Customer Reviews

My Surrender

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am so darn tired of romance readers whining about cliches but then when it comes to reading a book that has any subtlety in it at all, they start screaming that it's not hot enough. MY SURRENDER had so much depth to it and the love affair between Charloette and Dand is based on respect as well as intense passion. I really felt the anguish that Charlotte and Dand had over how they could not tell one another they loved one another and still do what they needed to do. It was a very moving story and it was told as much by what the characters couldn't say to one another as what they did.

I think this book showed that sometimes when everything doesn't always turn out perfectly its even more satisfying than when it does. For example, bad guys really do slide by without any harm ever coming to them and I applauded the fact that Brockway didn't tie everything up with bows. Another cliche would have been if Dand had refused to let Charlotte become another man's mistress but instead locked her in a room despite the fact that so many lives relied on her becoming this guy's mistress.

Okay, the virginity thing kind of stopped me for a bit too until I realized that Charlotte was thrown into her role as a substitute at the last minute. After that I totally bought that she just pushed all that to the back of her thoughts while she tried to see if she could even make the plan work. And that same reason was why the "authorities" let someone so young and inexperienced have such an important mission. She was a last minute substitute. It was her or no one.

Anyway I loved this book. Everything was so well thought out and the humorous bits were great. Especially like the baroness. Dand was dangerous and passionate and trying so hard to let Charlotte go and Charlotte was just desperate to do the right thing, no matter how much it hurt her. I'll read it again.

My Surrender completes the Rose Hunter trilogy by Rita award winner and two-time Rita nominee for 2005, Connie Brockway.

Charlotte Nash, the most headstrong of the three Nash daughters truly shines in this tale of intrigue, scandal and sacrifice. Charlotte has taken the role of spy very seriously, after all, who would believe that such a flibbertigibbet could carry out such a role. She has cultivated a "certain reputation" among the ton while still managing to keep her morals intact and above question.

The questions about her morality don't bother Charlotte, but they do concern Dand Ross. Dand, Andrew, Andre, call him what you will, it is very obvious that this member of the Rose Hunters has his own secrets to protect. At first the reader isn't sure whether or not he even likes Lottie - until one begins to see below the surface. Dand might be called carefree, but again, that is only the surface of this young man.

And that, truly, is what My Surrender is all about in my view. Seeing what lies below the surface, seeing what lies below the faces shown to society and to our friends. This third in the series was definitely worth waiting for and anyone who is not touched by the strength of Dand and Lottie, by the fortitude they show to one another and to their cause, is not looking below that surface, not seeing what is truly important. Honor, courage, and above all, love.

(I'm not sure I can even write a review that isn't bitter about something.) While this is the third book of a trilogy, it could easily be read by itself. Brockaway has included enough background that the story makes sense but it still feels fresh. In a way, the trilogy feels like this was the book she wanted to write and the others were just warm up sessions.

Dand and Charlotte jump off the page in that 'instant classic' way some characters do. I don't want to give major plot points away but while this book does have a highlander in it, this isn't a Scottish romance in the genre sense. Nor is it a true spy book. My Surrender steps outside genre convention to involve you emotionally. Charlotte is set on a path that makes her hurt those close to her. Brockaway doesn't gloss that aspect over, as it usually is. The break between Charlotte and those who love her feels very real. Nor does she set Dand up as the white knight saving the day (though he often does).

It's not until the last section of the book that you fully understand how the story has been laid out. What you thought you were reading is twisted slightly so that everything which came before is changed. I am very rarely surprised in an ending, but she got me. I almost didn't read My Surrender tonight, thinking the resolution of the 'mystery' would be tedious. I've never been so wrong about being right. I did know who the 'bad guy' was, but his name was all I knew. This is romance at it's best. Clear a space on the keeper shelf for it.

Wow. I thought this book was the best in the trilogy. The first book was rather tedious, the second slightly better and this one was excellent. While a few things did make me roll my eyes, overall this novel is exactly what romance should be about. The two main characters know each other over a matter of years as spy contacts. They are clearly interested in each other, but don't do anything about it until they have to spend more time with each other. I love the fact that they have senses of humor. Charlotte takes matters into her own hands and deals with everything herself. She doesn't need Dand rushing to the rescue. She has great comeback lines, too. This is no prissy miss.

Dand was wonderful. Just the right blend of dashing, diffident and in love. I thought he and Charlotte had wonderful chemistry and their love scenes were excellent. I often just skip over them and really liked these. But I particularly liked that he respected her and her abilities, while not always agreeing with her.

Other critics talk about sending Charlotte on a mission to retrieve a letter which could save thousands, but she had been a spy for 2 years and there has to be a certain suspension of belief in a romance novel!

The story was interesting, but I thought clear from the beginning of the first novel who the villain was. That part of the novel was pretty much par for the course. Buy this novel for Dand and Charlotte. They have a wonderful romance!

Everybody has their personal favorites but I've always said you can't go wrong with a book by Connie Brockway and MY SURRENDER proves me right again! I just loved Charlotte and Dand! I thought their banter hit all of the right notes and Ms. Brockway creates a delicious blend of sensual tension and suspense as she ties up all of the loose ends of her Rose Hunters trilogy. I thought it couldn't get any better than MY PLEASURE but MY SURRENDER is right up there with the Best of Brockway!

I was excited about the premise of this book and found the dichotomy of Charlotte's flighty socialite side and her serious espionage side to be very interesting. The conclusion of the Rose Hunter conflict was satisfying and the villain fairly intriguing, but I thought I was reading a ROMANCE. The hero's thoughts on ANY matter (most especially those concerning Charlotte) don't appear until almost halfway through the book, and even then they were only a handful of paragraphs.

For me, one of the most crucial parts of a romance novel is seeing the romance from BOTH sides. "My Surrender" was almost completely one sided, and I felt like the hero had the potential to be so much more.

My Surrender should have been a rousing final to the unevenly written Rose Hunter trilogy (My Seduction, My Pleasure). Instead, it is rife with inconsistencies and incredible blindness on the part of both Charlotte and Dand.

Charlotte is the feisty and rebellious youngest Nash sister. Burning with patriotic fervor and buoyed by the heroic actions of her father in saving 3 young Scotsman years earlier, she decides to enter espionage, although in a somewhat peripheral way. Her characterization veers from smart and sassy to morose and TSTL (too stupid to live). An example of the latter: When events conspire to throw her into the path of a suspected traitor, she only realizes on the eve of traveling to his home that she might need to get rid of her pesky virginity -- all after 2 weeks of pretending to be someone else's mistress, namely Dand's. The only "realistic" flavor within the story's setting is when Charlotte comes to understand exactly what it is she's lost in the eyes of society, and possibly her family, when she ruins herself. The scene with her "adopted mother" is poignant in that regard.

The denouement -- the revelation of the betrayer of Dand, Ramsey, Kit, and Douglas in the French gaol years ago -- wasn't much of a surprise given the hints in the book, as well as the previous ones. However, I was still confused at the end as to whether the betrayer acted both before the battle on French soil and in prison. That is, the author wasn't entirely clear about the fact that if he also betrayed them before they landed in France, how and why he did so. And if he didn't do so, then who did betray the battle plans?

All in all, My Surrender was full of plot holes and roll-your-eye moments when it could have been quite a tale and conclusion to the Rose Hunter series.

I freely admit to being a fan of Brockway. Usually her books are excellent reads and My Surrender didn't disappoint. I stumbled across the Rose Hunters Trilogy after having read her McClairen Isle books (also a trilogy).

I have been anxiously awaiting this book because of where the last in the series had left off. Charlotte was bound to be an interesting heroine.

The ending was a great twist to what I had thought was a preditable plot. Overall this was an excellent light read (I stayed up most of the night to finish it).

First let me say that I love Connie Brockway. I really do. Especially As You Desire and Promise Me Heaven. I have several books of hers on my keepers shelf at home.

But I felt that she got caught up in the 'standardization' of historical romance and her Rose Hunters trilogy suffers from it. It truly lacks in originality and clichés abound.

My Pleasure is the only one of the three I really liked and I really hated My Surrender. I say 'hated' because it could have been such a great book, and I'm always somewhat bitter when disappointed.

I thought the book bland, boring, lacking any kind of sexual tension between the hero and heroine and boasting a badly executed supposedly 'suspense' plot. I never felt any urgency, although we're told several time that Charlotte's mission will result in the saving of thousands of lives.

We spend most of the book with Charlotte and Dand. They're flirting and otherwise going nowhere; that bogs down the book. The 'moral' dilemma was underplayed. We're supposed to feel Dand's anguish when he struggles with the fact that Charlotte might have to sleep with the villain to obtain a precious letter. Would he let her do it? or would he stop her even if it meant the death of many people? But I just never felt that anguish.

Worse, when I got to the second half of the book and read that Charlotte only realized then that her being a virgin wouldn't do if she was to pose as a fallen woman I nearly gave up. She was verging on Too Stupid To Live. That was something she should have thought of as soon as she agreed to the plan. Am I supposed to believe the 'Authorities' trusted such a woman to accomplish such a delicate and crucial mission?

But even without the secondary plot, the book would not have worked for me. There's no chemistry between the two characters. Charlotte comes across as rather naive and petulant. I'm only thankful we spend so little time in Dand's head because his thoughts aren't the most interesting. I never felt he actually loved Charlotte either.

All in all, a book that's not up to Ms Brockway's usual standards.

I loved Brockway's Rose Hunter Triology. While I thought My Pleasure was the best...I was wrong...Brockway left the best for last. Readers will love this final installment. I instantly liked Charlotte and fell hard for Dand! I also like the return of all the members of the Brotherhood.