Playing Through Every Choices Book, In Order (Part 87: Surrender, Book 1)

Hey! Today we catch our partner cheating, and end up discovering the world of BDSM thanks to our divorce attorney!

Next time, we are officially together with our divorce attorney - but we maybe want to try some D, rather than some S?

Link to previous reviews: https://www.reddit.com/user/stresseatingdog/comments/sj3s3m/all_choices_reviews_megapost/

Surrender, Book 1

M/C: Lauren Valentine

Love Interest(s): Reagan

Favorite Character(s): Sloan, Reese

Least Favorite Character(s): Reagan, Mallorie, Emerson, Pat

Rating: 1/10

Review:

God, do I hate this book. I really do detest it. Apologies to anyone who enjoyed it, and you are of course more than entitled to have enjoyed it. Me personally? No.

Let's start with Reagan. Never have I loathed a LI the way I do Reagan. They are so utterly weird and creepy, right from the beginning. Why are you sending unsolicited sexts to your client who just caught her partner cheating on her and is in a vulnerable state? Oh, you're afraid of commitment? Surely the book will explain this fear in a way that develops your character and contextualizes your need to be dominant. Nope. The reason they don't like commitment is because they...are a divorce attorney. Kill me now. Then they proceed to have this family drama subplot that goes nowhere and amounts to nothing. We literally NEVER see Reagan's family besides Reese after the chapter we meet them. What a waste of some frankly gorgeous LI sprites.

Speaking of Reese, I actually like her, and I wish we got more focus on her struggles with her family and and her dynamic with Reagan. But no, we need Reagan to brood some more.

Then there's Mallorie - M/C's creepy af coworker who starts sharing intimate details and talking about sex within like ten minutes of meeting her. Weird. Emerson is your typical secondary Choices antagonist. One-note evil who you get to take down. Nothing special, but it is satisfying to take him down. Pat, M/C's ex-partner, is a total smarmy prick, but that's good. That means they work as a villain..even if their villainy starts very late into the book, and they are defeated in...one chapter. Sloan has such a nice sprite, and I really wish there was at least a one-off hook-up with them or something.

The plot is non-existent. It's just Reagan being brooding and anti-commitment, and M/C tripping over herself to cater to them non-stop, and constantly starry-eyed over how perfect and amazing they are. Oh, and the divorce plot, which is entirely secondary.

Onto the actual BDSM and smut stuff. I have said before in my reviews that I really don't mind smut, and it can be done well (see: Shipwrecked). This book does not fall into that category. I hate that you are forced to be a sub, with no other options. I know Book 2 lets you venture into that, but why did the option to dom in a BDSM based book need to become available in the sequel?

And then there's the most egrigious cherry on top: this book is genderlocked. Normally, I'd be just mildly pissed about the needless genderlock. However, this book lets you play as Reagan in every other chapter. That's right - if you choose male Reagan, this book technically has a male M/C. HOWEVER, since M/C can only be female, this means that gay guys are the only ones screwed over by this book. I've stated before that I am a gay guy, and that's why I'm so hard on this genderlocked books. This book felt like a big middle finger to me lol. Like, here, you can play as the male LI...but it still won't be a M/M romance!

I really do not enjoy this book, and you guys know me by this point - I always try to stretch out positivity in any book I read. I've never given out a 1/10 before this, and I hope I won't have to in the future.

Overall, just really, really not my cup of tea. However, it certainly does seem to have its appeal for a good number of players, and to that I say, great! I'm so glad some people were able to enjoy it!