Tag: Bandit Brothers Series

The thing about help, disability and kink

Those who know me well, think that it’s ironic that I wrote a whole series centering the damsel-in-distress-trope, but the thing is? I love this trope. I’m always trying to up the stakes in the suspense plots, to push the boundaries of realism, to make it even harder for my characters to untangle themselves on the way to the HEA

When it came to writing Ares and Josie, I wanted to make sure that it was the situation that caused her the distress. I wanted to write the story in a way that made it clear Ares was not out to save her from the perceived distress of being disabled.

I needed Josie’s autonomy respected. I needed her to stand up for herself and call people out on the toxic offers of help.

And even though Ares was going to be a forceful part of rescuing Josie, he needed to be the kind of Dom that listens. Actually respects boundaries instead of running them over. He needed to support her, offer that support in a way that could be refused.

It might be Ares’s nature to try and fix things for her, to make her life easier, to offer her help but Josie knows her own mind and just because she’s disabled, doesn’t mean she needs to be saved from her disability.

The thing about putting “help” in a kink setting is that help has to be consented to, even if the character has a disability. The boundary held and respected. When you put offers of help in that kind of setting in shines a light on how helpful help actually is…

Maybe it was my wishing for that (“help” being offered in a way that can always be refused, not with the expectation that it is accepted just because it was given) to be an every day experience that brought this forth – and I’m okay with that.

Flame For Keeps is out tomorrow.

 

candles on beach

 

 

OMG! ARC Readers

(I’m Returning to a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday blogging schedule and still updating the site for mobile. Thanks for being patient!)

 

Sign–up for an ARC, with the amount of discourse that is going around! Yikes.

What do readers owe us? Nothing. Nada.

We get to write the books; we don’t get to dictate how readers respond to those books.

Would I love all 5-star reviews? Sure. But what I want more than that is to connect to readers. I love it when a reader slides into my DM’s telling me that they wish Xander was their Dom. Okay, that makes me have a moment of panic and say, “No! Nooo.” And sometimes, when a reader tells me that one of the Bandit Brothers Books, is their first intro to BDSM, it makes me question my life choices… but…

I appreciate it all the same.

I get to write the books. I don’t get to tell readers what to do with them or how to write reviews, or if they can tag me or not tag me. Do I want to be tagged in one-star reviews? No…not really. Some of them make me laugh….because you have to laugh.

But I don’t wanna tell readers how they should be reading – even ARC readers, with three asterisks***

If you’re a past ARC reader of mine, thank you! You are amazing. My books are better because of ARC readers catching things like my vegetarian character eating bacon, wonky formatting, and three different spellings of Chantal.

I don’t have any expectation other than you’ll read the book and post a review.

I’ve started asking ARC Readers if they want a release day graphic to share because readers have asked me but I clearly say that it is not a requirement.

Here’s my *** for my ARC Readers:

* Don’t be a pirate. I know you would never pirate it, but it happens and I feel like it’s a CYA I have to have on the form

* If you are going to give it less than 2 stars, please reach out before you post your review. I ask this for two reasons: a) It gives me a chance to fix something that needs to be fixed before publication, if it’s something technical b) It gives me a heads-up that this book isn’t landing the way I wanted it to. That’s me asking you to reach out, not me telling you not to post the review. Why do I ask this?
Ah, because of a huge formatting error Flame For Two had this past year when I added an updated file, fixing minor things (backmatter) and I put it into a service, hoping to boost the book. It’s my bestselling book in the series. But I suddenly got all these reviews back talking about grammar. I had beta readers re-read it, I begged peers to re-read it, I broke my rule and questioned friends who I know had read the book and they all said, it’s fine. We were all looking for grammar errors in the original file, not checking the updated, new file I had sent into this review service (sighs – this plan totally backfired, I lost sales). In an effort to prevent this error – which is a known sideloading error through BookFunnel from happening, I now put in that clause on my ARC Form, with the words, “I promise not to freak on your head.” And it worked! That error was caught in Flame For Foe and fixed before publication.

I know that ARC’s are supposed to be the version, the cleanest, error free version and I strive for that but I’m doing this without a cook or a nanny and the tiniest of budgets.

*Have read at least one of my books & posted a book review before joining my ARC Team, anywhere. That’s a new * I added this year for the Bandit Brothers Series. I want you on my team and this is me, trying to cut down on readers who sign up on a whim – I want you here, if you want to be here.

I appreciate my ARC Readers so very much! They’ve kept me writing this year when I have felt burnt out. They slide into my DM’s and check in on me and tell me they’re waiting for the next book and that makes me feel so writerly I wanna squish you.

Thanks for reading!

Take It Thursday: A refresh for these two Doms

The Bandit Brothers Series is coming to an end, and I am sure, very, very sure, that this is the last cover refresh these books get.

I mean, never say never, but I am very, very sure,

The plan is to get the paperbacks up to current covers by the summer!

Flame For Two by Raleigh Damson

 

Here’s a teaser from Flame For Two

Her hands immediately went to Logan’s waistband, and her trembling fingers unzipped his jeans. “I can’t wait to see how you suck him,” Xander said, his hand over her shoulder. Her skin grew heated from his words.

“I can’t wait to feel your hot mouth on my cock, kitten,” Logan said, his hands on her cheeks, brushing her arms. Harper glided her hand around his long, thick cock, the skin soft, and her fingers barely able to circle it.

“What are you waiting for angel?” Xander asked, from behind her.

Harper needed no more encouragement. His cock slid right into her mouth. His male musk assaulted her, making her moan low in her throat. Logan played with her hair as she licked and sucked, drawing his length into her mouth as much as she could.

“Take all of him, angel. See how he likes that? You look so beautiful sucking his cock,” Xander said, his hand on her back. God, this made her feel so desirable, somehow. Logan’s fingers danced along her throat, under her jaw.

“That’s it, kitten. Your hot mouth feels like heaven.” Logan’s low tone made her whimper.

“Don’t forget his balls, angel. Reach out and fondle them, give them a lick after you’re done dragging that pretty tongue of yours from his tip to his root.” Xander’s instructions urged her on as if she was a matchstick he had lit. She was wet and needy again, longing for cock to fill her, as she licked and lapped Logan’s full heavy testicles. Her mouth covered the tip of his glistening penis and Logan threw his head back.

“See how his muscles bunch for you as you lick? He wants you. He’s restraining himself.” Xander’s warm hand on the small of her back kept her grounded to him as she floated away, a heady mix of longing, desire and power coursing through her. She hummed around his cock, trying to take him deeper and deeper, so deep he bumped the back of her throat.

Read Flame For Two For Free in Kobo Plus 

Hello March!

What did you do with your extra day?

I hug out with my favourite people and had a a high word count day of 4k. I know there are authors who have higher word count days than that. I’ve managed to go higher than that in a day, too, but I’m pretty chuffed with that…it means I only have about 15k left on this book before sending it off.

When I first came back to writing, it was a struggle to hit 1k each day. I don’t believe that you have to write every day, I think that’s kind of toxic advice, but I do think the more you write, the more it helps with writing.

I’m looking forward to this month! Hopefully, it means the snow is melted and banished for another six months; the sooner, the better.  Mercy’s next release is in 13 days! I am so proud of this book.

We talk so much about the FMC’s triggers and past abuse, but Doms and MC’s can have past triggers too. In Five Days to Be Mine, Mara gently holds and is mindful of one of Evan’s triggers.

Pulling a quote for this Friday’s Friday Kiss made me remember what I love so much about Sasha and Finn. Their book is still on sale for $2.99USD on all retailers.

And Flame For You got another glow-up! New covers are coming, and I’m excited.

So I’m starting off March eager for what is coming and hopeful that it’s good.

Friday Kiss flashed

 

Five Days to be Mine

#WIP Wednesday: Can this (ex) best-friend’s little sister be a submissive?

Wednesday of a holiday week, feels long. Like we are at the start of the week and not the middle but here we are.

For this week’s #WIP Wednesday, I am sharing a snippet between Erik and Kayleigh from Flame For Foe .

Erik has asked Kayleigh to undress him, and it’s the first time she’s ever done something like that and she’s all nervous and flustered and trying to cover it up by being a smart ass and the banter between these two, sometimes drives me to distraction.

___

“I’m waiting.”
Her cool fingers brushed the plane of his stomach as her fingers fumbled for the hem of his t-shirt. Erik stopped himself from helping her. He had to grind his teeth, so he could stay still, and not pin her to the wall and throw that green shirt off of her with the ridiculous long sleeves.
“Upsie”, She said, lifting the shirt over his head.
“Saying upsie kind of ruins the seriousness of the moment; it’s not romantic.”
“You told me it didn’t have to be sexual, right? So why does it have to be romantic?” She blinked those impossibly long eyelashes at him behind her glasses, all pretend innocence reminding him of her younger self.

You can pre-order Flame For Foe here 

To make mistakes is to keep going

As an indie author, I strive to put out the best product I possibly can.

I use beta readers.

I have an alpha reader.

I have ARC readers and supporters who I bounce things off of if I am unsure.

I pay for different kinds of editing at different stages and strive to have that book as polished and finished as I possibly can by the time readers have spent their hard earned cash on that book. I want their experience to be enjoyable and as flawless as possible.

But when I make a mistake, I own it and do my best to correct it, like with the wonky formatting in Flame True, see this post

And in that post, I had a typo on “street team.”

But wanting to be perfect, and worrying about the technicalities I constantly struggle with is what kept me from writing for a good amount of time. So it was a learning process of learning to be open enough to hear the criticisms and knowing when I have absolutely done my best and not to touch it anymore.

So when I sent out a new newsletter the other day, welcoming new subscribers to my list, with “spciy” in the subject line instead of “spicy,” I cringed. But there isn’t anything I can do about it because I didn’t want to re-send another newsletter over a typo in a subject line – if it was in the context or subject of the actual message, I would have.

Making mistakes and carrying on is a whole skill set that is awfully useful in being an indie author (and in the quest to be a good human, too, in my opinion).

And sometimes, it’s knowing when to give yourself permission to write something really awful.

I’m working on a chapter of Flame For Foe today and it’s clunky, the words aren’t flowing because somewhere in my head, I am in knots about it being “right” or “good enough” and those thoughts don’t have a place here, for something nobody other than me, is going to see – I know it won’t be like this when betas get it. And giving myself that permission – that grace, to have an awful chunk of writing but to do it anyways, is how I am doing this indie-author thing.

If you want to read a BDSM book about an FMC who is a demisexual, Flame For Foe is up for pre-order here.

And check out these free erotica reads in this month’s Erotica Give-a-way in this Bookfunnel promotion!

Free Erotica

 

Spring forward… and Nook Promotion

I made coffee at 5 pm because the idiocy of spring forward caught up to me. All of my people have colds and it’s kept me away from writing this week but that’s okay, rest is good…or so I’m trying to tell myself.
And we should wake up to that white stuff that falls from the sky and ensures spring isn’t actually near for us, here … at least not yet.

Initial ARC feedback has started to come in for Flame For Chance and I’m so excited. Though I always have a general idea of what story I want to write, for me a lot of the time, it starts with a character.

The entire Bandit Brothers Series started around one character and readers finally get to meet Jordan (a little bit, kind of like a cameo) in Sasha and Finn’s story. I’m so thrilled with this book!

If you read on Nook and buy Flame True, you can get 50% off of Flame For Two. This promotion ends on March 31st, 2022

 

There’s a time for envy…Paperbacks?

When you’re scrolling your social media and you’re seeing snowdrops poking through the earth and greenery sprouting and buds on branches….oh the envy I feel!

Because in this corner of the world, we are still a long way from that anything green. Freezing temps in the forecast and more snow on the way. All the humans in my vicinity have the sniffles, myself included and that’s making the words a bit slow. And the author is a bit annoyed but it’s probably more being the one who looks after all the people with the sniffles- maybe you know how that goes.

I’ve been asked if I have paperbacks for sale, and I do! I have copies of Flame For You, Flame For Two and Flame Again. Flame True and Flame For Chance will be in paperback…around the summer.

Someday, I’d like to have a shop sit up all proper but for now, if you want a signed paperback copy, drop me an email: raleigh@raleighdamson.com, let me know which book, if you want it dedicated to name, or just signed and if you give me a postal code or a zip code, I’ll work out the cost of shipping and send you an invoice.

I know, this is super low-tech and maybe extra hoops but it’s what I got right now! I like chatting to readers and I don’t bite promise. I will add that shipping in Canada and shipping to most States, so for in my experience it works out to be $20USD for shipping.

ARCs for Flame For Chance have gone out and pre-order is up .

I’m so grateful I get to release the book on my author anniversary! It’s the best way I could think of to celebrate it.

Finishing with Flaws

There are two points I come hard against while finishing a book.

One is, knowing when not to touch it anymore. Like, just don’t

Could something be better? That’s a never-ending pile of always. But if I just fix this one word…don’t. Knowing when to “don’t” is hugely important.

Set it to formatting, get it out in the world, and be done.

And the second point is where I ask my betas: “This isn’t even a book. What is this book about?” 

Thankfully, I have peers who pat me on the head and say, “You do this with every book.”

We have reached these points with Sasha and Finn and here is something that I realized, with the comments from one of my amazing betas.

I have a thing for the flawed character.

I talked about it here with this post: The Flawed Character Who Doesn’t Apologize, meet Quinn Walsh  but it’s taken to this book, book number whatever (still not sure how Sasha and Finn’s book is going to be numbered) to realize that it’s a thing that is through all my books and I like it.

Their flaws don’t get worked out and in the next book where they are mentioned, they are still their flawed selves, even while living their Happy Ever After.

In Flame For Chance, it is Finn Kraweic who has it together.

Okay, his heart is hurting but he pretty much has it together: a secure job, property, got friends, all those things that tend to make up “stability” and it’s Sasha, with her pesky problem of running out the door when things get too tense, uncomfortable or just because there is a door, who is flawed.

And maybe typically, it’d be expected that the Dom has beat this out of the bratty submissive. Sasha is a brat.
Finn is a Dom but he accepts her shortcomings.

I mean, he punishes her for her behaviour (that they agreed to, consensually) but helps her get to a better place to work it out…but she’s working it out. And when I started to worry if readers would accept this, if they’d expect her behaviour to change, for her to stop doing it…I pressed the button to send it to formatting. Because she is working on it…not perfect.

Anyways, Flame for Chance drops soon and I am so thrilled to have the next Bandit Brothers book out!

(soon, soon)

All Eyes On Her: Have You Read This New Steamy Bonus Scene?

The delusion that winter is over is continuing with some slight proof. The temps promise to be the highest we’ve had since October tomorrow and I can’t wait! Going to ignore that it’s a mess of frizzy drizzle out there.

This week finds me putting Book Five aside because I decided a surprise new Bandit Brothers book release would be fun! And it’s not that big of a surprise if you’ve been hanging with me for a while but I feel at this point, it’d be a good book to fit into where we are now in the series. So Sasha and Finn are finally going to see the light of day, as soon as I can get through these edits.

I realized over the weekend, that if you have a certain type of mailing address, my newsletter hasn’t reached you! I know my newsletter readers don’t always like to be in more than one place (like Facebook for example), but I’m hoping this may reach some readers and I’ll include it in the next newsletter on the 28th, just to be sure. Sometimes, we have to put things out in the world twice.

It’s View and Play night at Club Bandit and all eyes are on Mulberry as Nick gives her exactly what she craves, in Flame True’s bonus scene.
This scene is sizzling with consensual spanking/paddling in front of an audience and sexy times in the back seat of a car. Want it? Click here to get All Eyes on Her, Flame True’s bonus scene.
Thank you for making the release day of Flame True, awesome!