Today we are going to talk about Maddie Taylor's Surrender Your Grace
He's a second son. She's a second daughter. A cruel twist of fate brings this unlikely pair together in an impromptu marriage. Without a proper courtship, the pair must learn to live as husband and wife while facing challenges and dangerous threats that could destroy their marriage. Andrew is a dominant young Lord who has very strong ideas on how his wife should behave. Cici is an innocent young Lady: sheltered, well-educated and well-bred. She is the image of feminine refinement and gentility that society expects. But if she is such a docile bride, why does she keep finding herself over her husband's knee for much needed correction? Will she learn to be the submissive wife he demands? And can Andrew exert his dominance without breaking her spirit?
Author Maddie Taylor brings her style of romance, combined with elements of humor and intrigue, to this Victorian Era romp. Included are scenes of consensual and non-consensual spanking where the feisty heroine spends an inordinate amount of time over her husband's knee, desk or settee.
When will he learn that she isn't a child to be spanked and made to stand in the corner? Never we hope.
One of my favorite romance tropes is the forced marriage and romance novels are a great vehicle for forced marriages because reputation and social standards were so important. What about you? Is forced marriage one of your favorites too? If not, what are some of your favorite romance tropes?
This book was pretty long. Usually I like a book in the 70-100 page range, but this one was about 180 pages and held my attention. What about you? What length of book appeals to you?
Cici's sister, Elizabeth, is pretty unpleasant throughout the story. But, at the end we learn that Elizabeth is married to a vicar. Let's vote---does Elizabeth deserve a happy ending or do we hope (maybe just a tiny bit) that the vicar is a harsh disciplinarian?
Before marrying Cici, Andrew had a mistress, which was common during the time. They have a couple of frank discussions about the mistress and Cici's uncertainty that Andrew has, in fact, stopped seeing her. What did you think of how this was handled in the story?
Anything else you'd like to share?
Come back next week---Cara Bristol will be leading a discussion of Leena Darling's Spanking the Naughty Bride.
I love the forced marriage, marriage-of-convenience trope. It's been a favorite of mine since I read Harlequins as a teenager. It allows for a deeper intimacy (physical and emotional) in the story because the characters are already married. It also allows for ROMANCE (pursuit and capture) to occur within a marriage.
ReplyDeleteI read those Harlequins when I was a teenager too. It's just such a fun plot device for exactly the reasons you say.
DeleteAlso, in this book I think it's especially gratifying because the H/h are forced to marry because Cici's mean sister sets them up for a scandal because she doesn't want to marry Andrew, so their HEA is even more satisfying, I think.
I'm a huge fan of the force marriage trope too.
ReplyDeleteAs for book length, I tend to go for the shorter books these days, but I'll read longer books too if I'm 99% sure I'll enjoy it. I'm halfway through Surrender Your Grace right now and really loving it. It's holding my attention for sure.
Hmm...I think it would be nice to see Elizabeth married to a harsh disciplinarian, but it would also be nice to see her change, realize the errors of her ways, yada yada yada, and then have a happy ending. With a spanker, of course.
I haven't gotten to the part with the mistress yet, so I can't say anything about that yet! :)
Keep reading!
DeleteI like the forced marriage thing. I don't think I ever really thought about why, but Cara's reasons make sense.
ReplyDeleteI don't mind longer books. In fact, I dislike buying a book that is super short and makes me feel cheated. Some authors have a talent where they can write shorter fare, get some hot romance in and still leave you fulfilled (Cara, Celeste, and Sue- you all possess this talent). But other times I get annoyed. Like if I am told something that happened that seems like it could have been a really good scene that the author just didn't feel like writing.
But on the flip side, a longer book that just seems to be dragging the story out to fill up the pages will bore me to death. I like to read my spanking fiction, but I also like to read, so regardless of length if I get to an end of a book and I realize if you took all the spankings and sex out it wasn't really much of a story- it disappoints me.
I really enjoyed that this book had substance- if you took out all the kinky parts it was still a really excellent book!
The fact that Cici's sister ended up with the vicar was a nice way to end her story. I seriously thought that is where the story was going to go, you were going to find out she was reformed because her husband was a disciplinarian. I guess that would be a happy ending for me as the reader, not so much Elizabeth- I think that girl needs some karma to bite her in the ass. But I guess forcing her sister to marry a guy and then he becomes a duke is sort of karma.
I liked how the storyline with the mistress was handled. It would have been unbelievable to me that Cici would just take Andrew's word that he was no longer seeing his mistress. She barely knew him and although she loved him and wanted to trust him, she still doesn't completely trust him. I think those are all natural feelings. She's also a lot younger than him and sort of insecure, so if she was totally trusting right off the bat it would have seemed weird to me.
Thanks Casey! You make some good points. Now I want to go back and read this book again. I think that's a good review standard----would I read it again?
DeleteGreat questions Celeste and I have enjoyed everyone's comments. I don't know the etiquette on commenting on your own book... so I thought I'd focus on the questions that aren't related.
ReplyDeleteBook length to me as a reader is quite different than as an author. As a reader, I want a longer book so I feel I am getting my money's worth. But I don't like a lot of filler or I end up skipping sections... Often a shorter story leaves me frustrated and wanting more. I also DO NOT like when a story is broken up into short installments and leaves you hanging, it might be a good business decision for the author but not so much for the reader. It often ticks me off and I don't by the next installment.
As an author, I cannot seem to write shorter stories. I'm like the energizer bunny and keep going and going and going... Mostly because I fall in love with all my characters and don't want to see their story end, All of mine have been 50K or more except my prequel which was intentionally short. But the price was reduced and we even offered it free through kindle select.
Another thing, about a comment up top from Casey is that "if you took out the kinky parts it was still an excellent book". That's what I was going for... I think the spanking or sex or kink should be the icing on the cake, not the whole cake. I read somewhere once that was the difference between a romance novel and erotica, if you take out the sex, spanking or kink can it still stand alone? If the answer is yes, then it is a romance novel. I'm glad I made that happen here.
Thanks Maddie! It's perfectly fine and encouraged for authors to stop by to participate. This book was one of the longer ones I have read lately but it was so richly detailed and the relationship between Cici and Andrew was so sweet, it didn't seem too long. Will there be a sequel?
ReplyDeleteI have had many requests for Maggie and Duncan's story and some for Elizabeth and Jonathan's story. Both are in the brainstorming section of my brain right now, but I expect there will be more Victorian romance and intrigue yet to come.
ReplyDeleteAt the rate you've been producing books, I expect we'll see a sequel by Christmas. :)
DeleteNice job, Maddie. I really enjoyed this book.