I love young adult mystery thrillers. This one had a lot of twists and turns I didn’t see coming, and I loved the mysterious aspect.

I'm not a huge YA reader, but I loved the synopsis for this, and the book ended up being quite enjoyable! I love queer horror, and conversion camp attendees escaping from said conversion camp was such a unique plot.

This book was WILD. I haven't read anything like it in a long, long while. The idea of conversion camps is shocking and I had no idea these actually existed. I was horrified when Connor was kidnapped and sent to a conversion camp, stripped of all that he has and made to kill his own identity. The story is as gruesome as it sounds from the blurb. It's brutal truth.
I was SCARED because a bunch of kids stuck on an island with cruel adults loving to oppress them and make them miserable? The whole premise is unreal.
The story was really good and fast paced. I binged it in one day because I couldn't stop reading. I was really invested in the characters and what happened to them. The romance was super cute too and a ray of sunshine in a dark world.
Point is: loved this book. It was a thriller for sure and had my heart racing the whole time.
I'll definitely recommend it to everyone

I didn't expect this book to be so good it has exceeded my expectations. I love how captivating and suspenseful the story is and appreciate the writing style. I highly recommend this book!

This was a hard book to read because it features a difficult subject matter. But Sass handled it well. I have another Sass book that I definitely want to get to quicker now that I’ve read one of his books (because now I know his writing).

I think Connor Major being the main character was a great choice because Sass brought some lightheartedness in his narration and humour that I thought worked well. They’re also teenagers, and teens are funny. I think it’s a good thing to keep humour/make some jokes even when you’re not having the best time (South Africans make jokes about, literally everything, so I know that well).

The plot and pacing was quick and that fit the vibe of the book very well. Maybe it’s the author’s writing as well and I’ll know it when I read another of his books. I thought I would mind that the plot and pacing were so quick but I didn’t – which I’m also glad about.

I really liked the other teens we meet at the camp. Especially as they became close and then found family – it is one of my favourite tropes so I was glad to see it. Found family in any book, in any genre, is always something I’m happy to read about – but I think it works particularly best in an LGBTQ+ book. Plus they’ve all been through a terrible experience so being able to stand together and stay friends is great.

NOTE: Thanks to Tbrandbeyond tours for the opportunity to participate in this book tour!


I have been really grateful for the chance to participate in these tours and spread the word about these new and upcoming books! Today's tour is really a moving tale that brought awareness to the harsh reality of the gay conversion camps, of becoming proud of your sexuality, and in finding people to accept you for who you are.


So, here we go.


Short Summary: A newly out gay teen gets sent to a conversion therapy boot camp where the true fight to survive begins.


Long Summary:Connor Major’s summer break is turning into a nightmare.



His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivers meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final destination: Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes.”



But Connor’s troubles are only beginning. At Nightlight, everyone has something to hide from the campers to the “converted” staff and cagey camp director, and it quickly becomes clear that no one is safe. Connor plans to escape and bring the other kidnapped teens with him. But first, he’s exposing the camp’s horrible truths for what they are—and taking this place down.


I was absolutely hooked since the beginning--it's the sort of book best read in the evening to late night vibes with the twists, the turns and the heartwrenching reality we still live in today with homophobia and conversion therapy camps (which I thought no longer existed) and especially now in our times with politicians who want to decide what we do with our lives, with our bodies, and with who we choose to love, this book is one worth reading. Connor's story was all sorts of relatable from music tastes (Hey Carly Rae Jepsen and Ariana Grande😌) to the fear of being kidnapped and finding the strength to stand up for yourself, it was a great thriller to read.


Also, I will forever have my grudge against Ario for many reasons.



Overall: 4.5/ 5 stars

Not everyone knows the things that go on to oppress those less fortune or not alike by societal standards. This book does a fantastic job of showing conversion therapy camps and the horrors that they face when sent there. How abhorrent it is and their only means of escape being dark, brutal, and vicious. Busting at the seams with visceral fury. It’s fast-paced and packed with well written characters who show you the meaning behind the love they hold. This is such an informative yet love yielding story, please give it a try!

I'm very disappointed with this book. It has received so much hype even years after its release, but I just could not get into it. The main character was not relatable and the story as a whole felt out of place from reality. There was just too much going on, which made it hard to keep all the details straight. The ending felt very rushed. There was so many details leading up to the big reveal/ending that it felt like the author ran out of steam for the finale. This was my first Sass book. I would probably try his other books.

I liked the writing -- Sass manages to keep a lighthearted tone for Connor while dealing with a very heavy, heartbreaking topic.
However, the pacing and the timeline of the story is so unrealistic that it un-suspends my disbelief. <SPOILER!> No person can get kidnapped, get thrown into conversion camp, make friends with literally everyone and get everyone to trust them at said conversion camp, uncover and solve a mystery all in one day <END OF SPOILER>

The fact that everything happens in such a short amount of time is so ridiculous that I just couldn't read this book without thinking, 'What in the world am I reading" for the whole time I was reading it.

Like damn. I had thought this was going to be lighteharted, funny and fluffy. But this was shocking, and jawdropping. I don`t know even what to think.

OMG this book is brilliant - but I didn’t like it! I hope you can understand that comment! It is brilliant and covers so many dark subjects but it’s just not the type of thing I like.
Covering religious zeal, homophobia, kidnapping and violent emotional control, it’s a pacy read where the reader barely draws breath.
I don’t rate the quality of the writing too highly but it’s fast paced and I think people will generally enjoy this.

Thank you to Netgalley and to the publisher for giving me an advanced copy of this book to read and review.

Thank you net galley for the opportunity to read and review this book!! I liked this book allot and it was very interesting!! I loved the story line and the characters!! I think it could have been more fast pace and was slow at times but overall had a good reading experience!

I think the mystery element of this novel got in the way of allowing the book to be what it wanted to be, unfortunately.

In the introduction to the book, the author says that the book is “not about queer pain. It’s about what queers do with pain.” I think that is a very interesting and important concept to write a book about. The book deals with ideas of “fixing” queerness and the trauma that queer people go through when they meet people who want to “cure” them. The fact that stuff like this has happened and continues to happen is horrifying. Yet, the book is not only about that. It’s also about bravery, courage and finding the light in the darkest times. It’s about friendships and budding romances and fighting! It is, in short, a really good book.

However, it didn’t engage me the way I was hoping. I struggled a bit to get through it and I didn’t find it very compelling, which is probably because I didn’t connect with the main character at all. But I’ve seen plenty of others connect and feel all the emotion that was put into writing this story, so I still recommend giving it a go if it sounds interesting to you!

Not an easy read, but a beautifully written and profound one. Even though this is a work of fiction, it's important to recognize what is happening in our world.

I'm back on my bullshit, trying to get to some long neglected Netgalley ARCs and this felt like as good a place as any to go next.

Y'all... I loved this book. I don't know if it's the quaint charm of the accent the audiobook narrator used or how it was giving me Holes, but make it queer, but all the puzzle pieces really fit together on this one.

I don't think that a book that is looking to tackle kids getting kidnapped and taken to a conversion camp on a Costa Rican island could be all that optimistic, but this sort of straddles that line? It's a little bleak, but grounded in a realism that still allows the reader to feel for hope but never tries to undercut itself by becoming overly saccharine in the last act of the book. It allows the reader to stew in the melancholy and grapple with the realness.

I was gagged several times while listening to the narration. Both because I didn't expect the book to go to all of the places that it went, and because I was allowing myself to appreciate all the moments of triumph the book was giving me.

All in all it was an excellent way to kick off my September, and I'm happy that I have an ARC of Sass' next book to help comfort me after having this experiences.

<i>Surrender Your Sons</i> has also made me a believer in the time crunch novel again. I think it was helped by the fact that the plot of the book doesn't really hang on the limited time frame until you're well into the book. Up until then it doesn't really cross the readers mind just how long the narrative is going to go on for and that was to the book's benefit. Without the ticking clock running in the back of my mind I was better able to appreciate the looming clock I had been unaware of.

**Thank you, Netgalley and publisher, for giving me an electronic ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Surrender your sons is a gripping tale filled with drama and secrets. However, I was not expecting such graphic descriptions while reading this YA book. I also feel like the story went by quickly within a couple of days and that if the story was able to span out it would have been better.

Intense, ultra-exciting and queer. Adam Sass's dark youth thriller convinces not only with a gripping plot, but also with believable characters. Connor and his fateful companions are all queer in different ways – all without being stereotypes. This is the representation we need!

It took me ages to get into the feel of this book (about 2 years), but when I finally did, it was worth it.
It's a whole adventure, but also highly emotional. It also kept me awake and surprised at every turn. Maybe too awake, because it happened quickly and I think it would have been better if the story was allowed to span out a bit.

A good book, though.
/ Denise