My Surrender Book

Charlotte Nash has been romping through society for years collecting tidbits of knowledge she passes on to aid in the fight against Protestants and France. Nobody suspects anything because women, amirite, so everyone just thinks she's a floozy. Dand Ross is also a spy. When Charlotte needs to go undercover by going under the covers (heh), she turns to the one man pledged to aid her however she might need it: Dand. Lights, inappropriate touching, love.

1. This was actually a rather well done reflection on the 'fall from grace' a woman might suffer if she opted to circumvent society's dictates on proper behavior?? While there are holes in it, and it could have used slightly more fleshing out (in place of some of the spy games nonsense), watching Charlotte determine how to move forward with her ruination in spite of her friends concerns was intriguing. (Her family is notably absent, which is one of the aforementioned 'holes', but.)

There's a sense of very real consequence to Charlotte's decision, and one passage in particular where Charlotte is realizing the impact to her friends and family and attempting to harden her resolve was so well done. I may have teared up??'don't tell anyone. Anyways.

2. That said: the spy games were....whatever. It was less about the actual spying and more about reminding us that Charlotte is an information gatherer and Dand may or may not be a well known spy from the continent?? THE MORE YOU KNOW. The reality is that the spy stuff was not interesting to me and the implications of the very important letter were lost on me.

3. Rose Bros, HO.

4. The premise that 3 men bonded by an oath to each other then marry the 3 daughters of some man who saved their life is silly. And with that silliness prowling in the margins, it made it hard to believe that Dand and Charlotte were actually falling in love because they connected over a shared worldview and more that Dand was the last of the Rose Bros. available to protect Charlotte and of course they end up together because NEAT ENDINGS SELL ROMANCES? IDK, it ended up feeling lazy rather then...like it fit, like it worked.

5. Very little of this novel is from Dand's POV; basically, he's a shadow with a mysterious aristocratic background that has boners for Charlotte.

6. Also, the ending was a complete disaster. It ends when Charlotte's brothers-in-law arrive and knock out Dand. THE END. There is zero resolution to any of it. It's sloppy and shoddy and removed a lot of my goodwill by being so ridiculous. (PS THAT EPILOGUE DOESN'T EXIST YOU CAN'T TELL ME OTHERWISE.)

7. In spite of all my complaining and italics, I did enjoy this the most of the 3, I think (or from what I can remember of the other 2...); I just wish the spy/looming villain crap had been left where it belonged (Bourne's hands) and there was a little more development to Dand.