Monday, February 2, 2015

Review of Surrender (Devil's Den #1) by Violetta Rand

"Easy, girl. I want you to depend on me a little." - Garrick Dempsey

Surrender
Devil’s Den # 1
Author: Violetta Rand
Publisher: Loveswept
Release Date: January 27th, 2015
Source: Netgalley

Buy Links: Amazon - B&N - iTunes - Kobo
Add to Goodreads

Welcome to the Devil’s Den, a Texas strip club where the air is heavy with desire—and sometimes dreams come true.

Ever since her mother kicked her out, twenty-year-old Robyn Gonzalez has been working the poles at the Devil’s Den, saving up to finish college and travel the world. With only her wits and her gorgeous body to rely on, Robyn has learned to be independent—fiercely independent. She’s never been tempted to let a man distract her from her dreams . . . until she meets the dead-sexy Garrick Dempsey.

The club’s new head of security, Garrick had walked away from a career as a mechanical engineer to return to his roots in Corpus Christi. He hadn’t planned on getting to know someone like Robyn, with her sinfully sweet combination of vulnerability and strength, at the Devil’s Den. She acts tough, but only because she’s been hurt. Soon Garrick knows he will do anything to win Robyn’s trust. And if that means surrendering to the red-hot chemistry between them, all the better.


I am going to try something a little bit different for my review of Violetta Rand's Surrender. I had a lot of mixed feelings about the story that if I tried to put them in paragraphs, I'm sure it would come out as one jumbled mess. Instead, I'm going to pick my top thoughts/feelings of the book and discuss them using bullets. 

  • Characters - I loved Violetta's characters. Robyn has been through a lot in her twenty years of life and it has made her such a strong character. As much as she would love to have her family's acceptance, she can survive on her own without them. I think that is what ultimately attracted Garrick to her. He wants to protect and take care of her, but is proud of her independence at the same time. I loved how caring and accepting Garrick was. Yeah, he got incredibly jealous at times, but he tried to accept her job as much as possible. The background characters were amazing. I loved Macey and Robyn's younger sister. And even Craig grew on me by the end of the book.
  • Plot - I wish the Carlos story line was fleshed out more... No pun intended. I thought that it could have been a great suspense element if it was woven a bit more in the story. As I got closer to the end of the book, I started wondering if there was going to be a conclusion between Carlos and Robyn. When it does happen, it felt rushed. And I would have loved to learn what happened to him after...well, you'll just have to read to find out.
  • Sex - There is a lot of sex. I don't mind a lot of sex in a new adult book if it serves a purpose. In this case, I felt like amount of sex in Surrender just showed how fast the relationship got serious. 
  • Dual POV - Violetta... Thank you for the dual POV! I loved Garrick's POV. However, I wished there was some indication that the POV was switching between him and Robyn. There were a couple times where I was confused about whose POV it was. I don't know if that was changed in the final copy, but I had a difficult time following it. 

Overall, I enjoyed the time I spent reading Surrender. Beneath the sex, it was a great romance between two incredibly strong characters. It took me a little bit to get comfortable with the switching POV and lack of indication, but once I was able to figure out which POV belonged to which character, I was sucked in. The two main characters were great and the background characters were engrossing enough for me to look forward to their books. The chemistry and sex between Robyn and Garrick was sizzling. All in all, it was a fun new adult book and I'm interested in seeing how the series plays out.



Raised in Corpus Christi, Texas, Violetta Rand spent her childhood reading, writing, and playing soccer. After meeting her husband in New England, they moved to Alaska where she studied environmental science and policy as an undergraduate before attending graduate school. Violetta then spent nearly a decade working as an environmental scientist, specializing in soil and water contamination and environmental assessments.


Violetta still lives in Anchorage, Alaska and spends her days writing evocative New Adult romance and historical romance. When she’s not reading, writing, or editing, she enjoys time with her husband, pets, and friends. In her free time, she loves to hike, fish, and ride motorcycles and 4-wheelers.

Author Links





1 comment:

  1. Thank you for hosting SURRENDER...I am excited to start this series!

    ReplyDelete