This book has such a promising premise.

Not necessarily historically reasonable, but, heck, it's a Regency, right? Some allowances are built in. I was totally willing to go with the idea of the sister stepping in to run her brother's thoroughbred race horse breeding business when he's badly injured in a carriage crash, and needing to hide that fact.

But we are supposed to believe in the high moral and ethical standards of Lord Chalifour, and his determination to clean up racing. He's a good guy, really!

And from the first moment he meets Lucy Goodwin, sister of his proposed business partner Lucien Goodwin, he wants to seduce her. She's a friend of Lady Monique, the sister of a Duke, received by the ton, and he has no hesitation about introducing her to his own sister, Elizabeth. She ought to be within the protected circle even for Regency England, at least in a Regency novel.

Yet her enjoyment of riding, and other normal, ordinary signs of not being dead, is described as being "a temptress." He thinks her ability to go from the "temptress" mode of enjoying a good ride to "respectable" mode of talking with his sister is strange.

Maybe it's the times. Maybe I'm being affected by the news. I hesitated to write this at all.

But I'm not willing to accept a powerful man who decides to seduce a woman he perceives as not being of a status that requires his decent respect as being a romantic hero of high moral standards. The "happy ending" just irritates me.

Maybe I'm being unfair. That's the breaks. I can't recommend this book.

I received a free electronic galley of this book, and am reviewing it voluntarily. ( )

This was just an ok read for me. It might appeal to someone else though. I just felt like the story jumped around a little and writer seemed side tracked in areas.

I was given this book in exchange for an honest review via LibraryThing. ( )

I stayed up til 4 AM reading this book! All in one day. At first, I didn't expect much from a "mini" story of about 200 pages. I thought, that like others, it would be too short, "not enough meat" as I call it and rushing, ended too quickly and left reader unsatisfied. Not this! Mariel Grey did a great job in making this into a nice historical romance, and a promising series. ( )

I received a copy for an honest review. This was an interesting story about 2 siblings who are involved in the horse breeding/racing business. When her brother, Lucien, has an accident, his sister steps in to try to salvage the family business. However, considering the era when women couldn't make business decisions or handle money per se, she tries to help as best as she can until her brother recovers. What ensues is an engaging story of how the more she tries to help, the more convoluted things get and the harder she finds it to trust another man to help her. I loved it and highly recommend it. ( )

I really enjoyed reading "Surrender of Trust" by Mariel Grey.

One can tell that the author has thoroughly researched
the Regency period, and is well acquainted with
thoroughbred breeding.

The two main characters of this novel are Lucy and
Chailfour. Both are very strong characters, who add
substance to the plot.

I highly recommend this novel to anyone interested in
reading about the Regency period, and thoroughbred
racing during that time period.

I received this work from the Member Giveaway by the author in
return for an honest review. Five stars! ( )