Welcome, friend! if you love Fantasy and are looking for a high spice romance to pick up next, you will love this post! 🙂 Today I am chatting with author Riley Kade about her fantasy romance novel, Flames of Rapture! Let’s meet her!

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Get to know the author: Riley Kade

Welcome Riley! Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!

I’m a newish fantasy romance writer with a background in the sciences. 

I started writing three years ago after I’d left my job teaching and decided to go back to school for a graduate degree in math. I wrote the Carnal Fever Trilogy in the summers in between, and finished it up the year after I graduated. 

I love steamy stories, but want more that showcase consensual sex and relationship dynamics that would be healthy in real life. So I wrote some!

What inspired you to write this book?

I was trying to write something else, but I’ve had this fantasy for years about having the power to cause sexual pleasure just through skin contact. It’s a very satisfying idea, having such a skill. In fact, it’s almost too easy, too powerful. So… I asked myself the question, what challenges or obstacles would a person have with such a gift. And in answering that question I met Sadie and Jimmy, and the second I began to picture them I just wanted to know more. Though Sadie’s powers are very sexual, I liked the idea of her being just a regular person, someone we can all relate to. She’s not some special mythical seductress. She’s just a girl. And I really wanted to know more about her journey.

How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?

Two consecutive summers. I went through eight drafts since I had to change my plot plan when I realized the book was headed to be a 1000 pages long. Though I ended up with a trilogy that I love, so no complaints.

What makes your story unique?

The overarching plotline for the trilogy is a polyam story in that she falls in love with multiple people and doesn’t choose between them (an acceptable thing for a succubus in this world).

Who would enjoy reading your book? 

Classic fantasy readers that enjoy spice are definitely in my target audience. But also, anyone who reads romance that is down for an emotionally mature hero that will do anything for the woman he loves.

Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?

The first high-tension break, because it’s heart-breaking and makes me love the hero for his choices even while wanting to bash him over the head. I won’t say more.

Flames of Rapture is the first of a trilogy. Can you tell me more about the series and your vision for it?

The trilogy is written and coming out over this next year. Each book includes Sadie acquiring a new long-term love interest (2 male and 1 female), with book 2 a hate-to-love story featuring a sexy co-conspirator. They get caught up in the underground resistance to the fascist government and end up working side-by-side as spies. I won’t give anything away about book 3.

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Book Excerpt from
Flames of Rapture

Relevant background:

• Setting is Washington state, alternate modern day.
• The world is such that people know about succubi. 
• Sadie works on her parents’ farm. Man next door, Jimmy, is her childhood best friend and love interest.
• Scene takes place at summer farmer’s market.
• Sadie is an alleged human, with no sexual interest until the past three days when she began having feverish dreams – feeling increasingly hot and bothered, and confused about what strange illness she might have.

Sadie watched her hands moving as they helped her parents set-up their booth and unload all the crates. She heard her voice exchange words with a variety of people before putting herself at the cash register, ready to help make a few sales. She knew she should avoid Jimmy, and told her parents she’d prefer to stick with them.

She sold people lettuce and cucumbers and cherry tomatoes for some amount of time. It was deep into the morning when a man approached the register. He didn’t look local. He wore a leather vest, frayed at the edges around his bare shoulders, and leather gloves. His dark hair made a nice contrast against piercing blue eyes. He flashed her a devilish grin that seemed entirely out of place in the context. Everything about him captivated her attention, and for a moment she felt present in her body. 

“Um, is that all?” she asked, nodding to the vine of cherry tomatoes he’d placed in front of her.

“How are you feeling?” he asked, leaning casually against the table.

“What? Fine. How are you?”

“A little hungry,” he said with a wink.

“Well, these tomatoes might hold you over for a bit,” she rambled, sounding a little breathless.

“For a bit,” he agreed. “And what’ll hold you over, I wonder?”

She swallowed.

“Umm. That’ll be four dollars.”

He dropped a five-dollar bill and backed away in an alluring swagger, sucking a tomato off the vine. It wasn’t until he turned away from her that she noticed there was another person trying to make a purchase. The woman followed her gaze and whistled. 

“He’s something isn’t he? I’d be distracted too.” Sadie’s eyes snapped from the man to the woman. She had on a low-cut baby blue shirt and red lipstick. Sadie looked her up and down, eyes darting from the woman’s waist to neck to hair. She felt almost nauseous when she looked at the woman’s lips. Strangely, she found she wanted to reach out and run her finger along them. 

“Sorry. I…” Sadie backed away from the register and called out to her father to take over. She moved to sit down on the edge of the booth where no one would bother her. When she’d caught her breath, she decided she should take a walk. Sadie wasn’t up for talking to anyone else just then. 

She stood up to find her mom looking at her. When she said she’d be back later, her mother stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. Grabbing her attention with her gaze, she told her daughter softly, “I’ll be right here, if you need me.”

Turning away from her mom’s serious expression, Sadie walked out into the crowd. The colorful dresses of people on a festival day swarmed in front of her eyes. Her feet carried her through the throng while her gaze danced from person to person. 

She needed something. She wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but it seemed to be in the swaying hips of the woman in the cut-off shorts walking ahead of her, or in the eyes of the young man checking her out as he passed. It was in the smiles and smells and mere presence of many of the people around her.

She spotted the man in the leather vest leaning against a tree. There was a young woman attempting to get his attention, but he was staring intently at Sadie. She looked away. After a minute, she glanced behind her to find the man was following. She attempted to increase the speed of her walk, but felt a little unsteady on her feet. Averting her eyes from anyone she recognized, she started to focus only on the ground in front of her as she trudged onward in search of something undefinable.

 A pair of feet appeared in front of her. She tried to walk around them, but they stepped to remain in her path. She looked up. It was Ina Birch.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “Sadie? Can you hear me?”

“She’s drunk,” said a voice to her right. Sadie turned to see the grove posse girls sitting around in lawn chairs, watching her. The sweet smell of the corn on the cob they were consuming filled her nostrils. They appeared to be laughing at her. 

“Little early in life to be drunk and alone, don’t you think?” Cassie choked out through a guffaw. Sadie felt herself swaying and widened her stance to stay upright. Looking back at Ina, she stared blankly at her old friend’s button nose and tiny lips. Her hair hung long down over her chest. It was so pretty. Unbearably pretty. Sadie ran her fingers through it. She heard the laughter increase.

“She’s wasted.” 

“Or high as hell.”

“What’s going on here?” a familiar voice said. Sadie turned toward the sound of Jimmy, before noticing a small crowd had gathered around them.

“Hi,” Sadie choked out breathlessly. “It’s you,” she breathed, placing a hand on his chest.

“What’s wrong? Are you sick?” he asked, handing off his tray of caramelized apples to Ina and placing his hands on either side of her waist to steady her. He asked her another question, but Sadie couldn’t make out the words. The sounds around her seemed to blur as she leaned toward him. Her skin tingled as the whole world melted. She brought her lips close to his and breathed in the smell of his skin.

“I wouldn’t recommend that,” a voice said sharply in her ear, as two large, gloved hands pulled on her shoulders. She regained some awareness as she turned to face the man in the leather vest. She stared into his handsome face and found herself suddenly closer. Had she leaned in? Her gaze was still fixated on his mouth when he cupped a hand around the back of her neck and pulled her lips to his. 

Her body exploded with sensation. She melted against him as pleasure traveled from her lips to her thighs, pounding hot between her legs. An excitement built rapidly in her and she wanted to be even closer. When he began to withdraw, she rocked forward into him. He let her kiss him a moment longer, before pushing her back forcefully.

Holding her at arm’s length with a firm grip on her shoulders, he looked over her face.

“It’s time,” he said.

The world snapped back into focus. She felt more steady on her feet and suddenly keenly aware of the watching crowd.

“The hell?” Cassie said, no longer laughing.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me,” Sadie said, directing the words first at no one in particular, but then back at Jimmy, who was looking at her with such a frightened expression she wanted to reach out and hug him.

“Now that you’re feeling better, let’s get moving. We can talk on the way,” the man in leather said.

“What? Who the hell do you think you are?” she asked, pushing him away from her, suddenly angry.

“A friend,” he said calmly.

“A friend would never kiss someone without their permission,” Sadie barked, still shaking from the experience of her first kiss. Was it always that intense?

“Which I didn’t. I only did exactly what you wanted me to, but you’re further along than I thought and we have a ways to travel. We should get moving. If you’ll trust me for now, I’ll explain on the way.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Sadie backed up to where Jimmy was standing and put a hand on his arm.

The instant their skin touched, a keen awareness of him spread outward from where her hand met his bicep to every part of his body. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest; his abs clenching. She could sense every cell in him as she traced in her mind the flow of blood through his veins. She observed it harden the soft flesh between his legs. Jimmy gasped audibly, then collapsed at her feet.  

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Interested?

Find Flames of Rapture on Goodreads and IndieStoryGeek. Also available on Kobo and B&N.

Thank you for hanging out with us today! Connect with Riley on her Facebook page or her new fledgling Instagram for occasional updates. On her website, www.rileykade.com, you can sign-up for her newsletter to get exclusive content and new release announcements. Rest assured, she won’t spam you. 🙂

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Cover image: Photo on Unsplash