Surrendered Stories with photographs is a slim volume of four well-written and clever short stories embracing comedy, drama, tragedy, and suspense.

Cocteau’s Ransom is a humorous tale about an ill-conceived dognapping.

Nights at the Vestige is a poignant story about loneliness underscored by the protagonist's predilection for 1930s jazz and silent movies.

A tragic death and how a family deals with the aftermath is the theme in Return to Camp Bon Temps.

Fouchet leaves the best for last. Margaux’s Understudy is a suspenseful story about love lost and how it cannot be reenacted.

Author Kirstin Fouquet uses a crisp, sparse style with minimal description leaving much to the readers' imagination. Characters are developed through action and dialogue never impeding the well-paced plot.

Though the stories are expertly crafted beginning in the middle of the action, building to the climax and each culminating with a satisfying ending, they lacked impact. The intensity of life and death, real or as a metaphor is absent.

Fouquet’s knowledge of the music of the Jazz Age, the silent movie era and classic stage productions is prodigious and enhances the narrative of Nights at the Vestige and Margaux’s Understudy respectively.

Embedded with the stories are nine black and white photographs. It’s apparent a good deal of care and creativity went into the production of this book including layout and design, reproduction and placement of the photographs, typography and even the choice of fonts.

Though I felt the images enhanced the book, it was a stretch to see how some of the photographs related to the text. Despite these few shortcomings, the approach shows courageous creativity.

- Reviewed by Rod Raglin for Readers’ Favorite,

I received a paperback review copy of this book from the publisher. That has not influenced my feedback.

I was intrigued by the description of this book, by the author’s previous work, and by the fact that this volume of four of her stories includes twenty-four of her own black and white photographs, which illustrate and create an aesthetic dialogue with the content and the feel of the stories. I was also intrigued by the title and my curiosity was answered as soon as I read the opening quote in this slim but handsome volume: A piece of writing is never finished. You just surrender. (Carter Monroe). I love this quote because, as I write as well, I am familiar with the feeling that a story is never quite as good as it could be, and it is never totally finished. In my opinion, though, these stories are perfect as they are.

The four stories are very different, but the images and the writing style turn this book into a unique experience.

I’ll share a few comments about each individual story, but I’ll try to avoid spoilers.

“Cocteau’s Ransom”, written in the third person, is a story of a couple who believe they’ve found a way to make some money by kidnapping a dog, but they have made a mistake (an understandable one, for sure, but still…) A fun and humorous story (although it might upset animal lovers).

“The Vestige” has a touch of nostalgia (in fact, at first I thought it was a historical piece but I soon realised I was wrong), plenty of atmosphere, lovely characters, and it is also a sweet and gentle love (?) story that will enchant fans of the cinema experience and enthusiasts of old movies.

In “Return to Camp Bon Temps” we meet Martine, a girl who’s deeply traumatised due to something that happened last summer.  The story, which is also narrated in the third person (all three first stories are), takes place in the summer camp where the members of her extended family meet every year, and each person has its own role to play. Martin, her father, is a larger than life character who seems to always get his own way, but things are not as they seem to be, and I loved the father-daughter relationship and their moment of truth.

“Margaux’s understudy”, narrated in the first person by a young woman who lands a somewhat odd first-job, has touches of the fairy and/or gothic tale (it made me think of Bluebeard), of old movies and movie stars of the golden era (Sunset Boulevard, for example); it includes fragments of diaries and quotes from plays; it is very atmospheric (and the photographs are gorgeous), and is a fairly whimsical but also touching love story and the story of an obsession. Oh, and one of its characters is a fabulous parrot called Ayo.

As I wrote this review I realised that if I had to come up with a possible theme that links all the stories, it would have to be “appearances can be deceptive”. In these stories, both characters and readers misjudge people and situations, and the twists and surprises come when we learn the truth.

These stories, mostly set in New Orleans, are perfect for reading during short breaks; they create an immersive atmosphere without going into excessive detail, and are ideal for people looking for an engaging interlude between long and demanding reads. I look forward to following this author’s career, and I’ll be sure to visit her website and learn more about her work as a photographer. A great collection.

Elijah is a tormented warrior who has lost his mind and is being used by Ezekiel to destroy his friends and teammates. At the end of book 2, he is buried alive and left by his teammates and friends, so when this one opens up it is right where the series left off. Ana is searching for her mate, who she knows has survived, and when they unearth him he is not the same man who sacrificed himself to try and save her in book 1. Their story is a tormented one. She represents all of his nightmares and he knows that he is one slip away from total and complete madness so he tries to keep his distance. She knows it is her fault he is as tortured as he is and it was her fault that he was killed, revived, captured, and tortured in order to be used as a weapon against the Order. All she wants is to give him his life back; she knows she doesn’t deserve anything else, so she tries to keep her distance. It doesn’t help either of them that her touch is the only thing that keeps his demons from coming back. While they struggle with the mixed emotions they bring out in each other, they are trying to find a way to kill their enemy. This one is action packed just like the previous two books.  The action was good. The emotional tension was good and the plot was strong. I did feel like at a certain part it did seem to drag a bit but overall enjoyable and entertaining. The bad guy is epic in this one. The final battle was well written and great. I enjoyed it. However, I think book 2 is my favorite so far.

When unwilling erotic dancer Amy Jones was gifted a holiday to Lanzarote she had no idea how much it would change her life. Everything she knew was about to fall apart thanks to an encounter with a handsome blue-eyed stranger. He will show her truths and help her face her innocence, but can she live with his need to control and the reasons behind it?

Debonair businessman James North is running from his past. He refuses to face it, preferring to hide behind his rigid control. But when he meets a blonde haired beauty the volcanic eruptions of passion between them show him that life isn't the black and white he was lead to believe.

Surrendered control is the debut novel of the author Anna Edwards. It tells of the fledgeling love between James and Amy and how their pasts twist and turn to tear them apart. The novel is set in London, but through business travels, it is given an international feel based on the author's personal life.

Are you ready to step inside the world of Control?

Helen Beasley, @Anna__Edwards, @LoveBoundPromos, #Contemporary, #Erotic, #Romance, #Suspense, 5 out of 5 (exceptional)

Imagine a world in which one has to pay taxes for each of their children (more than 1 child per family) and these taxes are so high that rather than pay them, people send their en masse to farms and workhouses where they are treated as slaves. I should think that people would consider birth control in this case, but apparently this is also something that has been lost in the transition towards a Dystopia society.

Maybe, just maybe, I would have bought it if only I saw what the government was doing, why all these people were happy to give their children away. But, even with all the help the government apparently provides (there are also groups who try to live on their own, but the general assumption is that this is not possibly) the people seem to be barely scraping through.

Enter Vera, and her twin brother. They are only months away of completing their lease and reentering the society (there should be some awkward silences on family dinners though). However, when their younger sister in one of the newly surrendered kids (which means her parents 'did it' again, as the sister was the reason why they were surrendered in the first place), Vera decides to take matter in her own hands.

I was not very much impressed by The Surrendered. It started interesting enough, although I had some questions about the worldbuilding. Relatively quick it became rather predictable. I won't spoil the story, but you've probably read it before. It was however still pleasant to read and a very fast read as well. Just not very original, and the world doesn't make too much sense.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!