Guest Post, Excerpt & Giveaway: "The Ringmaster" by Erika Masten

The Ringmaster: Cirque de Plaisir and Writing Romantic Domination – Guest Post, Book Spotlight, and Paperback Giveaway with Erika Masten

After a few decades of writing, I’ve come to believe that most writers have one or more niches so natural to them that they can’t help coming back again and again.  For me, that’s romantic domination.  I use that term to describe a particular sort of BDSM erotica and erotic romance, one with a gentler sort of Dom and more of an emphasis on the emotional intensity of domination and submission than the protocols and practices that are important to realistic lifestyle BDSM.

I can sum up the lure of incorporating domination and submission into romance and erotica with two words.  For me, nothing is as psychologically acute.  Think about how heavy with meaning sex and love already are across all different sorts of cultures.  Are we ever more vulnerable than when we are falling in love?  Or when we are about to make love with someone for the first time?  Now add to that the whole issue of the power dynamics and the power exchanges that go on in relationships as soon as we are old enough to establish peer groups and our places within them.  We use those exchanges to explore who we are even before we become aware of ourselves as sexual beings, to determine if we feel more at home as the girl who goes after what she wants and asks the guys out or as the guy who’s known for being more relaxed and laid back and maybe less assertive with crushes.  The weight of context only gets heavier as we get older and realize all the subtext and value judgments ingrained in sex.

A first kiss can make a girl nervous enough.  What about a first kiss while kneeling for her Dom?  That first time naked in front of him…while he is still fully dressed?  That first moment of sexual abandon, performed on command?  But admittedly, my brand of romantic domination usually involves very self-possessed, calm, seductive Doms who are shocked to realize they’ve fallen so hard for my heroines that they’ve been “topped” from the bottom, so they get their moments of trepidation, too!

I can’t imagine not wanting to mine a field that rich in human vulnerability, hope, dread, and general all around angst!  So it’s that sense of romantic domination that characterizes my latest release, The Ringmaster: Cirque de Plaisir.

THE RINGMASTER: CIRQUE DE PLAISIR

By Erika Masten

Genre: Erotic Romance

Publisher: Sticky Sweet Books

Editor: Jennifer Abel

Cover Design: Robin Ludwig

Book Description:

Cirque de Plaisir. Circus of Pleasure.  An upscale underground theatrical pageant of desire and allure.  A masked BDSM spectacle bringing forbidden fantasies to life for the select few with the power, wealth, and influence to secure an invitation.

For Donovan Haigh, the man they all call Ringmaster, the Cirque de Plaisir is illusion, showmanship, and domination brought to the level of performance art.  It is the culmination and affirmation of his grasp of human nature mixed with business acumen and sheer force of will. And no one dares ask what wounds and personal losses underlie the Ringmaster’s resolve to maintain that unwavering control.

For Olivia Keane, the Circus of Pleasure is a vision in the night, a hunger in the dark, and a promise of freedom couched in the terms of submission.   Become the Ringmaster’s slave and escape the grasp of her manipulative, belittling family.  Succumb to the tightrope-taut sexual tension between the showman Dom and herself and blossom in the warmth of the spotlight and Donovan Haigh’s embrace.

But when the Ringmaster’s slave becomes the star of the show, drawing the lion’s share of attention and princely sums for private command performances, will Donovan be willing to share either the spotlight or his submissive?  The Ringmaster’s hold on Olivia and his own self-control begins to fray as powerful admirers try to woo her away, and at least one suitor proves he is not who he seems.  Old pains and family hatreds will not be so easy to escape for the Ringmaster and his slave, even in their secreted world of glamour and passion.

The Ringmaster: Cirque de Plaisir is available now at Amazon US & UK, Barnes & Noble, All Romance, and BookStrand.  The Apple release is pending.

Just leave a nice, meaty, substantive comment with your email for a chance to win a paperback copy of The Ringmaster: Cirque de Plaisir.  Open to US entries only.  Giveaway ends March 31^st at 11:59 PM.

The Insatiable Reads Book Tour

Erika Masten is currently on virtual tour with 15 other awesome romance authors as part of the Insatiable Reads Book Tour. From March 4-31st, readers will be invited to enter for a chance to win a Kindle Paperwhite, free books, and other fun goodies. Readers will also be able to participate in author chats, get insights into writing and publishing romance, and collect story swag.

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