Hello everyone! Please join me in welcoming author Kim Dare to the blog. Kim is here to talk about her new release, Once a Brat. She has also brought a great giveway. ย Welcome Kim!


Once a brat banner

Hi everyone – Thank you for joining me on my first ever solo virtual book tour, and thank you to my lovely host for making me so welcome here!

For the next week Iโ€™ll be turning up on some of your favourite blogs to chat about my latest release with Riptide Publishing โ€“ Once a Brat.

So, if you like brats, leather, valentines, gay sex, lots of kink, love and a happy ending, tag along and find out a little bit more about how the book came into being, what to buy for a kinky Valentine lover and a whole lot more.

Iโ€™ll also be offering the chance to win titles from my backlist and coming soon list. Keep reading to find out what you need to do to enter the giveaway.


A Dom By Any Other Name

For someone who doesnโ€™t have any children and who has never felt the desire to have any, I own an insane number of baby naming books. (Kim, by the way, is my first name in โ€œreal lifeโ€ too. It means different things in different cultures, and can be given to a boy or a girl, depending on which country a baby is born in.)

My favourite book is 1001 Baby Names. Its content is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Since I write far more male characters than female ones, the boys names section is far more well-thumbed. There are also lots sticky notes in there, from when I tried to never repeat a main character name in two different stories. That idea fell by the wayside after about fifty titles, lol.

Sometimes a characterโ€™s name comes to me as soon as I get an idea for a story. More often than not, I end up thinking about them as โ€œthe domโ€ and โ€œthe subโ€ for a long time before I actually pull out the naming book or log onto a baby naming website and try to find something that suits the story, the situation and the guy.

Some writers love coming up with names for their characters, Iโ€™m not generally one of their group. I donโ€™t often find it easy to find a name that really fits the individual character. Iโ€™ve been known to change a guyโ€™s name half a dozen times, or more, as I write and edit a story. (I love Wordโ€™s โ€œfind and replaceโ€ function!) The names of secondary characters also get forgotten and changed on a regular basis, depending upon a whole host of factors, my mood being one of them.

I often have a book Iโ€™m writing, one Iโ€™m editing ready for submission and a couple that Iโ€™m working on with different editors at different publishers, all on the go at the same time. And thatโ€™s not counting all those, lined up in my head, Iโ€™ve yet to start writing. Iโ€™ve been known to get confused. Even when I know exactly what character Iโ€™m writing about, the wrong name sneaks into the text.

And, that brings me to Marcus.

*Sigh*

A couple of years ago I wrote a story called Call Me Sir, Boy. The main character had a friendโ€”Marcus. Marcus wasnโ€™t supposed to be a main character. I didnโ€™t ponder too much before I named him. It might have taken me less than a minuteโ€™s consideration.

Six months later, Iโ€™m working on another story called With a Kiss. The main character is a comatose vampire. I name him Marcus.

Another six months roll by. Iโ€™m editing a story called All the Gear, No Idea, which takes place in the same universe all Call Me Sir, Boy. The secondary characters are still there. Only, when Iโ€™m editing it, I renamed one of the main characters several times, which led to me changing some of the secondary characterโ€™s names too. And, I decided that I donโ€™t need to name one of them the same as my recent vampire.

I changed Marcusโ€™s name. I completely forgot that Call Me Sir, Boy was out there in the big wide world. Suddenly Marcus was getting called Jasperโ€”even worse, he was answering to it.

*Blush*

Quite understandably, more than a few readers were not happy when they noticed this mistake. Reviews were written. A great deal of sarcasm was involved. Nothing else that happened in the story matteredโ€”it all seemed to be about Marcus.

Luckily for me the publisher very kindly agreed to reformat the story with the correct name, but it was too late.

Iโ€™d screwed upโ€”everyone knew Iโ€™d screwed up. The damage was done. In my mind, I would forever be the writer who couldnโ€™t even remember what her character was called. Needless to say I felt sick to my stomach. Readers werenโ€™t the only ones questioning my abilities. Few professions do self-doubt like writers.

So, letโ€™s put that behind us as quickly as possible, and roll on another year.

Riptide has given me the opportunity to start the series with a clean slate, under the snazzy new series title of Kinky Cupid. The first title in this series is called Once a Brat. Itโ€™s the story of Marcus and Bretโ€”how they met and how they came to fall for each other.

The other books will move over to Riptide in due course. Theyโ€™ll be re-polished, extended and have new covers.

But, for now, Iโ€™d like to introduce you to Marcus and Bretโ€™s story.

I loved writing it and, if youโ€™re willing to look past the โ€œJasper incidentโ€, I hope youโ€™ll enjoy reading it too.

Leave a comment and let me know if you think โ€œJasperโ€ was unforgiveable. Or leave a comment about anything at allโ€”if you do, youโ€™ll be entered into a giveaway and have a chance to win three e-books. Keep reading to find out more about Once a Brat and the giveaway.


Blurb

once a bratExperienced dominant Marcus Tremayne, has a stalker. On the plus side, the boy following him around his local leather club is gorgeous and a self-professed submissive. Unfortunately, heโ€™s also inexperienced, bratty, and liable to drive Marcus insane within his incessant chatter and questions.

Bret Daniels fell head over heels with Marcus the moment he first saw him. Heโ€™s willing to do whatever it takes to get Marcusโ€™s attention and prove his worth as a submissive. He might not be a traditional sub, but he knows he has a lot to offer a dom who can handle his quirks.

When Marcus gives in and agrees to do a scene with Bret, sparks fly. One scene quickly becomes another, and another. But will it be a case of once a brat, always a brat? Bret intends to prove to Marcus thatโ€”expectations and experiences asideโ€”he deserves his masterโ€™s collar.

You can find out more about the story, read an excerpt or buy the book by clicking here.


Giveaway

Leave a comment on this post by Sunday 16th February and youโ€™ll be entered into the hat for a chance win three of my backlist or coming soon titles. Two winners will be chosen at random, and each will receive three e-books of their choice. The only book you wonโ€™t be able to pick is Once a Brat.

Check out the complete tour listing to see all the places Iโ€™ll be visiting. If comment on each post, you can earn more entries into the giveaway.


About Kim Dare

Kim Dare is a twenty-nine year old, full time writer from Wales (UK). First published in 2008, she has since released close to eighty BDSM erotic romance titles. While most of Kimโ€™s stories follow male/male relationships, she also writes about characters that enjoy male/female, female/male (female dominant), female/female and all kinds of mรฉnage relationships. Kimโ€™s titles have included contemporary stories, fairytale re-tellings, vampires, time travelers, werewolves and werelionsโ€”not to mention the occasional wereduck.

Regardless of the gender of her characters or the different genres they inhabit, from short stories to full-length novels, there are three things Kim always wants to give her charactersโ€”kink, love, and a happy ending.

You can find Kim on her website, contact here by e-mail, or check out her blog.