green, Stephanie Perkins, Courtney Summers

My final thoughts on I’m too sexy for this book!.

This was the most entertaining and funny of all of the talks, and makes me wonder whether I should write sexy YA? Could be fun!

Well, that’s about it folks for sex in YA. I hope I haven’t misquoted anyone. If I have made any mistakes, or omitted anything many apologies.

Disclaimer: I couldn’t hear a damn thing so don’t blame me if I got it all wrong!

Authors websites:

http://www.catclarke.com

http://authorbethreekles.tumblr.com

http://www.wattpad.com/user/Reekles

http://nonpratt.com/

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Tag: Sex

Neverlands Blog Tour plus #Giveaway and my #Review of Claire Ayres: Entrapped (Musicians Hope Book 1)

I’m too sexy for this book! YALC panel event