Review: Sinful Surrender

Sinful Surrender by Houston Havens

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Astral-projection is Fay Avalon's specialty. As a spy for the underground world, Dirt Dwellers, she is determined to find the facts about the New World Moles, people living above ground's, attack on her people. The plans she finds in the hands of Logan, the leader of the ruthless New World Moles group, does not mesh with the facts as she knows it. She learns perhaps she isn't the good guy but rather the bad guy. Fay rises out of the tunnels to find out what is going on.

There are some good concepts in this story. Overall though, it was difficult for me to read. The characters are juvenile in behaviour. The ham handed plot devices make a reader either wince or roll their eyes. It's as if Ms. Havens came up with several ideas and forced them to work with each other. Let's start with the terminology first. Why are the ones who live above ground called moles? Moles are animals who live below ground almost all the time and don't see light. Dirt Dwellers is odd because it could imply someone living in the dirt, hence below ground, but when compared to a mole, it would make more sense it is above ground. Nit-picky item aside, the characters were melodramatic.

From a world building perspective, the dsytopian world Ms. Havens' created comes across as a bad Syfy movie. She throws in Fae, aliens and humans making it a clutter of people. The way the world came is a concept I thought was fine, just explain in a clunky manner. Perhaps it's Ms. Havens' writing voice that just doesn't do it for me.

The characters, I mentioned are juvenile because they behave in extremes. Their dialog is cheesy. The interaction is awkward. The sex is funny. The sex taboo in this story is an amusing one and I liked. To learn that Fay's world censures sex and why, it is plausible. Fay's introduction to sex including kinky sex is fine. Fay getting it on with all the men could be erotic for some readers. It didn't do it for me. The light BDSM was kinky fun mixed with multiple men pleasing one insatiable female.

The ending felt rushed to me. Fay's ordeal while understandable didn't match up to her earlier actions. Her behaviour felt like another contrived plot device for the happily ever ending. I did think a bit less of her especially after learning her friend fared no better. This book is for dystopian fanatics who also enjoy kinky mfmm sex.



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