99cts Sale for Surrender Your Heart!

Now's a good time to surrender:

Surrender Your Heart is currently on sale for 99cts, for a limited time (ends October 2nd).

Enjoy. <3

Excerpt Surrender Your Heart: The library and other temptations

Welcome to another sneak peek into the world of Penny and Carter! If you like what you see, you can find Surrender Your Heart here on Amazon. The next part in the trilogy, Surrender To Me, will be out next February (always a good time for romance). Enjoy! <3

 

 

 

“Why?” I’m starting to feel like a four-year-old, asking all these questions. Underneath it all, there are too many emotions that are all but child-like. I’m not ready to face them.

She lays her hands on me again, on my sides, barely above my hips. There doesn’t seem to be enough air in the room for both of us to breathe.

“What if, after some time, you don’t want to leave?” she asks, her lips almost brushing my cheek. “What if you like it here so much you realize this is what you want?”

“Being your guest?” I find the sarcasm hard to muster for a reason, but…I had someone get your passport. That means we’re not even in the country anymore. No one is going to come looking for me, and she knows it. She arranged for it.

“Being mine,” she says. “Breathe.” Her arms come around me, and it’s a wild tug of war, body and mind. How can I trust her? My body turns out to be a traitor, overriding the instinctual fight/flight reaction. When you can do neither, I’ve learned in class, you play dead. The warmth traveling to various places of my body as she holds me against her tells me without a doubt that I’m very much alive.

“You said I could study.” The words come out in a series of gasps, and it’s not for panicking. If I am, it’s for a different reason. “Show me.”

With regret in her expression, she lets go. “You should put on some clothes then.”

“Why do you care?”

A wry smile curves her lips. “I don’t, but we might run into someone. I don’t want them to get the wrong impression.”

“What is the right impression? What do you want them to think—or me?”

Carter answers my question, this time leaving no doubt as she steps into my personal place again and kisses me, spiraling me even deeper into confusion. Her lips are warm and soft, mine opening to her instinctively, a split-second, before I tear myself away.

She was right. There’s nothing of much worth in my apartment, or my life for that matter. Detours, stories that ended or stalled before they began for real. An uncertain future. Would it be any better if I just give in?

I avoid her gaze as I grab a shirt and pants and slip into a pair of flat sandals. “Okay. I’m ready. Now where’s that library?”

My cheeks are still burning. I need to see this through though—the more I learn about the layout of the house, the better. It will serve me sometime soon.

* * * *

The surprises never end. This time, she leads me deeper into the maze of rooms, and after a few minutes, I give up every hope I could remember the way. In fact if I tried to escape in here, I’d probably get lost and die.

The library is a thing of stunning beauty, something, under normal circumstances, I would have drooled over. Dark wood, floor to ceiling shelves with ladders, a spiral staircase leading to the upper level.

“The sociology section is up to date,” she explains. “There’s some psychology, women’s studies, literature. I know you’re interested in those. There’s a bit of everything. If you’d like some fiction, I can give you an e-reader on which you’ll find classics, contemporary and all kinds of genre fiction. Please understand I can’t allow any internet access.”

I can’t even find a sarcastic comeback, staring in awe at the many shelves going up to the ceiling, some leather-bound collections. This is only the non-fiction section? If I’d known this she wouldn’t have had to go to all this trouble to get me here. Why, a ticket to a private retreat on the beach, complete with a library, I’m there! This is not how it happened. I drank a glass of wine on my couch and woke up in an unfamiliar bedroom.

It’s not romantic.

It’s a crime.

I turn to her, see her watching me with a proud gaze. No doubt it takes someone clever—and crazy rich—to come up with all of this. I’m sure she’s proud of herself, and the way I nearly caved a moment earlier.

“What if I say no to all of this? I mean…It’s great. You have a beautiful home and obviously, lots of money to spend. It’s a dream, but what if it’s not my dream?”

“Give me time,” she says, “I’ll show you.”

The warm inviting tone sends a shiver down my spine. I want to leave this disturbing fantasy, and I don’t. My mind is not my own anymore, and it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.

“Maybe you will.” I can’t believe those words came out of my mouth. Her smile tells me that in her world, maybe is not an option. It’s the world I’m living in now—if I don’t find my way out of this castle. Enchanted or cursed, I have yet to determine.

“It’s been a long day,” Carter amends. “We’ll talk some more tomorrow. You need to rest now.”

What I need is to memorize every step we are taking between this room and “my” bedroom. It might come in handy sometime soon. My lips still tingle.

 

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.

 

On Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Surrender-Your-Heart-Raven-Spencer-ebook/dp/B0118DAWUA/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Excerpt: Surrender Your Heart

Surrender Your Heart is now out! Take a peek into the world of Penny and Carter with a couple of excerpts. If you like what you see, you can one-click here. Surrender Your Heart is also available as a free read through Kindle Unlimited/Prime.

 

Excerpt 1:

 

Women want to be courted, cherished, swept off their feet by someone who is crazy about them, obsessed with them. They would do anything for love. That’s what the romance novels say, at least, and for most of my life, I’ve been shaking my head or cracking jokes when the subject came up in our book club.

Lesbian relationships are not like that anyway, I used to argue. We defy the rules of patriarchy, well, as long as you don’t get involved with the occasional self-centered girl. That can happen, but a billionaire lady showering you in gifts and luxury in exchange for kinky games? I don’t think so. If there’s one who’ll pay my tuition until I have my degree, I’ll let her spank me, I used to say, sometimes, when after too many shifts at the café, the exam results didn’t live up to my expectations.

Even Haley and Lara, who eat up these books by the spoonful, saw the humor in that. There’s no guy like that either. They are smart capable women, each in their respective field. Fiction is an escape. I understand that, even if I don’t always agree on the same theme. The gleam in their eyes when talking about their favorite stories was disconcerting to me. It’s not what they, me, or any woman would want, right? It’s not real. It’s not right.

Then it happened to me.

 

 

Excerpt 2:

She brushes her hand over my hair, her eyes never leaving mine, fingertips traveling down my shoulder. It’s odd that she touches me like this, tentative, cautious, as if asking for permission. I don’t think she went to all this trouble thinking she would have to ask. If she wants something, she takes it. I’m the living proof.

“What are you going to wear for the night? Or do you prefer to sleep naked? You can. None of my staff is going to walk in here without permission.”

“It’s not the staff I’m worried about,” I mumble, and she laughs. Damn my crazy kidnapper for having such a sexy laugh. Damn me for being so easy. Stockholm syndrome starts early, apparently.

The romance novels are wrong. This is not what I’ve dreamed of all my life—or is it? Crap. “Can’t you let me go? I swear I’ll forget about all this. I even give you my number…Wait, you have it. Did you clean out my apartment?” I step back and stare at her in disbelief—or maybe that disbelief is directed at myself, because her hand on my arm, moving to my back, felt so good.

“I’m afraid there wasn’t much of worth in it,” Carter says. “I had someone get your passport, and a few papers of course. A few clothes, so anyone who goes in there will buy the timeout for a year. I don’t want the police to come looking for you. As for your question,” she finishes calmly, “the answer is no. I can’t let you go.”

“Why?” I’m starting to feel like a four-year-old, asking all these questions. Underneath it all, there are too many emotions that are all but child-like. I’m not ready to face them.

She lays her hands on me again, on my sides, barely above my hips. There doesn’t seem to be enough air in the room for both of us to breathe.

“What if, after some time, you don’t want to leave?” she asks, her lips almost brushing my cheek. “What if you like it here so much you realize this is what you want?”

“Being your guest?” I find the sarcasm hard to muster for a reason, but…I had someone get your passport. That means we’re not even in the country anymore. No one is going to come looking for me, and she knows it. She arranged for it.

“Being mine,” she says. “Breathe.” Her arms come around me, and it’s a wild tug of war, body and mind. How can I trust her? My body turns out to be a traitor, overriding the instinctual fight/flight reaction. When you can do neither, I’ve learned in class, you play dead. The warmth traveling to various places of my body as she holds me against her tells me without a doubt that I’m very much alive.

“You said I could study.” The words come out in a series of gasps, and it’s not for panicking. If I am, it’s for a different reason. “Show me.”

With regret in her expression, she lets go. “You should put on some clothes then.”

“Why do you care?”

A wry smile curves her lips. “I don’t, but we might run into someone. I don’t want them to get the wrong impression.”

“What is the right impression? What do you want them to think—or me?”

Carter answers my question, this time leaving no doubt as she steps into my personal place again and kisses me, spiraling me even deeper into confusion. Her lips are warm and soft, mine opening to her instinctively, a split-second, before I tear myself away.

 

 

Cover Reveal: Surrender Your Heart

Coming August 1, 2015:

To tell you the truth: I love everything about this cover. The pink (I’m holding on tightly to my lesbian card—yes, lesbians can like pink!), the feminine feel, and the kinky vibe provided for the cuffs clearly not intended for arresting bad guys.

Still, it doesn’t show a lot of skin—a lot is left to the imagination here.

Surrender Your Heart is a love story, but it’s also about two people who have to negotiate the parameters of their relationship.

Out in the real world, their positions are unequal, an imbalance created by money and circumstance. When attraction and intimacy come into play, they have to find a way to rise beyond these inequalities. This will take compromise…and ultimately, surrender.

 

Surrender Your Heart, the story of Penny and Carter, will be out August first, but watch out for an opportunity to pre-order coming soon, and visit the blogs taking part in this cover reveal, organized by Shades Rose Media.

Are you ready to...Surrender?

Only 19 days until the cover reveal of Surrender Your Heart! I can't wait to bring this erotic romance out into the world. The official release date is August 1st.



Penny can’t believe what happened to her: One day she’s studying sociology and paying her tuition with her job at a local café, the next she wakes up in a luxurious house which is the property of a rich and enigmatic woman. Carter Forbes is ready to lay the world at her feet, but what will she expect in return? As she uncovers Carter’s reasons to create this unusual situation, Penny can’t deny the attraction between them. Can she reconcile her desire with her beliefs about herself, or is this passionate affair doomed from the start?

 

Hop Against Homphobia, Bi- and Transphobia

Hi & welcome! I'm thrilled to take part in this year's Hop in honor of the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, May 17th. The blog hop and giveaway will run until May 24th. Details and prizes for hoppers are at the end of this post. Let's all join the conversation.

To me, the key to fight homophobia, biphobia and transphobia is representation, and communication. You can’t make your point if you’re not safe, and when you’re not being heard, others will try to define who you are. This is especially important when it comes to crafting laws and passing bills for equal protection, but also in the everyday life.

 This is why I’m thrilled to take part in this event where we come together to name the problem and discuss solutions from various perspectives in the context of storytelling.

Media matters when it comes to creating a safe space for this conversation, so I’m grateful for publishers and reviewers who welcome every letter of LGBTQ, because it takes many stories to build the whole picture.

LGBTQ characters in mainstream media count, because it’s harder to understand what you can’t see or imagine.

 The more, the better.

In my little corner of the LGBTQ book world, I write lesbian erotica and erotic romance. A Perfect Dream, the first in a series about a sensual getaway for women, follows the story of a woman who keeps many secrets and can’t imagine her life any other way, is confronted with the ultimate alternative.

I will give away three e-copies—to enter, you just have to leave a comment here on this post. Please add your contact information (email address). Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you on July 22^nd for the cover reveal of my erotic romance Surrender Your Heart.

 

Love,

Raven

Visit all the blogs participating in the hop, see you around!