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The
Story Behind The Story: Enslaving Heaven
Try
your hand at puzzles made with the cover.
Excerpt:
A
soft moan from across the room drew her attention back to the
submissive. Alya was
slowly stroking up and down her inner thighs, rubbing the scented
cream into her skin. With
each upward stroke, she brushed her hand against the harness,
shifting the didlo strapped inside her.
Just
before her shower Lyssa had produced the toy and strapped her into
it. Instantly, Alya
had trembled. Her body
flushed with need.
“Come
here.” Lyssa
struggled for a softer tone, knowing she hadn’t been easy on the
girl the last few days. She'd
pushed her, showing her the worst she could expect.
Now it was time to show her the best, the gentleness, Lyssa
also possessed.
Alya
climbed onto the bed and her breath caught in a whimper.
Lyssa reached out and cupped the leather at her groin,
pressing it deeper and tilting it slightly.
Alya’s legs trembled, the muscles spasming.
Her doe-brown eyes closed in bliss as she rocked against
Lyssa’s hand.
Lyssa
shifted her hand back and forth, gently stroking the dildo against
her submissive’s slick inner walls until her breath caught on a
moan. “Mistress,”
Alya whimpered. Her
teeth caught her lower lip, biting down on the tender flesh.
It was a clever way to delay an orgasm.
Lyssa had seen many prostitutes use the same technique.
She stopped and
Alya’s eyes flared open. Wordlessly,
she begged for more, her eyes soft and pleading.
Additional
excerpt offered by Phaze HERE
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Reviews:
Ivy
for Manic Readers
Cherokee
for Coffee Time Romance
Lizardlez
for Rainbow Reviews
Patrice
F. for Joyfully Reviewed
Enslaving
Heaven by Michelle Houston
  
(Rated 3 & 1/2 stars)
Lyssa
is the captain of a mercenary spaceship. Nita is her first officer. Their
relationship is complex; but when Lyssa rescues a slave girl, things come to a
head.
Michelle Houston writes very well. The action scenes are well done, and don't
seem incidental to the plot as in some erotica. There is a plot, and it's not
just there to further the sex. The sex is of the BDSM flavor, and all
female/female. It's done quite well, and there is just the right amount of sex
scenes. My only complaint is that you don't get enough of each character to
really relate to them, or figure out how they tick, so to speak. So they come
off as a little shallow, Lyssa especially.
ENSLAVING
HEAVEN
MICHELLE HOUSTON
ISBN#: 9781594268717
April 14, 2008
Phaze
www.phaze.com
E-Book
$2.50
Pages
Lesbian/Sci-Fi/BDSM/Erotica
Rating: 3 Cups
Reviewed
by Cherokee
for Coffee Time Romance
Lyssa has her ship that needs
upgrades but after seeing a luscious girl soon to be auctioned off
as a slave, her interest suddenly turns to the girl.
Alya is a slave that is soon
purchased by Lyssa. As a slave she is to do anything that her
owner desires, no matter how great the punishment.
Lyssa knows people just try to
survive on the miserable planet. The mining colony is not any
tourist attraction, rather a place for thieves, smugglers. She did
not care for the way the women were forced into slavery but seeing
the young one about to be auctioned off catches her eye.
Basically, some had to use their bodies to survive. Her first
captain Nita, does not believe she should buy the slave when the
ship needs repairs. Nita knows that Lyssa is drawn to Alya
sexually. Nita does not desire her in that way, rather she does
not wish Alya to stay because the girl will be a constant reminder
of what she will never have. Lyssa wants to set Alya free but she
also wishes to have her in her bed. With her own scars tormenting
her, Lyssa can only wonder if someone as beautiful as Alya will
desire her or wish to leave.
Enslaving Heaven is a read that
gives thought. The characters, especially Lyssa, have to be tough
especially enduring such treatment on the planet. Lyssa, Alya and
Nita are engaging characters each fighting with a scar or blemish
in their life. I found myself caring for each of them. Michelle
Houston spins a tale at a good pace, where the reader can get a
feel of the planet and the surroundings. She not only tells a
story well, but one I enjoyed. I would like to read more about
Nita.
TITLE:
Enslaving Heaven
AUTHOR: Michelle Houston
ISBN: 978-1-59426-871-1
PUBLISHER: Phaze
RATING: 3 stars
Review
by Lizardlez for Rainbow Reviews
Blurb: Lyssa is disgusted by the whole
sale of slaves, but finds herself drawn to one of the ladies on
the selling block. After impulsively purchasing her, Lyssa now has
to decide what to do with Alya as she can't just keep her. But the
former prostitute, now slave, has other plans for her new
mistress, including convincing her to let her stay.
As if Lyssa doesn't have enough
to deal with, her pilot and best friend Nita is having problems
adjusting to the newest member of their crew, and how it makes her
feel. Nita had once found what Lyssa has, but lost it thanks to
her. When an accident gives Nita a second chance with the woman
she loves, she risks Lyssa's wrath to be with her.
* * *
"Heaven," in this BDSM
erotic romance novella (under 50 pages), is not a place. She's a
person, although this definition is subject to debate on the
planet where she is sold as a slave.
DV65, a mining colony in space,
is the site of regular slave auctions. Ironically, this tradition
results from the outlawing of prostitution as such:
"Ever since the laws
banning the sex trade were passed, the prostitutes who plied their
trade in the four colonies suddenly found themselves without jobs.
Many of them had no marketable skills, other than lying flat on
their backs and spreading their legs. Most of them still owed
debts to their pimps or madames ... When they had more debt than
they could pay off, they were sold to the highest bidder to cover
their bills."
Space captain Lyssa, who runs a
smuggling operation, has Dominant tendencies and a righteous
contempt for the practice of selling women. So what is she to do
when her pilot, Nita, brings the ship to the slave auction? Rescue
the most delectable piece of female property by buying her, of
course. Alya, who explains that her name means "Heaven,"
is a trained submissive whose grace and eagerness to please are
evident even when she is displayed for sale.
Lyssa is still recovering from
the latest attack on her ship by some of her numerous enemies.
Nita thinks that Lyssa and the rest of the crew have better things
to do than become distracted by a female sex-toy. Nita's
resentment is so obvious that the reader wonders if she and Lyssa
have a history together.
They do, but it's more
complicated than one would guess. While flying through space,
searching for (non-human) booty and evading interplanetary law and
rival smugglers, Lyssa and Nita have come to know each other very
well. Their sexual needs are complementary, but Nita yearns for
the one she was forced to leave behind, a member of respectable
society on a space station.
Alya shows herself to be so
helpful (in non-sexual ways) to the rest of the crew that no one
can resent her, even Nita. Yet Alya's clear loyalty is to Lyssa,
who has set her free by day, at least. Will Nita ever be reunited
with the one she can't forget? If so, will Nita have to leave the
ship which is her only home?
This fast-paced plot includes
several hot woman/woman sex scenes. Eventually, the dilemmas are
resolved in a satisfying way and all the central characters have
found happiness, at least until the next attack. The discovery of
a treacherous former crew-member (a man, of course) suggests the
need for a sequel novella.
Enslaving
Heaven
by Michelle Houston
Phaze
Gay,
Lesbian
ISBN
978-1-59426-871-7
Reviewed
by Patrice F. fro Joyfully Reviewed
Captain
Lyssa and her best friend and pilot, Nita, are conducting business
on DV65 when they decide to pass time in the market square.
There’s a slave auction in full swing, and while the
space-pirate duo find it distasteful, they know that DV65 is a
mining colony haven for criminals and worse.
Lyssa
spots submissive Ayla on the slave block and cannot resist the
impulse to buy her. Nita isn’t pleased. Lyssa
deserves to be happy, but she can’t quite squelch her resentment
and the heartache of her own loss.
Will
Lyssa wake up and smell the manure she’s planted her best pal in
before it’s to late? Or will she be too busy wallowing in
self-pity while getting her carnal jollies with Ayla?
Nipple
clamps, whips and strap-ons, oh my! Enslaving Heaven
heats up the F/F sex mixed with BDSM fun, and offers a futuristic
setting and interesting characters. From the start, I knew
that Lyssa and Nita were tight and had been through a lot
together. Ms. Houston does a nice job of balancing their
relationship, by letting you see how they interact and react.
By the end of the story, Lyssa is forced to change once she
realizes how unfair she is being to Nita. Their
friendship is important to this story.
Ayla
might appear to be a victim, but if you’re familiar with the
dynamic of dom-sub interactions, you know who’s really in
control. I would not be surprised to see Lyssa sweating and
trembling just thinking about her new “toy” while Ayla keeps
on getting everything she wants from her Mistress.
Enslaving Heaven
flows without too much detail clutter. Ms. Houston does a
fine job of placing each character in the spotlight, while
threading in a subtle subplot of intrigue. It leaves room
for another installment featuring Lyssa, Nita and Ayla, and anyone
reading this story will look forward to learning more about these
strong, fascinating women and their world.
_____________________________________________________________
The
Story Behind The Story
Enslaving
Heaven
*
NOTE: The review referred to is the one done by Ivy for Manic Readers.
This was written rigt after the review came in.
All
in all, I think the review a good one. Understandable too why the reviewer found
Lyssa to be a bit shallow - she is. LOL Characters, like people, are varied and
some are simply more likable than others. That isn't to say that Lyssa isn't
likable. She tries to be tough, but inside she a very vulnerable woman, and she
hates it.
Part of her character quirks come from the way the story came to be, and then
evolved. It was originally written for a 'calls for submissions' for an
anthology on 'tough girls.' The editor was looking for women in charge, women
with a 'balls to the wall' attitude who weren't afraid to show it, women who
liked dominating the situation, and who in some cases weren't always likable.
The original story didn't have the secondary line of the pilot - Nita - and her
own exploration. That was originally going to be a second story.
When I subbed it to Phaze, it was accepted on the condition that I lengthened
it. I thought about adding Nita's story as a complete second story (like how I
do my myths) but then decided to play with it a bit. I wanted to do something
slightly different, so I went back and added in alternating characters, and
expanded the ending, so that both stories are told at the same time, but could
sort of be read alone, although I wouldn't recommend it since you would be
missing parts. The odd chapters tell Lyssa's story, the even tell Nita's story.
It was a lot of fun tweaking the story to work that way, and even more fun
cutting chapters off right in the heat of some of the moments. : ) I worried
that would be a big complaint - and was thrilled to see the reviewer liked the
pacing of the sex scenes.
I'm looking forward to seeing what readers/other reviewers think about the
story, and how I handled the pacing of it, as well.
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