Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Giving In, by Maya Banks, ends 5/14

He shook his head. "I'll take care of it. All I ask is for you to sit and keep me company while I work my magic in your kitchen."

"It certainly appears I'm getting the better end of this deal," she said dryly.

"On the contrary," he said softly. "I get your company. I find that's worth a hell of a lot more than one cooked meal."

She was speechless again, an affliction she seemed to suffer on a regular basis around him. And the hell of it was he sounded absolutely sincere.

"I swear I don't know what I'm going to do with you, Jensen Tucker," she said in a bewildered voice.

He smiled. "If you don't know, I'd be happy to show you."

Giving In is the second book in the Surrender trilogy, the first one being Letting Go, which I reviewed in March. I found this story to be just as strong as that of Dash and Joss's, although a few nitpicky things in it annoyed me, and the third book in the trilogy, Taking It All, will be out this August, too.

Official synopsis:
Kylie sees the way Jensen looks at her. The dark promise in his eyes. That rough edge of dominance she knows he possesses. But dominance is the one thing that frightens her above all else. She and her brother barely survived a childhood steeped in violence and abuse. She could never give up total control and submit to a man. Especially a man like Jensen. Could she?

Jensen sees the shadows in Kylie’s eyes. Knows he has to tread very carefully or risk losing any chance he has with her. All he wants is the opportunity to show her that dominance doesn’t equal pain, bondage or discipline. That emotional surrender is the most powerful of all, and that to submit—fully to him—will fulfill the aching void in her heart in a way nothing else ever will.
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First off, the way these books all connect is that there are three friends: Joss, Kylie, and Chessy. Kylie is technically Joss's sister-in-law, as Joss was married to her brother, Carson, before his untimely death. In the first novel (SPOILER), Joss ends up with Dash, Carson's business partner, and marries him; this novel picks up after those events.

Jensen is Dash's new business partner, and he's an "alpha male," which scares Kylie; she and Carson were abused by her father when they were growing up. However, Jensen had a rough childhood as well, and he and Kylie have more in common than she would have thought possible.

All of these characters are fleshed out very well, which keeps the story moving at a good pace. Although this is technically classified as erotica, the characters aren't whipping their shirts off in every scene either, and I'd say it's more like "erotica lite" - you get a few of "those" scenes but the book actually has a plot.

The few nitpicky things I mentioned before: just like Dash called Joss "honey" a lot in the first book, Jensen's word of endearment is "baby." I'm surprised Kylie didn't throw a shoe at him eventually, or something, because in two pages, Jensen/the author used the word "baby" maybe 5-7 times when in conversation with her, and it drove me a little bit nuts.

We also don't find out that much more about Chessy and her husband's relationship in this book, except he's been neglecting her lately, but they are the focal point of the last book in the series, so I'm sure we will learn more about them then.

3.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of this novel for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

GIVEAWAY:

I have one paperback copy of Giving In for a lucky reader to win!

Enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, May 14th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be notified via email on May 15th and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen. U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

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