What do you think?
Rate this book
Becomes Her #3
Surrender Becomes Her
Enter the captivating world of New York Times bestselling author Shirlee Busbee, and you'll be swept off your feet by this utterly irresistible tale of two hasty marriages—and one unrepentant passion...
Give Up . . . Or Give In?
Reliability. Trustworthiness. Dignity. These are only a few of the characteristics supporting Marcus Sherbrook's reputation as the perfect gentleman. Or almost perfect, as there is one significant smirch on his record: the rebellion of one Miss Isabel Dunham who, at the age of seventeen, defied Marcus's guardianship, eloped, and fled to India.
The widowed Isabel returned to England ten years ago, and has been making Marcus's cool gray eyes flash ever since. . .not that he'd give her the satisfaction of knowing it. But when Isabel is threatened by the schemes of a blackmailer, Marcus's attempts to protect her lead to yet another spontaneous marriage—and kindle the embers of a desire never acknowledged, but now impossible to deny. . .
Give Up . . . Or Give In?
Reliability. Trustworthiness. Dignity. These are only a few of the characteristics supporting Marcus Sherbrook's reputation as the perfect gentleman. Or almost perfect, as there is one significant smirch on his record: the rebellion of one Miss Isabel Dunham who, at the age of seventeen, defied Marcus's guardianship, eloped, and fled to India.
The widowed Isabel returned to England ten years ago, and has been making Marcus's cool gray eyes flash ever since. . .not that he'd give her the satisfaction of knowing it. But when Isabel is threatened by the schemes of a blackmailer, Marcus's attempts to protect her lead to yet another spontaneous marriage—and kindle the embers of a desire never acknowledged, but now impossible to deny. . .
342 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2009
120 people are currently reading
310 people want to read
About the author
Shirlee Busbee
51 books271 followersShirlee Elaine was born 9 August 1941 in San Jose, California, USA. She was the first daughter of a career naval officer, later she had two sisters and three brothers, they raised traveling the world. She went to the institute in Kentri, Morocco, after which she returned to California and she went to Burbank Bussines College of Santa Rosa, where she received a certificate in 1962.
Shirlee married with Howard Busbee in June 22, 1963. Now, they live in hills of California, where they raise for pleasure Standard Schnauzers, Standardbred horses, and other many animals.
She has worked as a receptionist for the Marin County Title and Abstract Co., as plant supervisor for Fairfield Title Co., and as secretary and drafting technician for the County Parks Department of Fairfield, California, where she met her life-long friend and mentor Rosemary Rogers. Published since 1977, Shirlee Busbee is the proud author of over 18 novels, including seven New York Times bestsellers. With over nine million copies of her books in print, she is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in writing, including the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award and Affaire de Coeur's Silver and Bronze Pen Awards.
You may write to Shirlee Busbee care of C/O Warner Books, Inc., Time and Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
Shirlee married with Howard Busbee in June 22, 1963. Now, they live in hills of California, where they raise for pleasure Standard Schnauzers, Standardbred horses, and other many animals.
She has worked as a receptionist for the Marin County Title and Abstract Co., as plant supervisor for Fairfield Title Co., and as secretary and drafting technician for the County Parks Department of Fairfield, California, where she met her life-long friend and mentor Rosemary Rogers. Published since 1977, Shirlee Busbee is the proud author of over 18 novels, including seven New York Times bestsellers. With over nine million copies of her books in print, she is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in writing, including the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award and Affaire de Coeur's Silver and Bronze Pen Awards.
You may write to Shirlee Busbee care of C/O Warner Books, Inc., Time and Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
September 6, 2020
This started out pretty well but became draggy.
Of course she always loved him and of course she couldn’t tell him.
Of course she never consummated her marriage and so was “untouched”.... of course.
Of course she always loved him and of course she couldn’t tell him.
Of course she never consummated her marriage and so was “untouched”.... of course.
June 25, 2011
Started promisingly with beta hero and tolerable 'wild child' heroine, but then deteriorated into a boring cloak and dagger spy story. Very little time spent with hero and heroine together. I couldn't care less about them by the end.
January 2, 2011
Oh romance novels! How is it that the vast majority of them fail to live up to their jacket summaries?
There were so many things I wanted to like in this book, but I never ended up falling in love with Marcus, and falling in love with the romantic hero is a prerequisite for enjoying a romance. Marcus started off as a decent fellow; he got along well with his mother, he liked life peaceful and organized, and he even had endearingly innocent ways of snooping. Then he got paired up with the romantic heroine, Isabel, and in his developing his character to appeal to her, he lost most of the things I liked about him in the beginning. Suddenly, he was forceful instead of politely diffident. He felt compelled to be effective during his spy missions, rather than simply curious. And I think he might have even snapped at his mother. It's as though the author created a decent romantic lead, and then decided that he was too nice to be a romantic lead, and forced him into an alpha male role that didn't suit him well.
Additionally, the spy stuff was a little off. There were too many points of view in the mystery, and not enough clear motives. The whole subplot felt exactly like a subplot meant to show that the gentlemanly hero can be badass at times. Except apparently the subplot was supposed to be compelling enough to make me want to read three other books featuring a masked spy who stops secrets from being sold to Napoleon.
There were so many things I wanted to like in this book, but I never ended up falling in love with Marcus, and falling in love with the romantic hero is a prerequisite for enjoying a romance. Marcus started off as a decent fellow; he got along well with his mother, he liked life peaceful and organized, and he even had endearingly innocent ways of snooping. Then he got paired up with the romantic heroine, Isabel, and in his developing his character to appeal to her, he lost most of the things I liked about him in the beginning. Suddenly, he was forceful instead of politely diffident. He felt compelled to be effective during his spy missions, rather than simply curious. And I think he might have even snapped at his mother. It's as though the author created a decent romantic lead, and then decided that he was too nice to be a romantic lead, and forced him into an alpha male role that didn't suit him well.
Additionally, the spy stuff was a little off. There were too many points of view in the mystery, and not enough clear motives. The whole subplot felt exactly like a subplot meant to show that the gentlemanly hero can be badass at times. Except apparently the subplot was supposed to be compelling enough to make me want to read three other books featuring a masked spy who stops secrets from being sold to Napoleon.
September 2, 2011
I wish that this book had more to it. Maybe more suspense, more mystery or more romance? It felt as though there were elements of each, but not enough of each element for me to be satisfied.
March 6, 2023
2 1/2 stars squeaked up to 3 because, eh, I guess the writer's competent. I read a book many years ago by her, didn't like the MC's, but thought I'd give her another chance based on some decent reviews for this. As I get older, the ward/guardian trope sometimes bugs me, unless it's done with freshness and respect for the age difference/power imbalance issue. The title gives a pretty good indication that this will be one of those HR's where the guardian is an overly-controlling-alpha-ish type who goes around making dismissive comments without thinking them through, and the ward will frequently lose her temper and live up to the "brat" moniker that the guardian saddles her with. As the plot went on, I thought their banter was more annoying than sexy and the MMC got even less interesting. I can appreciate stuffy heroes, but my stuffy heroes need to have an underlying sense of humor and some softness. This guy is just a prig.
What really kills the book for me, though, is all the forward momentum that should be inherent in a spy-ish plot is dampened by the constant switch of point of view. I generally like dual POV that changes every chapter or so; I don't need to know each character's inner thoughts during a basic conversation.
Also, there is an ookiness in the relationship between the MMC and his mom that bugged me. She goes on a mental tangent early on about "the frankly carnal curve of his full bottom lip" that "made the females of the sex...dwell on the implicit promise of that tempting mouth." What mom thinks like this??
Anyhoo, this was not for me.
What really kills the book for me, though, is all the forward momentum that should be inherent in a spy-ish plot is dampened by the constant switch of point of view. I generally like dual POV that changes every chapter or so; I don't need to know each character's inner thoughts during a basic conversation.
Also, there is an ookiness in the relationship between the MMC and his mom that bugged me. She goes on a mental tangent early on about "the frankly carnal curve of his full bottom lip" that "made the females of the sex...dwell on the implicit promise of that tempting mouth." What mom thinks like this??
Anyhoo, this was not for me.
February 7, 2013
as far as romance novels go this was ok. normally, id give it a 3, but the horrible title makes it drop one. really. surrender becomes her? that is ridiculously offensive. thank goodness I didn't read the title before grabbing it, because id have tossed it otherwise.
other than the title, it fits the genre. he meets she, theres some roadblock, they get married, etc. add in a minor mystery around the lead female and (of course) Napoleon, and its moderately interesting.
other than the title, it fits the genre. he meets she, theres some roadblock, they get married, etc. add in a minor mystery around the lead female and (of course) Napoleon, and its moderately interesting.
December 11, 2011
The thing I didn't like about this book was its repetitiveness. Plot points were mentioned several times that it got ridiculous at times. I did think the story was interesting, I just didn't appreciate the execution.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 30, 2013
I found certain parts of this story beyond belief and Marcus constantly referring to his mother as Barbara very distracting. However, for the most part, Busbee writes a good tale.
January 21, 2018
I gave this book two stars because I skipped several pages/chapters to finish the book. The story starts off well. The hero, Marcus, is guardian to Isabel. Isabel is impulsive, etc. and asks Marcus for her money in order to buy a horse, which Marcus refuses. She gets angry, takes off and sees their neighbor, Hugh manning, rowing a boat. Hugh had just come back from his post in India, with plans to marry his sweetheart, Roseanne. Roseanne's father denies Hugh, because he is not an heir and the father has grander plan's for his daughter's future. Isabel convinces Hugh to marry her so she can get out from underneath Marcus's thumb, so they marry and go to India. Fast forward several years later , Isabel returns a widow and has her son with her, whom due to several family deaths, is now the heir to the barony.
Marcus and Isabel meet up again and are always cross with each other. A friend of Hugh manning shows up in the neighborhood and tries to blackmail Isabel . During this, Marcus tells the blackmailer, mr.whitley, that he and Isabel are engaged in order to get him to stop harassing Isabel, but in reality they have no plans to marry. Mr. Whitley tells everyone the hero and heroine are engaged, so the hero and heroine are forced to marry. During all this , several friends of Marcus start showing up because they work for a mysterious Duke/spy, who is looking for a stolen war missive. The Duke thinks Mr Whitley is in possession of it. Now add the secret that Isabel is hiding and that is pretty much the plot.
What really irked me is that the reader doesn't know Isabel's secret until half way through the story. The reader just knows there is a secret that she is holding on to and is being blackmailed about it. I realize the author used this as suspense to try and hold the readers interest, but it was written poorly and just made me skip pages. Honestly, the spy's also didn't seem very adept at their craft and oddly Marcus, the non spy, seemed better at spying then the ones who were really spy's.
I usually love Shirlee Busbee but not this book.
Heat level- steamy
violence- shooting and fistacuff
Marcus and Isabel meet up again and are always cross with each other. A friend of Hugh manning shows up in the neighborhood and tries to blackmail Isabel . During this, Marcus tells the blackmailer, mr.whitley, that he and Isabel are engaged in order to get him to stop harassing Isabel, but in reality they have no plans to marry. Mr. Whitley tells everyone the hero and heroine are engaged, so the hero and heroine are forced to marry. During all this , several friends of Marcus start showing up because they work for a mysterious Duke/spy, who is looking for a stolen war missive. The Duke thinks Mr Whitley is in possession of it. Now add the secret that Isabel is hiding and that is pretty much the plot.
What really irked me is that the reader doesn't know Isabel's secret until half way through the story. The reader just knows there is a secret that she is holding on to and is being blackmailed about it. I realize the author used this as suspense to try and hold the readers interest, but it was written poorly and just made me skip pages. Honestly, the spy's also didn't seem very adept at their craft and oddly Marcus, the non spy, seemed better at spying then the ones who were really spy's.
I usually love Shirlee Busbee but not this book.
Heat level- steamy
violence- shooting and fistacuff
July 27, 2025
Read the sample and, as expected from the book description, I found the heroine extremely annoying. I suppose all the drama is there to show how immature and impulsive she is, but the first adjective that comes to mind is “dumb”. And her “destined” love interest reminiscing about how she had a special place in his heart ever since he had seen her as a baby is just creepy, regardless of the actual age difference (which is around 10 years). And 27-30 year old men finding a 17 year old damsel, who still looks like a child by her own assessment, “fetching” is as creepy. That’s just by the by. Marcus is boring not because he’s “proper”, but because he’s a misogynistic pig - his cousins from the first two books aren’t exactly feminists either, far from it, but compared to this guy, whose inner dialogue and thinking patterns would be so mind-bogglingly stupid as to be unrealistic in a better world, is in a whole category of his own. And his mother really should be getting some distance from him - thinking of the “carnal curve” (whatever that means) of her son’s lips can’t be healthy.
June 23, 2022
Not the best in this series but still pretty darn good. Isabel's "secret" wasn't that hard to figure out. Julian and Nell as well as Charles and Daphne make a brief appearance which I loved. Fingers crossed we will see more of Jack, Lord Thorne but I suspect the next book will feature the mysterious "gentleman". This series makes me wish Busbee would give each of these couples a series of their own.
May 12, 2019
Entertaining it would be a better rating if I liked the heroine of the story she starts out a spoiled brat and carries on being one when she is supposedly 13 years older, she has no control over her emotions and is annoying. The rest of the characters are likeable and well drawn, the plot not to bad with a dastardly spy thrown in (him I liked)
Not bad at all
Not bad at all
November 6, 2018
Is it only me, Hugh and Roseanne had an affair, Isabel and Hugh were married, and shortly after Roseanne turns up on Isabel’s doorstep preggers. Why couldn’t Isabel and Hugh have anticipated their vows, but the child still be legitimate
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2018
Charming, suspenseful tale. They spent too much time denying their feelings.
February 1, 2021
The gentleman was a nice twist
March 20, 2022
Real score 3.86. Not my absolute favourite of the series so far but enjoyable nonetheless.
November 15, 2021
„Ein vortrefflicher Gentleman“ von Shirlee Busbee ist der dritte Band ihrer Regency Beauties Reihe.
Marcus Sherbrook hat sein bisheriges Leben völlig skandalfrei und eher zurückgezogen auf seinem Landsitz verbracht. Er hält nichts von Abenteuern oder riskanten Unternehmungen. Der einzige Makel auf seiner blütenweißen Weste ist sein widerspenstiges Mündel Isabel Dunham, die mit siebzehn Jahren Hals über Kopf heiratete und nach Indien durchbrannte. Einige Jahre später kehrte die mittlerweile verwitwete Isabel zurück und lebt seitdem mit ihrem kleinen Sohn in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft von Marcus. Und genauso lange vermeidet Marcus jedes Zusammentreffen, damit niemand seine heimlichen Gefühle für Isabel bemerkt, die ihm mit ihrer Flucht das Herz brach. Doch nach einer spontanen Rettungsaktion stehen beide plötzlich unfreiwillig vor dem Traualtar.
Ich mochte schon die ersten beiden Bände, in denen Marcus bereits eine kleine Rolle spielte und die mich mit ihrem Mix aus Spannung, Mystery und Romantik begeistern konnten. Auf den Mysteryfaktor wird diesmal fast völlig verzichtet, dafür gibt es interessante Geheimnisse, Intrigen und neue gefährliche Gegenspieler.
Marcus gehörte bisher zum anständigen Teil des etwas unkonventionellen Familienstammbaums und man könnte ihn fast als langweilig bezeichnen. Nur die temperamentvolle Isabel konnte ihn bisher aus seiner Komfortzone locken und zu unerwarteten Reaktionen provozieren. Beide haben eine fast schon explosive Dynamik, die oft in heißen Wortgefechten und mehr endet.
Isabel hat ihre überstürzte Kurzschlussaktion von damals längst bereut, aber sie trägt die Konsequenzen mit der ihr eigenen Stärke. Als sie von der Vergangenheit bedroht wird, rettet sie Marcus und stürzt sie damit in neue Gewissenkonflikte. Ich konnte ihr Verhalten lange nicht nachvollziehen, aber alles löst sich später auf.
Die Story steckt wieder einmal voller überraschender Wendungen und nicht alle Fragen werden am Schluss beantwortet. Ich freue mich schon auf die Fortsetzung und neue Abenteuer dieser Familie.
Mein Fazit:
Der Mix aus Spannung, Romantik und Humor ist Shirlee Busbee auch im dritten Band sehr gut gelungen und ich gebe gern eine Leseempfehlung!
Marcus Sherbrook hat sein bisheriges Leben völlig skandalfrei und eher zurückgezogen auf seinem Landsitz verbracht. Er hält nichts von Abenteuern oder riskanten Unternehmungen. Der einzige Makel auf seiner blütenweißen Weste ist sein widerspenstiges Mündel Isabel Dunham, die mit siebzehn Jahren Hals über Kopf heiratete und nach Indien durchbrannte. Einige Jahre später kehrte die mittlerweile verwitwete Isabel zurück und lebt seitdem mit ihrem kleinen Sohn in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft von Marcus. Und genauso lange vermeidet Marcus jedes Zusammentreffen, damit niemand seine heimlichen Gefühle für Isabel bemerkt, die ihm mit ihrer Flucht das Herz brach. Doch nach einer spontanen Rettungsaktion stehen beide plötzlich unfreiwillig vor dem Traualtar.
Ich mochte schon die ersten beiden Bände, in denen Marcus bereits eine kleine Rolle spielte und die mich mit ihrem Mix aus Spannung, Mystery und Romantik begeistern konnten. Auf den Mysteryfaktor wird diesmal fast völlig verzichtet, dafür gibt es interessante Geheimnisse, Intrigen und neue gefährliche Gegenspieler.
Marcus gehörte bisher zum anständigen Teil des etwas unkonventionellen Familienstammbaums und man könnte ihn fast als langweilig bezeichnen. Nur die temperamentvolle Isabel konnte ihn bisher aus seiner Komfortzone locken und zu unerwarteten Reaktionen provozieren. Beide haben eine fast schon explosive Dynamik, die oft in heißen Wortgefechten und mehr endet.
Isabel hat ihre überstürzte Kurzschlussaktion von damals längst bereut, aber sie trägt die Konsequenzen mit der ihr eigenen Stärke. Als sie von der Vergangenheit bedroht wird, rettet sie Marcus und stürzt sie damit in neue Gewissenkonflikte. Ich konnte ihr Verhalten lange nicht nachvollziehen, aber alles löst sich später auf.
Die Story steckt wieder einmal voller überraschender Wendungen und nicht alle Fragen werden am Schluss beantwortet. Ich freue mich schon auf die Fortsetzung und neue Abenteuer dieser Familie.
Mein Fazit:
Der Mix aus Spannung, Romantik und Humor ist Shirlee Busbee auch im dritten Band sehr gut gelungen und ich gebe gern eine Leseempfehlung!
February 21, 2014
A very light and easy read! Busbee brings back Marcus from Seduction Becomes her. Marcus is considered by his family and friends to be very honorable and responsible man who is a paragon of integrity. He leads a quiet and predictable life. Life for Marcus is perfect and prefers it like this. A look into his past, reveals that he was a guardian of a very impetuous girl ten years before. She was a very opinionated and high spirited girl who turned into a very opinionated and high spirited woman. I would like to say that Marcus eventually falls for the woman behind the girl, but that is not what happened. You see, he already planned her seduction before she decided to teach him a lesson to see her as a woman...a decision that lead her to the altar with another man. Now ten years later and Marcus pretends she doesn't exist while pursuing activities with her son and father-in-law. They avoid each other like the plague, until she finds herself in a predicament that Marcus called necessary to announce they are planning to marry in order to protect her. Of course, she fights him but later decides she can not undo the happiness that her family feel. Circumstances lead to an expedient wedding. Marcus, is happy with the events and reasons that he will get her to love him as he loves her. Little does he know that she was already in love with him and has been since she was his ward. But their life together is not without incident. They have to deal with her secret, blackmailing, and finding a document to save England.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 30, 2009
Continued my tradition of randomly grabbing a book off of the library's "new release" shelf. This one was okay. It was a bit risque, but the historical perspective was kinda neat. It was a little too "romance-y" for my taste, but if you like that kind of thing, then you'd probably like this book. Surprisingly, despite the whole romance perspective, the plot was fairly developed, and rather intriguing.
September 22, 2020
great book idk what it is about the guardian falling for the former ward that I like so much but I do and this book didn't disappoint.
I listened to this book on audible and the narrator did an excellent job telling this story. I already downloaded the next book in the series and I can't wait to get started!
I listened to this book on audible and the narrator did an excellent job telling this story. I already downloaded the next book in the series and I can't wait to get started!
May 31, 2012
What a bunch of violent heros and bloodthirsty heriones in this series, I love it..... Men who are not afraid to kill the villain for the women who they love.... I still have to find and read Charles' story Seduction Becomes Her but now I am off to read Passion Becomes Her and Rapture Becomes Her. Let the bloodshed begin LOL
September 19, 2010
It was okay. Certain aspects of the storyline were a bit farfetched. It didn't stop me from finishing the book, however.
July 23, 2011
Marcus impulsively tells a scoundrel he's engaged to his former ward, then they eventually marry in the midst of a blackmailer and smuggling secrets to the French...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 21, 2011
really good. she just keeps getting better and better. great romance with a mystery too. keeps you guessing about what is isabel's secret.
November 3, 2011
Loved the mystery in this book....and do like Busbee's style of writing....wlll read the next in the series....
January 15, 2012
rated 3.5
Read
March 26, 2013Awesome
January 16, 2016
Very boring and I felt no connection to the characters.
March 18, 2011
Very predictable but I guess thats what these kind of books are about.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews