Summer of Surrender by Zara Stoneley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 stars –
Kezia has spent her life never worrying about where she’ll be or what she’ll be doing tomorrow. She’s a free-spirit but when her parents are taken from her, she isn’t sure what to do with herself. A chance meeting with a woman named Maria provides her with an opportunity she can’t help but jump on.
Maria’s offer takes her back to the UK and lands her on the front step of a home surrounded by a locked gate… which she decides isn’t going to keep her out.
James had planned to spend the summer in quiet and peace… when he sees a young, beautiful woman climbing his fence in just a dress he wants nothing more than for her to turn back around and leave. But that isn’t going to happen, and he recognizes immediately that she is going to be nothing but trouble for him.
James and Kezia are complete opposites yet they can’t deny the desire and intrigue they have for each other. But James had his fill of relationships and heartbreak in his other life… The one he left behind. And despite how strong Kezia is, she doubts her decisions and wonders if this place is meant for her.
I enjoyed this quick story… and it really is a quick read – less than 200 pages, but within those pages we get some fairly well-developed characters.
Kezia is strong willed and carefree… on the outside. Underneath all that, all she really is looking for is a place to call home, someplace to feel grounded and her own. Instead from the second she meets James, she’s almost unsure of everything she has done. When Maria convinced her to give them a try, she knew she would be leaving her friend Simon behind, but she also knew that what they had wasn’t permanent. Unfortunately he wasn’t of the same mind.
Can I just say right now, that I was suspicious of him from the get-go – he was creepy stalker dude.
James has been burned in the past… his last relationship took everything out of him and he promised himself he wasn’t going to care about anyone that way anymore. James has some obvious control issues, but I honestly really enjoyed his character, even when he was being kind of a jerk. I don’t know what that says about me, but there you have it. Maybe it was the things that came out of his mouth?
”I can make you come,” He took another step closer. Stroked along her lip with one finger, “without touching you where you want me to most.”
“Slightly bigger deal, but if I get in the zone, think the right things…” Her voice tailed off as he eased his thumb between her teeth.
… he just wanted her. To see her surrender, for him. To him.
“All you have to do is say please.”
But this isn’t just a story about two people fighting for control and falling and love… It’s more about submitting and surrendering to the person you love. But there also ends up being a bit of a mystery to this story, because Kezia’s parents died under mysterious circumstances, which you slowly learn as the characters start to reveal more of themselves to each other.
A couple things I wasn’t quite on board with… Kezia’s questioning of her decisions about 2/3 of the way through the story. I felt it was a bit out of character. To me, she didn’t really come across as someone who would let another manipulate her and her feelings. I felt like she was stronger than that the entire book, so when it happened, I was caught off guard.
Another thing… I wasn’t quite sure what this farm/property was exactly. Sex Therapy was thrown around, and James said he was a therapist, but … at times, the place sounded like it was a bit shady. I think I would have liked a bit more explanation as to what exactly was going on at this place when it was actually in business.
If you’re looking for a quick and entertaining read that has a bit of heartbreak mixed with hope and some definite steam and heat filled moments … complex characters that are well-developed and interesting then this story is for you.
Thank you to Harper Impulse for the advance copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
I”m not sure what to say about this … I really didn’t find myself connecting or caring about the characters and despite that I still gave it a three star rating because the writing was pretty good and the story was interesting. I’m struggling with how to explain what I didn’t like without ruining anything for someone who wants to read which is why I’ve been holding off on my review!
I think where I got lost was somewhere midway through the story.
Ellie Watt is the daughter of grifters… parents always looking for their next con. In the past they even used her as part of their scams and it’s the only life she’s ever known.
She hasn’t been back to the small town where she grew up, Palm Valley, CA, since she left. Until now. One of the first people she encounters upon her return is Camden McQueen.
When she was younger Camden was her only friend, until she did something despicable and everything they had was lost.
Camden isn’t the class weirdo anymore though – he’s now a sexy talented tattoo artist, making it. When Ellie sees just how successful he is, she hopes to use it to her advantage and make her break from the tiny town of Palm Valley. And after a couple dates she is convinced she has him hooked.
Then I felt his presence behind me and his arms slowly, softly, slid down on top of mine. He pressed himself to my back, not too tight, and put his lips just behind my ear. My eyes widened and I nearly let go of the club.
“I know what I know of you,” he whispered into my ear, his breath hot. “And I want to know more.”
Sexy right? Definitely… and you think everything is going fine… but here is where the book started going downhill for me.
They have sex… I hope that doesn’t ruin anything for anyone. but then she does something stupid and he catches her and basically negates anything that they had prior to this moment by stating anything he did was simply for revenge. *____* (that’s my blank stare). You can’t make me like someone then turn him into a douche bag asshole and expect me to be okay with it. He basically does a total 180 from who he was in the first third of the book.
Then, because that isn’t enough… the actions she takes have consequences obviously so he blackmails her and what happens is they are on the run from both a drug cartel due to her past, and the mob because of his situation.
THEN he does another complete 180 basically falling in love with her for real. SIGH
Then, because that isn’t enough… the actions she takes have consequences obviously so he blackmails her and what happens is they are on the run from both a drug cartel due to her past, and the mob because of his situation.
THEN he does another complete 180 basically falling in love with her for real. SIGH (hide spoiler)]
So, while everyone is loving all over this story, (of course I’m in the minority again!) I just couldn’t. I had issues with the characters and if you don’t already know, characters make or break a story for me. These semi-broke it for me. Their actions at the beginning and the middle really didn’t mesh well for me and I had some residual anger over a certain situation/scene.
Anyway… the end – Ellie redeems herself and it will be interesting to see where the author takes this story in book 2. Yeah… I’m going to read it otherwise I’ll be dying of curiosity later.
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