Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Vega Johnson

Book: Restraint
Author: Sherry Sonnett
Heroine: Vega Johnson

Vega Johnson is the heroine of my novel, RESTRAINT, an erotic noir published by Simon & Schuster in both paperback and ebook.  I think of the book as the story of a spiritual awakening, although Vega's journey takes her to a dark place.  When the story begins, Vega is a comfortable financial planner in Los Angeles (as she says, "there's something sexy about a woman good with numbers who also looks good in stilettos and a tight white suit."  But she feels too much is under control.   She's searching for "one more big thing and I was waiting for it, longing for it to explode through the center of my life.  Then he came along, and I see now that's the way it happens -- the line comes up, and you jump."

The man is Paul Lattimer, a mysterious international businessman.  She's immediately attracted and an affair begins.  Through Paul, Vega awakens to a sexual boldness she didn't know she had and, step by step, she experiments with many different sexual entanglements (no bondage or S&M).  Eventually, this experimentation has less to do with Paul and more to do with her search for her own limits.  When Paul reveals some of his business and gives her a chance to become involved, her search for limits becomes both sexual and criminal, ultimately leading to a single explosive act.

Vega is strong because she's unafraid to transgress the boundaries she's been taught and passively accepted.  She discovers in herself a deep and certain capacity to walk up to the edge, jump, and make herself ready for the next edge up ahead.  It may be sex with a woman, or with her transvestite ex-husband dressed as a woman, or a willingness to appropriate her clients' money.  Each act brings her a more expansive sense of self.

This gradual awakening to her own nature gives Vega a potent sexiness.  Her willingness to experiment and to take risks lends her a power to attract she didn't know she had.   As she  moves through the day, she's aware of this new power,  and slowly realizes it isn't just sexual but pervasive in every aspect of her life.

Blurb:

A fast-paced novel hailed by Entertainment Weekly as a "well-crafted, suspenseful thriller [which] offers sex, erotica, and more sex."In Sherry Sonnett’s compelling first novel, Vega Johnson, a successful L.A. investment counselor, is leading a respectable but dull life when she meets Paul Lattimer, a major player in a mysterious, international finance game. Immediately fascinated by and drawn to his power, she soon gets caught up in his dark world of kinky sex, white collar crime, and murder.

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