Golden Surrender [Paperback]

Heather Graham (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dell (1993)
• ASIN: B002BHUF28
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)

More About the Author

New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham was born somewhere in Europe and kidnapped by gypsies when she was a small child. She went on to join the Romanian circus as a trapeze artist and lion tamer. When the circus came to South Florida, she stayed, discovering that she preferred to be a shark and gator trainer.

Not really.

Heather is the child of Scottish and Irish immigrants who met and married in Chicago, and moved to South Florida, where she has spent her life. (She has, at least, been to the Russian circus in Moscow, where she wished she was one of the incredibly talented and coordinated trapeze artists.) She majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred and fifty novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, horror, and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages, and has had over seventy-five million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA and more. Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf region. She is also the founder of "The Slush Pile Players", presenting something that's almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Where is the love?, March 29, 2010

By 

YA book lover - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Golden Surrender (Mass Market Paperback)

Well, I have nobody to blame but myself for reading this drivel. I wanted to rekindle my teenage love for Viking bodice-rippers and "Golden Surrender" seemed like an excellent book to fit the requirements. Too bad at some point I wanted to throw this book across the room or even worse - burn it.

Let me make it clear, my expectations for such literature are not very high, I know how this kind of stories are done: hero and heroine hate each from the get-go, for one reason or another they are forced to get married, swiftly they fall in love mainly via lots of flirting, fighting and foreplay, a virgin heroine's maidenhead is ravished (in a most glorious and satisfying manner, naturally), followed by numerous instances of passionate copulating, then some misunderstanding occurs that draws our love birds apart, but everything culminates in HEA after the difficulties are resolved and a child is born. What I do not expect from historical bodice-rippers, however, is for heroine to be madly in love with her husband after she is physically assaulted by him and the main character does just that in "Golden Surrender." But let me start from the beginning.

Olaf of Norway is a golden-haired Viking Lord whose ambition is to conquer Ireland and to become its wise and noble ruler. Erin is a beautiful, proud and strong green-eyed Irish princess who, after witnessing Olaf's army ravage an Irish village, cause the deaths of her aunt and uncle and viciously rape her friend, vows to kill the Norwegian Lord. To her horror, about 100 pages into the story, Erin's father pledges her hand in marriage to Olaf, her mortal enemy. The Irish princess is drugged to get through the wedding ceremony and finally comes back to her senses in their bedroom. Erin plans to kill her new husband with a pair of scissors, but is stopped by Olaf, who punishes her not by savagely taking her virginal body (as Erin fears), but by tying her hands to the bed at night. The bride is full of fear and hate for her new husband, but it doesn't stop her from admiring his body and quivering from desire for it as he dangles his family jewels in front of her face while tying her up. And that manly smell! Erin can hardly control her passion after getting a whiff of his scent, a sight of his chest hair and being repeatedly called a bitch!

As the time goes by, Erin is getting used to her role as a Viking Lord's wife, her husband comes to like her, but doesn't attempt to earn her love, rather, he taunts her by making her scrub his back or massage his body, always remembering to give her a good view of his... shaft. Of course, Erin is very close to the ecstasy at the sight of it. The things start to finally move along when one fateful morning, during an argument, Olaf slaps Erin's face for mentioning his dead lover's name. Erin is furious, but not for too long, this very night their marriage is finally consummated, as Olaf is so darn irresistible and has such a great skill with working bath soap and massage oil (page 200). The union is passionate and satisfactory to both, but Erin ends the night by crying and giving her husband a cold shoulder. But fear not, next morning things are different. The Irish princess finds herself almost in love with her enemy/spouse. She is now a toe-sucking vixen as well. Oh, what a difference can one night of Viking loving can make!

Their marital bliss is very short-lived however. The same day Olaf is called upon to protect his lands and is forced to leave his wife alone for almost 3 months. THE misunderstanding occurs when Olaf is on the way from the campaign. Not to go into much detail, Erin is accused of attempting to kill her husband, when in fact her intention is to protect him. Olaf doesn't care to hear her explanations and punishes her immediately by putting shackles on her and dragging her behind his horse. And this is where "Golden Surrender" takes a nose dive IMO. Erin is not only seriously hurt, she is pregnant, as well as innocent in the crime. But Olaf doesn't care, he is never apologetic, and Erin, in spite of her vow never to forget this assault, quivers in desire for her husband the next morning.

I say, give me a break! I sure don't expect a masterpiece reading a book named "Golden Surrender," but is it too much to ask for characters in a bodice-ripper to be marginally likable and make sense? Erin in this book is weak and almost a doormat, she never shows any strength of character, and even more, she seems to have a borderline personality disorder, she hates Olaf one minute and loves him the next. (The only other character I've encountered who acts in the same way is Nora from a widely popular YA novel "Hush, Hush.") And Olaf, well, he is good with massage oil, but otherwise is a jerk.

I personally prefer my historical bodice-rippers with a little more sense, chemistry between the hero and heroine and some humor. "Golden Surrender" is just a sad, dull story which relies heavily on forced (is that the right term?) seduction. 2 stars for smut.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Viking love to die for!!!, July 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Golden Surrender (Mass Market Paperback)

This was the first viking romance I have read. I thought they would be boring, I was dead wrong! I love how he was always telling her that she belonged to him. He was so forceful about it. How could she resist him. I loved this book. The first of a three part series. I read all three and they were all fantastic. This one was my favorite. It just seemed to me that there love was a little bit deeper. I love viking romance and I love Heather Graham aka Shannon Drake.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a viking romance that will make you want more, November 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Golden Surrender (Mass Market Paperback)

I loved this magical viking romance. This book is the first to a trilogy, all three probably the best viking romances I have ever read. A must read and a must for your collection!!!