A wonderful reader wrote to me this past week to tell me how much she loved Dave and Sophie from Deep in the Woods. It makes me so happy when a couple resonates with someone, and so I decided to use DITW as my Seventeen Sentence Sunday book. I’ve always loved this exchange between them:
He was so unlike Barry. He wasn’t ruled by his temper, by strange demons she didn’t understand. He was controlled and responsible. She wanted him to kiss her. His fingers moved down over her forehead and down her cheek to caress her slightly-parted lips.
“I’m sorry too, for drawing you into an emotional argument when I knew you were already punchy. I’ll try not to do that again.”
“Th…Thank you, Sir. You are so wonderful. You’re so thoughtful with me.”
“Why am I thoughtful with you, Sophie?”
“Because you love me?” Even though she knew it was the answer he wanted, even though he told her many times a day that he loved her, the words still stuck in her throat, a wonder and impossibility.
“Say it again, this time without the question mark.” Her gaze flew to his. He had that sweet, warm challenge in his eyes.
“Because you love me,” she repeated.
Aww…”This time without the question mark.” *swoony* Dave is such a dreamboat.
I choose Deep in the Woods this week for another reason. I had a book blogger contact me on Wednesday for a sample of my work and as usual I reached for this book first. In fact, DITW is almost always the book I recommend when someone says to me, “I’ve never read you before but I’m interested. What should I read first?”
I don’t know why it’s the go-to intro book for me. Maybe because it’s a traditionally published book and I feel I make a better first impression that way. Maybe because the message is pretty hard to argue with. Maybe because it’s such a pro-BDSM book in many ways. Maybe because Dave is one of the few heroes I’ve written who’s 100% a nice guy. (My bad guys sometimes piss the uninitiated off.) Maybe it’s because there’s a big ugly dog on the cover, and how often do you see that?
For whatever reason, I’m really proud of this story, even though I HA-ATE the cover with the fire of a thousand suns. I think it’s my most heartfelt work as far as my relationship with the BDSM community, with the lifestyle, with all that. When I read DITW, I feel like I did justice to a lot of BDSM things, and I don’t ever want to be a half-ass ambassador for the lifestyle. I want every book I write to feel authentic and pro-BDSM, and I think out of all of them, this one comes closest to accomplishing that. Even with that god-awful cover. *gak*
Anyway, thanks for stopping by on this Seventeen Sentence Sunday. If you haven’t read Deep in the Woods, just click the book below to visit a page with a blurb and buy links. To all my readers: Thank you for your support.
I think you recommend DITW because everyone who reads it will fell in love for Cerb. I try to make my dogs be just like him, but when I tell them to make something tell just look at me with that “ya wanna scratch my ear? I’ll let you”. Frustating
HAHA Maryara! I know, my dogs are not as heroic and sweet as Cerby. I actually had a friend with a big black dog like Cerb and it was the most lovely, sweet dog ever but he STANK to high hell. Oh my, that dog had a smell and baths did not help, lol.
O/T.
But I’m glad your Muse went on a mini walk about with you. 🙂
It’s so weird! My muse always visits me when I’m either exercising or about to fall asleep. Luckily those are both pretty healthy activities. 🙂
Yes, I was so happy. She brought me a good story. YAAAYYY!