New merch update!
More “Daddy” key rings; as promised: the new key ring from The Game Series that comes with a unique member’s ID to House Mclean, the kink community River and Reese started; Adam Grady’s very own seasoning mix (I kid you not,) bookmarks, or why not a personal Path of Destruction backstage pass lanyard?
https://www.caradeewrites.com/store
Hi there!
I’ve copy-pasted my newsletter here today, because I wanted y’all to get a look at the changes I’m introducing. Because, free outtakes and stuff. So here goes!
Starting right now, my newsletter will look a little different. You’ll receive an update from me once a month—no more, no less—and you can count on exclusive content. For instance, every newsletter will have a free outtake from one of my books! Or rather, from the couples I write about. Sometimes it’ll be a one-page shorty, sometimes a 30-page monstrosity 😉 More often than not, somewhere in between.
But first! A hot, spankin’ new release that goes live tomorrow, on Nov 19. Available for preorder!
Join us for release day shenanigans in my Facebook group on November 19-20! You can find my group here.
Nicky and his brother are musicians, and they have their own playlist on Spotify. You can follow it right here.
Before I unleash the first outtake on y’all, I just wanted to mention that I’m currently working on several projects, including Kellan and Shannon’s story (an MM standalone spinoff from the This Life Universe,) the next book for Gray and Darius, a secret project, and an MF titled Her All Along. If you’re a fan of Darius in the Auctioned Series, not to mention the rest of the Quinn family, Her All Along will give you a big glimpse into their past. But more on that later!
Here’s your first outtake, and I will see you in the next newsletter, which will be about the release of River and Reese’s taboo prequel. Speaking of River and Reese…
Okay, so here’s where the outtake goes, but if you wanna read it, you’ll find it in my newsletter right here. And to make sure you don’t miss the future outtakes, you can subscribe here!
One last thing before I go. My web shop is live again. Until next time!
“Will you beat me without knowing why I want it?”
I’m used to rejection by Sadists at this point. No one wants to beat me or skip aftercare; they wanna talk and get all up in my business—where they don’t freaking belong. But I give it one more try when I spot River and Reese Tenley at a kink party. The only thing bigger than them is their reputation as hardcore Sadists. To the memories of grief and why I’m seeking punishment, I ask them to hurt me.
“Sure. It’s your funeral.”
MMM | The Game Series | BDSM | Book 3 | Standalone | Sadomasochism | Daddykink
Breathless goes live tomorrow, on September 15, but you can preorder right now! Just click HERE to pick up your copy.
Until next time!
-Cara
Hi there, long time no see and all that. Yes, I just heard my editor complain about that very first sentence in my head. Like a character, she lives there permanently and pipes up every now and then.
Zip it, I tell her, now’s not the time.
So! I hope y’all are feeling all right in these weird times. I’m currently trying to make my deadline and finish writing Breathless, the next book in the Game Series, before my birthday on July 23rd. But today I woke up feeling generally off. Headache, stomachache, and some mild nausea. Not enough to throw my ass on the bed and declare myself dying in hopes of lots of sympathy from the man in the house, but enough to completely pull me away from my writing.
Well, sort of.
Breathless is going to be a somewhat angsty, hotter-than-hell, eventually sweet kink story about Shay Acton, a young man who’s lost most of his family, and twin Sadists River and Reese Tenley. It’s a standalone piece, but for those following the series, it’s a “Finally! We get the twins!” As they’ve already made appearances in the previous two books. 🙂
And you know what’s freaking impossible to write when you’re not feeling well?
Sizzling hot kink. Yeah. It’s not happening today.
However…
My passion has always been to write everyday heroes and heroines, with everyday struggles, realistic misfortunes and mishaps happening, and all those insignificant human isms. They go to the bathroom, they sneeze when their noses tickle, they get food poisoning, they have cramps, headaches, and mood swings.
They get sick sometimes.
Yeah! Guess who I just gave a fever? Shay will battle this off day with me; I will get back to writing, and he will just suffer with me. The words sure as heck flow easier when I can get into the scene properly and relate to what he’s feeling, and I think…I think the Tenley twins need to give him ice cream and cuddles.
To be frank, I want ice cream too.
Much love,
Cara
Linky link: The Game Series.
Daddy kink | Age difference | Realistic BDSM | S/M | …and much more.
Alessia on Adam
He’s a feeling. His energy is a force that makes an impact whether you want it to or not. He’s charming, easygoing, and loved by everyone. Especially me. He’s been the love of my life since I was a fifteen-year-old summer camper and he was a burned-out chef volunteering to make sloppy joes in the dining hall.
Unfortunately, he has a type. Tall, thin, and gorgeous. And I’m…none of those things.
I’m the friend. The roommate. The one he runs a restaurant with.
Adam on Alessia
She’s my past, my present, and my future. She’s my muse. I cook with her tastes in mind. I cook for her. But, as my brother points out, she won’t be my future if I don’t come clean about the fact that I’ve been hung up on her for years.
Coming clean might not be a choice at this rate, though. If I see Alessia on another goddamn dating app, I’m gonna lose my shit. I physically can’t stay away from her any longer, even if I risk losing everything we’ve built together.
The Objective
The sexiest Valentine’s Day menu ever created. And maybe, just maybe, fingers aren’t the only thing getting licked after this meal.
Buon Appetito!
Excerpt
She’d meet someone soon. They’d get married and she would squeeze out a few runts, and I would never see her again. It would start out slow, of course. First, we’d stop living together because her new man would find that weird. Then, she’d miss a few shifts at work. Dates and whatnot. Eventually, she’d hire someone—maybe a hostess or bartender. She’d come to work one day with a rock on her finger, and she would burst with excitement as she announced she was pregnant.
I wanted to fucking hurl.
“Oh, look,” she gasped softly.
I raised a brow at the babies. The boy yawned.
“So cute,” Alessia whispered. “I know I’m being silly, but I’m just so happy for Isla and Jack.”
Yeah, everyone was pleased as punch, from grandparents and siblings to friends and even the freaking nurses.
Aforementioned family members also knew how to go home and catch some rest.
“I’m gonna check in with the new parents,” I said. “Then we’re outta here, all right?”
Alessia nodded, probably thrilled to get another few minutes of staring at the babies.
Yup, I was definitely losing her.
Fuck.
I found my brother in the next hall. Isla was asleep in the hospital bed, and Jack was in the uncomfortable chair next to her, checking his phone.
I knocked lightly on the doorframe, and he glanced up and smiled sleepily.
“Mom just texted and asked if you’d managed to drag Alessia out of here yet.” He kept his voice down and stood up, walking over so we could let Isla sleep. I stepped out into the hall and removed my ball cap. “You okay?”
“Sure.” I nodded with a dip of my chin. “I talked to Alex and Jamie. We’re doing a Grady Night this weekend at Mom and Dad’s. You know that means free babysitting.”
Jack chuckled quietly and scrubbed a hand over his face. Then he flicked a glance through the window to Isla’s room. “I’ll talk to Isla,” he murmured. “I’m not so naïve that I don’t believe we’ll be tired.”
“Fucking exhausted,” I agreed.
He slid his gaze back to me. “Why the rush, though?”
I shrugged and scratched my bicep. “We gotta celebrate, don’t we?”
He drew a deep breath and saw straight through me. He didn’t even bother narrowing his eyes, something he was great at when he sniffed out bullshit. Maybe he was too tired. Or maybe I was so goddamn pathetic in my quest to fill Alessia’s calendar with family shit that it was too easy, too obvious.
“Are you never going to talk to her?” Jack asked curiously, and I tensed up. “Be honest with me, Adam. You’re seriously just going to let her run off with someone she’ll be content with at best.”
“Don’t.” I clenched my jaw. I’d hidden my feelings for Alessia for longer than I cared to admit, and no one had so much as suspected anything until Isla barged into Jack’s life and assumed Alessia and I were together the very first time she met us. “You don’t know what it’s like,” I told him.
He hiked his brows. “Oh, I don’t?”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t, and I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking about her—” I gestured to the room where Isla slept “—and the babies, but it ain’t the same. Alessia is in every part of my life. We live together, we run Coho together—she’s my best friend. She’s my past, my present, and my future. If I lose her, I have nothing.” An invisible noose tightened around my neck, and I hauled in a breath. The mere idea of not having Alessia in my life was fucking crippling. “I won’t risk it,” I stated. “I live and breathe that girl.”
Something softened in my brother’s gaze. “She might not be your future, though.”
I didn’t need a reminder.
YOU CAN ALSO CLICK HERE TO GRAB YOUR COPY
AND IT’S STILL AVAILABLE IN KU
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Title: This Life II
Author: Cara Dee (That’s me!)
Series: This Life, Book 2
Genre: MF Romance/Mafia Romance
Amazon Universal: http://mybook.to/thislife2-cdw
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51473658-this-life-ii
Synopsis:
Finnegan O’Shea
My uncle had never deserved to be the boss of the Sons of Munster, and for the longest time I thought that pompous jackass was my worst nightmare. Then Gio Avellino sent a crew to Philly to take down the syndicate I’d just become the unofficial boss of. He’d kidnapped my uncle, put the love of my life in harm’s way, and…he’d murdered my mother.
So yeah, my first year as a married man was off to a rousing start—we were on the run, severely outnumbered, and I still hadn’t told my wife the truth about her own mother and her connection to the Avellino family.
Luck of the Irish? Uh-huh. I was gonna need a lot of that.
Emilia O’Shea
Was there such a thing as getting used to being married to a mobster? Finnegan lied and stole for a living, and trust didn’t come easy. If only the bastard hadn’t stolen my damn heart.
After spending the summer in hiding, I was ready to shoulder my role as the new matriarch of the family. Even though my husband’s mother’s shoes were impossible to fill, I would do my best and take on the responsibility with my own little twist. I couldn’t be the mother to everyone, but I could be a Daughter of Munster.
Because though I struggled with some aspects of Finnegan’s lifestyle, this was personal.
This was war.
Haven’t read This Life I yet? You can find it here: http://mybook.to/thislifeI
Social Media Links:
Website: https://www.caradeewrites.com/
Website: https://www.camassiacove.com/
Amazon: https://amzn.to/cdw-amazon-profile
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/caradeewrites/
Facebook Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/caradeewrites/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cara-dee
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaraDeeWrites
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carawrites/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6936449.Cara_Dee
I’ve been staring at this empty document for about twenty minutes now, and I’m still not sure how to phrase myself.
I should start by saying that I always shy away from drama. I wouldn’t say I keep my head down and chicken out from stating my opinions; I’ve just made the choice to focus on romance, on the books I write, and on characters.
That’s part of why I’m blogging today, because the issues, for lack of a better term, have reached characters and how we write them.
It’s unbelievable that an author has to say this, but here goes: I am not my characters. They are, however, a reflection of my view of society, and that includes all walks of life. I spend an insane amount of time on research in order to be able to stick to “write what you know.” I have written teachers, rock stars, bartenders, bipolar hockey players, autistic men and women, the rich, the poor, the homeless, and everyone in between. I seek out perspectives of those who know from experience, and I do my best to give a realistic portrayal–in most of my books. I’m not gonna lie, when I write BDSM, I put more energy in portraying kink than the occupation of the characters.
I’ve been lucky so far. I haven’t been involved in any platform-wide drama. My writing hasn’t been dragged through the mud. Yet, maybe. But every now and then, I receive a message from an angry reader, which I guess is unavoidable–we can’t please them all–and I choose not to make a big deal out of it. I choose to ignore it or address it privately.
Now I’m kinda done. Today’s political climate has become so infected, and we’ve seemed to have lost the plot when we go after fictional characters. My own political views don’t matter one bit when I write. I joke when I play the devil’s advocate with my friends and say I’m a bit of a political cocktail. Socially progressive, part classic liberal, part libertarian, with a twist of conservatism. Either way, I will write characters whose own opinions I disagree with.
For chrissakes, I made Casey in Path of Destruction and Uncomplicated Choices a Pepsi lover.
Pepsi!
#FakeSoda
Kidding aside, I have conservative characters and liberal characters and those who don’t give a flying fuck about politics. Politics rarely play a part in my books, though it’s there, like a current flowing underneath it all in some stories.
Which brings us to the use of language.
I’m currently writing This Life II, and side note, I’m having a blast writing a liberal woman with a conservative man. It doesn’t kidnap the main plot; it’s a source of banter, some eye-rolling, and discussion. The main plot…okay, there’s a lot going on in this trilogy, but it’s mafia romance. And you wanna know something bizarre?
Finnegan, the name of the hero, kills, steals, lies, and deceives for a living. No problem. Mafia romance is a popular genre, and we like reading bad boys who are devoted to one woman only. I’ve had so much fun researching his skillsets, and I haven’t thought twice about him committing murder or stealing. Then the other day, I came to a stop. I wrote something, and I leaned back and went, “Shit, can I really write that? Some will take offense.”
Here I was, writing a scene in which he is going to kill someone who’s scared his wife, and I hesitate because he called the enemy retard.
It’s nuts.
I’ve already put a leash on my boundaries if I consider altering the language for the sake of delicate readers.
I won’t do that.
Finnegan, an Irish mobster from Philly, will definitely use the word retard.
So did Dominic in Home. Because do you know who doesn’t care about being politically correct? A twenty-four-year-old guy who’s spent most of his adult years on the streets, trying to make a buck to go see his autistic daughter.
Speaking of Autism. As an autistic author, am I supposed to be offended by the use of this word?
I’m not. And even if I were, I’d use it. Because it fits certain characters and the world they grew up in.
It doesn’t fit into Adrian’s world. He’s the kind high-school teacher who teaches history and takes Dominic in. When Dominic uses the word retard, Adrian mutters a dry joke about how he throws books at his students for saying the “r-word.”
In the real world, perspectives meet–and sometimes crash–all the time. They do that, and will continue to do so, in my books too.
The next word is cunt. Or cunty. A few months ago, I actually received a message through my website from an anonymous reader. They claimed I should know better than to use the word cunty. Especially because I am a woman. Cunty is degrading to us. It was funny to me–you know, after the shock settled–that someone (a woman maybe?) would tell me, another woman, how to write, what is degrading to me. Pro tip: don’t police this woman’s use of language for her characters.
I showed the message to a couple friends, and I wanted their honest opinion. Did I use the word poorly? Like, in the wrong place for the wrong person?
No.
The character in question, a working-class dude from New Jersey, had this word in his vocabulary. End of. And the irony in this specific scenario was so brilliant, because the guy had been in the middle of defending a woman when he used the word. But that didn’t matter. Intentions lost their meaning, and everything became about the word he used.
I started out as a fanfiction author, and many are waiting for me to rework another mafia series and publish it as an original, and to be honest, I’ve been dreading it. We’re talking full-on Sicilian/American mafia taking place in the ’70s up to present day in Las Vegas. No one will bat an eyelash at the bodies they bury in the desert, but then there’s the way they speak and how they treated their women…
I’m gonna write it, though. It’s what I do.
Now I’m going back to Finnegan and Emilia in This Life II. She’s pregnant and just had a glass of champagne.
–Cara
oOo
I was in the middle of my divorce when Adam messaged me. I believe his exact words were, “Hi. I think you’re my dad’s brother. Would you like to get to know me?”
My brother and I had never been close, so I’d only met his adopted son a few times when he was very young. Instinct told me to ignore the message, and I did. For a few days. It took an exhausting fight with my soon-to-be ex-wife and half a bottle of whiskey for me to change my mind.
Adam first became “sort of my nephew.” Next, he became the guy who helped me find an apartment in the building next to his. He was a sweet, cheerful young man doing his best to raise his four-year-old daughter, which led to him becoming the guy who wanted to help me patch up my relationship with my own daughter.
Then one night as I got ready for bed, I looked across the alleyway to the next building, where I saw him getting ready for bed too.
I couldn’t look away to save my life.
It was the night he also became the guy in the window.
And hey, if you don’t have anything to do tomorrow, you should totally stop by my FB group for release day shenanigans. I’m giving away paperbacks, tumblers, gift cards, ebooks, and…oh, and first aid kits! Because sometimes, books hurt us. (This one won’t, though!)
Until next time!
-Cara
We have an unwritten rule and a culture in Sweden that’s so deeply imbedded in us that it always catches me off guard when I see authors promoting their own work. This rule, this culture, states, not-so-roughly translated, don’t believe you’re better than anyone else.
We’re not supposed to toot our own horn and boast about anything where the credit belongs to us.
You have to be modest, and it’s like that old…
“I love your shirt!”
“Oh, this old thing?” It’s brand new. “It was on sale.” It cost half a freaking fortune.
It goes without saying that I absolutely suck at promoting myself, and it’s been a problem since I started publishing. It just wasn’t something that was encouraged when I grew up. It’s a stupid culture, and I’m trying to let go of some of it. Because you know what? I’m proud of the characters I create in my head. I’m proud of the universes I build, and I’m proud of the work I put in when I research and keep track of all the tiny details.
The Game Series is a new universe. It’s The Touch Seres 2.0, not necessarily new and improved but certainly heavier and more developed. This kinkster community gets their freak on in DC, and I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I do. 🙂
Top Priority was the first novella, a prologue of sorts, yet it stands on its own. It centers around Lucas and Colt, two Daddy Doms who fall for each other despite the fact that their kinks don’t match. And now…the second book. Their Boy went live today(!), and we meet Lucas and Colt once more, this time from Kit’s point of view. It can also be fully enjoyed as a standalone; you don’t need Lucas and Colt’s background story.
Left all alone in the world—and in a very big house—after the loss of his parents, Kit Damien has struggled to find his place in society and in the kink community he longs to be a more active part of.
Daddy Doms Colt and Lucas have been a happy, committed couple for eight years. But two Tops need a bottom, and their quest for a Little to make their lives complete has led them to Kit’s empty doorstep.
But just as with his physical wounds, Kit’s emotional scars won’t heal overnight. Colt and Lucas must challenge him at every turn to force him to open up and let them in, to let them use their own individual methods to make him whole again. Together, the three will embark on a journey to learn about true love, growing up, the importance of sprinkles, and the rules of The Game that can make them all winners.
So here’s me, promoting myself, and if Daddykink and triads are your jam, you should totally give Their Boy a chance.
*hyperventilates*
Nailed it!
In a perfect world, Lucas West would meet someone in one of the BDSM communities he was active in, someone who ached for a Daddy Dom as much as Lucas longed for a Little to care for. They would date, play, build something that was just for them, and share a future together.
In a perfect world, Colt Carter would get through his next deployment and then move closer to DC where he could create at least a semblance of a personal life. He wanted something outside of the Air Force, something kinky, something worth leaving everything behind for eventually. For years, he’d kept his inner Sadist and Daddy Dom locked up, only letting him out to play on rare occasions.
In a perfect world…
In reality, Lucas and Colt met each other.
Available on Amazon, in KU, and paperback!
Top Priority is the first book in The Game Series, a BDSM series where romance meets the reality of kink. Sometimes we fall for someone we don’t match with, sometimes vanilla business gets in the way of kinky pleasure, and sometimes we have to compromise and push ourselves to overcome trauma and insecurities. No matter what, two things are certain. This is not a perfect world, and life never turns out the way you planned.
Book 1, Top Priority, releases on August 27
Book 2, Their Boy, releases in September
Book 3, Breathless, releases around Christmas
Until next time!
Cara
