SWEET SURRENDER

Author: Maya Banks ISBN: 9780425219430 3/2008 EROTIC Publisher: BERKLEY

Sometimes the first step in taking control is surrendering. Under Faith Malone’s deceptively soft exterior lies a woman who knows exactly what she wants. A strong man who’ll take without asking—because she’s willing to give him everything… Dallas cop Gray Montgomery is on a mission: find the guy who killed his partner—and bring him to justice. So far, he’s found a link between the killer and Faith—and if Gray has to get close to her to catch the killer, so be it. Faith is sweet and feminine, everything Gray wants and desires in a woman, but he suspects she’s playing games. No way she would allow a man to call the shots in their relationship. Or would she? Faith sees in Gray the strong, dominant man she needs, but he seems determined to keep her at a distance. So she takes matters into her own hands to prove to him it’s no game she’s playing. She’s willing to surrender to the right man. Gray would like to be that man. But catching his partner’s killer has to be his first priority. Until Faith is threatened and Gray realizes he will do anything to protect her.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Faith is looking for a man who will dominate her, in and out of the bedroom.  She wants a strong man all the time, to take charge and take care of her.  Okay, you have my attention, Ms. Banks! 

Gray is working undercover on a murder case when he meets Faith.  He is looking for a woman he can dominate.  He is strong, self assured, etc., etc. 

SWEET SURRENDER has it all—a good mystery and lots of romance leading up to the erotic parts.  The erotic parts don't let you down either.  You get all that's hinted at and more.  The build up was good.  There were several parts during the romantic tension stage of the book, especially one part in particular, that just really got me excited to see what would happen between these two.

However, in between the huge build up and the climax, Gray repeatedly let me down.  For all Faith's desire to find a man to take charge, she practically had to chase him down and tie him to the bed.  At one point she plants herself naked in his bed... and he still turns her down!  I realize that there has to be obstacles to keep the build up high in romance, but I felt it should have been something else other than Gray's reluctance in this case, especially where he was supposed to be the dom. If I were Faith, I would have given up.  And it was hard to buy that Gray was the dominant man she needed if he couldn't even take charge in this dating stage.  I was able to get around this in the end, and still enjoyed the book very much, but it was distracting. I found myself wondering if Ms. Banks had to write it this way, to drive home the point that Faith was consenting to be dominated.  In these days of everything having to be so PC, the whole dominant male thing could be taken the wrong way. Whatever the reason, those parts did not work for me.

All in all, SWEET SURRENDER was a very entertaining erotic romance novel.  If you like the dominant males that get a little bit kinky, all the better.  

Joanne Shaeffer