There's a monster in every closet, and I'm in yours
My name is Noah. I'm not a nice person. This isn't cupcakes and candyland, love.
I'll take you, break you, and offer you to the highest bidder without a second thought. You're mine now. It's business, nothing personal. You wouldn't understand, and I'm not going to explain it. Sorry, love, you don't mean a thing to me.
Just know that there's a monster in every closet, and I'm in yours.
Author Note - This dark romance novel contains themes that may be discomforting to some people. If you are sensitive to depictions of violence, then this book is not recommended for you.
(Ethan Winters official debut release co-authored with USA Today bestselling author Cerys du Lys)
Man's POV = Ethan, Woman's POV = Cerys
There is a light at the end of every dark tunnel, no matter how dim it may seem.
Quite the different type of love story, but I could NOT put it down!
First of all, let me say that, true to its title, this book is dark. It contains depressing, violent, painful things that I never ever ever EVER never ever want to even THINK about considering what it might be like to actually possibly feel them.
The story is told via multiple points-of-view, with Cerys writing the voices of Angeline and Chastity, and Ethan writing Noah's. The idea is brilliant because, as you can imagine, the tones are completely different among the characters, which makes them all the more believable.
Noah's favorite word is the f-word, and he uses it constantly. Normally it would be awkward and unnecessary to keep reading the same word over and over, beating the proverbial dead horse, but Ethan wrote so many of his f-words with seemingly different inflections. I could almost hear them being spoken in my head, and I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of Noah's thoughts.
While I was unsure of the book at first, I began to love it around the halfway mark. At that point, it tells the back-story of Angeline and Noah. Their stories had me really FEELING for them because they lend more understanding to the story as a whole, and why the characters behaved as they did.
The story comes to a nice end, but then I was treated to additional "extended scenes." While I, personally, would like to have read the Angeline-and-Noah scenes in the story itself, I loved reading them and was nearly in tears reading of the struggles Angeline and Noah faced.
All in all, I loved the love story, got a few laughs in spite of the morbidity, and if these two amazing authors just happened to collaborate on another book in the series (wink), I would DEFINITELY read it!
***I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
First of all, let me say that, true to its title, this book is dark. It contains depressing, violent, painful things that I never ever ever EVER never ever want to even THINK about considering what it might be like to actually possibly feel them.
The story is told via multiple points-of-view, with Cerys writing the voices of Angeline and Chastity, and Ethan writing Noah's. The idea is brilliant because, as you can imagine, the tones are completely different among the characters, which makes them all the more believable.
Noah's favorite word is the f-word, and he uses it constantly. Normally it would be awkward and unnecessary to keep reading the same word over and over, beating the proverbial dead horse, but Ethan wrote so many of his f-words with seemingly different inflections. I could almost hear them being spoken in my head, and I found myself laughing out loud at a lot of Noah's thoughts.
While I was unsure of the book at first, I began to love it around the halfway mark. At that point, it tells the back-story of Angeline and Noah. Their stories had me really FEELING for them because they lend more understanding to the story as a whole, and why the characters behaved as they did.
The story comes to a nice end, but then I was treated to additional "extended scenes." While I, personally, would like to have read the Angeline-and-Noah scenes in the story itself, I loved reading them and was nearly in tears reading of the struggles Angeline and Noah faced.
All in all, I loved the love story, got a few laughs in spite of the morbidity, and if these two amazing authors just happened to collaborate on another book in the series (wink), I would DEFINITELY read it!
***I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***
♥ Master Over You is 99¢ on sale for a limited time ♥
(As originally posted on the We Love Kink blog)
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself in case the readers haven’t met you before?
Cerys ~ Hi! I'm Cerys. Stuff about me, hm... I've been writing for awhile now, which has been a fun experience. My author anniversary (the first day I published anything) is July 10th and I first started in 2012. I've been writing for far longer than that, though. Um... maybe closer to 6 years or so? I haven't published any of my original writing, but I'd like to some day.
Also, I actually do all of the publishing stuff for my own books myself, which is fun and exciting. I made the cover for Master Over You, though Ethan helped me with his thoughts and opinions, too. We both edited it, and then I did the formatting and other stuff. He's helped me a lot with editing and writing ideas in the past, but this is our first official collaboration.
Ethan - Hey. I'm Ethan. This is my first foray into being an indie author. I write on my own time, too, but Cerys convinced me to write something with her. It sounded like fun, and I like her, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It was a really enjoyable experience and I'd love to do it again. She's fun and easy to get along with. We've known each other for a long time, which I think helped the process.
We've both done similar in the past, but nothing official or published. Just playing around and doing a back and forth interacting thing, acting as different characters for the fun of it. Writing Master Over You was different than that, but similar in a lot of ways, too, which was nostalgic.
–Please share some juicy details about your latest release.
Cerys ~ Juicy, hm... This is difficult, haha. I guess one of the things I like most about Master Over You is that it's got a lot of emotion in it, which is really different from what you might expect. I think that makes it more exciting and alluring, though. There's some steamy scenes, for sure, but what I like about them is that they're on the rougher side? Like hate sex, or angry sex, except there's love and maybe understanding fitted in there, too? It's just kind of twisted and dark, but there's still all these emotions, which is really exciting.
Ethan - I'm not sure how juicy this is, but there's one scene in the book that Cerys wrote that I liked the sound of. I won't get into too many details, because it involves some potential spoilers, but the scene had ideas bouncing around about having sex in a music room built for high level acoustics. Lots of reverberations and vibrations. Full body vibrations during sex? I think it could be interesting to try out.
–What draws you to erotic romance?
Cerys ~ One of the things that definitely draws me to erotic romance is the fact that it seems more natural, you know? I mean, a book about relationships, but skipping out on one of the important parts of that relationship just seems a little strange to me. Also, I really like writing sex scenes, haha. I think it's fun to think of different and creative ways that people can uh... join together?
It's not just about the act, but it's about what brought the people together, why they're doing it, how they both feel, and more, you know? It's really interesting and exciting to think about, at least for me. I love the plot of romance, too, but I think the plot helps make the steamy scenes a ton better, too. It gives them a reason for existing in the first place. For me, it ends up being one of those things where erotic romance just seems more natural. If you have romance without any sex, then you're kind of denying the characters that expression of themselves and their relationship, you know? But on the same hand, if you've just got a sex scene with no build up towards the sexy parts, it's difficult for me to know what exactly these characters are expressing, if anything?
I like both things, which is why I like erotic romance.
Ethan - This is a difficult question. First, I do read romance, and I think I've read everything Cerys has written. I help her with editing and proofreading a lot, even though she does most of it on her own, too. It's good to have a second pair of eyes sometimes.
What I've seen is that there's a huge difference between one author's version of "erotic" and another author's version of the same thing, though. I like when the characters get into it more. I like the tension of the act sometimes, but I like how it can be playful and cute at other times, too. People treat sex like some serious, hardcore activity sometimes, but it can be fun if there's just laughing and tickling and playing around, too. It doesn't have to be the same all the time.
I like erotic romance that changes it up every now and then. I like variety.
Ok now its time to get personal
– What is the sweetest thing someone has ever done for you?
Cerys ~ Well, this one time I asked someone to write a dark romance with me, and we could be co-authors on it, and I told him it'd be super fun, and then he said yes!
Haha. I don't know if that's actually the sweetest, but it made me happy. I like Ethan. He's nice.
But um... this is hard, because I'm not quite sure? I really appreciate all the nice things anyone does for me, so I'm not sure if there's one I can think of that's sweeter than any other. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by saying one sweet thing was better than another sweet thing, if that makes sense? I think people do lots of sweet things every day, and all of them are special and important in their own way.
Ethan - This is a strange story and Cerys might hit me for telling it, but I'm going to do it. It's always stuck with me. It happened a long time ago (over 10 years) and it sounds crazy, but it really did actually happen.
I was in Florida for college and Cerys was still up in New England at the time. We talked a lot, though, because of reasons (I don't know if I can mention those? It might be a secret). Anyway, long story short, we were arguing, and then she turned off her phone, haha. I think she was really mad at me. I went to school for the day, did my classes, but I was bothered by the argument so it was hard to concentrate.
Shortly after I got out of class, I get a phone call, and she randomly took a plane from Boston to Orlando to visit me. Also, she used her mom's credit card to pay for it, haha. Good job on that one. This was on a Friday. We spent the weekend together, which was really great. She flew back home Sunday afternoon.
– What is your favorite candy?
Cerys ~ Oh God, candy... this is a hard one, too. I don't know if I have a specific favorite candy, but I like anything with peanut butter or caramel in it. I'm not too big of a fan of hard candies, but I do like some. Anything with peanut butter or caramel is my favorite, though. Reese's and Snickers are two good ones. Oh! I love those turtle candies? Those are really good. I haven't had it recently, but at The Cheesecake Factory they sometimes have this turtle cheesecake, with the nuts and caramel and chocolate stuff on top of the cheesecake? It's really good.
Ethan - I love butterscotch candy. I also like very dark chocolate. Not just dark, but 80% or higher. I've never had it, but I bet a nice 86% dark chocolate with crushed butterscotch hard candy in it would be delicious.
– What is your favorite sexual position and why?
Cerys ~ These are some questions alright! Hm...
Well... I really like regular missionary, sort of, except maybe different? I don't know if this is missionary or not, but when the man is holding the woman's thighs and her legs are kind of up? Either wrapped around his waist works, or higher, too. Not just on the bed or anything.
Also, I'm picking two favorites, sorry. I don't know why, but I like when I'm bent over stuff. I guess it's like doggystyle, but bending over stuff, not just on hands and knees. So, standing, because uh... I think you have to be standing to be bent over something? I'm not sure about the logistics there. A tall bed works, though, and I think that's nice because it's cushier. Or a random counter. A table might work. Or in the shower. There's nothing to be bent over in a shower, I suppose, but I have an odd fascination with shower sex. That's not a position, is it?
Ethan - (Taking notes, haha) I think there's benefits to all positions, but sometimes I'm more partial to the woman on top. I like the missionary leg holding one, too.
Actually, I almost forgot this one, but I think it might be my favorite. When the woman is lying on the bed on her stomach, with her legs pressed together, and the man straddles her thighs. It's like doggystyle, but she's laying down completely flat or almost flat. You know what I mean, right? It's a good one. I don't know the names of any of these, I just know what they look like.
– About how many “toys” do you own?
Cerys ~ I think five. Maybe four or six. I mean, I don't use them all, I just have some, you know? It's important to make sure you've got a tool for every job... something like that, haha.
Ethan - Do men usually have toys? Actually, Cerys linked me some male vibrator oscillator sex toy gadget a couple weeks ago that looked interesting. I don't think I'll get it, but it looked interesting.
Depending on what you count as a toy, I might have some more. I have been known to enjoy soy candles (for the wax), artist's paintbrushes (alone or with the wax), and a Wartenberg pinwheel. A blindfold, too. Those aren't exactly for personal use, but I have been known to enjoy using them on curious women whose names begin with C.
– Name someone in your spank bank.
Cerys ~ Eeee... hm... I generally always come back to Channing Tatum. Johnny Depp is also high up there, though. Ethan is going to say Breanne Benson, I'm pretty sure.
Ethan - I am not going to say Breanne Benson because Cerys already said it for me. Instead, I will go with either Rachel McAdams or Amanda Seyfried.
– Lets play Screw / Marry / Kill. Name someone you would Screw. Name someone you would Marry. And name someone you would Kill.
Cerys ~ This is hard. I don't know if I want to kill or marry anyone, haha. Both of those involve a whole lot of commitment. Hm... I guess if I had to, I'd say uh...
Screw ~ Johnny Depp (I don't think I could have a relationship with him) | Marry ~ ??? (It's a secret or I have no idea? One of those) | Kill ~ This is hard because maybe I'd just slap them instead, but I'll go with uh... I'm trying to think but I can't even pick anyone. I have failed you. I'm sorry!
Ethan - I have a secret fascination with Ariana Grande, so she'll be my Screw. Marry? Well, that's complicated. I think starting with flowers and dinner first might be better. We'll see how that goes. As for Kill, I can't think of anyone, either. Apparently we're both bad at this game.
Ok We’ll stop torturing you now. Thank you so much for stopping by and playing with us! It’s been a blast. Is there anything else you’d like to add before you go?
Cerys ~ Thanks a lot for having us! For anyone interested in checking out Master Over You, please try to go into it with an open mind! There are some sad parts, or possibly painful ones, but I think those help make the good parts and the happy ones more important and special, you know? We need the good to go along with the bad.
Ethan - Thanks for having us. I hope everyone enjoys Master Over You. It was great fun to write and collaborate on. It should be an exciting, sometimes dark and twisted, but special and different read, too.
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself in case the readers haven’t met you before?
Cerys ~ Hi! I'm Cerys. Stuff about me, hm... I've been writing for awhile now, which has been a fun experience. My author anniversary (the first day I published anything) is July 10th and I first started in 2012. I've been writing for far longer than that, though. Um... maybe closer to 6 years or so? I haven't published any of my original writing, but I'd like to some day.
Also, I actually do all of the publishing stuff for my own books myself, which is fun and exciting. I made the cover for Master Over You, though Ethan helped me with his thoughts and opinions, too. We both edited it, and then I did the formatting and other stuff. He's helped me a lot with editing and writing ideas in the past, but this is our first official collaboration.
Ethan - Hey. I'm Ethan. This is my first foray into being an indie author. I write on my own time, too, but Cerys convinced me to write something with her. It sounded like fun, and I like her, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It was a really enjoyable experience and I'd love to do it again. She's fun and easy to get along with. We've known each other for a long time, which I think helped the process.
We've both done similar in the past, but nothing official or published. Just playing around and doing a back and forth interacting thing, acting as different characters for the fun of it. Writing Master Over You was different than that, but similar in a lot of ways, too, which was nostalgic.
–Please share some juicy details about your latest release.
Cerys ~ Juicy, hm... This is difficult, haha. I guess one of the things I like most about Master Over You is that it's got a lot of emotion in it, which is really different from what you might expect. I think that makes it more exciting and alluring, though. There's some steamy scenes, for sure, but what I like about them is that they're on the rougher side? Like hate sex, or angry sex, except there's love and maybe understanding fitted in there, too? It's just kind of twisted and dark, but there's still all these emotions, which is really exciting.
Ethan - I'm not sure how juicy this is, but there's one scene in the book that Cerys wrote that I liked the sound of. I won't get into too many details, because it involves some potential spoilers, but the scene had ideas bouncing around about having sex in a music room built for high level acoustics. Lots of reverberations and vibrations. Full body vibrations during sex? I think it could be interesting to try out.
–What draws you to erotic romance?
Cerys ~ One of the things that definitely draws me to erotic romance is the fact that it seems more natural, you know? I mean, a book about relationships, but skipping out on one of the important parts of that relationship just seems a little strange to me. Also, I really like writing sex scenes, haha. I think it's fun to think of different and creative ways that people can uh... join together?
It's not just about the act, but it's about what brought the people together, why they're doing it, how they both feel, and more, you know? It's really interesting and exciting to think about, at least for me. I love the plot of romance, too, but I think the plot helps make the steamy scenes a ton better, too. It gives them a reason for existing in the first place. For me, it ends up being one of those things where erotic romance just seems more natural. If you have romance without any sex, then you're kind of denying the characters that expression of themselves and their relationship, you know? But on the same hand, if you've just got a sex scene with no build up towards the sexy parts, it's difficult for me to know what exactly these characters are expressing, if anything?
I like both things, which is why I like erotic romance.
Ethan - This is a difficult question. First, I do read romance, and I think I've read everything Cerys has written. I help her with editing and proofreading a lot, even though she does most of it on her own, too. It's good to have a second pair of eyes sometimes.
What I've seen is that there's a huge difference between one author's version of "erotic" and another author's version of the same thing, though. I like when the characters get into it more. I like the tension of the act sometimes, but I like how it can be playful and cute at other times, too. People treat sex like some serious, hardcore activity sometimes, but it can be fun if there's just laughing and tickling and playing around, too. It doesn't have to be the same all the time.
I like erotic romance that changes it up every now and then. I like variety.
Ok now its time to get personal
– What is the sweetest thing someone has ever done for you?
Cerys ~ Well, this one time I asked someone to write a dark romance with me, and we could be co-authors on it, and I told him it'd be super fun, and then he said yes!
Haha. I don't know if that's actually the sweetest, but it made me happy. I like Ethan. He's nice.
But um... this is hard, because I'm not quite sure? I really appreciate all the nice things anyone does for me, so I'm not sure if there's one I can think of that's sweeter than any other. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings by saying one sweet thing was better than another sweet thing, if that makes sense? I think people do lots of sweet things every day, and all of them are special and important in their own way.
Ethan - This is a strange story and Cerys might hit me for telling it, but I'm going to do it. It's always stuck with me. It happened a long time ago (over 10 years) and it sounds crazy, but it really did actually happen.
I was in Florida for college and Cerys was still up in New England at the time. We talked a lot, though, because of reasons (I don't know if I can mention those? It might be a secret). Anyway, long story short, we were arguing, and then she turned off her phone, haha. I think she was really mad at me. I went to school for the day, did my classes, but I was bothered by the argument so it was hard to concentrate.
Shortly after I got out of class, I get a phone call, and she randomly took a plane from Boston to Orlando to visit me. Also, she used her mom's credit card to pay for it, haha. Good job on that one. This was on a Friday. We spent the weekend together, which was really great. She flew back home Sunday afternoon.
– What is your favorite candy?
Cerys ~ Oh God, candy... this is a hard one, too. I don't know if I have a specific favorite candy, but I like anything with peanut butter or caramel in it. I'm not too big of a fan of hard candies, but I do like some. Anything with peanut butter or caramel is my favorite, though. Reese's and Snickers are two good ones. Oh! I love those turtle candies? Those are really good. I haven't had it recently, but at The Cheesecake Factory they sometimes have this turtle cheesecake, with the nuts and caramel and chocolate stuff on top of the cheesecake? It's really good.
Ethan - I love butterscotch candy. I also like very dark chocolate. Not just dark, but 80% or higher. I've never had it, but I bet a nice 86% dark chocolate with crushed butterscotch hard candy in it would be delicious.
– What is your favorite sexual position and why?
Cerys ~ These are some questions alright! Hm...
Well... I really like regular missionary, sort of, except maybe different? I don't know if this is missionary or not, but when the man is holding the woman's thighs and her legs are kind of up? Either wrapped around his waist works, or higher, too. Not just on the bed or anything.
Also, I'm picking two favorites, sorry. I don't know why, but I like when I'm bent over stuff. I guess it's like doggystyle, but bending over stuff, not just on hands and knees. So, standing, because uh... I think you have to be standing to be bent over something? I'm not sure about the logistics there. A tall bed works, though, and I think that's nice because it's cushier. Or a random counter. A table might work. Or in the shower. There's nothing to be bent over in a shower, I suppose, but I have an odd fascination with shower sex. That's not a position, is it?
Ethan - (Taking notes, haha) I think there's benefits to all positions, but sometimes I'm more partial to the woman on top. I like the missionary leg holding one, too.
Actually, I almost forgot this one, but I think it might be my favorite. When the woman is lying on the bed on her stomach, with her legs pressed together, and the man straddles her thighs. It's like doggystyle, but she's laying down completely flat or almost flat. You know what I mean, right? It's a good one. I don't know the names of any of these, I just know what they look like.
– About how many “toys” do you own?
Cerys ~ I think five. Maybe four or six. I mean, I don't use them all, I just have some, you know? It's important to make sure you've got a tool for every job... something like that, haha.
Ethan - Do men usually have toys? Actually, Cerys linked me some male vibrator oscillator sex toy gadget a couple weeks ago that looked interesting. I don't think I'll get it, but it looked interesting.
Depending on what you count as a toy, I might have some more. I have been known to enjoy soy candles (for the wax), artist's paintbrushes (alone or with the wax), and a Wartenberg pinwheel. A blindfold, too. Those aren't exactly for personal use, but I have been known to enjoy using them on curious women whose names begin with C.
– Name someone in your spank bank.
Cerys ~ Eeee... hm... I generally always come back to Channing Tatum. Johnny Depp is also high up there, though. Ethan is going to say Breanne Benson, I'm pretty sure.
Ethan - I am not going to say Breanne Benson because Cerys already said it for me. Instead, I will go with either Rachel McAdams or Amanda Seyfried.
– Lets play Screw / Marry / Kill. Name someone you would Screw. Name someone you would Marry. And name someone you would Kill.
Cerys ~ This is hard. I don't know if I want to kill or marry anyone, haha. Both of those involve a whole lot of commitment. Hm... I guess if I had to, I'd say uh...
Screw ~ Johnny Depp (I don't think I could have a relationship with him) | Marry ~ ??? (It's a secret or I have no idea? One of those) | Kill ~ This is hard because maybe I'd just slap them instead, but I'll go with uh... I'm trying to think but I can't even pick anyone. I have failed you. I'm sorry!
Ethan - I have a secret fascination with Ariana Grande, so she'll be my Screw. Marry? Well, that's complicated. I think starting with flowers and dinner first might be better. We'll see how that goes. As for Kill, I can't think of anyone, either. Apparently we're both bad at this game.
Ok We’ll stop torturing you now. Thank you so much for stopping by and playing with us! It’s been a blast. Is there anything else you’d like to add before you go?
Cerys ~ Thanks a lot for having us! For anyone interested in checking out Master Over You, please try to go into it with an open mind! There are some sad parts, or possibly painful ones, but I think those help make the good parts and the happy ones more important and special, you know? We need the good to go along with the bad.
Ethan - Thanks for having us. I hope everyone enjoys Master Over You. It was great fun to write and collaborate on. It should be an exciting, sometimes dark and twisted, but special and different read, too.
Cerys du Lys
Cerys lives in New Hampshire in the New England area of the United States. She spends her days writing, reading, learning, and working. Some of her most favorite activities involve understanding and learning about the human psychology.
She enjoys pondering sexuality and human response to it. Most of her writing delves into this in some way, exploring reactions and relationships between different people. While she enjoys writing erotica, her goal is to also keep a certain literary appeal to the writing instead of something purely pornographic.
She prefers fantasy settings, with magic, monsters, intrigue, and epic adventures. Her secret kinks include blackmail/coercion, reluctance/dubious consent, and prostitution. She loves writing about all of these things, though very strongly acknowledges they are simply exciting fantasies and nothing more.
Ethan Winters
Ethan is a gentleman, an author, a lover, and occasionally a rake, a cad, and a dom, but only if you've been good (punishing good girls is more entertaining than punishing the naughty ones). He lives in the Greater Boston area in a small town in New Hampshire where he grew up.
He has a penchant for exploring and traveling, with a passion for the unique and interesting. His interests include reading, exercising, laying on the beach, spanking (good girls), romancing, smiling, going for walks that lead to nowhere, hiking, bondage, and one day he would love to travel to Alaska.
His writing delves into the human experience, with a preference towards a psychological thriller twist. He loves mystery, dark romance, and suspense. While some of his writing may be twisted, he believes in romantic true love, above all things. His books include raw, real emotions, good and bad. He believes there is a light at the end of every dark tunnel, and his writing hopes to encompass that.
He loves happy endings, kissing, and a focus on the ordinary turned extraordinary.
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I'm glad you liked it!
ReplyDelete(Good luck to everyone with the giveaway things, too <3 )
Thanks for sharing this. Glad you liked it :)
ReplyDeleteDon't have any fav
ReplyDeleteI haven't really had a chance to read anything in those genres. I mean I've read the 50 Shades trilogy but I know there are better darker books that I have on my TBR.
ReplyDelete