Thursday 9 January 2014

Guilty! (+free book!)


Guilt according to Wikipedia - Guilt is an emotion that occurs when a person believes that they have violated a moral standard that they themselves believe in.


Now I feel guilty on a frequent basis, I'd say daily and it's usually for something small. "I should have remembered to send that birthday card" or "I really should have taken my make-up off before bed" or "damn another sweater shrunk in the wash" (I do that a lot!).


So I'm guessing we're all familiar with daily self loathing - I'm dramatic, I know, but recently I was chatting with friends about guilt and it soon became clear that it is an emotive topic. But how about when it comes to erotic novels? Where does guilt come into it then?


Mmm, this has me thinking about a character called Hannah that I created with my co-author Natalie Dae. Hannah stars in a book called Anything for Him and, to be honest, the girl is off her trolley! She's obsessed, lust-crazy and has a single-track mind when it comes to getting the man she wants. She goes to extreme lengths from spying through his window in a storm, chopping off her long blonde hair and dying it black, to being heavily involved in the seedy underworld of a London criminal gang. But does she ever feel guilty?





Hannah panics, sure, she paces and she dabbles on the edge of madness and she certainly feels guilty about some things. Just maybe not the ones you or I would. But I digress, what I'm trying to point out is that guilt is a natural response and it has to be seen in some form in fictional characters because it is such an every day trait, be it if the protagonist does something small or if the individual breaks the law on an enormous scale.


Natalie and I call Anything for Him our Marmite book because readers either adore Hannah and can understand her obsession and dark desires, or they are irritated by the fact that she isn't a sickly sweet heroine who has all her morals intact and feels hideously guilty all the time for the things that are happening. But hey, what is the most real behaviour? How many women who are head-over-heels in love and lust do behave rationally? Is there a female out there who wouldn't lie to protect the man she loves and who hasn't sneaked a peek at someone their crazy about? (Even if it's just to Google their name.)

If you're intrigued to meet Hannah!You can grab a FREE Kindle copy of Anything for Him from Amazon UK for a short time only, if you are in the US it will cost you $2.99. But certainly for me, as an author, playing with a character's levels of guilt can be like playing with fire. Personally, I like the heat!

Lily x



Hannah and Luiz wild story is romping up the Amazon Erotica Charts!


3 comments:

  1. I love to read about all kinds of heroine's. It keeps this interesting. I think guilt is a very normal thing an with out it we would get are self's into trouble. Any way your book sounds like one that I wont be able to put down. Thanks for sharing.

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  2. in the usa it is showing 2.99. Just thought you would like to know.

    http://www.amazon.com/Anything-Him-Lily-Harlem-ebook/dp/B00AMQ409O/ref=sr_1_10?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1389281667&sr=1-10&keywords=Anything+for+Him

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    Replies
    1. Yep, only free in the UK, Paula, and I agree, guilt is a normal emotion that we all have to face.

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