SYNOPSIS:
Author: C M Hutton
Genre: Adult Contemporary R0mance
Publish Date: June 22, 2013
Publisher: Independent Published
Event organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.
~ Book Synopsis ~
Based on true events.
Four lives, intertwined by friendship and business, whose true story was more devastating
than fiction.
Rob and Kaye were thrilled to be moving to the island of St. John with dear friends, Jake
and Claire. The men were going into business together and relocating with their families to
the beautiful tropical paradise. It was a dream come true for the longtime friends.
But, when feelings are revealed and temptation takes control, one friendship turns from
lust to love and no one can walk away unscathed.
And, one person's ultimate decision leaves everyone lost and devastated.
EXCERPT:
Jake took the lounger next to me, and we sat in silence for a while as we gazed up at the clear
night sky. Jake finally broke the quiet night air. “Are you happy living here, Kaye?”
“Yes, very…why do you ask?”
“I was just asking. You seem to glow all the time like you’re very content.” He smiled slightly.
“I only ask because I like to see you happy. You have the best smile, and it’s contagious. It
brings me tremendous joy.”
I flushed at his comment. It stirred something in me—embarrassment, confusion, happiness…I
didn’t know. Jake reached over and put his hand on my arm, and a chill ran through me.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. We’ve known each other a long time, and
I’ve always wanted to tell you that.”
I felt his sincere kindness, and it made me blush again. I leaned my head back and closed my
eyes. “Jake, you are so sweet to say such nice things to me. All these years you’ve treated me
with love and respect, and I adore you.”
Jake leaned over and kissed my cheek, and I jumped at his touch. His eyes widened in shock,
almost like he couldn’t believe he’d done it either. We both stared at each other for a few long
seconds, then started laughing.
SYNOPSIS:
Author: C M Hutton
Genre: Adult Contemporary R0mance
Publish Date: February 6, 2014
Publisher: Independent Published
Event organized by: Literati Author Services, Inc.
~ Book Synopsis ~
Our love affair wasn't what everyone wanted it to be. It was raw and full of absolute joy
and unbelievable pain. My love for another woman had consumed me for years and now that Kaye was mine, I wasn’t ever letting her go. I knew the consequences of our affair would be devastating to our families, but I was too selfish to walk away.
My beautiful Kaye was having my baby and we were determined to get our happily ever
after....until one day, one event, one conversation threatened it all.
"I had to know what went wrong. My stomach was sick with grief and I didn't know what to
do next or even how to help Kaye. I needed to get to her. It didn't matter what Rob or Claire thought. No one could stop me from going. I knew she needed me. I could feel it deep in my soul." - Jake
EXCERPT:
Four people, two marriages and one incredible love affair…
The pain in Kaye’s eyes was almost too much for me to bear. I knew she loved me and wanted
to be with me, but having Rob and the kids standing there when we drove up was painful for her.
I wanted to force her back into my car and drive away. I knew that would never happen. She loved her kids too much, and she still cared a great deal about Rob.
I was certain their kids knew nothing about the baby being mine. It appeared that the affair wasn’t a big surprise, but apparently, the paternity was a secret. That didn’t matter to me—not at that moment.
Reluctantly, I got in my rental and drove away from the love of my life and my baby. I needed to give Kaye some time with Rob and her kids. I hated it, but I didn’t really see a choice. As I drove back to our hotel, I thought about how things could have been all these years had I just told Kaye about my feelings while we were in college. I didn’t regret my life with Claire, and I certainly didn’t regret my children, but they’d never fully had my heart. It belonged to someone else and the life I’d missed out on.
INSPIRATION and INTERVIEW WITH JAKE:
Book 1, Paradise Taken, is based on true events surrounding someone close to my family. I don’t want to tell you all the true bits because it will ruin the experience of the book. But I’d be happy to share then with you when you’ve read the book.
Book 2, Saving Us, is from my male character’s POV starting from the last few chapters in Paradise Taken and beyond. It fills in the gaps of a few unanswered questions in the first book. This book is what I believe my main character would have wanted had the outcome from book 1 been different.
(Star of CM Hutton’s novels Paradise Taken and Saving Us)
Interviewer:
Hi. Thank you for taking the time to sit with me for an interview.
Jake:
You’re welcome.
Interviewer:
Well, let’s get started. I know we have tons of fans that want to ask a few questions.
Jake:
Great!
Interviewer:
I think after reading both books and seeing how your relationship with Kaye began…well, at least when and how long you’d loved her…WHY after all those years of keeping your feelings for her to yourself, did you decide to tell her only when all of you were living on St. John? Why not tell her in college, Jake? What held you back?
Jake:
You know, I was so tired of having a one-sided love affair. I wanted to tell her and see how she would react. In all honesty, I think a part of me wanted to hear Kaye reject me so that I could get over how I felt about her. I knew living on that island was going to be a challenge. Seeing her day after day, it became clear to me that I couldn’t keep quiet.
As far as telling her in college, I was young and stupid…afraid of her rejection. I wrestled with the idea CONSTANTLY. I think my fear of permanently pushing her away with a confession, scared the hell out of me. So, I opted for not saying anything and loving her from the sidelines.
Even when she freaked out right before her wedding to Rob and asked if I thought she was doing the right thing, I couldn’t bring myself to say, “Hell no! You shouldn’t marry Rob.” She loved him and I loved her too much to break her heart.
You have to remember that she never had any idea that I was in love with her. So, I assumed when I finally did confess, she would tell me to ‘fuck off’ and I’d be forced to give up.
Interviewer:
But, you pursued her pretty heavily when you guys were on the island, don’t you agree?
Jake:
Yes. I did.
Interviewer:
Is that regret I hear in your voice?
Jake:
No…not for pursuing Kaye. I’d held in my feelings for twenty years. It was eating me alive. My regret comes from what I did to everyone else.
Interviewer:
You mean Claire and the kids.
Jake:
Yes. She may have married me knowing I had lingering feelings for some girl in college, but she didn’t deserve for me to continue to love someone that didn’t love me back. I’ll always regret that.
Interviewer:
Do you think Claire ever thought about leaving you?
Jake: (laughing) I sure as hell hope she did! She would have been a fool not to entertain the idea…many times. And Claire is no fool.
Interviewer:
So, in your book (Saving Us), you tell us all sorts of details about what happened after Kaye got pregnant and you two were fighting to be together. We even saw the heartache and pain the YOU felt about leaving Claire. Was there ever a moment when you considered staying with Claire and letting Kaye go…to be with Rob or to be on her own?
Jake:
No! The conflicting emotions I felt had more to do with an internal battle of feeling happy about where my life was going with Kaye and the pain I was causing to have it. I will always have a deep love for Claire. No doubt about it. And having her say good-bye to me…in the way that she did…nearly tore me apart. I just wanted to make her pain go away. But staying with her, wasn’t the answer. There would’ve always been doubts and there would’ve always been regrets.
Interviewer:
If there was one thing you could do differently, what would it be?
Jake:
I ask myself that same question over and over. I’m not sure.
If I said ‘confessed to Kaye in college,’ I probably wouldn’t have my three amazing kids. If I said ‘kept my mouth shut,’ I would have continued to only give Claire my mediocre love. Or if I said ‘divorced Claire to pursue Kaye,’ well, that I did consider for a while, but just couldn’t go through with it. Kaye was living her life and had no idea how I felt. It was the perfect storm of all of us living in one place at one time that pushed me over the edge and had me confessing.
I guess I feel grateful for that. Had I confessed from a distance or on one of our many trips, I don’t know if Kaye would have reciprocated. She was in a complacent phase of her marriage…like we all experience from time to time and when I told her, it just clicked.
Interviewer:
Well, I want to thank you for spending a little time with me. You have a huge set of fans that love you and Kaye…together…even if the circumstances weren’t ideal. And, with you telling us YOUR story in the second book, well it just makes us love you more and have so much compassion for Claire too.
I just have one or two more questions.
Jake:
Okay. Shoot.
Interviewer:
Will we hear much more from you and Kaye?
Jake: (laughing)
Well, I’m sure you’ll see us around and hear little tidbits about our family, but I believe our affair and coming together has had enough attention.
Interviewer:
Fair enough. Well, last question…what is the one thing you want our readers…your fans…to know about you?
Jake:
That Ioved Claire and always will. And I love my kids. Being with Kaye has been a dream come true and even though I royally screwed a lot of things up, I don’t regret any of the relationships with anyone around me…even Rob’s. I…we hurt him. Hurt people do really stupid things. I can attest to that.
Interviewer:
Jake, thank you so very much for chatting with us. Your honesty and candor are refreshing. And I think I speak for fans out there when I say, please don’t be a stranger. We’d love to hear from you and Kaye anytime.
Jake:
Thank you. I’ll be sure to pass the message on to Kaye. Take care.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
I live near Austin, Texas with my family and love to read and travel. Put me on a beach with a good book and the world just disappears around me.
Paradise Taken was my first novel and is a highly emotional book based on true events. Its sequel (Saving Us) is due out February 2014.
Loving Her was the second book I wrote after needing a little time off from Paradise Taken. It is a story close to my heart. I love that you are willing to take a chance on a new writer and promise to keep striving toput out great books!
If you don't like my books, that's okay. Just please be gentle on my fragile ego. ;)
I'd love to chat with you, so look me up on any of my social pages.
Happy Reading. :)
CM Hutton
AUTHOR EXTRAS:
I can really write just about anywhere as long as I have my headphones, my music and no children tapping on my shoulder asking where their iPod might be. That includes my husband. He tends to think that being interrupted in the middle of writing a great sex scene is no big deal. :)
If I had to pick, I’d say in my bed, late at night when my house is quiet would probably be my favorite, most productive place to write. I’m also a First Grade teacher, so my brain is pulled in two very different modes of communicating all day. I have to have that quiet place to find the adult sexy side that helps me connect with my characters. I’ve found that my late night one-on-one sessions with my Mac, are my favorite scenes.
I love sitting on the beach, but it’s way too distracting.
1. Moist (definitely the worst)
2. Cunt (too crude…although, it might be necessary to write at one point.)
3. Pussy (I might have used this once or twice, but tends to make me think of nasty fish smell.)
4. Screw (I’d rather say F***)
5. Mercurial (Used too much. I’d rather say volatile or fickle. haha)
6. Cumquat (I think this is funny, but never really have the opportunity to use it or even want to say it out loud.)
7. Bastard (I called a little boy this word when I was in the first grade. Still remember running past my ‘teacher/mom’ as I said it. I didn’t even know it was a bad word. lol)
8. Horny (Reminds me of high school. haha)
9. Jacked-off (I don’t know why.)
10. Chillax (UGH! Don’t even get me started on how 1982 you sound with this one.)
Paradise Taken Saving Us (Sequel to Paradise Taken)
1. Unbelievable 1. Alpha
2. Heart Wrenching 2. Complete
3. Love Affair 3. HEA
4. Secrets 4. Intense
5. Erotic 5. Forgiveness
6. Shocking 6. Forever