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.
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