As part of
her "whistle-stop tour" for Making
It Last, Ruthie agreed to stop by and answer one question about the story.
She's also giving away a copy of the book, today only! Imagine her standing in
the caboose car of her blog tour train, shouting out her answer over the crowd
and flinging an e-book and some Tootsie Rolls at the assembled audience. Or
not. Either way — here's the question:
Making It Last has a very steamy sex
scene in the middle. So does the first story about Tony and Amber, How to Misbehave. Are you trying to sell
us on the idea that sex fixes everything?
Ha! No.
Noooo, no. Actually, I'd argue that the sex scenes in the middle of these two
stories serve very different purposes. In How
To Misbehave, Amber and Tony have just met, and while they're strongly
attracted to each other, they don't know each other very well. Prior to the
love scene, there's another scene where Amber takes a shower and talks to Tony
through the gap in the curtain. She opens up to him about her sexual past as a
way of establishing intimacy before
they have sex — whereas for Tony (who is more sexually experienced), it's the
sex itself that opens him up to being ready to share his secrets with Amber.
In Making It Last, Amber and Tony have been
together for fourteen years, and they're still having sex, but they're not
communicating. They play a "stranger game" that brings them closer to
each other — and again, as in How To
Misbehave, Amber makes a confession to Tony before they have sex that brings
them to a point where they're able to reach a higher level of intimacy than
either has felt in years. They need this intimacy in order to be brave enough
to start really communicating about their problems — but the sex itself isn't
the solution to their problem. It's just a way for them to break down some of
the barriers between them so they can really start getting at their issues.
I have a
reputation for writing steamy stories, but I try to keep the characters first
and foremost when I'm writing. I ask myself what these people need, and when
they do have sex, what's its emotional tenor? What is it giving them? What is
it not giving them? Because I think,
in all relationships, sex has a variety of functions. It can establish or strip
away intimacy; it can be used to communicate or to avoid communicating; it can remind
a couple of their togetherness or alienate them from each other. In both How To Misbehave and Making It Last, the midpoint sex scenes
are important turning points for Amber and Tony — but not because having sex
solves their problems. More because having a particular kind of sex shifts the tenor of their relationship enables them to
start talking about their problems in a different way.
******************************************************
Giveaway
Ruthie is
giving away one e-book copy of Making It
Last to a randomly selected commenter. This giveaway is for today only!
Just answer this question to enter:
Do you like to read steamy books? If
so, are you interested in the psychology and/or emotional dynamics of the love
scenes, or are you more just ... in it for a good time? ;-)
The
giveaway is open in North America only. (Sorry -- due to geographical
restrictions, Ruthie can't buy her own e-book outside North America!)
Please read my giveaway policy.
*******************************************************
Making It Last by Ruthie Knox
Series: Camelot
series, book 4
Format: ebook
Length: 136
pp.
ISBN: 978-0-345-54929-7.
Release Date: July
15, 2013
Blurb from the author ~
In a brand-new eBook original novella, RITA finalist and USA Today bestselling author Ruthie Knox takes her spectacular Camelot series to new heights with a tale of desire reinvented.A hotel bar. A sexy stranger. A night of passion. There’s a part of Amber Mazzara that wants those things, wants to have a moment — just one — where life isn’t a complicated tangle of house and husband and kids and careers. Then, after a long, exhausting “vacation” with her family, her husband surprises her with a gift: a few days on the beach . . . alone.Only she won’t be alone long, because a handsome man just bought her a drink. He’s cool, he’s confident, and he wants to take Amber to bed and keep her there for days. Lucky for them both, he’s her husband. He’s only got a few days in Jamaica to make her wildest desires come true, but if he can pull it off, there’s reason to believe that this fantasy can last a lifetime.
Buying Links: Amazon(US)* | Barnes& Noble | iTunesBookstore | Amazon(UK) | Amazon(Canada) | Otherbuy links via Random House
* affiliate link; clicking & purchasing results in a small commission for the blog.
******************************************************
About Ruthie
USA Today bestselling author Ruthie Knox
writes contemporary romance that’s sexy, witty, and angsty—sometimes all three
at once. After training to be a British historian, she became an academic editor
instead. Then she got really deeply into knitting, as one does, followed by
motherhood and romance novel writing. Her debut novel, Ride with Me, is probably the only existing cross-country bicycling
love story. She followed it up with About
Last Night, a London-set romance whose hero has the unlikely name of
Neville, and then Room at the Inn, a
Christmas novella—both of which were finalists for the Romance Writers of
America’s RITA Award. Her four-book series about the Clark family of Camelot,
Ohio, has won accolades for its fresh, funny portrayal of small-town Midwestern
life. Ruthie moonlights as a mother, Tweets incessantly, and bakes a mean
focaccia. She’d love to hear from you, so visit her website at www.ruthieknox.com and drop her a line.
Just in it for the good time ;) Cannot wait to read this book :)
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