We are really excited to have Marni Mann guest on our blog today!
Everyone say "Hi Marni"
10 Things You Didn’t Know About Seductive Shadows
1. While I was outlining the book, I found some paintings on Pinterest that inspired me. That’s when I knew Charlie had to be an artist and to recreate these images in her own style.2. The first scene at Moonlight’s house (the psychic) is based on a true story that my mother-in-law told me. A friend of my MIL’s went in for a reading and the psychic wasn’t able to give her one. The friend died on her way home.
3. Three of the characters, Professor Freeman, the Doctor, and Jody, are named after very good friends of mine.
4. The neighborhoods that are described in the book are actual places, and Cameron’s building was only a few blocks from mine when I lived in Boston.
5. In an earlier draft, the epilogue took place in a café in Ghana a year after the book ended and in that coffee shop Charlie met a man. I never revealed the man’s identity, but I hinted at it.
6. The title was originally Reaching for Shadows, but we wanted to make the message and nature of the book a little clearer.
7. The mansion - the house where Charlie works - was inspired by The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island, which I visited as a teenager.
8. Lilly, Charlie’s mother, was the most difficult and challenging character to write. I couldn’t stand the way she treated Charlie, how vile and abusive she was, but she was essential to the story. Because of Lilly, Charlie learned how to survive.
9. It’s Always Darkest Before The Dawn would be Charlie’s next tattoo.
10. We’re in the talking stage of developing a sequel/series to Seductive Shadows.
Thanks Marni!
That gave me so much extra insight into Charlie and I really hope there is a sequel!
Blurb ~*~
Charlie is a passionate, sensually inspired art student, desperately seeking an escape from an abusive past that haunts her and a tragic accident that emptied her heart. Scarred and unable to love, her yearning for physical pleasure and contact leads her into a tantalizing, dangerous world of power and seduction. The anonymity of the deal offers security, the money provides financial freedom, and the madam’s authority is the mother figure she longs for.But the thrill of the mansion and its arousing dominance quickly fades when she meets the renowned yet mysterious Cameron Hardy, whose intense, baby blue eyes send a nervous flutter through her core. He’s sexy, and not in a subtle way. Cameron stimulates her art, intellect and desires. Just as he begins to break through her emotional boundaries, Charlie discovers a devastating connection between her past and her scandalous work at the mansion, shattering everything she thought to be true.
Provocative, intoxicating and erotic, Seductive Shadows is the unforgettable tale of a young woman’s discovery as she learns to forgive, to love and be loved, and to find redemption amidst a memorable journey that will captivate your mind and stimulate your soul.
This book is for mature audiences 17+. It contains explicit language and sexual content.
Buy Links ~*~
Amazon | Kobo
Excerpt ~*~
I wasn’t a prostitute. I was an
artist who used her fingers to paint a fantasy and her body fulfilled it. The
muse, or the canvas, but always the artist. And when I was desired by men was
when I felt the most creative.
Just because I was hired to
provide pleasure, didn’t mean I couldn’t enjoy every moment of passion and
every uninhibited deviant thought. I was turned on by the cameras that would
point toward my bed, the lust that would be whispered in my ears, and playing
out the fantasy that I would compose. Not knowing anything about these
men, what the top half of their faces looked like, their names, meant they also
knew nothing about me. I would never have to discuss my past or the accident;
the only thing I would have to unzip would be my lingerie. I would have
enough money to pay off my mother’s debt in a reasonable amount of time and
take more than one class a semester. The arrangement was perfect.
But then I met Cameron. With
icy, baby blue eyes so intense...he was sexy, and not in a subtle
way. Bold and confident, he inspired my art and challenged my emotions
and, for the first time since the accident, I felt a strong connection to
another person.
I had a burning desire to trust Cameron, to escape
the dark life I had been leading and reveal to him the wounds of my soul…until
I discovered a devastating connection between my past and the mansion. And in
the midst of all the truth I uncovered, I learned my life was in imminent
danger....
4 Star Review ~*~
This has to be one of the most difficult reviews I've had to write. Mainly because I don't know how to rank it. It had some very positive parts and a few pitfalls to me. The most difficult part of Seductive Shadows for me was getting started. I tried and tried and tried then finally it started to work. And once it started to work, I was glad to read it but it wasn't so compelling that I couldn't put it down ~ I could and did a few times ~ Yet I had to know what happened. I really wanted to find out what happened to Charlie.
After about 60% things start happening quicker. But you really do need the first half of the book to get a good feel for Charlie and her pain, shadows, and personal darkness that comes before the light. I really enjoyed that the story was Charlie's. While we have supporting characters. This is all Charlie and her journey into life as she deals with abuse, loss, passion and more,
This is the first book I've read by Marni Mann but it will not be the last. She writes deep characters and intricate story lines that are unlike anything else. If you are looking for a darker deeper story ~that is still sexy ~ for a change of pace then don't hesitate to pick up Seductive Shadows.
About Marni Mann
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