It's not often we get a chance to have our time over, but I got exactly that with the re-release of my first trilogy, The Dark Side. Re-vamping the series was an opportunity to sharpen up the characters, add a few more scenes - spicy ones, naturally - and to round out the whole thing with a brand new epilogue. There are no fundamental plot twists or alterations, I loved the story as it was and didn't want to make major changes. But I seized the chance to turn up the heat more and allow the personalities of both Nathan and Eva to bloom.
Darkening
The Dark Side has always been one of my favourite stories, and one of the most popular with readers. Eva Byrne is a sassy, bright heroine, who has no idea what she wants out of life but recognises it when she sees it. In contrast, Nathan Darke is a brooding alpha hero with a seriously soft centre. He's quite certain of what he wants - out of life and out of his latest submissive - and he sees the potential in Eva, though not without a bit of moulding to shape, naturally. The two find themselves on a sensuous journey of discovery. What's not to love?
Nathan Darke was the first Dom I created and he embodies all my fondest imaginings and more besides. He's clever, successful, wealthy but not in the millionaire bracket, and a doting father to his small daughter. I never wanted him to have everything his own way though, so he meets his match in Eva Byrne, the socially inept violinist with an off-the-scale IQ. At first these two seem like a miss-matched pair and Eva might just be out of her depth, drawn to Nathan like a moth to a flame. As the story unfolds though her hidden depths start to emerge, and Nathan has his hands full trying to keep up with her. Eva is both fascinated and appalled by Nathan's kinky repertoire in the bedroom - and in some other interesting locations too - but it never occurs to her to say no when he invites her into his world. Her artistic soul soars, the scientist in her is intrigued. Nathan makes her feel things even her fertile imagination could not conjure up, and she's hooked.
The Dark Side is an erotic romance - gritty, realistic, set in the UK. But I like to think it's more than that. Each of the main characters is flawed, they have their demons to contend with and their own battles to fight. But against all the odds they are drawn to each other. There are plenty of twists and turns and surprises on the way as they struggle to find their HEA, but it is out there somewhere. The new epilogue offers a peep in to that, so even for readers who read and enjoyed Nathan and Eva's story the first time around there's something in the re-vamped version to help put the icing on the cake.
Author Bio
USA Today best-selling author Ashe Barker has been an avid reader of fiction for many years, erotic and other genres. She still loves reading, the hotter the better. But now she has a good excuse for her guilty pleasure - research.
Ashe tends to draw on her own experience to lend colour, detail and realism to her plots and characters. An incident here, a chance remark there, a bizarre event or quirky character, any of these can spark a story idea.
Ashe lives in the North of England, on the edge of the Brontë moors. When not writing - which is not very often these days - her time is divided between her role as resident taxi driver for her teenage daughter, and caring for a menagerie of dogs, tortoises. And a very grumpy cockatiel.
At the last count Ashe had over thirty titles on general release with publishers on both sides of the Atlantic, and several more in the pipeline. She writes M/f, M/M, and occasionally rings the changes with a little M/M/f. All Ashe's books feature BDSM. She writes explicit stories, always hot, but offering far more than just sizzling sex. Ashe likes to read about complex characters, and to lose herself in compelling plots, so that's what she writes too.
Ashe has a pile of story ideas still to work through, and keeps thinking of new ones at the most unlikely moments, so you can expect to see a lot more from her.
Ashe loves to hear from readers. You can find her on her blog, and on the Totally Bound site. She's on Facebook, and twitter and now on Tsu as well. She's on Pinterest too, and Goodreads