Compulsion – what does it mean to you?
The compulsion that draws you to chocolate – shoes – shopping – eating – drinking?
To the wrong partners … to casual sex?
Thanks to Jo today for inviting me on her blog to introduce my new novel, called – aptly enough! – Compulsion.
I’ve always thought I’m pretty well controlled but I’ve had my mad moments 
. And a moment is all it takes to send you down a path you never imagined. I wrote Compulsion with the idea of showing how a moment’s fascination can lead to a whole lot of mess – but maybe also to something stronger and longer-lasting.
BLURB: The past always catches up with you. Max Newman should know—he’s been running from his ever since he dropped out of Uni and made a disastrous move to the seedier side of London. Now he’s returned to Brighton to lick his wounds. Though Max believes the club scene is better left behind him, one night he lets his friends drag him out dancing. And suddenly the simple life he’s tried to lead gets complicated.
At Compulsion, the Medina Group’s newest hotspot, Max meets Seve Nunez, a member of the Medina management and a man used to taking what he wants. The sexual chemistry between Max and Seve immediately leads to an intimate encounter in the backyard of the club—just the kind of dangerous behavior Max tried to leave behind. Despite that, he can’t help but crave more, and Seve seems just as eager.
But Max soon suspects that Seve may not be the scrupulous businessman he claims. Max has seen the Medina Group at work before, and what he saw got a good friend killed. He’s not sure what future he has with Seve, but he’ll have to decide whether to trust in Seve’s innocence or keep running. The wrong choice could land them both in mortal danger.
*
It’s been great to write a story set in my home town of Brighton, Sussex. The main character, Max, has returned there to stay with his good friends Jack and Louis. The seaside calms him, the familiarity is comforting, his friends are a great support. He’s all ready to turn over a new leaf and properly “grow up”.
But he’s struggling with the new life he wants to lead – sober, discriminating with his partners, reliable and modest. There’s something inside him aching to get free, making him restless. And at first, he doesn’t see that it’s his own passion that he’s fighting against. He’s forcing his own nature into hiding: his innate lust for life and adventure and thrill.
Seve, on the other hand, has never struggled with his life: everything’s been given to him when he needed or wanted it. Yet he’s also restless, mainly because everything’s been too easy for him. When he meets Max, he finds not only a man he’s desperately drawn to sexually, but a man who won’t take things at face value – who will provide Seve with the challenge he needs.
And the plot? Well, it’s the journey of these two men, from the first time that sexual attraction brings them together, to a few months down the line when they face danger together, and have to decide whether there’s something between them that goes beyond that initial compulsion.
So what about you? Do you have anything you’d struggle to resist? And are you brave enough to tell us?
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COMPULSION is available at Dreamspinner Press, Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, All Romance Ebooks and other online bookstores.
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Clare took the pen name London from the city where she lives, loves, and writes. A lone, brave female in a frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home, she juggles her writing with the weekly wash, waiting for the far distant day when she can afford to give up her day job as an accountant. She’s written in many genres and across many settings, with novels and short stories published both online and in print. She says she likes variety in her writing while friends say she’s just fickle, but as long as both theories spawn good fiction, she’s happy. Most of her work features male/male romance and drama with a healthy serving of physical passion, as she enjoys both reading and writing about strong, sympathetic and sexy characters.
Clare currently has several novels sulking at that tricky chapter 3 stage and plenty of other projects in mind . . . she just has to find out where she left them in that frenetic, testosterone-fuelled family home.
Find details of her publications and plenty of free fiction at her website, including an invitation to her mailing list. Visit her today and say hello!
Website : http://www.clarelondon.co.uk
Blog : http://clarelondon.livejournal.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/clarelondon
Twitter: http://twitter.com/clare_london
I NEVER resist if I want something enough. I have absolutely no willpower at all – though I do have morals! Pity!!
Hi Barbara. I think we all have a thread of that in us. I always say when I’m shopping that it’s not a NEED issue but a WANT one
. But I think your morals will be your salvation!
Is travelling a compulsion? I really have a problem saying no if a bunch of friends say “Let’s get together in Chicago in Feb.” That’s why credit cards were invented right? To allow you to never say no? LOL
I can’t really think of anything off hand that is really strong. Like if you see something you must touch it or have it. Maybe I’m too lazy to have compulsions. That would take effort.
*lol* a lovely description, Tam. And I think I know what you mean – most of my adventures over the last few years have been taken on in the spirit of “yes, why not?”.
And that’s one of the worst compulsions, I realise now – the inability to say “no”
I cannot resist a pretty face. They turn my head every time. I see a pretty face and those plot bunnies start to multiply!
Stuart, love, that is totally normal LOL. Shows we’re still alive! I find certain gestures do it for me, too, or voices. And I’m a bit of a compulsive eavesdropper, even though I say it’s for the sake of research
Hi Clare.
I think I’m a rather compulsive person by nature. I can’t resist books. I will spend the last penny in my bank account each month on new books.
I flirt, Ask Poppy, she knows lol. Hell, I don’t even know I’m doing it most of the time. I’ll be reminded that I’m flirting now and then, so will make a determined effort not to. I end up doing it anyway. Friends always notice when I’m ‘trying not to flirt’, because I just don’t seem like myself when I talk, or type. Has it got me in trouble? Not really, it usually gets me out of it.
I collect ‘lost souls’, they just find me, and I mother hen them over tough patches in their lives. I’m not so sure its a compulsion to do this. It just sort of happens, like the flirting. Hubby just rolls his eyes, mutters something about ‘not another one’, and usually ends up getting involved too.
Does being a coffee addict count? Perhaps that just goes with trying to be an author!
Loved this blog post Clare, good luck with sales. I’m sure this one is a winner, and a compulsive purchase for many
Val, thanks for the kind words! I think collecting can be a compulsion, but I’d never turn down books
. And just because they brought e-books into the equation, doesn’t mean I don’t surround myself with them as well!
Well, I think thank goodness the lost souls have you to collect them
. That all rolls into the “can’t say so” compulsion, though, I suspect. And flirting is like Stuart’s earlier comment, where he can’t resist a pretty face!
Hmmm, books, food, tv shows on DVD…I want them ALL LOL. Sadly, money is a great deterrent
I can only buy so much and most times I find I can only eat so much which is probably a good thing 
Looks like a great story ! What a great post guys!
Thanks Katherine! I used to describe myself as omnicupiscent (did I spell that correctly?) i.e. I see something lovely, I WANT it
. Anything and everything. But of course I’ve had to teach myself to enjoy looking, without having to buy.
I did go shopping with a friend recently for the day, and she said with a smile at the end of it – “you’re not a controlled shopper, are you?” I have a compulsion of my own, to end the day with fistsfull of shopping bags, even if I take 80% of it back the next day LOL.
Great post, Clare–thanks for stopping by! This is going to be my next read
I find it really hard to resist the compulsion to buy fabric and yarn. This is weird as I’m really good at resisting buying clothes, but give me the raw ingredients and I’m helpless with want! This is despite me already having enough yarn and fabric to keep me busy for years. I think it’s because I can see so many possibilities in the raw ingredients, whereas finished articles often disappoint. That, and they’re cheaper…