Indie Flutters: Sinful Surrender by Houston Havens – Excerpt & Interview

Sinful Surrender

By Houston Havens
Editions: eBook
Published: March 17th 2014
Source: Review by Request
Genre: Erotica

In a Flutter: Short & Sexy!

On the run, branded a traitor by her government, Fay Avalon has to depend on three brothers for shelter. Sinful Surrender is Book 1 of Houston Havens’ new romance series, Psychic Ménage. Why be tempted by one man’s seduction when you can be loved by three? Top psychic spy Fay Avalon saw too much on her latest mind traveling mission and is now on the run from her post-catastrophic dystopian government, searching for the truth and proof. She escapes but is shot down, landing in the arms of the enemy.

In Drakker and Arlo’s world, women are so rare the men have accepted a polyandrous lifestyle. When the brothers stumble upon Fay unconscious in the wreckage of an aircraft, they are immediately attracted to her. Arlo wants to keep her, but Drakker knows they can’t. They must take her to their brother Logan Abán, leader of their people.

Logan struggles with trusting anyone, even himself. When a beautiful, intelligent, and intriguing woman falls into their laps, his denied desires for intimacy challenge his need to trust the spy. He’s frustrated by romantic Arlo’s claims of her innocence. Even when pragmatic and dominating Drakker defends her as well, Logan refuses to trust his gut.

Can one woman satisfy the diverse desires of three men? Will Logan’s fears be realized by betrayal? Is Fay to be sentenced to death as a spy, suffer a fate worse than death by being returned to her government as a traitor, or will she find a new life and love as the wife of three sexy brothers?

~ GoodReads

This was an amazingly detailed and fascinating set up – the sociology and political structures were well crafted and create an intriguing backdrop for the Psychic Menage Series.

I will absolutely continue with this series. I think Houston Havens has created enormous potential in this world, and I’m excited to find out what happens next!

Sinful Surrender takes place on a ruined Earth in the year 4860.

Before the apocalypse, the wealthiest and most powerful citizens created secret underground cities, leaving the common people to die off or adapt to the ruined surface of the planet…

The new Underground Government is oppressive and strict – the population they control, known as “dirt dwellers” have no idea of the extent of the evil their rulers are capable of…

Nearly seven hundred years after the cataclysm, the Underground Government is ready to take back the surface of the earth… By Force if necessary.

Airbornes are those humans who stayed above ground and adapted to earth after the blast… They’ve been defending themselves against the Underground Government for over five hundred years – germ warfare, cyborg attacks, and mass genocide are a constant threat.

Fay has been working as a Psychic Spy for the corrupt Dirt Dweller Government. Upon discovering a shocking secret, Fay makes the decision to escape the underground and venture out into the open Earth – She is seeking the truth about the underhanded practices of her supposedly benevolent government.

She plans to obtain proof of her government’s corruption and return to the dirt dwellers as a whistle blower. She steals a spacecraft and narrowly escapes the tunnels before being shot out of the sky by the very people she’s been spying for her entire life.

She’s bruised, shaken, and alone on the surface of an unfamiliar Earth.

The Airborne brothers who come to her aid might seem kind and handsome, but they are still her enemy. Fay is taken back to a secret Airborne City where she must prove that she is not a threat.

Arlo – The Artist & Poet falls in love with Fay instantly…
Drakker – The scientist wins Fay over with his Dominance…
Logan – The Airborne Leader doesn’t trust Fay at all…

In a world were females have been killed off by their enemy as population control, Airbornes have taken to a polyandrous lifestyle – it is customary for an entire group of brothers to take and share a single wife.

The two youngest Abán Brothers are smitten with Fay. Unfortunately the eldest Abán (who is also leader of the Airbornes) refuses to trust this spy who has wandered into their lives…

In the kink department:
Lots of hot sexual situations,
Voyeurism,
Exhibitionism,
Light D/s themes,
Anal Play,
Anal Sex,
Bondage,
Threesomes,
and a MMFM scene that will knock your socks off!

Excerpt

Logan’s silence made her fidget. He ended her suffering when he said, “I’d suggest to the brother outside of her affections to work harder at pleasing the woman he cares about, if he wants to win her heart.” He glanced at Arlo. “I’d suggest his brothers help him out. Perhaps, the brother on the outs and the woman got off on the wrong foot. Maybe neither of them knows how to step around that first awkward meeting to actually see each other for who they really are.”

“Just what I was thinking, bro.” Arlo smiled at Fay. “Tsi ge yu i—I mean, love, I’d like to introduce you to my brother Logan.”

“This is silly—” She felt her stomach flutter as Logan interrupted her with a kiss. She drew her hands up to push him away but stopped in midair when his lips, so warm and soft, pressed against hers again with such tenderness. His mouth moved in a slow, seductive kiss that said he truly wanted her.

He broke away. “It is a pleasure to meet you, my lovely Fay Avalon. May I have this dance with you?” His tone was deep and sexy.

Her fingers caressed her mouth where his lips had been as she spoke from behind them. “This is crazy.” Her breasts bounced with each hurried breath she took. She glanced at Arlo. “There isn’t any music. How am I to dance with him?”

Logan stood, scooping her up into his arms as Arlo started singing. “Like this,” he said, cradling her body against his in a way that wouldn’t cause her any pain. He nuzzled her neck then kissed his way up to her ear and whispered, “While we dance, will you play an innocent get to the core of the truth game with me?”

“I’m not good at games.”

“It’s not a physical game. It’s intellectual. It’s a game that allows people to get to know each other fast. However, you have to speak from the heart’s truth. If you can’t speak from the heart, you can’t play. I’ll start.”

Her arms tightened around his neck as Arlo broke into the main chorus of a beautiful ballad. Logan swayed and turned, holding her in his arms. “Fay Avalon, you tantalize me with your loveliness and your amazing strengths. You weaken my will, and that is why I fear you.”

His confession was shockingly honest and real. No man in her world would ever reveal such a truth. “You can trust me, Logan. I will not betray or lie to you.”

“Ah, but I can’t. I trusted once and was betrayed. People died because I was a fool who believed in honor.” He set her down and tapped at the bridge of her nose. “The game is…you reveal what you feel about the person in front of you.”

“But it’s important to me you understand I will do whatever it takes to prove my word and honor to you.”

“Darlin’. We’re playing a game to get to know each other, not debate or discuss issues. I told you what I thought of you and my reaction to what I was feeling. It’s your turn to tell me what you think of me and your feelings about it.”

He held her in his protective embrace, only her toes touched the ground as he carefully moved her around the fire with his long steps. He carried most of her weight as they moved to Arlo’s song.

She looked into his eyes. It was as if she saw him for the very first time. “I fight my true feelings for you because…”

His penetrating stare coaxed her to tell him why.

“Because, well…because you hold my fate in your hands. You have yet to tell me what my future will be. It’s hard to make plans when I fear I will live as a prisoner in your world. Or worse, I will carry a death sentence over my head to be enforced when all this settles down.”

“I’ll grant you a beautiful future if you tell me you care for me and will forever be true to the clan of Abán.” He held her body against him, moving in time with the song. “Do you want to honor our world and make it yours?” He stopped dancing.

She answered with her heart. “I do. Do you want me here?”

He locked his stormy eyes to hers, his gaze ablaze with passion. “I do.”

“Then let me know it. Show me in the things you say and do.” She tilted her head back expecting him to kiss her. Instead, he surprised her with his boldness.

“I never do what’s anticipated.” He pulled her closer into his chest and whispered in her ear. “It would make me boring and predictable.” He slipped his hands under her blouse and stroked his fingertips in seductive circles over her flesh. The passion in his eyes grew hotter. “I’ve desired you from the moment you walked through my front door.”

She widened her eyes in mock shock then shot her gaze over to Arlo. His raised brow and cocked head made her turn a frown back in Logan’s direction. “You said this was a game of truth.” She placed her hands over his, keeping them just below her breasts. “That’s a lie.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Logan, it was quite obvious to us all that morning the only thing you wanted to do to me was to interrogate me.” She looked at Arlo again. He shrugged and started singing another song. Coward. He was avoiding voicing his opinion.

“Then you’re all blind, because the first thing I truly wanted was to kiss those perfect lips. The second thing was to interrogate that succulent mouth of yours to make it tell me the truth about you.” He glided his touch around to the sides of her breasts.

Fay liked how his hands caressed her, and she wasn’t about to tell him to stop. His touch created a fire deep inside her, something she’d longed for all her life.

“Fay, a person can be suspicious of someone, but it doesn’t necessarily negate a very strong attraction to them. How do you think most assassins get in close for a kill? Their targets find them very attractive.”

“Hmm, didn’t think of that. What you say is true.” She felt his fingers stroke down her lower back to play with the laces holding her blouse closed. A subtle heat warmed her pussy. “I’ve known a few women who loved their husbands but didn’t trust them to be faithful.”

“See.” In one swift motion, he pulled at the laces and removed her blouse.

“Logan,” Fay whispered. Arlo’s soft singing in the background reminded her they weren’t alone.

He trailed his seductive touch to her bra straps. Slipping his fingertips beneath the material he worked the silky strips off her shoulders. She crossed her arms over her breasts to stop him from removing it.

“Logan, we can’t—”

He swept her deeper into his arms and stopped her words by pressing his mouth to her ear. “Tell me true…do you desire me?”

Without breaking his hold, she was able to brace a short distance between them, just enough to gaze into his eyes. “Truth?”

“Nothing but the truth shall ever pass between us.” He tilted his head forward and down, closing the space between them. He brushed his mouth softly against hers, merging their heat, and then did it again. He licked the seam of her lips, and she couldn’t help herself. It was a physical need. She granted his tongue entry.

Her bra fell free before she circled her arms around him. His touch ignited her flesh as he moved his fingers to the front of her jeans and worked her zipper until her pants dropped to the ground. “The truth is—” she murmured at the release of his lips.

“The truth,” he whispered in her ear. “Even though I fear my knees will fail me should you tell me I disgust you.” Logan cupped each breast before dropping his hands to stroke several gentle passes over her ass. He kissed and caressed, roaming his hands over her, although he did take care not to touch the area of her wound.

She stroked her nails up his back in wanton need, realizing if she were honest with herself, she felt the same desire for him she’d felt for Arlo and Drakker. “If my heart were to speak the truth, it would say you grabbed my sexual interest the moment I saw you in those tight white pants and red silk shirt.”

Her remark brought a proud smile to his lips. “Okay…so my clothes got you heated up.”

“No, it was the hard body beneath those clothes.”

“So…when did I capture your heart?”

“Honestly?”

“Honest.”

“When you became my hero.”

“I’m your hero? How? When?”

She smiled up at him. “Escaping the Nike silo. I still can’t believe you carried me all that way to safety.”

“How do you know that?”

“Whenever I woke up you were there, and Chandra confirmed it when I asked her.”

“Ah.” He smiled then frowned. “That was all it took?”

“Yes.”

“Funny, it happened for me then as well.”

“It did?”

“Yep, I knew in my gut I already loved you when you admitted you risked your life for me. That’s when I knew I couldn’t live without you. Hell, I didn’t want to ever let you go. It’s why I wouldn’t let anyone else carry you. You were mine. I knew somewhere within you, you had to love me. For you to sacrifice yourself like that…you had to love me.”

Q&A with Houston Havens

If you were to describe your book in only one word, what would it be?
Captivating

What would you say inspired you to write it?
When I wrote my first romance novel an idea popped into my head for the idea of Sinful Surrender.

What was your source of inspiration for this intriguing post-apocalyptic world?
It wasn’t so much as inspiration but the idea came from all the research I’d been doing about D.U.M.B.s, HAARP, ley lines, remote viewing combined with my wild imagination of what all these things could do to change our world.

What sort of research (if any) did you do to prepare for this series?
I love doing research…I can get lost in it…and I love accuracy in my stories….so I do a lot. Even though some seems too far out there to be real…you’d be surprised how much of what I write into my stories comes from fact.

What was your first Erotica reading experience?
I wrote the entire Psychic Ménage Series before I read my first Erotic book. I’m not a believer in reading other authors work while I’m writing.

I do “research” reading between books. I don’t read romance or erotica unless it’s to help an author friend with her manuscript.

I believe to keep my work fresh and different I have to stay away from what others in my genre write.

Have you ever been hit by the infamous “writer’s block”? What did you do to escape it?
No, I’ve never had writer’s block. My head is too full of stories. But I have come very close to writer’s BURN OUT because I am a slow writer, so I work 16 hour days 7 days a week. I haven’t had a vacation in 4 years. So, after Phantom Desire was published, I did take a few days off to rest the mind.

What is your all time favorite book?
Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy

What made you pick that one above all others?
Because he was a brilliant author…he captured me from page one and kept me hooked with his detailed writing to the very last page.

What’s the longest time you’ve spent working on a project?
The longest time on a project would have been when I was learning the craft of writing. I’ve spent over 20 years perfecting the craft until I knew I was ready. You only get one change to impress the reader with your work.

As far as books, I wrote five full length (100,000 word) novels while learning, then I submitted the second one (Genre: Romance) I wrote and edited it about 20 to 50 times. Then I sent it to about five publishers to get their feedback before I wrote (Genre: Erotic Romance) the Psychic Ménage series and submitted.

Would you say becoming an author has changed you? In what way?
Yes. I won’t lie…this is a rough business….It has made me into a ‘no nonsense’ person, but I wouldn’t change being an author for anything.

Was there ever a time, during your work for this book, when you felt like giving up? What made you change your mind?
Yes, but not on the story or the craft, I love to write.

You have to LOVE to write … if you’re in it to ‘get rich’ … don’t become an author. Remember why you write and why you’re going through this…you do it for YOUR READERS.

To honestly answer your second part of the question: My very supportive hubby and a few very close to the heart friends of mine are the ones who picked me up after every battle, dusted me off, bandaged my wounds, put the sword back into my hand and shoved me back out to fight another day.

What does your day-to-day life consist of? What else do you do, aside from writing?
LOL…I’m an author. I tend to be a workaholic, I work 16 hours days, 7 days a week, but now and then hubby insists I get out. He’ll drag me and my hidden laptops to a vacation spot to rest the mind and regenerate. (Don’t tell him I hide in the bathroom typing away on my books)

How do you deal with bad reviews or acid criticism? What would you advise other authors to that effect?
I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had tons of great reviews with such kind words they bring tears to my eyes and fill my heart with love. I have awesome readers and reviewers! It’s because of them I do what I do.

For bad reviews – brush it off…not everyone will love my work.

What are you working on next for The Psychic Ménage series?
I’m doing self-edits right now on book three of the series. Then it’ll go to the publisher’s content and final line editors. I’m hoping the book will be released close to the first of the year.

What do you have stored for us in the future? Anything outside The Psychic Menage series?
Of course. I have a “spin off” series to this series, and the end of that series will bring you right back to the first series. Plus I have a few other ideas in my head that I’ll be putting to paper soon.

What made you decide to become an Author?
LOL, I’m Irish. Storytelling is in our Druid bloodline…anyone who tells you he’s Irish but can’t tell you a bloody story…isn’t Irish!

What would you say was the toughest part?
The toughest part for me was realizing the struggle isn’t over when you finally get published…it’s just beginning.

Did you hire professionals for editing, cover design, formatting?
I’m with a publishing house…as a matter of fact I’m with two. But, yes, I hire an outside editor to check my work as well as working with in-house (Publisher) editors.

As far as hiring cover design and formatting…yes, you’d need to do that if you’re self-publishing like I did for my PRINT version for my book Sinful Surrender.

How did you decide who to hire, if you worked with pros?
Ask around to get recommendations and a lot of the book tour companies offer these services.

How long did the production part take, from the moment you began working on the manuscript to self-pub to when you hit ‘Publish’?
Gosh…I would think that depends on who you hire and how full each of their schedules are.

Where is your work being distributed, Amazon, B&N, Smashwords, etc? How did you decide which one(s) to go with?
I didn’t, my publisher for Sinful Surrender distributes through:
Retailers for the eBook: Amazon | ARe | B&N | Kobo | LSB
Retailers for Print: Amazon | Createspace

If you could turn back in time and do things differently, would you? What would you change?
No, because each move I made got me where I am today.

FUN FACTS:

If you could wish for any one thing, and it would immediately come true, what would you wish for?
New York Times best sellers list.

If you were stranded on an isolated island, what’s the one thing you’d absolutely wish to have with you?
My Hubby…he’s a survivor.

Name your favorite fruit.
Black Cherries

Coffee or tea?
Coffee (white chocolate caramel)

Favorite season?
Fall

How about favorite time of the day?
Before dawn and after dusk.

Were you a girlscout?
No…bluebird.

Favorite food for breakfast?
Strawberries with walnuts and honey

Latest book you’ve bought and read?
Two: Kim Mullican’s book Thicker Than Water (Awesome book), and Suzy Knight’s book Love and War (Another fabulous book)

Do you collect things, like stamps, or key chains, or shoes?
No.

Favorite color, you know you want to tell us!
Black

Drama or comedy?
Both

Have a favorite quote or personal motto?
Only the strong survive.

Cats or dogs?
Dog

Dinner by candlelight or a night out clubbing?
Candlelight

Do you have a guilty pleasure?
None I’d tell!

Favorite Swear Word?
Bloody Bleedin’ Bastards!

About the Author

Houston Havens retired from a successful modeling career and an adventurous jet-set lifestyle to set the world on fire with her erotic romance books. A tenacious Irish lass, she strives to entertain with seductive stories created from her decadent imagination and traces of a provocative lifestyle she may or may not admit to.

Her interest in the paranormal, fascination with quantum science, passion with myths, and the lure of her mysterious Celtic Irish-Druid bloodlines are combined with generally unknown truths, strange facts, and questionable fiction. Her novels reflect a mix of the past, present, and future, with sexy blends of futuristic science fiction, paranormal fantasy, western romance, and always love everlasting. An author of six romances, a seven book erotic romance series, and numerous articles in literary magazines, she has two award winning blogs. Stop by for a visit and leave a comment at http://houstonhavens.wordpress.com

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