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Price of Surrender
AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER Holt Sinclaire thought everything had its price--until he met a woman who couldn't be bought. Adena West had come to him on a matter of business, but suddenly it was a different affair. With reckless courage she entered his corporate jungle, only to become passion's prey. Seduced by his lazy insinuating grace, she abandoned all caution in his arms, a prisoner of desire....
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1983
109 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie James
48 books150 followersJayne Ann Castle was born on 28 March 1948 in Borrego Springs, California. Her mother, Alberta Castle, raised her with her two brothers, Stephen and James. In 1970, she obtained a B.A in History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and later she obtained a Masters degree in Library Science from San Jose State University, where she met Frank Krentz, an engineer. After her graduation, they married and moved to the Virgin Islands. She worked in the Duke University library system, where she began to write her first romance novels. The marriage moved to Seattle, Washington, where they continue living.
Now, Jayne Ann Castle Krentz with her seven pennames is considered a pillar in the contemporary romance genre. For some years, she only uses three pennames for each of three different periods from time: "Jayne Ann Krentz" (her married name) from the present, "Jayne Castle" (her birth name) from the future and her most famous penname: "Amanda Quick" from the past. She is famous for her work ethic, beginning her writing by 7 am six days a week. Her heroins never are damsels in hardships, they are often heroes. Her novels also contain mystery or paranormal elements.
Enthusiastic of the romantic genre, she has always defended its importance. To help educate the public about the romantic genre she became the editor and a contributor to Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance, a non-fiction essay collection that won the prestigious Susan Koppelman Award for Feminist Studies. She established the Castle Humanities Fund at UCSC's University Library to allow the library to purchase additional books and has given money to 15 Seattle-area elementary schools to enhance their library budgets. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Writers Programs at the University of Washington extension program.
Psuedonyms:
Jayne Ann Krentz
Amanda Quick
Jayne Castle
Jayne Bentley
Jayne Taylor
Amanda Glass
Now, Jayne Ann Castle Krentz with her seven pennames is considered a pillar in the contemporary romance genre. For some years, she only uses three pennames for each of three different periods from time: "Jayne Ann Krentz" (her married name) from the present, "Jayne Castle" (her birth name) from the future and her most famous penname: "Amanda Quick" from the past. She is famous for her work ethic, beginning her writing by 7 am six days a week. Her heroins never are damsels in hardships, they are often heroes. Her novels also contain mystery or paranormal elements.
Enthusiastic of the romantic genre, she has always defended its importance. To help educate the public about the romantic genre she became the editor and a contributor to Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance, a non-fiction essay collection that won the prestigious Susan Koppelman Award for Feminist Studies. She established the Castle Humanities Fund at UCSC's University Library to allow the library to purchase additional books and has given money to 15 Seattle-area elementary schools to enhance their library budgets. She is also a member of the Advisory Board for the Writers Programs at the University of Washington extension program.
Psuedonyms:
Jayne Ann Krentz
Amanda Quick
Jayne Castle
Jayne Bentley
Jayne Taylor
Amanda Glass
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
December 31, 2020
"Price of Surrender" is a fantastic Silhouette Romance written by Stephanie James (aka Jayne ann Krentz).It has a wonderful stroke of writing with unforgettable characters.I loved every page of it and was saddened that it had to end.Holt Sinclair is a business tycoon who sees the world in terms of commersial transaction and thinks everything and everyone can be bought.Adena West proves him wrong and manages to steal his cynical heart.They are perfect as a couple,the desire,fascination and love they feel for each other was beautiful,and i loved every scene with them together with Adena`s protective dog Max.This author always manages to take my breath away with her Alpha-heroes and the women who manages to tame them!
February 7, 2022
Price of Surrender is a middle-of-the-road vintage JAK category romance. If Goodreads understood my need for nuanced ratings, I would give this 3.25 stars. Not exactly meh -- it has a couple of cute scenes and the classic JAK chemistry between the characters that I desperately miss in her 20xx romantic suspense -- but the conflict over the hero's commodification of relationships dominates the book and it just doesn't resonate with me. (I have never felt less woke.)
The pair meet when the super-ethical accountant heroine discovers the company she works for is bribing someone in the R&D division of the hero's company for corporate secrets. She quits her job and arranges a meeting with the hero to inform him of the payoffs. The instantly smitten hero says terribly sexist things, but you can tell he's disappointed because he assumes this woman he's attracted to is trying to sell him her information. When he realizes she gave up both her job and her boyfriend to bring him the truth, he chases after her, but the heroine is wary of his tendency to put a price on relationships even though she excuses it as a result of his being raised in an orphanage ("...she thought about what it would be like to be raised in an institution where there couldn't possibly have been enough attention and love to go around. The notion that love was a commodity to be bought like anything else might have been impressed on Holt at a very early age").
Despite the hero's misogynistic cynicism ("'a wife is an installment plan purchase, and a man has to keep up the payments through good times and bad'") and the direct line I can draw from his use of money and privilege to attempt to possess the heroine to today's #metoo movement, my readerly opinion is that the heroine needs a backstory to explain her deeply negative reaction to the hero's too-generous gifts. He sends her flowers and an expensive necklace after their first sexual encounter, and she leaps to the conclusion that he's mistressing her.
He compounds his sins by secretly arranging a job interview for the unemployed heroine, and she goes ballistic. (This is hilarious to me: he spoke directly to the management of a firm where she had already submitted a résumé to get them to take a look at it. I'm pretty sure we just call this "networking" today.) To show him what it feels like to be compensated for "services rendered," the heroine decides to send him an expensive gold watch she can't really afford, confident the hero will be offended and return it immediately (so she can return it to the store before her check is cashed).
Completely ignoring my disgruntlement, the besotted hero and heroine marry and live happily ever after.
Enlightening heroes is the business of a JAK category romance. The hero tromps in -- entitled, arrogant, not without honor but with values defined entirely by patriarchal standards -- and the heroine realigns his thinking. Her job is to get him to treat her like a person, not a thing. Not to be too simplistic, but this was mid-20th century feminism. Without the leverage of cancel culture, our mothers and grandmothers forced men to re-evaluate what women were capable of, what women expected, and what women would accept. They had the difficult task of transforming men into allies.
JAK checklist
Pacific Northwest setting: Nope. Bay Area.
Familiar professions: Soooo many JAK protagonists are in the financial professions, and CEO heroes of tech firms are thick on the ground. I'm not sure exactly what his company does, just that the spy was in the "thin film coating" department of R&D. Computer chips? Batteries?
Marital status: She's single. He has the usual vintage mercenary ex-wife, giving the hero an excuse to be cynical about all women because of the actions of one.
Age: She's 28; he's 37 or 38.
Heroine's eye exam: turquoise
Hero's eye exam: smoky gray
Hair color: Hers is "rich umber" which quickly gets clarified as dark blonde (any blonde is unusual in a JAK heroine); his is dark with a sprinkling of silver.
Pets: Max! The heroine's two-and-half year old standard schnauzer is a dueña, butler, hostage, pseudo-son, and -- thanks to the hero feeding him sherry -- a budding lush.
Vehicles spell success: He drives a gunmetal gray Ferrari; she drives a bright yellow Audi.
Metaphors are for flogging: $$$ Not so much a metaphor but the hero's worldview, where everything has a price.
Hero threatens to spank heroine: ...no? It's a unicorn!
The pair meet when the super-ethical accountant heroine discovers the company she works for is bribing someone in the R&D division of the hero's company for corporate secrets. She quits her job and arranges a meeting with the hero to inform him of the payoffs. The instantly smitten hero says terribly sexist things, but you can tell he's disappointed because he assumes this woman he's attracted to is trying to sell him her information. When he realizes she gave up both her job and her boyfriend to bring him the truth, he chases after her, but the heroine is wary of his tendency to put a price on relationships even though she excuses it as a result of his being raised in an orphanage ("...she thought about what it would be like to be raised in an institution where there couldn't possibly have been enough attention and love to go around. The notion that love was a commodity to be bought like anything else might have been impressed on Holt at a very early age").
Despite the hero's misogynistic cynicism ("'a wife is an installment plan purchase, and a man has to keep up the payments through good times and bad'") and the direct line I can draw from his use of money and privilege to attempt to possess the heroine to today's #metoo movement, my readerly opinion is that the heroine needs a backstory to explain her deeply negative reaction to the hero's too-generous gifts. He sends her flowers and an expensive necklace after their first sexual encounter, and she leaps to the conclusion that he's mistressing her.
He compounds his sins by secretly arranging a job interview for the unemployed heroine, and she goes ballistic. (This is hilarious to me: he spoke directly to the management of a firm where she had already submitted a résumé to get them to take a look at it. I'm pretty sure we just call this "networking" today.) To show him what it feels like to be compensated for "services rendered," the heroine decides to send him an expensive gold watch she can't really afford, confident the hero will be offended and return it immediately (so she can return it to the store before her check is cashed).
Completely ignoring my disgruntlement, the besotted hero and heroine marry and live happily ever after.
Enlightening heroes is the business of a JAK category romance. The hero tromps in -- entitled, arrogant, not without honor but with values defined entirely by patriarchal standards -- and the heroine realigns his thinking. Her job is to get him to treat her like a person, not a thing. Not to be too simplistic, but this was mid-20th century feminism. Without the leverage of cancel culture, our mothers and grandmothers forced men to re-evaluate what women were capable of, what women expected, and what women would accept. They had the difficult task of transforming men into allies.
JAK checklist
Pacific Northwest setting: Nope. Bay Area.
Familiar professions: Soooo many JAK protagonists are in the financial professions, and CEO heroes of tech firms are thick on the ground. I'm not sure exactly what his company does, just that the spy was in the "thin film coating" department of R&D. Computer chips? Batteries?
Marital status: She's single. He has the usual vintage mercenary ex-wife, giving the hero an excuse to be cynical about all women because of the actions of one.
Age: She's 28; he's 37 or 38.
Heroine's eye exam: turquoise
Hero's eye exam: smoky gray
Hair color: Hers is "rich umber" which quickly gets clarified as dark blonde (any blonde is unusual in a JAK heroine); his is dark with a sprinkling of silver.
Pets: Max! The heroine's two-and-half year old standard schnauzer is a dueña, butler, hostage, pseudo-son, and -- thanks to the hero feeding him sherry -- a budding lush.
Vehicles spell success: He drives a gunmetal gray Ferrari; she drives a bright yellow Audi.
Metaphors are for flogging: $$$ Not so much a metaphor but the hero's worldview, where everything has a price.
Hero threatens to spank heroine: ...no? It's a unicorn!
January 28, 2020
"Price of Surrender" is the story of Adena and Holt.
When accountant h breaks up with her boyfriend after discovering a fraud, she resigns and decides to do one good deed- go to his nemesis and explain the fraud. She does not expect the super sexy man to not only proposition her, but bribe her with gifts. Thus begins a passionate tale of cat and mouse with a super obsessed H, a strong but temperamental h, loads of sexy lovemaking, a kinda drunk but amazingly loyal dog, some OM drama and a wonderful ending.
I really like the tender scenes between the h and H, especially the watch scene and the h's response to the H. Smitten jealous H and a h who could stand head to head with him. Adored this!
Heavily recommended!
Safe
4.5/5
When accountant h breaks up with her boyfriend after discovering a fraud, she resigns and decides to do one good deed- go to his nemesis and explain the fraud. She does not expect the super sexy man to not only proposition her, but bribe her with gifts. Thus begins a passionate tale of cat and mouse with a super obsessed H, a strong but temperamental h, loads of sexy lovemaking, a kinda drunk but amazingly loyal dog, some OM drama and a wonderful ending.
I really like the tender scenes between the h and H, especially the watch scene and the h's response to the H. Smitten jealous H and a h who could stand head to head with him. Adored this!
Heavily recommended!
Safe
4.5/5
June 16, 2024
Quite dated and filled with glorious purple prose, the story was overall sweet. The heroine buys an outrageously expensive Swiss watch for the hero to teach him a lesson that money can’t buy love. She thinks he will not accept it and then she can return it. The hero knows what she’s up to so he plays dumb, accepting it with gushing thanks as a token of her love. His lesson to her is that sometimes, gifts are just gifts, they don’t have to be taken as payment for services rendered. Anyway it was quite obvious these two were besotted and that they will have a very nice HEA along with their loyal pooch Max in beautiful Sausalito, California. A nice light read :)
August 26, 2012
Enjoyed this quite a bit, since the heroine seemed to be led in this book most of the time. When the book starts she has had a tough day, she discovered in her job as an accountant that her company was bribing a rival employee and when she reported it she found out that the man she was dating was fine with it, so she broke up her relationship and resigned and decided to warn the rival which doesn't turn out as she expected, first off he knew about the bribe and second off all he thinks she expects to be rewarded so he tries to pay her and even start something on a personal level, disgusted she runs, home to her dog Max.
But that is not the end of it the hero reappears again well aware that he made a mistake with her and asks her to give her a chance and for a date with some reluctance she agrees. In many ways this book was very subtle filled with one-upmanship, the hero is used to buying things in his life and the heroine doesn't consider herself property so when after their night together he sends her a gift, she gets angry and sends it right back, he appears again and tells her it is not a bribe but she is not having it, so when she finds out that same day that her interview was kind of orchestrated by him, she decides to get even and buys him an expensive gift, which backfires on her since he seems to adore it and knowing that he was an orphan and seeing his pleasure she doesn't have the heart to tell him her motives and somehow she loses control and ends up engaged to him the same night.
OMG!I loved how the hero manipulated her and she didn't even know it, at the end he tells her that he got what the gift was meant for but gleaned from her reaction afterwards that she cared about him and since he loved her, he was hell bent on binding him to her, how can you not love such a hero? Pretty good book!
But that is not the end of it the hero reappears again well aware that he made a mistake with her and asks her to give her a chance and for a date with some reluctance she agrees. In many ways this book was very subtle filled with one-upmanship, the hero is used to buying things in his life and the heroine doesn't consider herself property so when after their night together he sends her a gift, she gets angry and sends it right back, he appears again and tells her it is not a bribe but she is not having it, so when she finds out that same day that her interview was kind of orchestrated by him, she decides to get even and buys him an expensive gift, which backfires on her since he seems to adore it and knowing that he was an orphan and seeing his pleasure she doesn't have the heart to tell him her motives and somehow she loses control and ends up engaged to him the same night.
OMG!I loved how the hero manipulated her and she didn't even know it, at the end he tells her that he got what the gift was meant for but gleaned from her reaction afterwards that she cared about him and since he loved her, he was hell bent on binding him to her, how can you not love such a hero? Pretty good book!
July 9, 2019
„- Adena, n-am niciun chef să plec de la tine în seara asta.
– Știu, murmură ea.
– Dar mă expediezi totuși… încheie el cu un umor care destinse puțin atmosfera. De ce mă fixează Max?
Adena întoarse capul pentru a-i urmări direcția privirii și-l văzu pe Max care-i pândea, postat în spatele canapelei, cu botul pe labe.
– Așteaptă ca să te conducă politicos până la ușă.”
Adena West decide să facă o faptă bună și să-l avertizeze pe rivalul în afaceri al fostului logodnic de planurile acestuia. Nu se aștepta însă ca Holt Sinclair să știe deja despre ce era vorba, iar când bărbatul crede că ea își dorește ceva la schimb pentru așa-zisele vești, se simte atacată și înjosită de gândurile ce-i trec prin cap. Astfel că părăsește casa lui Holt cu prima ocazie, jignită de purtarea lui insinuantă.
Dându-și seama că a judecat-o greșit pe femeie, Holt se arată curând la ușa ei pentru a-și cere iertare și pentru a lua-o cum trebuie de la capăt. Iar de aici, întâlnirile lor sunt tot mai dese, bărbatul intervenind în viața ei, în loc să o lase să se descurce singură. Adena este nemulțumită de acest fapt și încearcă să-i plătească cu aceeași monedă, însă nu reușește. Cea manipulată este tot ea.
Nu mi-a plăcut cum a fost creionată Adena, se putea mai bine. Prea era „jucată” de toți și nu era în stare să-și impună punctul de vedere. Mă așteptam de la ea să fie mai încăpățânată și să nu se supună așa ușor. Și chiar începuse bine lectura din acest punct de vedere, ca mai apoi s-o facă lată.
– Știu, murmură ea.
– Dar mă expediezi totuși… încheie el cu un umor care destinse puțin atmosfera. De ce mă fixează Max?
Adena întoarse capul pentru a-i urmări direcția privirii și-l văzu pe Max care-i pândea, postat în spatele canapelei, cu botul pe labe.
– Așteaptă ca să te conducă politicos până la ușă.”
Adena West decide să facă o faptă bună și să-l avertizeze pe rivalul în afaceri al fostului logodnic de planurile acestuia. Nu se aștepta însă ca Holt Sinclair să știe deja despre ce era vorba, iar când bărbatul crede că ea își dorește ceva la schimb pentru așa-zisele vești, se simte atacată și înjosită de gândurile ce-i trec prin cap. Astfel că părăsește casa lui Holt cu prima ocazie, jignită de purtarea lui insinuantă.
Dându-și seama că a judecat-o greșit pe femeie, Holt se arată curând la ușa ei pentru a-și cere iertare și pentru a lua-o cum trebuie de la capăt. Iar de aici, întâlnirile lor sunt tot mai dese, bărbatul intervenind în viața ei, în loc să o lase să se descurce singură. Adena este nemulțumită de acest fapt și încearcă să-i plătească cu aceeași monedă, însă nu reușește. Cea manipulată este tot ea.
Nu mi-a plăcut cum a fost creionată Adena, se putea mai bine. Prea era „jucată” de toți și nu era în stare să-și impună punctul de vedere. Mă așteptam de la ea să fie mai încăpățânată și să nu se supună așa ușor. Și chiar începuse bine lectura din acest punct de vedere, ca mai apoi s-o facă lată.
February 3, 2020
Just two stars. This read like a stereotypical HQ published in the 1980s. The heroine fell in love with hero after a day or so, even though she doesn't really know him that well. There really wasn't much character development. Then there is a bit of a black moment (which wasn't so much black as a light grey), and then ILYs are exchanged. The end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 2, 2013
3,5 stars
dnf-or-preemptive
January 31, 2021Divorced hero.
July 6, 2017
Amazing to look back at the initial couplings in romances from the early 80's to see how much of it was not consensual.
August 2, 2019
Eww. Ugly: ass#### hero, roadkill as heroine, instalove galore but above all boring. Everything is too pat.
August 17, 2023
Spent 2 days trying to read, too much paint by numbers to keep me interested
March 25, 2024
I see the change in requirements of the publishers overtime as I go back and read this authors older books. Jayne Ann Krentz is an excellent writer and storyteller. Although I'm not into men who are aggressive and overpowering (at least not with out acknowledgement from his side that he belongs to the woman also), I do understand the times for what they were and that they are still changing. I really do enjoy this author and always look forward to one of her books. Many I've read several times and still keep around for repeated reading.
Second reading and enjoyed just as much as the first time. Will be keeping and reading again in the future.
Second reading and enjoyed just as much as the first time. Will be keeping and reading again in the future.
October 12, 2023
I can't believe Silhouette Desire had books like this written under its umbrella and let its standards drop since then. The H and h come together so wonderfully and their determination to hold onto each other and putting each others feelings above their own is very well written. I infact like this particular book over some of the other more modern books written in Stephanie James' other 'avatars' like Jayne Ann Krentz or Jayne Castle for that matter.
May 4, 2018
Another early Jayne Ann Krentz (1983), this book comes closer to her later style than other books written around this time. It has a bit more plot and better characterization but is still basically about the sturm und drang of a single relationship. As do most of the Stephanie James books, this one lacks the humor of her later books but still makes an interesting re-read.
August 28, 2011
Genre: [Well-Matched-H/h, Beta-ish H, Dog]
It was nice. Not laugh out funny but a subtle humor was present in the conversations. The dog proved to be a nice secondary character. The issues that plagued the hero also seemed real and his reactions to the situations was innovative.
It was nice. Not laugh out funny but a subtle humor was present in the conversations. The dog proved to be a nice secondary character. The issues that plagued the hero also seemed real and his reactions to the situations was innovative.
September 14, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. Her characters are always different than expected. I enjoyed all of her 80's books and took them for the era they were in and what was selling. I do wish they were all in Kindle Format!
June 19, 2016
Not usually a big fan of "forceful" "i know what's good for you / what you want and need" kind of heroes, but this one actually redeemed himself, in a very short amount of time (since it was a rather short story).
verdict: short and sweet.
verdict: short and sweet.
October 12, 2010
On of the first books that Jayne Ann Krentz wrote. Nothing special and yet it still has her distinctive style.
April 21, 2012
Titre vf : Pour que tu m'appartiennes
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews