Tag Archives: Reviewed by Sharon

Review by Sharon: Dare to Surrender by Carly Phillips

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Dare to Surrender (Dare to Love, #3)Dare to Surrender by Carly Phillips

Sharon’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

As a preface to this review, I have to say that I haven’t read any of the other Invitation to Eden novels. That said, I did enjoyed this novel without having to know who the other characters were. Gabe and Isabelle steamed up the pages together. It was a really enjoyable book, yet somewhat predictable.

Isabelle is on the run from her crappy fiance, Lance, and through a series of unfortunate (or fortunate in Gabe’s case) events lands in the lap of Gabriel Dare who has desired her for a while. She’s out of options and he gives her a way out. She takes it and the sparks fly between them. But, suddenly, Isabelle feels like she needs to make it on her own. She strikes back out into the world and without the help of Gabe, she finds her place. In the end, their reconciliation is oh so sweet. Gabe and Isabelle reunite and it is a wonder why they ever parted. I love happy endings in romance books and this one ends on a delightful note.

Although I’m happy to have read this book, there were several problems I had along the way.

Jumping from first person to third depending on the chapter: All the Isabelle chapters are in first person. All the rest are in third. It was jarring for me sometimes. I also don’t care for first person storytelling but that is just a personal opinion.

Too much telling and not showing: Gabe’s sister, Lucy, comes into their lives and all of a sudden she and Isabelle are BFFs. In my opinion, there just wasn’t enough interaction between the two of them to warrant this kind of friendship.

Time jumps: They happen in the story. Sometimes they’re explained. Sometimes it’s just BAM “later”. It made me feel lost a few times.

Isabelle’s lack of development: Ok, Izzy is in a tough spot and she has to turn to Gabriel for help. Sure, fine. But then she suddenly decides she needs to be independent of him and make her own way in the world? Okay, I’ll go with it. But she ends up in just another situation where she doesn’t really have any hardships to work through. She’s suddenly got a great apartment and job. Yay? Ultimately, Isabelle never developed very well as a character for me.

Having said that, there were still also plenty of good parts. The sex scenes between the hero and heroine were great. Hot. Gabe is a sweet alpha who wants Izzy to submit in the bedroom. He wants to possess her and I love that about him. He wants to provide and care for her in every way. They’re wonderful together.

DARE TO SURRENDER was a very satisfying short read for me. It hit all my happy buttons for a non-alphahole male and a compliant but spunky female. Was it groundbreaking? No. But it was a great, relaxing read nonetheless.

View all Sharon’s reviews

Review by Sharon: Reputable Surrender by Riley Murphy

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With this review, I am pleased to introduce Sharon as a new reviewer for The Romance Evangelist. Here’s her bio:

Sharon is a middle aged mom who reads every chance she gets. This has led to near disasters for her devices. Most of these near misses involve moisture due to her love of being in the water. Her favorite genres are historical, erotic, romance, fantasy, sci-fi, suspense, travel and young adult. She’ll try anything once and the weirder things twice. You can soak up more of her insanity on Twitter: @Mojitana.

Reputable Surrender (Trust in Me, #5)

Reputable Surrender by Riley Murphy
Series: Trust In Me #5
Sharon’s rating: 3 of 5 stars

A copy of this book was provided to The Romance Evangelist by the author in exchange for an honest review.

REPUTABLE SURRENDER is the final book in the Trust In Me series. You don’t need to read the other books in the series to understand the story.

Michael and Laren unknowingly meet at a BDSM club during a masked event. Michael steps up to disentangle Laren from an aggressive Dom but discovers that she is quite capable of handling things herself. She is feisty and Michael is intrigued. Their brief time together is over quickly as Michael leaves upon discovering her identity. You see, he’s promised a friend that he’d keep his hands off Laren. Since I hadn’t read the previous books I didn’t quite understand what the problem was, but the author did a pretty good job of catching the reader up.

Fast forward to 8 months later and Laren is in command in the boardroom of Michael’s office. She’s still as fiery as ever and Michael just can’t help but want her all over again. Once he gets the okay from his friend, Michael then begins his pursuit of Laren.

Unfortunately for Michael, Laren has a whole host of issues. She’s got a loser brother-in-law who can’t support his family financially. He makes poor investments so she is continually bailing him out because she worries for her sister and nephew. Her ex-boyfriend was an abusive jerk. And, finally, her ex-husband is a vanilla pushover. But Laren is bound and determined to prove herself in her field. She wants to move to the big city and work with her ex-husband at his company.

Enter Michael, the Reputable Dom. I’m not sure what makes him so reputable except that he is financially solvent and follows safe, sane and consensual BDSM rules. But he’s determined to tame Laren, his dragon. He is calm and patient with Laren even when she’s a mess over her family drama. He’s also ready to compromise in his own work life to be with her. But her trust will be hard for Michael to win after all her previous life disappointments.

In the end, those thought of as villains are redeemed and the true offenders are revealed. Through a series of twists and turns these two suffer and grow stronger together. Trust established and the foundation for happiness is laid.

Those who come to this book without reading the other four books in the series may feel a bit left out of the sub plots. And while I enjoyed the book, there were some turns of phrase that took me out of the world the author had crafted.

The relationship between Michael and Laren was steamy and sweet. He is a dominating man who knows that Laren needs someone to share some of her burdens. Michael is more than willing to be that man.

Although Laren was a strong, intelligent business woman, I felt she was portrayed as too much of a doormat in her personal relationships. Her sister and brother-in-law were a particular source of frustration for me as a reader. They were just terrible people. Their redemption at the end didn’t sway my opinion as to their awfulness.

The use of pet names (specifically Honey toast) that Michael used in reference to Laren began to grate on my nerves by the end of the book.

Some parts felt repetitive and uninspired. A few chapters felt over long. A couple scenes didn’t have good flow. A good editor could have solved many of these problems. Overall the book was enjoyable and I would recommend it.