Surf & Surrender by Riley Edgewood

Title: Surf & Surrender (Summer Love Series #2)

Author: Riley Edgewood

Publisher: Self-Published

Release Date: February 23, 2015

Source: ARC from Author

Buy the Book: Amazon / B&N / Kobo

She wants to forget he ever existed. He’d never give up her memory.

Quinn Westwood is completely over Sawyer Carson. He broke her heart years ago and disappeared from her life without a word. So yeah. She’s over him. Never even thinks of him. In fact, she’s spending her college summer break surfing and lifeguarding in the Outer Banks, while nursing a bruised heart from a different relationship gone wrong. She doesn’t have room in her mind or heart for Sawyer—until she runs into him at a beach bonfire and the sparks that fly between them are way hotter than the flames heating the sand.

Sawyer never got over Quinn. The only thing stronger than what he feels for her is the secret keeping them apart, but sharing it would estrous more than just his life—it’d ruin hers, as well. Still, he can’t seem to keep away form her, can’t seem to keep his hands off of her soft, tempting skin. Especially since she has even less self-control when it comes to reigniting the physical side of what made them perfect together.

But secrets have a way of slipping out, and when Sawyer’s is revealed it threatens to shatter everyone involved. He’ll have to face walking away a second time, and Quinn will have to decide if fighting for him is worth it when the fallout could affect more than just her heart, but also those of the people she loves most. 

Late last year, I read Riley Edgewood’s three-part debut Rock & Release and I absolutely loved it. I was so excited to hear that the next book in her New Adult series would be coming out soon after and I was even more excited to be reading it. Needless to say that I liked Surf & Surrender even more than I did the first book.

Quinn has spent the past four year getting over Sawyer Carson. It’s not like she’s had much of a choice. He was there one day and gone the next with no explanation and no matter what Quinn did she couldn’t find a way to get in touch with him. So now she’s over him. Finally ready to move on. And Quinn would definitely be over Sawyer if she hadn’t run in to him a bonfire, reigniting all those old feelings she thought she’d gotten rid of. Sawyer hasn’t been able to move on from Quinn. The time and distance away from her have done nothing but make his feelings stronger. Now that he’s back in town, he wants nothing more than to be with her, but he knows that he can’t. No matter what, Sawyer has to stay away from Quinn. He just doesn’t know if he has the self-control to stay away. And that would be fine, except Quinn has even less self-control. Both Quinn and Sawyer have their secrets and those secrets might tear them apart a second time. 

Guys, Surf & Surrender was addicting. Like read it in day, addicting. And I say that because that’s totally what I did and I don’t regret it. I couldn’t help it though. Every time I told myself I would stop after just one more chapter, I couldn’t do it. And then the next thing I knew an hour had gone by and I was still reading, still telling myself that I would stop after one more chapter. And so the cycle went, until I had read the entire book. But other than being addicting, this story was GOOD. I loved reading about summer in the Outer Banks (I might have also started planning a hypothetical vacation there while reading…) and seeing how everyone was connected. And of course the romance did not disappoint me. Right from the start there is tension and chemistry between Sawyer and Quinn and it just leaps off the page. And thanks to Riley Edgewood I will never look at a surf shop in the same way. Ever. Who knew they could be that sexy? Though that might have had more to do with Sawyer and Quinn.

What I loved about Quinn and Sawyer was that they had a history before this story started. It made reading about them all the more interesting. I wanted to know more about their past, about what happened that brought them to where they are today. And they had some pretty awesome chemistry, no matter how hard they tried to fight it. Did I mention a certain surf shop scene? Because that’s only the beginning of it. And as much as I loved Sawyer and Quinn together, I liked them on their own too. They were both trying to make the best of the situation they were in. I wanted so much for them to get that they wanted, and for them to catch a break. Especially Sawyer. Because I may have developed a soft spot for Sawyer. Beyond just Sawyer and Quinn, Surf & Surrender also had some fantastic secondary characters. I would love to read more about Sawyer’s family, especially his brother because he seems to have so much going on and I want more of him, especially if it meant I got more of Sawyer in the process. And I’m crossing my fingers for a story about Gianna, Quinn’s best friend, because I would read that and I’m pretty sure I would love it.

Surf & Surrender was a great follow up to Rock & Release. The story had just the right mix of sexy, drama and heart. I can’t wait to read whatever comes next from Riley Edgewood.