Guest Blog & ARC Review – Deeper by Lyla Bellatas

Posted February 1, 2016 by DiDi in Erotic, Guest Blogs, Reviews, Sharon/Slick / 2 Comments

I expected a fun little romp with lots of hot sex and instant attraction, but as the title implies there was much more depth to this story than I thought making it an outstanding beginning to what promises to be an intriguing series. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures 

About the Deeper and The Real Fling Series by Lyla Bellatas

I came up with the idea for The Real Fling by chance. I wanted to write an erotic novella series. I’ve had a concept for a lightly magical love at first sight series but it hasn’t taken shape for me yet. I tried to use it for this, I rolled the idea around for a couple of days, even wrote a few scenes but I couldn’t see it. I’m very visual. I have to see the story as a movie in my mind before I can write it. The minute I changed the setting of my love story The Real Fling materialized.

When I’m writing I’m immersed in the story 24/7. I search through pictures on the internet to pick out my characters. I need to see them. Have them acting out in my head. I usually pick the hero first. Hey, men are sexy. Val’s face and body were immediate and are based on a famous actor. I knew Adriana was going to have long brown hair so I googled that hair and yes every google search somehow leads to porn.

The names of the characters are also hugely important to me. I usually pick them based on their meanings. Valentin is a Russian name that means strength and healing. In Deeper Val is incredibly strong and trying to heal. Adriana means dark and rich. It was perfect for who she was especially given Val’s love of chocolate.

Deeper came to me quickly and poured out of me. I wrote it in about a week. I’m highly intuitive and empathic. I need to feel the characters. Be them. Fall in love with them. I fell madly in love with Val. I saw me in Adriana but it was Val who had me. I began writing Deeper without the title. It came to me as I wrote. In fact, the entire concept of deeper than you’ve ever gone before materialized as I wrote it. I had their names and a rough idea of their wounds. In all of my books, my characters fit together where they are broken. It’s their scars that unite them and make their union unique. No two other people will fit the way these two will.

With The Real Fling Series, I made a list of the places I traveled that were exceptional. I have a partial photographic memory. It used to be exceptional but I swear pregnancy messes with your memory, permanently. 😉 Once I’ve been someplace I’ll always remember it. The streets, the shops, the restaurants, the hotels etc. Once I had the title for Deeper, I decided to name each of the books in the series a two syllable adverb ending in –er. I collected a list of potential titles. Each of the places I’ve traveled has a vibe and through that I get a feel for the story, match it with the place and title.

Book 2, Hotter is set in New Orleans and will be released in March. Book 3, Rougher set in Munich, Germany and will be published in Spring. I hope you enjoy my books. Can’t wait for you to read them. http://www.lylabellatas.com Follow me twitter https://twitter.com/LylaBellatas or facebook https://www.facebook.com/lylabellatasAuthor

Deeper COVER_TooMuch-01Description:
On the ski vacation from hell, Adriana Gallo wipes out in a snow storm. Injured, she realizes her party has left her stranded with no way down the mountain.

Valentin Barinov came to Vail to recover from an accident, never expecting to find the woman of his dreams broken in the snow.

Val penetrates Adriana’s defenses, too haunted and tender for Adriana to resist. What starts as a night of mindless fun opens them up to each other in ways they never imagined.

Too much is never enough.

Review copy provided for an honest review

Slick-Reads-Avatar---Box

I took a chance on this new author because she was recommended by someone whose judgmentatruegemaward I trust and because her series intrigued me. I love to travel and as this series centers around vacation flings that turn in to more, I was all in. I expected a fun little romp with lots of hot sex and instant attraction, but as the title implies there was much more depth to this story than I thought making it an outstanding beginning to what promises to be an intriguing series. Deeper was a fast and furious vacation story, yet the characters were pretty well developed and while their relationship progressed rather quickly it was evident from the start these two had a special connection that only got deeper the more time they spent together and the more they learned about one another.

On a ski weekend with a work colleague and supposed friend Adriana finds out she’s going to be downsized from her job just after she’s moved to a new apartment and her “friend” is more interested than hooking up than helping her through her devastation. Adriana finds herself in a perilous moment when Val, a skier she’d noticed briefly before helps her out and gets angry on her behalf for the friend who left her to ski alone.

Even before Adriana and Val met they were drawn to one another and once they did meet it became very obvious something was happening between them. While Adriana was pretty much an open book and freely shared her life and woes with Val, he remained closed off. While Adriana was curious she also seemed to understand that Val needed a friend that didn’t pry. I enjoyed watching them interact and I especially loved the way Val did his best to help Adriana in every way include taking care of her injured shoulder. The heat and intensity between them only added to what was already a special story and I loved every minute I spent with this couple. My one big complaint, while I have no doubt these two will live a full and happy life together, I would have loved an epilogue a few months down the road to clarify what I know in my heart is true.

Lyla Bellatas has a fresh and captivating voice and Deeper is a fantastic first offering from this new author. I am hooked and can’t wait to see what she offers us next in this series!

4silverstars (1)

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Posted February 1, 2016 by DiDi in Erotic, Guest Blogs, Reviews, Sharon/Slick / 2 Comments


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