Review: In Total Surrender by Anne Mallory.

Posted October 5, 2011 by Rowena in Reviews | 0 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Rowena’s review of In Total Surrender by Anne Mallory.

Hero: Andreas Merrick
Heroine: Phoebe Pace

Andreas Merrick is the king of London’s dark underworld, having amassed unimaginable wealth and power . . . and a fierce reputation that leaves even the bravest men quaking in their boots. Yet one person is maddeningly unintimidated by his fearsome presence: the persistent Miss Phoebe Pace.

And one kiss always leads to another . . .

Equal parts honey and steel, Phoebe will stop at nothing to find her missing brother and save her family. Though associating with Andreas means peril and scandal, she never expects to experience a passion so intense that it threatens to consume her. But enigmatic Andreas is no ordinary man to love. He brings dangers from all sides— without and within—while tempting her beyond her wildest dreams . . .

It was hard to get into this book because the book is mostly told through the hero’s POV and that’s different from what I’m used to. Another thing that made it so different is the hero is a killer. He’s the lord of the underworld and taking peoples lives is something he does without thought. I’m used to that when I’m reading a paranormal but not really when I’m reading a historical. It was kind of unnerving, reading Andreas’ thoughts. He’s so dark but he was compelling as well.

One thing that jumped out at me when I was reading this book was, “Why isn’t Phoebe scared of him?” Hell, I was scared of him but over the course of this book, I softened toward him and then fell in love with him. We got a lot of page time reading through his thoughts and it took some getting used to but it wasn’t bad.

I will say that I spent a great deal of this book confused as all get out. There was just so much going on. You have quite a lot to keep up with, there’s the business with the debt, Phoebe’s brothers disappearing and everything with Andreas and Phoebe. It did make the reading experience fly by because I wanted to find out what happened next and so I kept turning the pages but my enjoyment of this book suffered just a tiny bit while I tried to make sense of what I was reading and keep everything straight in my head.

The romance between Andreas and Phoebe was entertaining and I enjoyed watching them go at it. After I got over the fact that Phoebe wasn’t scared of Andreas as any woman with sense would be, I felt that Mallory did a wonderful job with this pairing. There wasn’t another woman in this book who was as perfect for Andreas as Phoebe was. The romance built slowly but I liked it. I thought the way that Mallory dragged their romance out made the story that much more enjoyable because the tension is definitely there in spades.

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and that’s saying something because throughout most of the book, Andreas is a dick but I never hated him. Phoebe was one of those heroines that took some getting used to with the way she was and the easy way she fit into Andreas’ life. He was like a historical mob King and she was his old lady.

This is one of those historical books that you should definitely check out. It’s interesting to get so much page time with the hero and I found that it was enjoyable. The romance between Andreas and Phoebe was slow but it felt right and I appreciated Mallory’s efforts with this book. I liked it.

Grade: 4 out of 5

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here.


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