Surrender to Me

Wicked Lovers, Book 4

By: Shayla Black

Narrated by: Lexi Maynard

Length: 12 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's summary

A Navy SEAL accepts a hot proposition: share a buddy's girlfriend and fulfill her dream of a ménage. But after meeting Kata he needs more than one night. And he wants her all to himself - a guilty secret that becomes a dangerous fantasy.

©2011 Shelley Bradley, LLC (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This erotic tale has plenty of heat, touches on several sexual fantasies, explores the BDSM lifestyle, and has a suspense plot to boot." ( Romantic Times)

Sister's need to mind their business

I love this book except for the sister. She need to get a life of her own and let her sister live hers.

Didn't expect to like it

I figured I would struggle with this book, but wanted the series in my must read in order checked off my list. I'm glad I did! Not what I expected at all. Dont judge it by the small blurb or the first chapter which bounces ahead for a bit and then back. Hang in there and enjoy!

No means no.

I’m only a few hours into this but let’s say this review is for the series thus far. It drives me CRAZY that the men in this series think they know better. They think they know what “their women” need and really want, regardless of whether they say the opposite. It was kind of okay and made sense in the first two books because frankly the main female characters were simpering fools without minds of their own. Honestly, I almost stopped reading after the first book. The third book (the one before this), however, went too far. The scene where Luc, the HERO, almost forced Alyssa (who was not a simpering fool) to have sex with him and literally tied her down despite her screaming no and crying was disgusting and offensive. It wasn’t until she had to bite him that he stopped. That is in addition to the fact that he KNEW she was not only a rape victim but had recently been sexually assaulted again. He wasn’t even supposed to be a dom. And THEN he barely had to grovel to win her back??? I don’t think so. I realize the book is a few years old, but in light of recent sexual assault allegations against a myriad of high profile and powerful men by women who felt helpless to say anything until now is especially disconcerting. NO. MEANS. NO. There are no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

To be honest I’m not even sure why I continued with this book. So far, Hunter has taken advantage of a drunk woman and married her, and THEN taken further advantage of her vulnerability in a dangerous situation to essentially lock her away to “show her” that she is submissive. Even after she tells him why submitting to someone is extremely difficult for her, he confines to tell her why this is what she is and that she’s wrong to feel the doubts and fears she does. I don’t care that he feels he doesn’t have enough time - if someone is already reluctant about entering into a submissive role, forcing them into it without doing anything to earn her trust is NOT OKAY. Again, he is taking advantage of an emotionally vulnerable woman. She may or may not be “naturally submissive” (which I personally think is bullshit - he is the ultimate mansplainer) but he needs to be much more careful and less selfish in trying to get her to submit. How does he know after 3 minutes of meeting her what her fantasies and true desires are? He doesn’t know anything about her, and surprise, she has a reason to distrust a dominate male for GOOD REASON. That’s not romantic, it’s creepy and presumptive. Frankly, he comes off as a guy who desperately needs validation by remaining in control. Also, how dare he question why she’s on birth control. The amount of emotional manipulation he has already dumped on Kata in this book is unreal, and it’s like he knows he’s doing it but because he believes he is correct and superior, he is in the right. Why should he have to take a look inward and understand why he NEEDS to have ultimate control and power over someone? Let’s just gloss over that. It takes a lot for me to not finish a book, but I’m not sure how much more of this I can take. Regardless, I will not be downloading any more of this series or likely any more of Shayla Black’s solo books. The sole reason this got 1 overall star is because the narrator is okay. I wanted to give the story zero stars but that’s not allowed apparently.

I’ve read many other dom/sub type of books where the dom does not come off as such an asshat. I get what Black is trying to do here - to show that D/s is misunderstood and that it’s not really abuse, blah blah. That is a VERY delicate line and frankly this book and the previous book absolutely and completely fail in that. The previous book wasn’t even about a D/s relationship, so it honestly has even less of an excuse. Alyssa didn’t even have a safe word. It surprises me that Lexi Blake, who I think portrays the D/reluctant s thing pretty well, collaborates with Shayla Black. Their individual books are WORLDS apart. I think the worst part is that the men in this series continue to act terribly towards their women and the woman is just so consumed by lust he gets away with it. That’s not how life works. Women are not brainless sex addicts who will let a man do or say anything as long as he gives her a good orgasm. Again, I kind of see that Black is trying to infer that these alpha men are somehow affected too and learning, but that falls completely flat. They are constantly telling the women how to feel and what they supposedly truly think. No thanks. I’ll take a strong heroine who stands her ground in my romance, not this antiquated bullshit where women are portrayed as not having minds of their own. This sets a terrible example for young girls and women in general.

Once again, NO. MEANS. NO. I shouldn’t have to reiterate that after reading a romance novel.

Why Women Really Enjoy Abuse

Disguised as a romance, Surrender to Me is a disturbing book that preaches that women really want to be beaten, abused and humiliated in the name of love. Here are the rules: 1. Men have the right to dominate without regard. 2. Women give up all rights to their bodies when in a relationship, 3. It's okay to treat women worse than an animal as long as multiple orgasms are involved. 4. What men want is more important than anything else, 5. Women get turned on by abusive and aggressive behavior. While just a work of fiction, novels promoting more violence against women are unsettling, not entertainment.

Surrender to Me

Ahh Hunter and Kata.
Finally a book I didn’t hate. LOL ok Hate is a strong word. There were parts I still didn’t like. Like the indecision on Kata’s part it drove me batty. I want him, I don’t want him, I want him, no, no I can’t. She is a strong female yes but her waffling made it hard for me to like her.

Hunter ok he could have done a little more after care but he knew what he wanted and he was a bull in a china shop. Which makes him a good Dom and a good man. He wanted to protect and that is exactly what he did.

The narration was much better in this one.

I admit, I haven't finished this book.

But I'm not happy with it at all at this point. I don't think it can be redeemed with only 2 hours left to go.

I've really enjoyed the previous 3 books for the most part. My biggest problem with this series has been a couple of constants. First, 'typical' submissive women are portrayed as spineless, sniveling, doormats. The strong, sharp tongued, bratty women who wind up as submissives in the series are way more typical of submissives I know. Second, the insistence of the men in the series that the woman of their choosing is really a submissive and she just doesn't know it and if only the big strong Dom would come in and show them, they will (or should) jump straight into the lifestyle with no qualms. Not only is this incredibly unrealistic, but also chauvinistic and insulting.

Having stated those two generalities, this book in particular has gone so far above and beyond the pushy Dom that it's moved into bullying. The woman only 'gives in to her submissive side' during sex and only after being pushed passed her 'no' point. Admittedly, she's written to really enjoy some of the aspects of submissiveness and she never uses her safe word. But, it's just too much for me and I've become frustrated to the point that I wish she'd kick him to the curb and find an actual caring, loving Dom who trusts her as much as she should trust him.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Yeah, this is NOT a good story

Ok. Only on chapter 3 and I don't really like Kata. I know some will see her as strong and independent, but she just comes off at first as bitch and judgemental.

A little farther in and still do not like this character nor Hunter. i get that some people do not like D/s but these character's inability to just listen is very off putting and trite. Plus his patience and willingness to put up with a broken record and his surety that she is submissive despite her words is too much.

On chapter 11 and it is like a broken record. Yeah, not a fan of this particular story. No matter what he says, she just regurgitates the same things over and over again. Getting trite. And no matter what she says he keeps pushing and pushing.

These two are a total train wreck - petulant child and overbearing bully and I am sorry it is in the series. If the next one is like this I am done. I am more than glad this was in Audible escape so I didn't pay directly for it.

Being taken care of is not the same as railroaded

This book was good at the beginning. I love a strong heroine who has a submissive nature. However, there is only so much second guessing one self that a reader can tolerate. Hi early if it wasn’t because I have this innate need to finish a book, I couldn’t have gotten through the third ‘he’s going to take me over and even though that’s what I crave that can’t be what I want’ scenario let alone the 20 that followed. The bit with her mom and the colonel seriously had me on edge and almost caused me to say forget this and skip to the end. Lexi Maynard does a much better job narrating this book than the last three.

Not a good depiction of DS

I really wanted to like this book because shayla black is one of my favorite authors but this one missed the mark terribly. Most of the book doesn't depict a DS relationship but an abusive one. There was no consent, just constant bullying and manipulation. No negotiation, the Dominant partner didn't even bother to get to know his sub well enough to know het fears amd triggers. And i cringef when he gave her the same command as the assassin. The whole relationship was just garbage until the very end. The narration was excellent as usual.

Well, you can't love EVERYTHING an author writes

Shayla Black's Wicked Lovers series is overall very good, but I just didn't like this one. The best parts were the cameos by previous characters in the series and the excellent narrator. The story itself was so unbelievable that I found myself rolling my eyes a lot and finally listening on double speed just to get through it so I could say I have listened to them all. I wanted to slap both main characters because Hunter was an insufferable bully, and Kata had no spine. I found very few redeeming qualities in either of them, and should have heeded the reviews I read on Amazon and skipped this one. Having said that, I still look forward to the next installments on Audible because the first 3 books were great, and I will listen to those again.