Loving Lena by Casey McKay #Spanking Historical Romance

I invited Casey McKay onto my blog - well, really, I harassed her until she wrote me a blog post with an excerpt from her latest release, Loving Lena, a historical Spanking romance. Why do I always capitalize Spanking? Anyhow, Casey is one of those writers where you know when you pick up a book, you're going to get a good story that is well written with bits of humor throughout where you find yourself laughing out loud out of nowhere, and with hot spankings and hot sex (always including at least one anal scene which is appreciated). I won't carry on, here's Casey...

Natasha was nice enough to host me on her blog today. She is always one of my biggest supporters and she has become one of my best friends.

When I started writing my Ravenswood Manor series I was nervous that I wasn't any good at writing in the historical genre. I would send scenes to Natasha- does this make sense?

She always gives honest feedback. Sometimes I think she is being way too nice, but I trust her enough to tell me if something seems really off.

The one question she always asks me is- how much research did you do for this?

I can honestly say I don't know. Before I started writing Emmaline's Groom  I did basic research of the time period, the way people dressed, and modes of transportation. 

From there I would have to look up little things. Did people smoke cigars then? What is the rule with these titles? Did divorce exist?

If I'm not careful, looking up answers to these questions can lead me on hours long Wikipedia binges. You know, when you click through from one link to the next and can't figure out how you got from Victorian Era Cigars all the up to 1920's American Oil Tycoons? At least that's what happens to me.

It was very beneficial when I was writing Loving Lena . I had the basis of my main characters, Welsey and Lena, from the first book, and now I just had to come up with an interesting story. I think I was searching the internet to see if anyone was riding bikes in 1890's Philadelphia and realized that this was the start of what is dubbed as the American Bicycle Craze.

That seemed pretty coincidental that I was already writing a story in this time period and something major was going on in American society, and how could I ignore that? I have pages and pages of notes about the Bicycle Craze that didn't even make it into the book. How women were now able to get from point A to point B on their own without any assistance. Some historians view it as spurring the feminist movement along as it helped to put an end to unmarried women having chaperones. Women were becoming more independent, and it was purely an accidental result from the popularity of bicycles.

I am already planning to revisit this research in a later installment of the Ravenswood Manor series. Don't worry, I'm still planning on writing in all the sex and spankings I can fit into this story, right along with new social movements and the rise of feminism.

I also found a thread that bicycle riding was one of the things that led to the changing of women's undergarments. This little fact I did write into Loving Lena- hence the sewing machine on my cover. It also led to a delicious scene where Lena gives Wesley a little strip tease.

For today, I would like to share a scene where Lena has taken her bicycle into town, ignoring Wesley's rule that he must always know when she is planning to go out for a ride and that she must never ride at night.

Excerpt

He thought he saw a woman who looked like Lena come out of a shop across road. Surely it was not her though, she did not tell him she had any errands to run today, and it was almost dark. He explicitly told her not to be out on her bicycle in the dark. When the woman tucked her package under her arm and then tried to mount her bicycle, almost tumbling off and into the street, Wesley jogged up to meet her.

"Lena!" he yelled.

She turned and looked at him, eyes wide. She quickly schooled her features and gave him a glowing smile, "Hello, my darling. Your meetings ran late today, did they not?" She offered her cheek for a kiss.

"They did." He gave her a quick peck, then took her package from under her arm. "What are you doing down here so late?"

"I needed to pick something up, just a quick trip. It was nothing to bother you about."

Another roar of thunder clapped and he motioned for her to start pedaling. "Come, before we are stuck in the middle of the storm. I will try to keep up with you."

"I will pedal as slow as I can without falling off," she said and smiled over at him.

"Darling, remind me what I told you about riding your bicycle."

She took a second and seemed to be thinking, "Use the brakes to stop and not to drag my feet on the ground?"

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"I know, I know, you like to know where I am going. But you were not at home, and it was a quick stop," she explained.

"That is hardly the point, what if you had fallen off your bicycle and hurt yourself? I was not even aware you were gone, I would have never known where to look for you."

"You worry too much Wesley, nothing is going to happen to me."

"We already talked about this last week. I warned you that you needed to heed my rules." A flash of lightning lit up the sky and the wind kicked up, adding more to his annoyance.

"Wesley, honestly, you would not even know I had gone if I had gotten home before you."

He fixed her with a stare as he walked briskly beside her, "How do you know? How often have you been making trips into town without my knowledge?"

Her eyes widened as she realized she had just let some information slip. "What would you consider often?"

Blurb

Lena Trimble should be experiencing the happiest time in her life. She is in love with the most wonderful man she has ever met, they have a beautiful baby together, and they are starting a new life in a new country. But Lena feels like she is living a lie. Their child was conceived out of wedlock and she is still embroiled in a divorce from a horrible man who never loved her but was only after her money.

Wesley Lawford feels like the luckiest man alive. He finally has Lena all to himself and he is trying to build a new life with her and their child. But as Lena's divorce drags on, her fears of what others think  have her retreating from the world, and worse, closing herself off to him. Afraid of losing Lena as she continues secluding herself, Wesley knows he must be firm with his future wife and Lena soon finds herself over Wesley's knee for a hard bare-bottom spanking. Will a firm hand and loving domestic discipline bring back the woman he loves? Will simply loving Lena be enough to keep them together?

Loving Lena is the second in the Ravenswood Manor series. The book is a Victorian romance set  during the beginning of America's Bicycle Craze, in 1890's Philadelphia. Although each book can be read alone, characters from the first book in the series, Emmaline's Groom, are referenced in Loving Lena.

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