Amazon reviewers, start your engines!

I'll be deleting this post Friday evening, so if you want a review copy (and will actually review it), details are below. Please note each book/mailing costs me $10. My choice, obviously, to do this, but flaky people jeopardize me doing it in the future. Anyway, here you go - I also post these giveaways on Twitter closer to the pub date. Thanks! Basically, if my books do well, I get to/want to keep doing them; if not, not So I try the best I can with the limited means I have, and this is one tactic that I hope also gives people who can't afford my books a chance to check them out. You can also try your local library for that.



If you'd like a free copy of Obsessed (and get to feel special cause you'll have it in your hands before it's in stores, and for free), the terms are: you are in the US, have an Amazon.com account you've made a purchase from at some point, and promise to review the book by August 31st. You'll receive it probably the 2nd week of July (I'm sending them media mail the prior week). That's it. If you're game, email me at obsessedantho at gmail.com with "Amazon" in the subject line and your name and US mailing address in the body. Then in early July I will send you a book. And you will review it. And hopefully like it (no pressure, but, I'm proud of this, and my story is about sexy hand holding and a hot big guy and...you'll see when you read it).

More about the book (excerpts are coming soon):

: Erotic Romance for Women is edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, with a foreword by romance author Caridad Piñeiro, and will be published by Cleis Press in July 2011. Stay tuned for more information.

Obsessed is not about obsession for a new purse or a new car. Instead, these stories sizzle with the kind of obsession that is fueled by our deepest desires, the ones that hold couples together, the ones that haunt us and don’t let go. Whether just-blooming passions, rekindled sparks, or reinvented relationships, these lovers put the object of their obsession first. From the almost-divorced couple in “Aftershocks,” by Bella Andre, who finally confess their deepest desires during an earthquake, to a woman who confesses to her boyfriend just how much she lusts after another man in Emerald’s “Then,” these lovers push the boundaries of their relationship and the boundaries of their trust in each other. Obsessed lovers don’t always do what is rational; sometimes they chase their dreams, such as in Kayla Perrin’s “One Night in Paris,” across the world and across the landscape of their lovers’ bodies.

BOOK PARTY!!!

August 25, details TBA
JOINT BOOK PARTY FOR OBSESSED and THE LOST
Join editor Rachel Kramer Bussel and Obsessed contributors, along with The Lost author Caridad Piñeiro, and Tied Up Events for a fabulous book party celebrating The Lost and Obsessed: Erotic Romance for Women! Free cupcakes, snacks, giveaways and more!
Fontana’s, 105 Eldridge Street, NYC
obsessederoticromance.com
caridad.com
.tiedupevents.com

Pre-order Obsessed from:

Amazon

Kindle edition (available August 1st)

Barnes & Noble

Powells

IndieBound

Cleis Press

Foreword: Behind the Mask of Obsession Caridad Piñeiro
Introduction Rachel Kramer Bussel (see below)
Silent Treatment Donna George Storey
One Night in Paris Kayla Perrin
Concubine Portia Da Costa
Love and Demotion Logan Belle
Mephisto Waltz Justine Elyot
Then Emerald
It’s Gotta Be Fate Jennifer Peters
Hooked Ariel Graham
Aftershocks Bella Andre
Secret Places Adele Haze
Loser Charlotte Stein
Here In Between Kristina Wright
Spellbound by Garnell Wallace
Raven’s Flight Andrea Dale
Raindrops and Rooftops Elizabeth Coldwell
Topiary K. D. Grace
I Want to Hold Your Hand Rachel Kramer Bussel
Storm Surge Teresa Noelle Roberts
Undercover Kink Louisa Harte

The women in Obsessed show their passion for their lovers in all kinds of ways. For some it’s about indulging in acts of daring, for others it’s about letting go of their preconceived notions of propriety and going where their bodies tell them.

In many of these stories, communication, the touchstone of advice about good relationships, is missing in some key way, whether it’s the almost-divorced couple in “Aftershocks” by Bella Andre who finally, during an earthquake, confess their deepest desires, or the one-time lovers in “Silent Treatment” by Donna George Storey who find plenty to say with their bodies at a silent retreat. In “Then,” Emerald explores what happens after a woman confesses to her boyfriend just how much she lusts after another man. They push the boundaries of their relationship and the boundaries of their trust in each other—another theme of this book.

Charlotte Stein paints a portrait of a “Loser” who manages to capture the attention of the narrator–and keep it by impressing her with his ardent desire. Stein writes, “He does little things, like when I stop him saying words like those with my mouth on his, he brings his hands up to cup my face. Other guys don’t cup my face. And he does it as though he wants to keep me as close as possible, so he can fully concentrate on my mouth and the way it moves and how much tongue I’m giving him at any given time.”

Obsessed is not about obsession for a new purse or a new car or a new perfume. It’s not even about the obsessiveness of a crush, the kind of panting lust that cycles over and over itself with no end in sight. Instead, Obsessed is about the way a lover can get under your skin, can drive you crazy with lust as well as so many other emotions–love, longing, hunger, anger, confusion. Are there happy endings here? Yes, there are, but they are not always the happy endings you’d expect. These stories sizzle with the kind of obsession that is fueled by our deepest desires, the ones that hold couples together, the ones that haunt us and don’t let go. Whether experiencing just-blooming passions, rekindled sparks or reinvented relationships, these lovers put the object of their obsession first. They don’t always do what’s rational or proper; instead, they chase their dreams, as in Kayla Perrin’s “One Night in Paris,” across the world and across the landscape of their lovers’ bodies.

I hope Obsessed speaks to the part of you that knows what it’s like to do anything for the right person, to bare yourself body and soul in the hope that once stripped to your most secret self, you will be rewarded with someone who sees you for who you truly are. With these nineteen stories, though, you don’t have to hope–I can tell you now that these gutsy heroines find men who know exactly how to treat their wild, hungry hearts. How they get there is yours to savor.

Rachel Kramer Bussel
New York City