Surrender

A Novel

By: Amanda Quick

Narrated by: Anne Flosnik

Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

Victoria Huntington thought herself quite adept at fending off fortune hunters...until she came under siege from Lucas Colebrook, the darkly disturbing new Earl of Stonevale. For the earl would use her every weakness to woo her and ultimately wed her.

Soon Victoria would find herself ensconced in a crumbling mansion deep in the English country side, where the real reason for her hasty marriage becomes all too apparent - and where the ghosts of her dark-stained past are waiting to rise in a terrifying plot that will threaten her life, her honor, and the only man she could ever love...

©2007 Amanda Quick (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Was entertaining

Loved the lead male character, he was strong and almost mean...but not. Good narroration. Definately worth the read/listen.

Not bad... But not great either

Setting: England (early 1800s?)
Genre: Romantic suspense
Narration was average. I'm getting used to Anne Flosnik, but she's still not in my favorites list. I just find her performances inconsistent. Maybe it's the director? At least she doesn't mispronounce words.
This was JAK's second Amanda Quick, but by no means was it early in her career. The plot was interesting, with a fortune hunter-shy bluestocking heiress and a sexy, wounded war hero fortune-hunter. The relationship between them is contentious throughout the book. She is progressive, he is chauvinistic. There is more compromise by the HEA, but the argumentative nature of the relationship is the main plot device in the romance. The suspense part of the story was way too much in the background. There wasn't enough build-up to make the resolution satisfying, though half of that was a total surprise for me. There should have been more mysterious occurrences, and they should have been more threatening.
I got this in a BOGO, and it was worth the half credit. It is probably worth a full credit if you have an emotional attachment to AQ, like I do. I'll probably listen again, if I ever get enough self-discipline to stop buying credits (I'm on my 3rd Platinum Membership for the year so far).

Surrneder

Amanda Quck at her best along with the flawless reading of Anne Flosnik, brings smiles and suspense to the listener. Absolutely a great book

couldn't finish it

well, i wanted to like this - description sounded good and some good reviews but i personally couldn't finish it - to put it simply - it has more expected romance novel situations and lines than i could stand - so corny and predictable and not believable. i rarely don't finish a book so enough said.

Predictable

Disappointed as I have always enjoyed books by Amanda Quick. This one dragged and was so predictable it was just about boring

Typical historical romance

Not a typical Quick historical romance in that the male lead is penniless and looking for a heiress, but likeable nonetheless. It was Quick's typical fun read until they got married and then it kind of went downhill. Not one of my favorite Quick novels, but she's still one of my favorite historical romance authors.

It’s A No For Me

I wanted to like this story, but the high handedness of the hero ruined this one for me. I don’t want to spoil it for anyone so I’ll be brief. The hero was arrogant, and not on a good way. The heroine had every right to be pissed at him for basically tricking her, and his answer was pretty much ‘get over it. What’s done is done.’ That pissed me off. I felt the heroine had to give up way too much of herself. Perhaps it was realistic for the times, but it rubbed me the wrong way. I also didn’t care for the narration. It was too prim and proper for me. Almost robot like.

Not bad

Not bad. I like that the heroine was rich, and the hero was poor. Usually, it's the other way around. I wished the heroine was smarter and realized that the hero was after her money. But overall, not bad.

Not my favorite historical romance from this author

This was my 3rd read from Amanda Quick and probably my least favorite that I’ve read so far. That said, there is some interesting things happening in this story. It just sadly isn’t much about the romance. Lol

Victoria is 24 and an heiress who doesn’t want to marry and has become quite good at avoiding fortune hunters. Lucas is a “darkly disturbing new Earl” who also says he doesn’t want to marry (but secretly needs to marry an heiress). He and Victoria first meet in the card room at a house party, he finds out her plans for later that night and wants to escort her and her friend while they’re out. Victoria and Lucas end up making a deal of sorts to spend their nights adventuring together. She wishes she could have the freedom afforded to others and is irritated she doesn’t because she’s an unmarried woman. He has promised to take her out to gambling halls and nights of passion where she can remain “a lady by day, and a companion adventurer by night”.

About halfway into the book, Victoria approaches Lucas and propositions him with a “romantic liaison”, she wants to add passionate nights to their time together since she never plans to marry. Lucas offers up marriage, he doesn’t want her compromised and feels like the more time they hang out at night together is just leading to trouble, but Victoria is convinced they are fine. When of course they do get compromised, Victoria finds herself in a marriage with Lucas. Then the last half of the book we get their time together at his dilapidated estate. The story started to drag for me. There is some mystery happening in the story but it kind of felt all over the place and didn’t keep my attention.

Another Amanda Quick fabulous read

Amanda Quick writes delightful historical romance . Fun, easy to read with enough plot twists and turns to keep you turning the pages. I highly recommend everything she has written in this genre. I have read all her books and they are old favorites. I re-read them when I just want to relax and visit an "old friend."
I thought the narrator did an excellent job. She managed to portray the characters as I have believed them to be. Thoroughly enjoyable.