Red Handed (Benediction, #2)
by: Shelly Bell
Series: Benediction
Genre: Erotic Suspense
Release Date: March 10, 2015
Publisher: Avon Red Impluse
An exhibitionist who's waited her whole life to be seen …
After her stepmother is abducted, Danielle Walker has no choice but to follow the kidnapper's cryptic instructions. Under the guise of a sex slave trainee, she must infiltrate Cole DeMarco's BDSM club and find evidence of his offshore bank account … or she'll never see her stepmother alive again. But Master Cole is no stranger, and despite the dark past they share, Danielle cannot resist his magnetic pull.
The voyeur who's always been watching …
As Danielle begins uncovering Cole's secrets, the artistic voyeur arouses her deepest desires, and she surrenders to a fiery passion she never expected. But with time running out to save her stepmother, Danielle and Cole will face off against an evil growing more ruthless by the day … and discover a twisted web of lies, betrayal, and murder that neither saw coming.
RED HANDED offers readers erotic suspense with emotional storylines and explicit love scenes. This series centers around members of the BDSM sex club, Benediction and is the follow-up to the WHITE COLLARED serial. Fans of Lexi Blake’s THE DOM WHO LOVED ME and Shalya Black’s BELONG TO ME will be enthralled with the second book in the Benediction series by Shelly Bell.
"Shelly Bell is a fresh new voice in erotic romance. She brings the heat!" ~ Lexi Blake, NYT and USA Today Bestselling Author
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Hi Shelly. Welcome to Read Your Writes Book Reviews.
Hi Kim! Thank you so much for hosting me today!
For those who don’t know you please tell us what kind of writer you are. (Are your books hot & steamy, gut-wrenching, alphas being taken down a peg or two, sassy heroines, billionaire, blue collar, etc.)
My Benediction series, including Red Handed, is on the spicy side with explicit love scenes and gripping suspense. I enjoy writing books with complicated characters with real life flaws and stories with thrilling twists and turns that keep the readers on the edge of their seats.
How do you write your books? Do you start in the middle or end or do you write down scenes and then try to figure out how to put them all together?
I have to outline my book, chapter by chapter, before I begin to write. I usually write the first three chapters to get a feel for the characters and then write the dialogue for the rest of the book. From there, I jump around depending on my mood. When I’m angry, I like to kill someone on the page. It’s a great way to vent!
How do you handle writer’s block?
After avoiding it by wasting several hours on Facebook, I’ll either chat with my critique group (again, on Facebook) or talk to my husband. He reads a lot of suspense, so he’s great at helping me figure out how to work out some of problems I might have with that part of the story.
Red Handed is the second book in your new Benediction Series. What can readers expect from this book and series?
Red Handed is the follow-up to last June’s White Collared serial. Readers were introduced to the sex club, Benediction in White Collared. The Benediction series centers on members of the club and since Cole DeMarco is the owner, I decided to start with his story. Readers should expect simmering tension, heart-pounding suspense, and hot sex.
Tell us about Cole DeMarco and Danielle Walker.
Voyeur Cole DeMarco built his own secluded world where he is the master of the Masters, but despite being surrounded by people all the time, he’s a very private person, hiding those personal demons that haunt him daily.
Because of her stepmother’s kidnapping, plus-sized, introverted Danielle is placed into a situation where she’s forced to come out of her shell, giving her the opportunity to explore her exhibitionistic and submissive tendencies.
Although they don’t officially meet until eight years later, Cole and Danielle first see each other when she’s seventeen. That electrically charged moment stays with them both throughout the years, even while Danielle believes he is responsible for her father’s death.
I know characters always surprise authors. Who surprised you the most, Cole or Danielle and why?
Cole surprised me because of the way he was able to set aside his own needs to fulfill Danielle’s. He’s extremely tender and gentle for such an alpha male. But it was another character who surprised me the most in this book. I realized Logan Bradford, who is getting his book next, is a very, very dirty boy. That shocked me!
The blurb for Red Handed states that it’s a steamy and suspenseful thriller. Do you find it hard to balance the romance with the suspense and still be true to both each?
I don’t find it hard to balance it because the suspense and the romance are so interconnected in my series. In an erotic suspense novel, the mystery/suspense is what brings the hero and heroine together, the sex is what bonds them, and the romance is what blossoms out of the circumstances. But I do tend to focus first on the romance and then increase the tension as I write. Luckily, I have a wonderful editor who will point out when I need to escalate the suspense in a scene.
Shelly, thank you for taking the time to introduce us to yourself and your characters.
Thank you for having me on your blog!
You're very welcome.
Purchase Red Handed from:
The Benediction Series:
Read the first book in the Benediction series also published by Avon Red Impulse. WHITE COLLARED is a four-part serialized erotic thriller about a young law student who must go undercover at a sex club to prove her client is not guilty of murder. Get more information at www.shellybell.com
A sucker for a happy ending, Shelly Bell writes sensual romance often with a bit of kink and action-filled erotic thrillers with high-emotional stakes for her alpha heroes and kick-ass heroines.
She began writing upon the insistence of her husband who dragged her to the store and bought her a laptop. When she’s not working her day job, taking care of her family, or writing, you’ll find her reading the latest smutty romance.
She currently writes for Avon Red Impulse, Loose Id, and Soul Mate Publishing.
Places to find Shelly Bell:
Grand Prize: + $25 Amazon or B&N gift card plus all four (4) signed print novellas in the White Collared serial (Open internationally).
Runner-up Prizes: Print copies of any one (1) book in the White Collared serial. 2 winners picked daily! (International winners will receive digital copies).
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Thanks again for hosting Red Handed and for having me on your blog!
ReplyDeleteThanks again for hosting Red Handed and for having me on your blog!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Thank you so much for the interview.
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