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A review by foxholebookcourt
Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass
5.0
Surrender your Sons by Adam Sass
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5
"Telling the truth is addictive once you get the taste for it."
Wow. Just WOW. Surrender Your Sons has been my most anticipated read of 2020 ever since the day it was announced. And it definitely DID NOT disappoint. It was also the first arc I got to read thanks to the author and netgalley and I’m really happy to be finally reviewing this.
The plot was mind blowing to say the least. There was so much tension, it kept you on the edge almost constantly with room enough for a few breaks form it, whether in the form of jokes or little romance moments (that definitely did not outshine the whole plot). It all felt so real and I found myself not being able to think of what I dreaded more; Connor's interactions with his mom or the timeline of the present as he was shipped off to Nightlife. It’s been so long since I can say a queer book managed to be so original, making aware of what the community sometimes has to go through. Although it was at an ‘exaggerated’ stress to actually get a plot out of it, that did not make it any less breath taking.
You all know I’m a sucker for interesting characters. They are what’s important for me in a book. And let me tell you, this book is filled with complex and intriguing characters. Besides the main character, whose perspective we see, we don’t know anything about the others' motives, what’s driving them, until we see it unfold in front of our eyes. For me, the most intriguing were the Reverent and Ricky – but I shall not spoil anything on this review so no worries. But, as expected, I absolutely loved Marco! He is a big sweet oaf and I want to hug him and protect him. But, of course, Connor was the one who grew most on me. First person POVs tend to do that to me so no surprise there.
Another thing this book did was to play with my emotions. A lot. Oh boy, I still don’t know how I feel about Briggs. On the one hand, I’m like fuck that asshole and on the other hand, I pity him. Same with Drew. And basically every morally grey character. Needless to say, this book did not let my mind rest and I could not have been more satisfied with that.
What irked me a bit, was the whole thing with Ario. Okay, Ario is definitely a guy who is... not a bad guy exactly but Connor is not who he needs in his life. Still, I was not sure how to feel about Connor very openly showing attraction towards Marco even though, a few minutes ago, he had been worried about Ario and wanted to go back to him. There was an attempt at explaining this and I think it could have worked if it was built up more and not left to explained at the end. Also, I had not realised this all apparently happened in less than two days until after reading half the book. It made it feel a bit rushed and I would have preferred if it had been stretched a bit. But for me, this things are not really something that could take away a five star review when, everything else kept my interest going.
Overall, as you can tell, I loved this book. Definitely going to reread it when I get my hands on the physical copy. After everything, the ending left me satisfied (and obviously wanting more. Sequel????) and Connor and Marcos are two cuties who I hope I’ll see more of.
"You know, keeping up with my bullshit is full-time work, so I hope you’re up for it."
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ /5
"Telling the truth is addictive once you get the taste for it."
Wow. Just WOW. Surrender Your Sons has been my most anticipated read of 2020 ever since the day it was announced. And it definitely DID NOT disappoint. It was also the first arc I got to read thanks to the author and netgalley and I’m really happy to be finally reviewing this.
The plot was mind blowing to say the least. There was so much tension, it kept you on the edge almost constantly with room enough for a few breaks form it, whether in the form of jokes or little romance moments (that definitely did not outshine the whole plot). It all felt so real and I found myself not being able to think of what I dreaded more; Connor's interactions with his mom or the timeline of the present as he was shipped off to Nightlife. It’s been so long since I can say a queer book managed to be so original, making aware of what the community sometimes has to go through. Although it was at an ‘exaggerated’ stress to actually get a plot out of it, that did not make it any less breath taking.
You all know I’m a sucker for interesting characters. They are what’s important for me in a book. And let me tell you, this book is filled with complex and intriguing characters. Besides the main character, whose perspective we see, we don’t know anything about the others' motives, what’s driving them, until we see it unfold in front of our eyes. For me, the most intriguing were the Reverent and Ricky – but I shall not spoil anything on this review so no worries. But, as expected, I absolutely loved Marco! He is a big sweet oaf and I want to hug him and protect him. But, of course, Connor was the one who grew most on me. First person POVs tend to do that to me so no surprise there.
Another thing this book did was to play with my emotions. A lot. Oh boy, I still don’t know how I feel about Briggs. On the one hand, I’m like fuck that asshole and on the other hand, I pity him. Same with Drew. And basically every morally grey character. Needless to say, this book did not let my mind rest and I could not have been more satisfied with that.
What irked me a bit, was the whole thing with Ario. Okay, Ario is definitely a guy who is... not a bad guy exactly but Connor is not who he needs in his life. Still, I was not sure how to feel about Connor very openly showing attraction towards Marco even though, a few minutes ago, he had been worried about Ario and wanted to go back to him. There was an attempt at explaining this and I think it could have worked if it was built up more and not left to explained at the end. Also, I had not realised this all apparently happened in less than two days until after reading half the book. It made it feel a bit rushed and I would have preferred if it had been stretched a bit. But for me, this things are not really something that could take away a five star review when, everything else kept my interest going.
Overall, as you can tell, I loved this book. Definitely going to reread it when I get my hands on the physical copy. After everything, the ending left me satisfied (and obviously wanting more. Sequel????) and Connor and Marcos are two cuties who I hope I’ll see more of.
"You know, keeping up with my bullshit is full-time work, so I hope you’re up for it."