Review: Dark Surrender

Title: Dark Surrender

Author: Erica Ridley

Genre: Romance

Published: March 1, 2014

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Violet protected a child by committing a crime. She took refuge at an boarded up Abbey where Alistair was trying to find a cure for his daughter who couldn't be exposed to sunlight without getting burns.

The main character was inconsistent. She mentions more than once the abuse she suffered as a child. She talks about being a survivor. That I was good with. She talks about the men who tried to take advantage of her and her distrust of them. Then she met Alistair she had plenty of lustful thoughts concerning him. In fact she made all the advances in the relationship. I realize this was supposed to be a romance, but the psychology the author tried to set up for the main character shouldn't have been as comfortable as Violet seemed to be with the situations she put herself in.

I honestly felt as if she could have gotten rid of a hundred pages in the middle without sacrificing anything in the story. I felt like I was being led in circles. We would get the thoughts and feelings of Violet, then the thoughts and feelings of Alistair, then the thoughts and feelings of his daughter Lillian. When that was finished we would start again with Violet. This really wouldn't have been a bad thing if any of those thoughts and feelings had actually changed or grown, but no the words were almost exactly the same.

The redeeming factor throughout the story was how Violet put her charge's interests above her own. She not only wanted to protect the girls, but she wanted something better for them. She wanted them to be happy and to be able to achieve something with their lives.

Overall I gave this book 3 stars out of 4.