Surrender
Grade : C

Surrender is Lori LeBlanc's first book and the first in a series set in the small Texas town of Cedar Point. It's an inspirational romance that is heavy on the inspiration. The best thing about the book is that it is a real page turner; Ms LeBlanc certainly knows how to move a story. But it had too many problems to make it a totally successful read for me.

Amy Bartlett moves to Cedar Point having randomly picked it out on a map. Amy is running from her messed up life and from God. When she was diagnosed as infertile, her marriage, already on shaky ground, broke up. Amy is bitter over her infertility, angry at her husband, ashamed to face her parents, and feels God is singling her out for punishment. She thinks a total change of scenery will help her.

Amy is not allowed to blend into the background. Her landlord, Jake Hanson, is a nice-looking man. Amy is attracted to him and he to her. Jake belongs to the Community Church and is deeply religious. Lollie Martin, the wife of the church's pastor, reaches out to Amy, but she is too hurt and wounded to respond to their overtures.

Amy slowly begins to heal. She gets a job as a substitute teacher, goes to the church's Thanksgiving program, spends Christmas with her family, and mends fences with them. All the while she is attracted to Jake but fights it. She can't understand his deep faith, and her infertility casts a shadow over all her actions. Finally, when Jake kisses her at a New Year's bonfire - she runs again.

The characters were a puzzle; I alternated between sympathy and dumbfoundedness where they were concerned. Amy's reactions were too extreme. While I'm not minimizing the pain of her situation, her behavior was over the top and diva-like. I spent a good deal of time rolling my eyes and muttering "get over yourself, woman!" As for Jake, he is kind, strong, good to fatherless boys, successful, and loving. But he is also passive. Jake is in his thirties, he'd like to get married, but he doesn't go out to look for a wife. No - Jake does not date. He believes that God will send him a wife, and that he will court her, not date her. Courting means spending time with another person in a group. According to Jake, this will let the two get to know each other without the pressure of sex. This I could understand if Amy and Jake were teens, but high school-like group dates aren't particularly adult.

Surrender is very inspirational - meaning there is a lot of God-talk in it. There are prayers and inspirational thoughts on practically every page. The characters are not stereotypical narrow minded Evangelical Christians - actually they're darn near saintly - particularly Jake and Lollie the minister's wife. If a reader is not used to it, she may find all the God-talk a bit distracting.

Near the end there is a melodramatic twist so mind-boggling that I was taken totally out of the narrative flow - and never got back into it. Even so, Lori LeBlanc does have a way with a story, and given the mother of all cliffhangers that ends Surrender, I'll likely skim the next book just to see what happens. If you're more of a fan of inspirational romance than I am, you may want to give this book a chance.

Reviewed by Ellen Micheletti
Grade : C

Sensuality: Kisses

Review Date : January 23, 2003

Publication Date: 2002

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Ellen Micheletti

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