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There are only a few days left to enter the drawing to win a Kindle. Check here to see rules. The winner will be announced on December 18, 2011.

Check out my latest releases Loving Large 2--Yours, Now And Forever and Holiday Heat--Secret Lover

And have a great holiday.

Marilyn

Looking For More Progressive Female Readers

After receiving an email from a reader about my latest release (In Blood And Worth Loving 2—Lost Without You), I need to vent. Therefore, I’m blogging again. LOL!

This is 2011. I would have thought that women reading erotic romance (which is mostly what I write) would have a fairly open mind. But not so much. Some of them still seem to expect heroines in erotic romances to behave as heroines used to in books from the 70’s. And it seems to be based on the old double standard where it was okay for the hero to be sexually free while the heroine should be sexually repressed until she gives it up to the hero. All while the hero is still sleeping with other women after he meets her.

WHAT? In 2011. Really? In my personal life, I’m as prudish as they come. But why would anyone reading erotic romance expect the heroine to act like a heroine from the 70’s? If that’s what you want, why read erotic romance? Why not read sweet, formula romance? Why buy erotic romance and then complain when the heroine insists on the same level of sexual freedom as they hero?

The heroine in Lost Without You is a modern, educated, divorced woman in her 30’s. She’s not a 21 or 22-year-old virgin from a 70’s sweet romance. She’s not just sitting around waiting and hoping the hero will come along so she can have a meaningful sex life. She’s has one when she meets the hero. He has one as well. Why is it acceptable to modern women for him to have one but not her?

Why do women progressive enough to read erotic romance insist on old-fashioned behavior from their heroines? On countless occasions, readers have written to complain when one of my heroines slept with another man after she’d met the hero. Now mind you, the hero also slept with other women after he’d met the heroine. Did I ever get any complaints about the hero sleeping around after he met the heroine? Absolutely not. It’s always the heroine they complain about while excusing the hero’s behavior.

When are women going to stop trying to force that sexual double standard on the heroine while continuing to give the hero a free pass for the same behavior? At what point do heroines get sexual equality with such readers?

In one of my books (Skin Deep), the hero has an outrageous sexual encounter with his brother’s wife. Did readers complain? Not about his behavior. He’s one of my most popular heroes. The only complaints I heard were about the heroine (who didn’t behave outrageously with anyone’s husband). The hero got a free pass.

One of these days female readers are going to get progressive enough to allow heroines to be as sexually unrepressed as heroes. I hope.

That’s my take. What’s yours?

Below is the blurb from my latest book—In Blood And Worth Loving 2-Lost Without You—just in case you feel a compelling need to rush over to my site (http://www.marilynlee.org)to buy it. LOL!

With his favorite lover traveling, vampire Jayvyn Redwolfe spends a night clubbing. A “chance” meeting with a human woman intrigues him. When he learns she’s struggling to recapture her ex’s attention, he agrees to pretend to be her new love interest. Things go awry when Jayvyn realizes he’s falling into blood with another man’s woman.

Charmed by Jayvyn’s attentiveness, Cayenne Pepper’s interest in reuniting with her ex wanes as she starts to fall for Jayvyn. She’s unaware that she’s arousing the passion of a vampire whose hunger for her blood and heart is rapidly nearing the point where he’ll do whatever is necessary to possess her—including killing her ex.

Welcome to those of you coming from Dominique Eastwick, stop #6 in the Anniversary Blog Tour.

Which Author Promos Do You Prefer?

Last week, I got an email from a fellow author purporting to be interested in the kind of E-reader I had. The promo link in the email was broken. The email annoyed me. Why? I don’t like people soliciting me.

I have two books out now that I’m particularly interested in promoting, Loving Large—Yours, Only And Always and Long Line of Love III—Only One Love. Both books feature BBW heroines with Native American Heroes. I think both book feature some of my best efforts. So naturally, I would love to platter ordering info about them all over the place at every opportunity. I would love to send a promotional email to everyone with an email addy.

I haven’t done that. Why not? Because as an author, I never send email to a reader who hasn’t contacted me first or in some way already expressed an interest in receiving email from me (such as entering a contest with a prize that requires them to give their name and email).

Later, as I surfed the net looking for legitimate opportunities to promote The Grayhawks and the Elkhorns, I came across a board with readers complaining about having received the same email from the same author. Since I’m sure that wasn’t the reaction the author in question was hoping to generate, I found myself wondering what other things we might do as authors that annoy readers.

So please feel free to tell me what author promos you like and prefer. Do you prefer to visit an author’s website? Join a mailing list or Yahoo Group? Or do you prefer word of mouth to discover new books? Which promo efforts annoy you? I’d love to know so I’ll know which to avoid.

Please take a few minutes to comment. Doing so (after you’ve registered) will make you eligible to win a paperback copy of Skin Deep and a grand prize of a Sony Ereader.

After you’ve commented, please visit the next site on the Blog Tour. Good luck. Have fun and surf to Chelle Cordero’s site stop #8 in the tour. Good luck and have fun.

Gay Romance—What’s the fascination for heterosexual women?

Gay Romance—What’s the fascination for heterosexual women?

A conversation with a reader on my Yahoo Group, Love Bytes, got me wondering about the origins of my fascination with man on man sex/romance. As a teenager, I used to spend as much of my free time as possible at my older sister’s house. Why? Because her home was sort of a haven for gay men.

I spent countless hours there after school each day talking to them and gawking at them. Some dressed as traditional males. Others dressed as women. Some called themselves Drag Queens.

Despite my preoccupation with gay men, as a young adult I found it difficult to accept that some of my own family members were gay. I couldn’t understand why they couldn’t be “straight.” It took years for me to realize how narrow minded I’d been for so many years.

So I went from not being able to accept homosexuality in my own relatives back to a total fascination. Once I accepted that other people’s sexual orientation was none of my business, I was back to being total fascination with all thins gay.

Erotic gay romance is hot. Although I’ve only written a few books with manlove themes, I’ve surfed the net for m/m love/sex stories. The editor of my latest m/m romance (Night Heat, published by Red Rose publishing), said that the largest market for such romances is largely heterosexual women.

So here’s my question. For those women who also enjoy reading m/m romances, why do you like it? What is it about two men in love with each other that gives such thrills to a number of us?

For those of you who’d like to see where my fascination as taken me, in addition to Night Heat, there’s a gay male relationship in my vampire books, Bloodlust III—Forbidden Desires and Bloodlust IV—Nocturnal Heat.

Marilyn Lee

Blogging today at Ladies of the Club

Today I'm blogging at Ladies of the Club about erotic romance. If you read it and have an opinion you'd like to share on it, stop by http://ladiesoftheclub.blogspot.com.

Marilyn

Dream Lover Now available

Hi everyone

A reedited version of Dream Lover is now available from Loose-id (http://www.loose-id.com). It has a Valentine's Day theme so I'm delighted to have it back in circulation is time for Valentine's Day.

Marilyn

New Release and New Vamps

A newly edited version of Dream Lover will be published by Loose-id on February 05, in time to take advantage of its Valentine's Day theme.

I've also written a new erotic vampire romance, tentaviely entitled, Night of Sin, which I've submitted to one of my publishers. Watch for news of the sale, a blurb, and a short excerpt coming soon.

Marilyn