His To Claim - what do you think?

SPOILERS!
Have you finished reading the whole book? No? Then you may want to stop reading now so the story can unfold naturally.

Today I’m talking about some of the feedback I received in the editing and beta reading process on this book. I love it when readers and editors challenge my stories because it helps me understand my own writing better.

In the first version of this novella, a few people missed the time lines. In this version my husband has done great book design. He has even included maps to show where each cruise went. You can preview the book online to see the change.

Other points raised:

I knew that having Jazz hook up with Scott the engineer was risky in a romance novel. In case I didn’t realize that, my editor warned me but I left it as it was. In real life, this is exactly what many people do after a break up so I was decided to try to capture that self-destructive trend.
To me this twist makes perfect sense. Otherwise how could she know that Adam is ‘the one’ if she hasn’t tried to move on with someone else?

Several readers thought that Jazz was embarrassed about her kink in her last encounter with Scott. She is self conscious, it’s true. Her long association with the Black Hen has taught her to be discrete on the issue of kink. She hopes Scott will get the hint without her having to articulate it.

Why is she so cautious in a world where so many people are up front about their preferences? The continued patronage of the Black Hen depends on it remaining low key so her first instinct is always to approach the subject obliquely.
Besides, she knows that it’s not that long since kink was classified as mental illness: (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/01/bdsm-versus-the-dsm/384138/).
Jazz is savvy enough to realize that many people still think that critical way. When Scott looks at her with contempt it’s because he has that old-fashioned mindset. He thinks she’s mentally unbalanced.

It can be hard and sometimes humiliating for like-minded people to find their soulmates. I know how long it can take, doing trial & error. Whenever I get too comfortable with writing kink and question my need to be discrete about it, all I have to do is read some of the scathing reviews people drop on books in this genre.
Some people loathe them for the erotic content.
Worse still are the people who attack authors in the genre because the practices described in the books aren’t the way those readers believe things should be done.
***
Those are just a few of the issues around this book and the genre generally.
What are your thoughts on the book or on the genre?
I hope parts of this story touched in all the right ways.

His To Hold - the current series - a question of trust

From my newsletter July 2, 2022

I’m in the middle of a new book where the issue of trust keeps popping up. As I write, I think of the many, many times I’ve trusted people when I shouldn’t have.
I’m not pleading innocent here. I’m sure I’ve let people down more times than I’d care to admit. But I hope I’ve never put anyone’s life at risk.
Years ago, when I was a freshly certified scuba diver, a senior diver invited me to do a beach dive with him.
I said, “Sure.”
We went to a remote site, geared up, and waded into the water. I let him navigate because, after all, he was so experienced. When our air ran low, he indicated we should surface to start to snorkel back to shore.
I followed his ascent only to discover that he’d made a mistake. We weren’t in the middle of the protected cove where we'd started. We were at the mouth of it, and a strong ebbing tide was pulling us toward open sea. I tried not to panic but I hadn’t given our dive plan to anyone and, as far as I knew, neither had he. It was just the two of us in a hidden cove. The sun had set and night was falling.
Worse than that, we were about thirty feet from the rocky outcrop that marked the edge of the cove. Weighed down with eighty pounds of scuba gear, to me it looked like miles away.
My dive buddy opened the goody bag attached to his gear belt and handed me one of its thin straps.
"Hang on to this,” he said and started swimming toward the rocky outcrop.
I grabbed the ropey strap and followed. I swam with every scrap of strength I could muster.
Cut to the finish: we made it to the rocks and slowly edged our way back into the calmer waters of the cove. Finally, I stumbled onto the beach and sat for five or ten minutes, until there was enough air in my lungs to speak.
When I thanked him for the strap, he laughed. “That wouldn’t have saved a kid. I just didn’t want you to panic,” he said.
I’d like to say that was the last time I ever went diving with him. It wasn’t. I had one more scary experience with him before I decided he was bad news and the only person I could trust underwater was myself.
Fast forward a few months: I met my husband when we were both diving at that same cove. For the longest time, I let him lead our dives but I always double checked the navigation when we were underwater. After a few dives, I accepted that he knew what he was doing. More than that, he was watching me and my air supply and keeping us both safe.
Those contrasting experiences reinforced these perpetual life experiences:
1. People will always betray and disappoint us. 💔
2. Sometimes we find something symbolic, like a piece of string, to hold onto as we find our way to safety. The smallest things can help us save ourselves, from the neglect or indifference of others.
AND
3. Love and trust are evergreen. 💖 Even after long droughts, a true friend or lover can appear in our lives when we least expect them. We can learn to trust again.
If you know my books, you probably recognize these themes. I hope they resonate with you.
Back to my initial questions then: when and how have you been betrayed? How did you recover or have you? What did you learn?