GIVING IT UP
By Amber Lin
Publisher: Loose Id
Release Date: June 18, 2012
Length: 308 pages

Allie prowls the club for a man who will use her hard and then ditch her. Hey, it’s not rape if she wants it. Instead she finds Colin, who looks tough but treats her tenderly, despite her protests.

He tempts her, but kindness and a few mindblowing orgasms aren’t enough to put her back together again. Allie has no hope for a real relationship. Two years ago her best friend betrayed her in the worst possible way – she’d be stupid to trust a man again. Besides, she has her daughter to think of, the only good thing to have come from that dark night.

But when her rapist returns, threatening her sanity and custody of her daughter, Allie turns to Colin. Under his protection and patient touch, Allie begins to heal and learns to hope. Colin’s no saint, though, and his criminal past draws danger of its own. Allie must fight to protect her child and the man she loves, hoping her newfound power will be enough to save them all.

GIVING IS UP was an emotionally draining read for me, definitely a powerful and unique story among erotic romances.  It’s told in the first person point-of-view of the heroine, Allie.  Allie was raped by her best friend Jacob two years prior, and he left her emotionally broken and pregnant. Since then, once a month Allie visits clubs searching for anonymous men who will give her dangerous, rough, meaningless sex.  The thought of that makes me cringe – why, Allie?  What if something happened to you?  What about your daughter?  Allie was such a complex character. She engaged in this destructive behavior as a way to cope with her rape.  It wasn’t so much that she didn’t believe she deserved better, it was more along the lines of if rape-like sex is the norm, then she could accept what happened to her.  Allie’s inner monologues were heart-wrenching, to say the least.

The first man to come along who challenged Allie to change her unhealthy behavior was Colin. In no way was he the perfect Prince Charming who sweeps her off her feet and makes everything nice and pretty. He has his own troubled past and questionable behavior. But, despite his flaws, he does what he can to help Allie and her young daughter Bailey. The scenes of Colin caring for and spending time with Bailey melted my heart. I thought, oh yeah! That’s a real man. As heroes go, Colin was rather quiet, and we weren’t privy to deep, in depth discussions between Allie and Colin. I fell in love with Colin more through his actions than words.

Along with a cast of compelling characters was a suspenseful story line. I really felt for poor Allie! If she didn’t have enough on her plate, the man who raped her is back in town threatening to take Bailey, and her relationship with Colin brings crime lords and dirty cops to her doorstep. GIVING IT UP is a gritty, intense story, and quite possibly disturbing to some, but it’s also tender, erotic and very real. GIVING IT UP is top notch dark romantic suspense – don’t miss it!

Reviewed By: Diana