Totally Bound talk to Victoria Blisse about Good Manors, the new addition to our What's her Secret? imprint.
What can we expect from Good Manors?
A stately home, a handsome workaholic Dom and a journalist with a conscience. There’s some interesting play with copper jugs, hot wax and rope as well. Oh and cute sheep. What more could you want?
Why did you want to set your latest release in a country manor?
I’ve always fancied writing a historical novel, but the research involved and the scope for looking reeealllly stupid is too great for me to try. Setting Good Manors in a stately home gave me the chance to be a bit historical but within a contemporary setting. Not too much research and a smaller chance of upsetting someone by getting history wrong.
I love visiting manors, castles and estates too. I always get ideas when I’m there so this novel let me use a few I had stored up.
India Grace is sent somewhere she doesn’t want to go, but it turns out to be for the best. Do you enjoy writing stories about fated meetings?
Yes, I do. Serendipity is a fabulous word and a wonderful tool to use in romance. It’s always fun to put my characters in uncomfortable places too. It’s always a revelation to see how they react and sometimes a challenge to get them together. In Good Manors I thought the secret was never going to be revealed, India was not for confessing at all.
How did you go about researching the lives of the British aristocracy in order to give your readers an insight?
As I said earlier, I love to visit country manors and stately homes so I have some general knowledge on the subject. I filled that out with a good dose of googling.
How did you find writing about a couple where the heroine was harbouring a dark secret?
Exciting and sometimes frustrating. Keeping that secret was hard work. India was held back so much by that, sometimes I just wanted to make her blurt it all out. The damn woman was having none of it though. The secret influenced everything I wrote and keeps a constant level of conflict within the book’s pages.
Many of your stories explore light BDSM themes, what is it you love about writing these scenes? 
I love playing with control. Giving up control and taking it. It’s a fascinating subject. I love writing about characters like India who get so much from giving themselves completely to someone else.
There’s also the connection between pain and pleasure which is lots of fun to explore, I enjoy pushing the boundaries of vanilla and kink and mixing it up a bit.
What can we expect from you next with Totally Bound?
My novella Something Brave comes out in November. It’s a sexy story of a shy girl’s discovery of her sub side. It starts at a sexy burlesque fair where Felicity meets a dark haired, blue eyed stranger who she only knows as ‘Sir.’ I’m about to revisit another series too, Johnny the Djinn has been left in his amulet for far too long. I will be writing the next Djinn’s Amulet story very soon.
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