Title: Taking it All
Author: Maya Banks
Publisher/Year:  Penguin Group 8/5/14
Length:   320 Pages
Series:  Surrender Trilogy #3

Overview

In her sensational Breathless Trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Maya Banks tested the boundaries of desire. In her new trilogy, there’s only one thing left to do: cross them. And for a married couple taking steps to renew their marriage, the consequences of one single moment of inattention may come at a price the husband never expects…

Chessy and Tate have been married for several years. In the beginning, their relationship was everything she wanted. Passionate. All-consuming. She offered her submission freely and Tate cherished her gift with a tenderness that made her feel safe. Content. Wanted. Loved beyond all measure. But as the years have gone by, Tate has become more immersed in making his business a success, and Chessy has taken a back seat to his business obligations. Growing unhappy with the status of their once blissful marriage, Chessy knows that something has to give, or they stand to lose it all.

Tate loves his wife. Has always loved her. Providing for her has always been his number-one priority. But lately she’s seemed unhappy, and he’s worried. Worried enough that he arranges for a night together that he hopes will reignite the fire that once burned like an inferno between them.

But a business call at the wrong time threatens everything. Chessy’s safety, his concentration, his wife’s faith in him as her husband—a man sworn to love and protect her above all else. Gutted with the realization that he’s going to lose her—has already lost her—he readies for the fight of his life. Whatever it takes, he’ll get her back, show her that nothing is more important than her love. And that if she’ll allow him to prove himself one more time, he’ll take it all. Everything. But he’ll give back far more: Himself. His undying love.

My Thoughts

We know the stories of Joss and Kylie and we know that Chessy’s marriage was picture perfect for a while but less so in recent years, It’s about time to understand what’s going on and then see if we can figure out what’s going to happen next.  It’s a roller coaster and at what point something that seemed way too easy to happen turns ugly.

Chessy, the woman who’s set herself up in the role to play the perfect wife,the perfect hostess and the perfect submissive finds herself in a situation where her husband of 5 years spends more time dealing with work and keeping his business running and successful than paying any mind to what makes Chessy happy.  Because of this, we see it all come crashing down, on the worst night possible – their anniversary.

On a night that’s supposed to be theirs and theirs alone, Tate does the unthinkable and puts work first, leading Chessy to explode and want out.  She’s finally forced to confront him, and surprisingly it’s almost like Tate didn’t even realize how bad it was.

This is where i felt like things changed way too quickly and easily and i should have given Maya Banks more credit.  See, all it took was some begging and pleading and promises that things will change, added on top a night of intense passion and heat, and they were back on track.  realistic right?  nope.

We spend some time lulled into a sense of security, allowing us to pick back up on some of the continued story lines of the other 2 couples, where we find that Joss is pregnant, and Kylie is beyond happy with Jensen, that it’s inevitable that the other shoe will drop.

on a night at The House – a private BDSM club, we see that Chessy is willing and excited to participate in a special scene arranged by her husband.  It’s then that things go awry that a final wedge is put between the couple and things are changed for good it seems.

The rest of this story takes us on a journey of a woman who’s forced to stand on her own, and be strong since she’s put up with so much, but has to remain stoic not to fall back into what was great in the past.  We know that Tate’s apologetic, but that’s not enough.  In this story – we see that Love isn’t always enough, and that’s a twist that i think that Ms Banks does well and was necessary to mix things up a bit here.

The ending of this story is one that i kind of expected, but added a nice dimension to things.  Not only do we get to see how Chessy continues her life and what the means for Tate, but we see an epilogue for Joss and Kylie as well – in a nice way to tie up their stories too, and give us closure on it all.

I’m really pleased with the dynamics in this series – i feel like each character was created with a specific role in mind, and while the ladies are quite similar as are the men, there are nuances that make each of them very unique so that you’re really interested and intrigued to what their story will mold into and what that will bring to the dynamic of the overall group.

On that note – have a great Monday all.