Review | Dare to Surrender by Lilli Feisty

Title: Dare to Surrender by Lilli Feisty
Genre: Adult Fiction - Romance/Erotica
Publication: February 1, 2010 by Forever
Format: Paperback
Source: Won
Rating: ★★★

Synopsis: Art gallery curator Joy Montgomery has never liked her body's generous curves. And she's always been too shy to explore her wild side. But tonight, everything is going to change . . . Desperate to save her job, Joy approaches bad-boy artist Ash Hunter and asks him to exhibit his erotic work at her gallery. Ash agrees on one condition: Joy must pose as his model. But business soon turns to pleasure, as Joy experiences a passion beyond her wildest imaginings and Ash finds more than just inspiration in his voluptuous new muse.

Thoughts: This was another of my attempts at reading an erotic romance novel and I know for sure, it's not for me. I love Chick-Lit and Romance novels, but erotic novels go to a different level. I wasn't expecting a sexual encounter in the first 15 pages or so, but there was...there usually is. And I have a hard time connecting with characters when all they think about is having sex and then continuously have sex with each other. But I thought that this one might be a little different than the last one I tried reading, and although it was okay, still left me unsure on how I feel about erotic books altogether.

I don't know where to start really. Okay, Ash sounded like a very sexy man and if someone like himself made any sort of advances at me, I'd find it hard to resist. So it's totally understandable how easily Joy surrenders to him. There is some light  BDSM and that threw me off a little, but after a few scenes of it, it got a little repetitive and even...well, boring to read about. I would just skim through that, not because I was uncomfortable or anything, but because...been there, done that kinda feeling. I already knew their routine and although the author added a few different positions and/or objects, it was pretty much the same thing several times over.

Joy was annoying. I wanted to smack her most of the time. She was totally insecure of herself as a person and her whining was annoying. Its understandable that she was put down a lot by her grandma when she was young and that is why she wore a size 10 in clothes instead of a size 6 (?) but after a while, I didn't want to hear any more of her complaining. Ash on the other hand, was a very concrete, stable character. He knew what he wanted and although he was at times distracted, he was a man on a mission. He also had a lovely family that I liked (compared to Joy's) and I enjoyed reading his POV better.

The other characters were fun and I enjoyed Erika and Blaine's steamy side romance; theirs seemed a lot more realistic than Joy and Ash's. While Erika was also insecure, she was different to Joy, was totally tough and did not take shit from anyone. The way she cared for Joy was very sweet, and reminded me of myself and the way I am with my close friends, always trying to help them and protect them.

The story moved along really slowly because there was so much sex going on, that by the end of the book, I was still waiting something to happen. The conclusion was wrapped up quickly and it felt sort of rushed, but I guess I wasn't too disappointed with how things turned out for these two.

I have read plenty of positive reviews on this one, and although mine is not a negative one because I did like the book, I am not very familiar with this genre. I probably won't read too many other erotic books, but I wanted to give this one a try since I did get it for free. It was a different read for me and more than a little enjoyable, so I definitely recommend it to others who like this author or erotic novels.