Mind blowing, supremely sexy, and completely captivating Christopher Rice’s The Surrender Gate is another amazing offering from this author who while new to the erotic romance genre is proving he has what it takes to please his readers. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Description:
Emily Blaine’s life is about to change. Arthur Benoit, the kindly multi-millionaire who has acted as her surrogate father for years, has just told her he’s leaving her his entire estate, and he only has a few months to live. Soon Emily will go from being a restaurant manager with a useless English degree to the one of the richest and most powerful women in New Orleans. There’s just one price. Arthur has written a letter to his estranged son Ryan he hopes will mend the rift between them, and he wants Emily to deliver the letter before it’s too late. But finding Ryan won’t be easy. He’s been missing for years. He was recently linked to a mysterious organization called The Desire Exchange. But is The Desire Exchange just an urban legend? Or are the rumors true? Is it truly a secret club where the wealthy can live out their most private sexual fantasies?
It’s a task Emily can’t undertake alone. But there’s only one man qualified to help her, her gorgeous and confident best friend, Jonathan Claiborne. She’s suspected Jonathan of working as a high-priced escort for months now, and she’s willing to bet that while giving pleasure to some of the most powerful men in New Orleans, Jonathan has uncovered some possible leads to The Desire Exchange—and to Ryan Benoit. But Emily’s attempt to uncover Jonathan’s secret life lands the two of them in hot water. Literally. In order to escape the clutches of one of Jonathan’s most powerful and dangerous clients, they’re forced to act on long buried desires—for each other.
When Emily’s mission turns into an undercover operation, Jonathan insists on going with her. He also insists they continue to explore their impossible, reckless passion for each other. Enter Marcus Dylan, the hard-charging ex-NAVY Seal Arthur has hired to keep Emily safe. But Marcus has been hired for another reason. He, too, has a burning passion for Emily, a passion that might keep Emily from being distracted and confused by a best friend who claims he might be able to go straight just for her. But Marcus is as rough and controlling as Jonathan is sensual and reckless. As Emily searches for a place where the rich turn their fantasies into reality, she will be forced to decide which one of her own long-ignored fantasies should become her reality. But as Emily, Jonathan, and Marcus draw closer to The Desire Exchange itself, they find their destination isn’t just shrouded in mystery, but in magic as well.
Review copy provided for an honest review
There is something really special about the way Christopher Rice tells a story and I’m not just 
talking about the way he can make me feel like I’m walking the streets of New Orleans or in the middle of some strange ritual in a tent in a bayou. Along with his uncanny ability to transport the reader into his books he adds in so much intrigue, suspense, sexiness and just the right amount of humor that I get completely lost in his words and his characters. The Surrender Gate is a special blue box offering from the publishers of the 1,001 Dark Nights novella series but it is a full novel and it is flat out phenomenal. The thing is I don’t even know where to begin to describe this book…is it a romance? Most definitely. Is it a suspense novel? Absolutely. Is it a paranormal? I’m not quite sure. Is it erotic? Unquestionably. The one thing I can say is that while I knew it might take me out of my comfort zone after reading Christopher’s first foray into erotic romance, The Flame, I knew I had to read this one and I am once again blown away.
This book features three major players but it is not a ménage story. Emily Blaine is a woman who stands to inherit a large fortune when her surrogate father dies from the cancer that riddles his body. He has tasked her with delivering a letter to his son, Ryan, whom he hasn’t seen in over 10 years but gaining her inheritance isn’t dependent on her completing this task. Jonathan Claiborne who had a small part in The Flame is Emily’s best friend and he has been keeping a big secret from Emily. She has pretty much worked out what that secret is but in tailing him she puts both herself and Jonathan in an interesting situation but one that leads them to the information they need to find the man she is searching for. The third major player is the man Emily’s surrogate father sends to protect her from harm, ex-Seal Marcus Dylan, and a man who has wanted her from the first moment he saw her and a man who makes her feel things she hasn’t felt for anyone not even her best friend.
Finding Ryan comes with a hefty price tag and it’s not only monetary; Emily and Jonathan are stripped both literally and figuratively in order to gain admission into The Desire Exchange where it is rumored Ryan has been seen. What is the Desire Exchange? That’s something you are going to have to read and see for yourself because honestly, I can’t even begin to describe what it is or it isn’t. During all of this Emily and Dylan share their fears, their desires, and their fantasies and learn to trust each other implicitly. Emily’s acceptance of The Desire Exchange and what it can do for people is key to making a difference in her life and what she wants with Dylan and with Jonathan.
Mind blowing, supremely sexy, and completely captivating Christopher Rice’s The Surrender Gate is another amazing offering from this author who while new to the erotic romance genre is proving he has what it takes to please his readers.
Thanks for the review Slick