Whoever said life kicks you when you’re down certainly knew what they were talking about. Homeless? Check. Humiliated? Double check. Hurting? Hell yes. Deserving of the fallout? All I can say is you reap what you sow.
So, what’s left when life leaves you with nothing?
For me, it started with reuniting with my Master…even if that epitomizes a deal with the devil. That’s exactly what I did too. I lost everything for him, including myself. When even the devil abandoned me, though, what else was I supposed to do except take the one out I’m given. She cautioned me that it means I'll have to give up everything. Can't she understand I've nothing left to lose? The only thing I have to offer is my surrender—and all my scars—to my new Mistress.
When D. F. Krieger was banned from writing contests at her school, she immediately set it in her head that she would become a professional writer. Since then, she has thrown away her plans of world domination through books, but she still enjoys writing. Her tastes run from classy urban witches to dragons, space pirates to shape shifters. By the time she pens her final book with a hand ravaged by age, she hopes to introduce her readers to many alternate worlds, lines of thinking, and captivating characters.
You can find D. F. on the East Coast, hiding away from the real world with a gleam in her eye and a plot in her head. She resides with her husband, kids, and pets; who all kindly put up with her random bouts of laughter (over things she can't explain) and journal collecting fetish.
2 stars - This book unfortunately wasn’t what I was hoping for. After reading quite a few (mostly fan) fic with BDSM undertones, I went looking for something in which the BDSM aspect was a little more prominent.
The premise of The Surrender Agreement seemed really interesting. Teresa (a submissive), gets out of an abusive dom/sub relationship and Marie Anne (a switch) takes her in and helps Teresa learn how to trust and love again.
As someone who enjoys some angst thrown into my fiction, the idea of this book was appealing to me, but I found it to be poorly executed.
The writing in itself isn’t bad, but it isn’t great either. There are some typos and some random sentences. Some innocuous details are obsessed over and important plot points are skipped entirely. As an example, at the beginning of the book, Teresa tripped and fell on the sidewalk. She skinned her knees and palms on the concrete. We all took a fall once, it stings and yes, it’s annoying, but Teresa was constantly, and I mean constantly alluding to her wounds, even 80% into the book when I thought at least weeks had gone by.
Words tumbled through my head, trying to line up into a sentence that made sentence.
The character development was severely lacking. We are never told how old Teresa is, but from what she hints at, she’s around 30, yet she reads like a 20 year-old (at most). Her inner monologue is often childish and strange for a 30 year-old woman who’s been through so much. We do get to know a lot about what happened to her in her past relationship, all the trauma that she went through, but we don’t know much about who she is as a person. As Teresa is reclaiming her life and rediscovering herself, I’d hoped to learn more so I could feel more connected to her. Even though I sympathize with her, I never really cared for her as a character. Same goes for Marie Anne, her new Mistress / love interest.
Moreover, we didn’t see much in regard of their relationship development. It kind of just happened out of nowhere. We weren’t really shown, just told. I didn’t feel there was any chemistry between the two women and it honestly was just awkward to read.
The pacing of this book is off as well. I honestly have no idea how much time has passed from the start to the end. I feel like it’s been weeks/months. I hope it’s been months or else this book just really does not make sense. But then near the end, Teresa makes a comment about how she only just got her medical results a few days ago, when the nurse had told her she’d get them in less than a week!
One thing I did appreciate was the fact that sex wasn’t used as a “fix-it”. The main leads barely even touch each other, but that is pretty much all I liked about it. It just wasn’t for me.
This book was not about everything bdsm it was about a woman that thinks that what her master did to her. And broke her and she finds love with her new master . I know that what I say is that there is a lot of out there in this world that are abuse and they think that it alright that when they man or woman abuses them. That they can not find love they are wrong. Please leave them and find true love were you are respected
Well-described, lovable characters in an engaging story.
Excellently documented account of healing after long-term abuse. You don't just go back to normal when it stops. You have to be brave, and accept that you're going to be a completely different person than the one you were when the abuse began.
D.F Krieger does a great job handling this disturbing topic, and makes it highly readable.
Good stories. However, if you’re looking for erotic kink, this isn’t it.
I read this book and the first one hoping to find some kink with a story. There’s nothing in here I would consider kinky past some people calling others Mistress. Decent stories, though. More instructive than anything.
This is really deep, I went hunting for book 2 to get a ending for Delilah and Paige and I was quite peeved initially that it’s about tereza however I was completely blown away by this narrative!
I think I found my next favourite writer and hopefully there is more to come for this series!
TW: abuse is discussed in the book. This book is about Teresa and Teresa’s recovery from abuse. Mary Ann is amazing and I can only hope that anyone that has a broken soul can find their own Mary Ann.
Jesus. I loved this series. But book 2 is awfully heavy reading. It’s important though to understand the difference between BDSM and abuse. I’m very glad it’s a happy ending. Here’s hoping everyone one gets there happy ending soon.
It's the healing story. You know, girl is abused and broken, gets taken in by a friendly soul, begins healing, and starts developing feelings for that other person.
Beyond that you'd think it's themed around BDSM. But it really isn't. It's sort of there with the BDSM club and Mary Anne being her mistress, and there's some short flashbacks of BDSM-esque abuse. But there isn't any actual BDSM, and even the domestic D/s is as light as it gets. The cover of the book definitely isn't indicative of the story.
Instead the theme is farm life and horses. Lots of horses. If you're a fan of horses and all that, then this is probably just for you.
I'm somewhere between 3-4 stars myself. I lean toward 4 stars because I like the story of a fragile, broken girl who gets cared for and loved. It's a nice feel-good story.
What detracts a bit from the story is that sometimes Teresa reads a bit like Gollum in Lord of the Rings. She has an inner voice that is split between self-loathing and self-disgust, and a more positive inner voice that's hopeful and trusting. And sometimes it reads just like when Gollum/Sméagol talks to himself in Lord of the Rings, and one part of the mind is sort of battling the other. And once that image gets into my head it's very hard to get out again. So fair warning to people familiar with Lord of the Rings.
All in all though it's a decent read. If you enjoyed the previous book in the series, then this is more of that style.