Sunday, August 2, 2015

Lesbian erotic romance, fifty-plus shades, none grey...

It's out! Surrender Your Heart, a story I'm thrilled to share with the world. Why a lesbian billionaire romance?

Prior to writing Surrender Your Heart, I read lots of erotic romance, mostly of the straight kind. Why? I was curious as to what caused this genre and one particular trilogy to become a phenomenon, and why there seemed to be two ways to look at it only: Love or hate. My uncommon opinion fell somewhere in the middle, with none of those strong emotions other readers had expressed, though I was intrigued enough to try the works of other erotic romance authors, and came to the same conclusion.



There was something about the power dynamic that attracted me, though when it came to the specifics, for me, there were always elements I didn’t like.

I often felt that the men in question, though often in long-term therapy, didn’t address their control issues enough. Instead, the task of making them “a better man” fell to the woman, and after little negotiating, both partners accepted their respective roles. Take it or leave it. The price seemed a little high even in exchange for all the luxury, and, apparently great sex.

I was drawn to these books because all of them had interesting premises, and I had a hard time finding these particulars in lesbian fiction (maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough, granted, but I haven’t come across many lesbian billionaire leads yet). If I was straight, I might have come up with a story where the roles are reversed, with the woman billionaire and the guy with less money and fewer control issues catching her eye…but I’m not. As much as I enjoyed diving into these stories and learning from them, what I really wanted was a love story between women, with these precarious power imbalances. First of all? Because from where I stand, it’s so much hotter. D’uh.
 
 

The more important point was to explore how gender would change the approach to such a story. A highly successful businesswoman would have had obstacles in her way that weren’t there for the men, and therefore have a different perspective on her actions and their consequences. It would depend on how much aware she was of her privilege.

Some things would stay the same—the younger, less experienced woman crossing path with someone who changes her life completely. Both of them being women would take out much of the patriarchal structures, though they’d still have to address them.

All these musings went into Surrender Your Heart, the story of Penny and Carter. I hope you’re intrigued to take the journey with them, and enjoy.