Surrender to Me by Shayla Black (Wicked Lovers #4)
Erotic Romantic Suspense
March 1, 2011
Trade Paperback
Berkley Trade

Reviewed by Mandi

Note: This review contains spoilers.

For Kata’s twenty-fifth birthday she flies to Vegas with her “friend with benefits” lover Ben and friends to celebrate. Months ago she had told Ben one of her fantasies was to have a ménage – and Ben has decided this trip is the perfect opportunity to give her this gift. He calls up his friend Hunter Edgington, a Navy SEAL who is on a week vacation while recovering from being shot. Hunter takes one look at Kata and it is love at first sight.

When Ben ends up too drunk to make it into the bedroom for the ménage, Hunter is more than happy to have Kata all to himself. Hunter is a dominant, and he can sense a submissive nature in Kata, although she vehemently denies it. When Kata’s life is endangered, Hunter becomes her protection.

Let me start by saying I didn’t like Surrender to Me. Hunter is a very alpha hero – we are talking all out, no holds bar alpha. He is a dominant and when he finds Kata, he immediately recognizes the submissive nature in her, even though she denies it. That is all fine and dandy. I love alpha heroes, if done well. An early description of Hunter:

She could decorate the house however she wanted, name the pets, choose the vacations. He’d give her a lot of latitude during their married life, but he was in charge when it came to sex and her safety.

Or:

“Your obedience goes straight to my cock honey.”

Okay – sometimes reading about an alpha hero like this can be fun. But I don’t feel like Hunter is a good hero at all.

First, I don’t believe in love at first sight. Lust, instant attraction? Sure. Love – knowing you want to be with this person forever after knowing them for less than one hour, or even 24 hours? No. So coming into this book with that personal view, when Hunter meets Kata and has talked to her for all of 30 seconds and then thinks to himself:

“The moment he’d touched her, something inside him had jarred, then settled in place. He’d known she would be his.”

And then:

“He couldn’t wait to figure out exactly why he was going to love her.”

I just don’t buy this instant love. I’m not saying this could never happen in real life, but it doesn’t work for me.

Fast forward a couple of hours – Hunter and Kata spend a very passionate time in bed where Hunter starts to introduce Kata to the Dom/Sub relationship, (minus Ben who was too drunk to participate). Kata is not left out with the instant love, by thinking as they have sex, “At that moment, she could never imagine being without him.” They don’t know each other! They haven’t talked, only had sex. I just don’t understand how this can be a basis for love and total commitment to each other.

And then something happens which just made my mouth drop open. Kata kind of freaks out after having sex and tries to ditch Hunter and starts doing tequila shots. Hunter tracks her down – offers her food and coffee because he knows how much she has been drinking. Again, we are told:

“There it was, the truth that had been simmering in his consciousness, the reason he was pursuing her so hard. Suddenly, it was crystal. He wanted her permanently.”

At this point, the chapter closes out. The next chapter, the next morning, Kata wakes up married to Hunter! And he is shocked and dismayed she doesn’t remember getting married (um..she was wasted) and she runs out on him. Sorry  – that is creepy. He is so possessive of her, he has to marry her, when he knows she is drunk?

And this passage bothers me so much:

If there’d been another way, Hunter would have chosen it, but time and her fears weren’t on his side. Last night, he’d never expected to meet someone he connected with on every level, then marry her almost immediately, but things happened; he dealt. That was the nature of his job.

This wasn’t his most noble moment, but if being a SEAL had taught him anything, it was that sometimes you had to fight dirty to complete a mission. And if his father had taught him anything, it was that a man must be ready to do whatever necessary to hold on to his woman or lose her forever.

This mind set is creepy and selfish. Marriage is not the only solution he had. How about ask her out on a date? Call her on the phone? Maybe ask her one question about her? There are other ways Hunter. Dragging a drunk girl to the alter, six hours after you met her because you feel possessive is not normal.

At this point, I almost stopped reading, but I was only on page 80. I thought I don’t love this marriage, but lets see what Kata has to say about it. She made me keep reading. She wasn’t happy, and her reaction is very valid. But then her life becomes endangered, and she needs a safe house. She chooses to go with Hunter into hiding, and I liked this decision. She doesn’t know who is after her, but she assumes it is someone very dangerous. But then things fall apart again for me.

Hunter introduces Kata to the D/s lifestyle. Kata rebels, but Hunter keeps assuring her that this is the type of lifestyle she needs. That deep down she is a submissive. Which is fine – I’ve read lots of books where the heroine doesn’t realize this is what she needs. But as I continued reading, their constant battle made me uncomfortable. Squirmy. It didn’t feel romantic at all. Hunter came across way, way too pushy. Kata would finally submit, but it didn’t feel authentic. Sometimes it felt like she did it just to shut him up. I didn’t like it. At all. I can blame a lot of it on Hunter’s completely controlling and pushy attitude but I also find fault with Kata. You can tell me all you want that she is submissive on the inside, but if I never see that, then the hero is never going to work in this situation.

And don’t even get me started on the end. Her actions when she comes back to Hunter at the end felt completely fake.  Hunter and I didn’t get along. I don’t recommend this one.

Rating: D

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