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Love #3
Surrender to Love
Miss Eliza Merriman knew how difficult it would be to capture Julian Dylan. For Julian was the handsomest lord in England, a prize women would and did do anything to win. Somehow Eliza had to be more dazzling than her captivating cousin Constance, aristocratic society’s most celebrated beauty. She had to be more endearing than her friend Anthea, who was everything that a man could seek in a wife. And she had to weave a sensual spell stronger than that of the ladies of pleasure who swarmed around Julian like bees around honey.
Somehow Eliza had to find the path to Julian’s heart…and had to gamble that passion would light the way….
Somehow Eliza had to find the path to Julian’s heart…and had to gamble that passion would light the way….
326 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 7, 1989
3 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Edith Layton
80 books103 followersEdith Layton wrote her first novel when she was ten. She bought a marbleized notebook and set out to write a story that would fit between its covers. Now, an award-winning author with more than thirty novels and numerous novellas to her credit, her criteria have changed. The story has to fit the reader as well as between the covers.
Graduating from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in creative writing and theater, Edith worked for various media, including a radio station and a major motion picture company. She married and went to suburbia, where she was fruitful and multiplied to the tune of three children. Her eldest, Michael, is a social worker and artist in NYC. Adam is a writer and performer on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Daughter Susie is a professional writer, comedian and performer who works in television.
Publishers Weekly called Edith Layton "one of romance's most gifted writers." Layton has enthralled readers and critics with books that capture the spirit of historically distant places and peoples. "What I've found," she says, "is that life was very different in every era, but that love and love of life is always the same."
Layton won an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement award for the Historical genre in 2003 and a Reviewers' Choice award for her book The Conquest in 2001. Amazon.com's top reviewer called Layton's Alas, My Love (April 2005, Avon Books), "a wonderful historical." And her recent release, Bride Enchanted, is a Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee.
Edith Layton lived on Long Island where she devoted time as a volunteer for the North Shore Animal League , the world's largest no-kill pet rescue and adoption organization. Her dog Daisy --adopted herself from a shelter-- is just one member of Layton's household menagerie.
Edith Layton passed away on June 1, 2009 from ovarian cancer.
Graduating from Hunter College in New York City with a degree in creative writing and theater, Edith worked for various media, including a radio station and a major motion picture company. She married and went to suburbia, where she was fruitful and multiplied to the tune of three children. Her eldest, Michael, is a social worker and artist in NYC. Adam is a writer and performer on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Daughter Susie is a professional writer, comedian and performer who works in television.
Publishers Weekly called Edith Layton "one of romance's most gifted writers." Layton has enthralled readers and critics with books that capture the spirit of historically distant places and peoples. "What I've found," she says, "is that life was very different in every era, but that love and love of life is always the same."
Layton won an RT Book Reviews Career Achievement award for the Historical genre in 2003 and a Reviewers' Choice award for her book The Conquest in 2001. Amazon.com's top reviewer called Layton's Alas, My Love (April 2005, Avon Books), "a wonderful historical." And her recent release, Bride Enchanted, is a Romantic Times 2007 Reviewers' Choice Award Nominee.
Edith Layton lived on Long Island where she devoted time as a volunteer for the North Shore Animal League , the world's largest no-kill pet rescue and adoption organization. Her dog Daisy --adopted herself from a shelter-- is just one member of Layton's household menagerie.
Edith Layton passed away on June 1, 2009 from ovarian cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 23, 2020
He took too long to give a sh*t about her. I kept waiting for her to give up the ghost and for the actual man she was supposed to move on with, fall in love with and marry to show up.
He was naught but a spoilt d*ck honestly. Especially in that scene where, rather than feeling pleased like a normal parent that Mary was finally no longer sober and was acting joyful and like a child her age, he was snide in his thoughts as if she was a toy he had picked up in his travels that was no longer worth playing with (poor little Velveteen Rabbit Mary).
He started off well but by mid story he needed a severe personality overhaul and the author didn't leave herself enough room to do what was needful to redeem him. If that was even a possibility.
Id have liked to see their letters. They'd have probably made a better book. That's apparently where all his virtues lie too. Because they sure weren't apparent when he was physically present.
Poor poor Eliza, stuck with his self conceit, really that's all one can say about that couple. She should have just stayed in London. Some men aren't meant to be paired off.
P.S. - Coachman? Of all the careers this is what you want to pretend your hero worked as? I mean really? They earned a pittance. Not really selling the 'he earned back his fortune' angle m'dear. He'd have been better off sponging from house party to house party at that rate of return.
He was naught but a spoilt d*ck honestly. Especially in that scene where, rather than feeling pleased like a normal parent that Mary was finally no longer sober and was acting joyful and like a child her age, he was snide in his thoughts as if she was a toy he had picked up in his travels that was no longer worth playing with (poor little Velveteen Rabbit Mary).
He started off well but by mid story he needed a severe personality overhaul and the author didn't leave herself enough room to do what was needful to redeem him. If that was even a possibility.
Id have liked to see their letters. They'd have probably made a better book. That's apparently where all his virtues lie too. Because they sure weren't apparent when he was physically present.
Poor poor Eliza, stuck with his self conceit, really that's all one can say about that couple. She should have just stayed in London. Some men aren't meant to be paired off.
P.S. - Coachman? Of all the careers this is what you want to pretend your hero worked as? I mean really? They earned a pittance. Not really selling the 'he earned back his fortune' angle m'dear. He'd have been better off sponging from house party to house party at that rate of return.
February 11, 2021
Horrible. This was not a romance, this fake engagement story with three besotted girls vying for the annoying Adonis hero was absolutely horrible. The heroine was silly, the hero was not in love. Oh and one night the hero went out after being to a ball or some such, he went to a courtesan that he had only heard of, never met before, spent the night sexing and off he went. To meet a street whore who was upset because he didn’t pick her up on the way to picking up the courtesan, so of course he spent the rest of the night sexing her. I couldn’t see past that.
I can’t believe I actually finished it, but I love the author and I thought it would somehow turn around but no.
I can’t believe I actually finished it, but I love the author and I thought it would somehow turn around but no.
May 16, 2008
The third book if the trilogy it's also all about the hero but in a very bad way. It's even more striking the difference when he appears side by side with Warwick and Arden.
Julian Dylan, Viscount Hazelton, has come a long way, literally, since his debut in Love in Disguise. Then he was an impoverished nobleman who had to drive a coach on the Brighton Road to earn his livelihood. Now he's come home from across the Atlantic to help a young girl he'd befriended in The Game of Love. But Miss Eliza Merriman is no longer a young girl and wants much more than his friendship. She knows how difficult it will be to capture him. For now Julian is not only the handsomest lord in England but also wealthy, a prize women would do anything to win.
There are many obstacles in Eliza's path. Her captivating cousin Constance, aristocratic society's most celebrated beauty, and her sensible friend Anthea, who was everything that a man could seek in a wife. There is a race to see if Julian can discover his heart, as well as overcome the very real obstacles on the Brighton Road that threaten to thwart him at the last.
Julian comes across as irresponsible (he stops Eliza's wedding but only pretends to be her fiancé), vain and conceited (he thinks it's normal that every woman tries to get his attention), inconstant (he considers marriage to all 3 girls) and basically an idiot for letting Anthea intrude on his honeymoon and not being strong when he should to stop her from having expectations. In the end I was actually hoping Eliza would kick his butt and wait for a real hero like Arden or Warwick!
Can you tell I'm very annoyed?
Grade: C-
Julian Dylan, Viscount Hazelton, has come a long way, literally, since his debut in Love in Disguise. Then he was an impoverished nobleman who had to drive a coach on the Brighton Road to earn his livelihood. Now he's come home from across the Atlantic to help a young girl he'd befriended in The Game of Love. But Miss Eliza Merriman is no longer a young girl and wants much more than his friendship. She knows how difficult it will be to capture him. For now Julian is not only the handsomest lord in England but also wealthy, a prize women would do anything to win.
There are many obstacles in Eliza's path. Her captivating cousin Constance, aristocratic society's most celebrated beauty, and her sensible friend Anthea, who was everything that a man could seek in a wife. There is a race to see if Julian can discover his heart, as well as overcome the very real obstacles on the Brighton Road that threaten to thwart him at the last.
Julian comes across as irresponsible (he stops Eliza's wedding but only pretends to be her fiancé), vain and conceited (he thinks it's normal that every woman tries to get his attention), inconstant (he considers marriage to all 3 girls) and basically an idiot for letting Anthea intrude on his honeymoon and not being strong when he should to stop her from having expectations. In the end I was actually hoping Eliza would kick his butt and wait for a real hero like Arden or Warwick!
Can you tell I'm very annoyed?
Grade: C-
June 10, 2024
“For, in a sense, they’d never stopped talking. Because they’d been writing to each other regularly, just as they’d promised to do when they’d parted on that odd day all those years before.”
A wedding interrupted....
Miss Eliza Merriman sobs at the alter, forced to marry a man she was caught kissing. But after the sudden arrival and interruption of Lord Julian Dylan, she agrees to a fake engagement. But it’s not fake to her. She competes with her best friend and cousin for the love and attention of this Lord. But can the fear of marriage and a mysterious illness be overcome? Can they be together? Can they be apart? Does 5 years of letters mean anything in the face of marriage?
While the writing felt very reminiscent of the time the story is based in, it was hard to follow and read. The characters were not likeable, with Julian being an ass and Eliza was far too much a child for being 21. Every scene was painful, especially in Julians view as he was just sad that his life was over and that he had to give up his freedom to marry Eliza. And she was sad he didn’t overwhelming love her. 1 star.
A wedding interrupted....
Miss Eliza Merriman sobs at the alter, forced to marry a man she was caught kissing. But after the sudden arrival and interruption of Lord Julian Dylan, she agrees to a fake engagement. But it’s not fake to her. She competes with her best friend and cousin for the love and attention of this Lord. But can the fear of marriage and a mysterious illness be overcome? Can they be together? Can they be apart? Does 5 years of letters mean anything in the face of marriage?
While the writing felt very reminiscent of the time the story is based in, it was hard to follow and read. The characters were not likeable, with Julian being an ass and Eliza was far too much a child for being 21. Every scene was painful, especially in Julians view as he was just sad that his life was over and that he had to give up his freedom to marry Eliza. And she was sad he didn’t overwhelming love her. 1 star.
October 31, 2020
The sad thing is I love the beauty burden male trope, and all the better if its a slow burn romance with a hard to get hero. Throw in the added bonus of two other woman vying for his affection to spice things up with a love triangle. Why not? We know the heroine always wins... We know we'll see the hero get shot in the heart by Cupid's arrow. We'll see him fall in love little by little no matter how rakish or hard to get he seems to be. Which is why I thought I hit the jack pot with this book, which has all those themes I love to read... How could anyone mess up such a juicy book? It started off brilliantly interesting and I was enjoying the trill of the chase for up to at least 50% of the book... Until It dawned on me that the execution of the thing was horrendous, and it was much too far along for there not to be even a careless musing of desire from the hero's point of view.
There was absolutely no hint of affection whatsoever from the hero towards the heroine. None. Zata. Zilch. You don't get to see him fall in love with her little by little. There were no chemistry filled banter to hold on to and give you hope of a budding want for her. Neither want of sex or anything else. Even at 70% with the ending right around the corner, the hero still didn't even budge on his indifference towards the heroine. Indifference. That's the word that ruined the book. That's the word that made me realize that what I love about a slow burn romance or a love triangle done right was not only the thrill of the chase, but the slight indications of desire you get to see from the hero and heroine as the book progresses, that tells you that in truth they actually burn for each other even though they didn't themselves know it yet.
I would have preferred if the hero hated the heroine for some foolish reason other than his irritating nonchalant feelings towards her. At least he would have shown some passion towards the chit, but he was dead as a door nail where the heroine was concerned, and that's what killed the book in all it's awesome trope glory. By the time you got anything from the man, the book was at its end, and no fun at all getting there, because getting there was severely bland and frustrating. I gave the book 2 stars because I was curious enough to lag through to the end, although there were many times I wanted to put it down and get on with a more stimulating romance. I kept reading to see the outcome, but Edith Layton has terrified me about picking up another book by her for a long while, and that's saying a lot because The Duke's Wager is one of my all time favorite books ever.
There was absolutely no hint of affection whatsoever from the hero towards the heroine. None. Zata. Zilch. You don't get to see him fall in love with her little by little. There were no chemistry filled banter to hold on to and give you hope of a budding want for her. Neither want of sex or anything else. Even at 70% with the ending right around the corner, the hero still didn't even budge on his indifference towards the heroine. Indifference. That's the word that ruined the book. That's the word that made me realize that what I love about a slow burn romance or a love triangle done right was not only the thrill of the chase, but the slight indications of desire you get to see from the hero and heroine as the book progresses, that tells you that in truth they actually burn for each other even though they didn't themselves know it yet.
I would have preferred if the hero hated the heroine for some foolish reason other than his irritating nonchalant feelings towards her. At least he would have shown some passion towards the chit, but he was dead as a door nail where the heroine was concerned, and that's what killed the book in all it's awesome trope glory. By the time you got anything from the man, the book was at its end, and no fun at all getting there, because getting there was severely bland and frustrating. I gave the book 2 stars because I was curious enough to lag through to the end, although there were many times I wanted to put it down and get on with a more stimulating romance. I kept reading to see the outcome, but Edith Layton has terrified me about picking up another book by her for a long while, and that's saying a lot because The Duke's Wager is one of my all time favorite books ever.
February 11, 2017
Entre 2 y 3 ***. La cosa podía haber ido mucho mejor con esas tres amigas que quieren pillar al mismo hombre. El personaje de Anthea es interesante por lo desagradable e hipócrita y la protagonisra es la única que vale la pena, por cierto, pero Layton no sabe qué hacer con estos mimbres y derrapa al meter en el saco a un protagonista guapísimo de la muerte pero de cartón piedra.
Era insoportable leer las veces que se dice que él entendia a las mujeres mejor que ellas mismas dada su experiencia en el sector. Y, como suele suceder con demasiada frecuencia la protagonista tiene graves tendencias autosacrificiales más que de ajuste airado de cuentas, como la cosa merecía. Aún así, algunas descripciones de cómo se siente el prota en la cama con nuestra heroína son ilustrativas e interesantes.
No está mal e irritante a la vez. Curioso libro.
Era insoportable leer las veces que se dice que él entendia a las mujeres mejor que ellas mismas dada su experiencia en el sector. Y, como suele suceder con demasiada frecuencia la protagonista tiene graves tendencias autosacrificiales más que de ajuste airado de cuentas, como la cosa merecía. Aún así, algunas descripciones de cómo se siente el prota en la cama con nuestra heroína son ilustrativas e interesantes.
No está mal e irritante a la vez. Curioso libro.
September 15, 2008
Presumably the last in this lovely series, graciously lent to me by Ioana. This was not absolutely the best, in my opinion, but still a very enjoyable read.
April 9, 2010
A really good series. Enjoyed all three.
January 18, 2011
This series, of which this is number three, ranks as one of my all time favorites. Love love love.
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September 1, 2013Book 3
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews