The Darkest Surrender by Gena Showalter

Description:

Possessed by the demon of Defeat, Strider cannot lose a challenge without suffering unimaginable pain. For him, nothing stands in the way of victory. Until Kaia, an enchanting Harpy, tempts him to the razor's edge of surrender.Known among her people as The Disappointment, Kaia must bring home the gold in the Harpy Games or die. Strider is a distraction she can't afford because he has an agenda of his own-steal first prize, an ancient godly artifact, before the winner can be named. But as the competition heats up, only one prize will matter-the love neither had thought possible.

Review:

The Darkest Surrender by Gena Showalter

4 out 5

So this was a cute book, a way to pass the time, but it wasn't exactly my favorite one out of this series.  

The Characters:

Kaia the Disappointment... Wow, what a horrible title.  I mean, I though her sister Gwen had a bad title, but nothing is worse than being known as the Disappointment of the family.  I think the reason she received it is really a harsh punishment.  The fact that her mother gave it to her because of a mistake I think made it worse.  

Kane seems to be a great guy, but he seems to just be really lonely, and he needs a safe hug... No electric static shocks, no colasping ceilings or crumbling floors.  Just a nice hug.  

The Moirai are so crazy & disturbing, but I can't help but laugh at the whole situation.  And the way they talk in circles towards Kane is hilarious!  But their question of Kane... OMGoodness!  If anyone would be the one to be asked that question, I would have expected it to be William.  

Sienna kinda irritated me in this book.  I mean, I think it is great that she is trying to be strong against her demon & then plans to give her life up to be free of it, but I feel like she is just hitting her head against a wall for all the results that she is achieving.  

Paris finally seems to be getting out of his drunken stupor and is finally doing something!  Though, I'm not sure if he is going about it the right way. Which makes me wonder, am I going to like Paris by the time we have his story?  

Juliette is an uber bitch!  And I really feel that she deserved more than she actually got.  But, maybe the loss of her consort will be painful enough to serve as a punishment.  

Tabitha the Vicious truly lives up to her name.  Plus being full of secrets, she definitely adds to the intrigue of the story.  

Neeka is a pretty cool harpy.  Even though she is deaf, she doesn't let that hold her back.  Though I wonder what she's got that the phoenixes would want... Hopefully this will be answered soon.

The fact that Lazarus is a bad guy turned good guy being forced to do the wrong thing definitely makes a twist to the story.  And with his past, it is easier to believe that he really is the bad guy... So when he finally makes the sacrifice that he did, he really became my favorite character of this book. 

My Favorite parts:

The Harpie Games.  It sounds like a life-or-death Olympics.  Which kind of sounds pretty exciting, dangerous, and just plain entertaining.  I wish we had gotten to see more of it in the book.

Can I just say that when William puts together the fact that he is/was crushing on one of his great-nieces, it was hilarious.... I kinda giggled for a good few minutes about it.  

Other Stuff:

Wow... a marriage.... and it kinda is a big surprise, especially since one of them was unconscious.  I did find it interesting the end result of the marriage... Telepathic communication between the spouses.  Not sure if I'd want that.  

For me, this story dragged on a bit.  I felt that certain parts dragged on because it felt forced.  Then there were the parts that seem to skip over key points that would make the story better.  There was little to keep my attention during the down times, and while the action scenes were good, there was almost too much in the action scenes.  

Overall, this is a good book, but it is not my favorite.  I do recommend this series, and this book.  
Happy Reading!

Cana