Memories of Surrender: The Surrender Series Book 1

Sophie Kisker

Aug 2017 · The Surrender Series Book 1 · Odyssey Press

About this ebook

On Miros, Men Rule, and Women Kneel

Lydia:

I burn with a thirst to know more than my restricted life allows, but the penalty for studying the forbidden language is death.

James stuns me with stories of life on other planets. Freedom. Knowledge.

By day I help him translate a language I shouldn't know, and he keeps my secret.

By night he dominates me, and I experience sensual pleasures I never dreamed of.

Until my owner finds out. Now all I have left are memories...and even those are fading.

James:

I'm just on Miros to do research. I can't do anything about the horrors around me.

Until an enslaved woman needs my protection.

Now I know her secret, and I'll keep it, forever.

Just like I want to keep her, want to take her away from this barbaric place.

But there's a bigger secret locked inside her head, and when she remembers, we have to escape.

Because the galaxy has to know the truth, before the Mirosian government silences her, forever.

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Revised and updated from the original.

★ This is a dark romance. Please see the specific description on my website sophiekisker dot com ★

Chapter One

Lydia:

I’m not sure how the book got into my hands.

I’ve ignored the deep blue cover and the gilt lettering of the large volume for many lunars as I dust and clean my master’s study. It’s forbidden to me.

And yet, somehow, I’m holding it.

I sound out the title with my new, self-taught skills. La-spen-teer-a-tee-a. L’a Spentiratia. I screw up my nose as I struggle to translate the words.

The Ancient Ocean. Oh! Is it full of tales of imaginary aquatic beasts? Or is it about the real wonders of undersea life? I scarcely breathe as the book falls open to a drawing of a magnificent sea creature. The caption above the picture says E-nor-mer-i-pod. Enormeripod. The unfamiliar word rolls pleasingly over my tongue.

“Lydia!” A horrified gasp comes from the doorway. I shriek, and the book falls to the carpet, still open to the page I was studying. I stare at Bena, who stares back. The older woman opens her mouth to speak, perhaps to warn me, but it’s too late. Our master’s large frame appears behind her.

I take in his shocked face for only a moment before I throw myself to the floor, bowing so low my face flattens the carpet fibers, my arms thrust forward in supplication.

“Master!” I cry out. “I—I’m sorry! It’s just so beautiful, and I tried to ignore it, and I don’t know why—” Terror chokes off any further speech.

“Lydia.” His voice is stern, but not angry. “Lydia, look at me.”

I lift my head but can’t look him in the eyes, so I stare at his feet.

“It is a marvelous book, isn’t it?”

I give a tiny nod. “Yes, Master.” Tears gather in the corners of my eyes.

He steps over to the book. The page with the exquisite drawing lies open and incriminating. “Oh, yes. That was one of my favorite creatures, too. My father gave me this book when I was ten.” He bends over, picks it up, and puts it back on the shelf. Then he sits down in the large desk chair and swivels around to face my still-prostrate form.

“Lydia, you know what the rules are, and you know what the consequences are.” It’s a statement, not a question. I’ve known the law since my earliest memories as a child. I tremble, my head once more buried in the carpet as though humility can save me. “I think, however, it’s possible that you were only holding the book, not looking inside, and that it didn’t open until it fell to the floor.”

I can scarcely believe that he’s going to lie, for me. Holding a book is bad, but opening it more than doubles the penalty.

“Master?” I look up to him, blinking to clear the tears. He smiles at me. “Master, th-thank you.” My voice is so soft I’m not sure he hears me.

He leans over to cup my chin with a gentleness I don’t deserve. “If this were a smaller matter, we’d deal with it here, at home, but it’s not, and if I don’t report it, someone else will.”

“I know, sir.” There’s no question of escaping the consequences. Master is fair but strict, and the law is clear.

“I’m going to go enter your name on the list for the next Punishment Day, and you won’t clean in here anymore.” He shakes his head as he stands. “I’m just glad you can’t actually read it. The consequences for that are dreadful.”

As he leaves the room, I struggle not to throw up on the expensive white carpet.

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Keywords: sci-fi captive, forbidden love, dark romance, alternate universe, dark romance sci-fi, sci-fi romance series, dark alien abduction romance, completed series, captive romance, fated mates, alien mates, alien alpha, dark sci-fi romance, intergalactic romance, dystopian romance, alpha male, steamy

Ratings and reviews

I really enjoyed the budding relationship between the off planet James and slave Lydia! As I was reading, I was hoping James would want Lydia forever! She's smart. She could use her amazing brain! She could help James in his science research! These two are going to make their time together extremely worthwhile. This reader was squirming! Deliciously so! Intense scenes! James made me love him!

This was one of the first of Sophie Kisker's books I read 6 years ago and have followed her since then. The re-release with edits and the change to first person narration, makes the story come more alive and gives some additional insight into the characters. I struggled a bit with the too perfect for each other natures and backgrounds of the protagonists and then remembered that that's the nature of relationship. The magic is when people meet that fit uniquely and the characters definitely do.

"She means so much to me now, and the future looks bleak without her." What can I say without giving the plot away? How about I start with this. Memories of Surrender is a beautiful, moving and complicated love story about two people from totally different worlds who find each other and deny all odds to be together. Unlike many of Sophie's books, this one isn't really dark. Yes, Lydia is a slave and yes, James is her temporary master, but there is no darkness between them, only passion, submission, admiration and pleasure. I read and relished ever single page from the first heartbreaking moments until the joyous end. I love this complex, rich world-building Sophie has done, even as I detested the way things were allowed to exist on Miros. And you can't even hate all the Mirosians as some were good, or as good as possible. I especially liked James's BFF Raym and truly hope to see him in a future book. As for now, bring on book two!

About the author

For years I wrote dark capture fantasies and stories of power exchange and hid them in my computer. Now that I’m out of the closet, I split my time between being a writer, and mother, wife, overworked employee, and slave to the cat. Most evenings you will find me hiding in my office cave to write, where I only care about my internet signal and the strength of my coffee.

My men are always dominant, sometimes sweet, sometimes overbearing, and occasionally assholes. My women are independent and don’t fall to their knees just because they’re told to. There’s always an HEA, though the road is usually twisted, dark, and sometimes non-consensual.

See details on all my books and how to get a free book on my website www.sophiekisker.com