Thursday, November 5, 2015

The Gilded Cage by Lauren Smith @LSmithAuthor - New Release, Guest Post, and Giveaway


The Gilded Chain
by Lauren Smith
Series: Surrender, #3
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: November 3, 2015


Today Lauren Smith is stopping by to talk about "What's in a name?" - specifically, the importance of a great title and how she came up with the titles for the Surrender Series.

Hi Lauren! Thanks for stopping by today and sharing some behind the scenes info on the Surrender Series!

So, what is in a name?
When I start to write a book, I always like to have character names and a title worked out. This is a crucial part of the creative process of my writing. It feels like I have the beginning of a story map in my hands as I set off on the journey of writing the book. The story behind the titles in the Surrender Series is an interesting one.

The setting of the Surrender Series is primarily on Long Island, in particular the Gold Coast where during the 1920s many of the oil barons built some of the most lavish American castles. One of my favorite books was The Great Gatsby and I loved the entire gilded world where extravagance was part of everyday life. When I originally dreamed up the storyline for the first two books, I named the first book The Gilded Cuff. It was named after an elite BDSM on the Gold Coast where all the gorgeous, rich and fabulous gather to indulge their darker sides. The word cuff connects to the BDSM lifestyle where a submissive wears cuff bracelets that their dominant partner put on them as a show of ownership. But a cuff is also a type of jewelry which women like to wear. So the name for the first book is a double play on words.

The second book in the series The Gilded Cage is a reference to the heroine Hayden’s life situation. She’s a rich socialite trapped into a life she doesn’t want. Her “cage” while seemingly on the outside is a world of money and beautiful houses, is still a cage. When she discovers the mystery of the handsome Lockwood twins Emery and Fenn, she escapes her “cage” on Long Island and leaves her parents and the controlling world they live in. She breaks free and falls in love with Fenn on a Colorado ranch and gets a chance to be her own person for the first time in her life.

The third book in the series: The Gilded Chain, has a less interesting title story. I had originally intended to call it The Gilded Frame, because the mystery in this book involves an art thief, but my publisher’s sales team thought it would be better to stick to the BDSM themes, so they came up with The Gilded Chain instead. I loved that title so much better and it worked well because I was able to write a scene into Wes and Callie’s story where he gives her a collar to symbolize his dominant/submissive relationship and I had it be a beautiful chain link necklace rather than a leather collar. It played into the lavish lifestyle and wealth much better for the hero if he gave her a necklace as her collar.

The Series title Surrender is based around both an emotional and physical surrender for the hero and heroines. The heroines all learn to physically submit to the heroes (only in the bedroom) and the heroes all learn to surrender their hearts in love. It’s a wonderful exchange of power for the heroes and heroines and I wanted the readers to get a sense of that in the titles and the series name.
Thanks for stopping by today, Lauren, and sharing with us how the titles for the Surrender series and the series itself came about!




Explore a hidden world of erotic fantasies, where the greatest pleasures are stolen and the fiercest passions are untamed. . .

For years, Callie Taylor has been obsessed with two things: a man she can never have and escaping to Paris where she can follow her artistic passions. But everything changes when Callie meets Wes Thorne, a wealthy, mysterious art collector and famous dominant. Despite all the nights she’s spent dreaming of another man, it is Wes’s predatory gaze that suddenly consumes her every thought and sets her body on fire. One touch from him promises unforgettable passion, but Callie knows that passion often comes with a price…

From the moment he sets eyes on Callie, Wes is intrigued by her artistic talent and her delightful innocence of all things erotic. A stolen kiss leaves him aching and desperate to claim her in a way he’s never wanted any woman. But first he must convince her to surrender her control. And what better place to seduce an artistic soul like Callie’s than Paris?









Lauren Smith is an attorney by day, author by night, who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives with her three pets: a feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little schnauzer. She’s won multiple awards in several romance subgenres including being an Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award. Lauren loves hearing from readers and can be reached through her website www.laurensmithbooks.com.














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