Well, as I am going over the second issue of the Sweet Shoppe chapter books, I realized that there was a passage that I was going to have to omit, because the age range for this series is aimed at a younger, teenage audience. I don't think it's anything outrageous, but it does talk about what happens during the night that a couple gets married, so I thought it might be safer to remove it. But also, if I have it on Amazon, that one section might make me have to give it a +18 rating, which would be INCREDIBLY frustrating. So, unfortunately, I decided to remove it, just to be safe. Folks that read my short story journals before might remember this scene between a young Prince Artemis and his father, Emperor Kosuda. But, just in case, I'm going to attach the scene here so you can review it for yourselves.

Kosuda walked with his son through a garden of roses.
"Son," he began, "I know you and I talked about this once before when you were younger, but you have grown a bit since then."
"Talked about what, Father?" Artemis asked.
"About what might happen tonight, or perhaps not."
If it wasn't Ajua saying baffling things, it was their father, Artemis thought to himself. Questioning him about his puzzling talk would get him nowhere, so instead, he waited patiently for the man to continue.
Kosuda sighed, heavily. "Where to begin?" he murmured. "It was somehow easier to discuss this when you were a curious kitten asking what a pair of ostriches were doing. You wondered why one was trying to climb on the back of the other." He chuckled at the memory. "You said, 'Father, why is he trying to climb on her back? He's already really tall, why is he trying to be taller? And why does it look like he's hurting her? Is it because he's so heavy?' On and on, your questions came as quickly as they were innocent. As soon as you thought of one, your curious mind thought of another. But, I imagine you may have questions still." he said, looking over at his now adult son.
Artemis listened to his father's anecdote with fond amusement. He remembered that day and all of the questions he had wanted his father to answer. Things were simpler back then, but then, so were his questions, and a simple question required only a simple answer. But now, he was grown. A man, a newly married man, and his thoughts were not so basic and they certainly were not innocent...at all.
"Well," Artemis began, "I know how it's done...I think..."
"You think, or you know?"
"I...think..." Artemis answered, shyly.
Kosuda couldn't suppress the tired groan that crawled out of the weary depths of his soul. Answering the questions of a small child would not be the same as tackling with the conundrums of a man. It was a good thing the rose garden was so expansive, because this was going to take a while.
"Right..." Kosuda said, bravely. "Well, what do you want to know?"
"Well, will we both be sleeping in my room, in my bed? Is that where she is going to be, more or less, living from now on? Or, will she have her own room?"
"Well, that depends--" Kosuda started.
"I can't believe I didn't ask that before." Artemis said, in disbelief. "Also, when will we be expected to have to have kittens? Do we even need to? Ajua is Crowned Princess, so her kittens will inherit the throne, not mine."
"Well--"
"And speaking of making kittens, I know how it's done, I think, but I don't know HOW it's done. Also, should we only do that when we need to have children, or can we do it for pleasure? Will she want to do it for pleasure? Does Mother? And do I undress myself and she undress herself, or should we undress each other, or should only one of us undress and the other gets undressed by the one that is nude?"
"Artemis?"
"Is it even okay to undress, completely? Should she keep some sort of gown on? Will it offend her that I to want to see her with nothing on? Will it offend her to see me with nothing on? Should I wear a robe?"
"Artemis?"
"I really want to see all of her, but will she want to see me? And if I can only share a bed with her to make children, does that mean we can only do it when she is in estrus? Can't we--" he babbled, but fell silent when his father placed his hand on his dark head.
"Son," he said, calmly, "you are panicking. Calm down, take a deep breath, and let's start again."
Obediently, Artemis complied with his much wiser father and took a deep breath...then another, and another. When he had sufficiently restored his composure, he looked at the emperor with anticipation.

More than anything else...it's just kind of silly. But, Amazon can be kind of ridiculous with its ratings and the worst thing that could happen is if I left the scene in and a parent left a negative rating because they thought it was too risqué...like this scene that also had to go ^_^;

...and then, one day, Avalon came into estrus...

Avalon was anxious. She paced the length of her room more times than she could count. Her body was hot and her thoughts were unfocused. If she stayed locked away in her bedroom a moment more, she was going to lose it. She had to get out. Her resolve set, she hurried to the door and swung it open to reveal a startling sight.
"Artemis?" she gasped.
The prince was standing before her looking sheepishly dumbfounded. He had come to her with the intention of making sure she was alright, but the closer he got to her bed chamber, the stronger her perfumed scent became. When he finally reached her door, he was paralyzed by the fragrance of her intoxicating aroma. He stood there, trying to work up the courage to knock, but found that it was difficult to even think straight.
This wasn't the first time she had come into heat, but it was the first since their relationship took a 180° turn. The situation now was very different than circumstances before. This time...this time...
When the door suddenly opened revealing the princess before him, the very sight of her stole his breath away. Being bombarded with her pronounced scent was bad enough, but seeing her hypnotically captivating beauty was too irresistible. He had to get away. He should never have come to her, but here he was and there she stood.
"Av...Avalon?" he breathed, staring wide-eyed at the queen filling his eyes.
Why was he here? What was his reason for coming to his wife's bed chamber? He had one, didn't he?
"I umm...I was just...are you...how do you feel? Are you...well?" he shyly admitted.
She stared at him and felt as though she had forgotten how to breathe, or that time was standing still. She was shivering, though she was not the least bit cold. On the contrary, she felt feverish. She was burning up and that she was going to faint.
"Avalon!" Artemis gasped, lunging forward to catch his wife that was slowly falling to the ground.
He lifted her into his arms and climbed to his feet. She was still staring enchantingly at him, the depths of her deep green eyes pulling him in. She reached up and gently caressed his cheek, lightly brushing the back of her fingertips across his fur. She pressed her finger to his lips and traced its smoothness.
"Artemis," she whispered, "please," she sighed, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck and reaching up to his ear to whisper...
"...take me to bed."

I mean, that one was a little more obvious, but the other one was more playful. ^_^; At least I'll leave these moments on this site. Although, in the book I did leave things like Ginger kissing Tange on the lips in. They are sisters and it's something I've seen in various cultures around the world where close relatives give little innocent kisses on the lips in a non-romantic/sexual way. I used to babysit a little girl who would kiss her mother like this and I always thought that it was very sweet, so I wanted to incorporate custom in my stories.

Sweet Shoppe is supposed to be something that everyone can read, regardless of age, so I have to be a little more careful with it than I am with Lion Paws or Hybrid: Gods and Demons. Even Bella Mariposa is not really intended for children. But, Lion Paws is the only one exclusively reserved for adults. The other two are more of a PG-13 to a soft R rating. This makes it a little more challenging to write for Sweet Shoppe, because I can't speak as broadly or explicitly as I can with the other series. I don't dumb things down, but I do have to tone things down a tiny bit with certain themes, mostly revolving around romance. There really isn't any violence in Sweet Shoppe, so that's not a worry, but there are plenty of romantic engagements in the story that includes ALL of the characters.

...but, all of this did get me thinking about something: how are children in royal families given THE TALK? For that matter, how do other families have this talk. I think I'll explore that in a future journal series. ^_^

PS: Sorry for the length of this post.