So thankful to be provided an ARC of this book! However, I wanted to love this so much more than I did. I'm the first person to root for a queer story, and this one promised the queer content I wanted, but the narrator's voice grated on me throughout the entire book. It was hard to take painful and scary moments of the story seriously when the tone was so off.

Still, I highly enjoyed the creative approach to a YA thriller! The amount of representation in this book is incredible, and it was so refreshing to see a large group of queer youths coming together to battle homophobic and transphobic leadership. I treasured the idea of "found family" as it was embraced throughout the book. I also appreciated that Sass dove into darker topics that do plague queer youth. It was much appreciated to see that he didn't skirt the tougher topics.

All in all, a fast-paced and intriguing story, but the tone missed the mark for me. Very fun read nonetheless.

A parent's love can take different forms, which sometimes comes in a form of pain as conveyed in Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass. 

After coming out to his very religious mother at the insistence of his boyfriend Ario that he'd feel better, Connor has found that his summer has been anything but the fun, loving, and relaxing environment he fantasized about. Without his phone and with his time dedicated to helping deliver meals to people around his town, Connor finds that he's become disconnected from Ario but still has a strong desire to be with him before college separates them. Shortly after the meal recipient, Ricky, specially included on Connor's route by his town's reverend dies, Connor is kidnapped, at the behest of his mother, and taken to a remote island to attend Nightlight Ministries's conversion therapy camp until he changes his ways. While at Nightlight Connor investigates the odd note he got from Ricky that relates to Nightlight and plans an escape with his fellow campers. Everyone at Nightlight has secrets they're keeping, but some secrets and truths are more dangerous than others. 

This is a swiftly moving and heartfelt story that captivates attention with the snarky, clever bits of conversation and a bit of mystery. The topics broached throughout the narrative are emotionally dense and well addressed, portraying the good with the bad and the myriad of imperfections in between; much of what's explored includes heavier topics that may be triggering for a variety of readers, but the way they're portrayed is handled with care as it conveys the very real emotional component associated with them while ensuring to depict a sliver of hope within the darkness. While the narrative was compelling as it developed and the various pieces fell into place, I did find myself struggling to believe that the events at Nightlight took place over the course of a [long] single day after arrival - there was so much going on that it was jarring to be repeatedly reminded through Connor's thoughts or other campers' comments that this was his first day there when the events would be more realistic spread out over the course of a week.

Overall, I'd give it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Sass has burst onto the scene with an incredibly engaging, twisty story that completely blew me away. 

This is at times a horrendous, hard to read story, but the issues discussed need to be shouted about. While this particular story is fiction, Connor's tale is real for so many people in society and other aspects of the plot are still prevalent today. Sass' writing is brutal, unafraid of shying away from the horrific realities of queer pain without ever feeling exploitative, something which discusses brilliantly in his author's note which prefaces the story. That note also contains some content warnings, which I thought was a brilliant addition. 

However, ultimately, Sass shows how there is hope even in the most awful situations, with a brilliant cast of characters who band together. From the first page, I connected with Connor, feeling that cloying atmosphere of abusive control and homophobia he's trapped in. His realisation of the similarities between Nightlight and his own home are heartbreaking to read. Sass gives us time with most of the other characters, so they are never as simple as they seem. We explore their stories and even get insights into the villain's psyches, showing the constant cycle of abuse without excusing their atrocious actions. 

There is an excellent mystery thread to the plot, which kept me on my toes throughout. It's utterly compelling, showing Sass' skill as it takes unexpected twists and turns. Thrillers are often some of my favourite books and here is a high-stakes, compulsively readable example, brimming over with tension. 

It is so hard to write this review, as this is really a book that the less you know before you start, the better. All I can say is Surrender Your Sons holds a jagged mirror up to our society in an unputdownable thriller that I implore you to read.

"It was so kind of you to visit me in my loneliness"


This book made me angry. Angry that conversion therapy still exists and is still legal in a lot of places. Angry that there are so many evil people in the world, that would gladly cause pain and suffering just because of peoples sexual orientation and gender.

Surrender Your Sons follows Connor who has been forced into a conversion camp, a secluded island off the coast of Costa Rica, by his mother and their Reverend. Run by radical christians, we see how a group of queer kids aged from 13-20 try to survive both mental and physical attacks.

It's a story of survival, of not letting others change who you are. Conner knows he's gay but has struggled with it long before arriving on the island. Being forced to hide his sexuality because of a hateful and neglectful mother has scarred Connor. The island may seem like an unlikely place, but it is there that he has to face the fact that just like his mother has been brainwashed by the Reverend and the church, he has been brainwashed by his need to be accepted by his mother.

However, not everything on the island is what it seems. The motives of the Reverend and the others in charge are unclear. And a hidden message given to Connor from someone he knew pre-island life hints at something sinister.

I have Surrender Your Sons preordered, so I can't wait to get my hands on the finished hardback, which looks gorgeous!, and give it a re-read.

Arc provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

This a tough book to review. I can't say I "liked it" in the traditional sense but I definitely give it all of 5 stars - more if I could - and think that everyone should read it. It's impossible to review the actual story without giving too much away and I don't want to spoil the surprise. I will say this - I am difficult to catch off guard when it comes to plot twists and this book got me more than once.

Everything that is wrong about conversion therapy is exposed in this book. Everything that is wrong with pressuring someone to come out of the closet or deal with their sexuality according to your timeline is addressed in this book. The need for unconditional, unbreakable love between parent and child is clearly expressed in this book.

It will not make you feel good, It might make you cry. You might have to put it down and walk away for a bit to regain some emotional stability. But in the end, you will have been forced to think deeply and carefully about the importance of seeing every human being you encounter as being in need of love and compassion.

An action-packed debut from Adam Sass! Surrender Your Sons keeps you on the edge of your seat, with unexpected twists I didn't see coming. In Connor, the book's main character, Sass nails the internal struggles of a queer kid raised in an unsupportive religious environment.

This is one of those books I really wish I enjoyed more. The premise is fantastic - part Lord of the Flies and part The Miseducation of Cameron Post - but it didn't quite work for me.

Connor lives in a small rural town with his religious zealot mother. He's gay and has a boyfriend for the first time. His boyfriend comes from a very supportive family who embraced his coming out without reservation. Connor is pretty sure his own mother won't be so accepting, but Ario encourages him to stop sneaking around and to tell his mother.

As Connor predicted, it doesn't go well and Connor finds himself on lockdown, allowed out of the house only to help the Reverend deliver meals on wheels. And there's something weird about the Reverend, and not just the thrall he seems to have the entire town under, especially Conner's mother. It seems to have something to do with one of the meals on wheels customers, a severely handicapped guy called Ricky.

Then Ricky dies and Connor is dragged from his home by burly guys who claim to be taking him to a summer camp. The only clue is a note Ricky left in the pages of an old theatre program.

The summer camp turns out to be a conversion camp on a remote island in Costa Rica. And it's run by none other than the Reverend. Connor needs to figure out why Ricky wrote the name of this camp on the program he left and what his link is to both the camp and the Reverend before it's too late.

There was lots to like about this story about kids taking justice into their own hands in order to escape a horrendous experience. There were moments of high adventure and excitement and moments of quite tender romance. But overall, I felt like there was a little too much going on. It was difficult to understand why Connor was so invested in Ricky's past when he didn't seem to know him very well, and cared about him less.

The writing itself was often overblown which drew me out of the story because the language didn't feel like Connor's language, the descriptions unlike something a teenage boy would observe.

The other campers were not well-drawn and were defined almost exclusively through the way they looked. Female campers were given particularly little definition apart from feisty Molly, the girl Connor arrives on the island with.

If you're a fan of action and adventure and kids taking the law into their own hands, this might be a book for you.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read it in advance.

"Surrender Your Sons" is a book with a rather interesting synopsis. The beginning of it was rather boring for me but as I read further in, it got more and more interesting. It's a certainly entertaining read.

Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass


I want to begin this review by saying that I have followed Adam Sass on Twitter for quite awhile and when I saw Surrender Your Sons pop up on NetGalley, I immediately “wished” for it. When my wish was granted a couple of months, I literally shrieked out loud.

Connor Major trusted his boyfriend when he suggested that Connor come out to his family, but it turns out to be an utter disaster. Connor’s religious mother strongly objects to the revelation, confiscates his phone, and ultimately has him shipped off to a conversion camp on a secluded island near Costa Rica.

In theory, if Connor follows all the directions, he can leave after a week.

But no one ever leaves after only a week.

Connor and his fellow campers quickly realize that they have no way to get off the island and no one even knows where they are, so their only solution is to band together and make an escape plan.

This was an amazing book. It’s a queer version of Lord of the Flies, but it’s so much more than that. There’s also a mystery component related to someone Connor knows from his hometown, and from the very beginning, it’s clear that (much like the island from Lost), this island holds many secrets (but without the polar bears). Finding out the truth is almost as important to Connor as getting off the island.

The plot unfolds via Connor’s first-person narration and he rarely holds back. He’s definitely out of his element, and while he’s on the island, he begins to question everything about his life back home. He doesn’t know who he can trust when it comes to the campers, but he doesn’t have much choice but to take a chance with his new friends.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the political elements of this book. The concept of conversion camps is inherently political, and while the practice has been outlawed in many states, it is still legal in certain parts of the country. Multiple studies and scientific evidence points to the detrimental effect of conversion camps on queer people, but the programs are still permitted to operate. Sass tackles the subject with unflinching grace; this account is fictionalized, but it’s based on fact—this, or something like this, has been (and still is) the reality for queer teens across the country.

I would absolutely recommend Surrender Your Sons. This is a monumentally important book and I think that everybody should read it. I was riveted from the very beginning, as I watched Connor and his friends face insurmountable odds. I hope this book wins all the awards and I can’t wait to find out what Sass is working on next.



I received a copy of this book from NetGalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I tried really hard to get into this book but something about the narrating voice really turned me off which is such a disappointment because I was really anticipating this release. Hopefully, it works out better for others than it did for me because I think the concept is really intriguing.

I don't like rating books I didn't finish, but it's making me so I'll leave it at a 2

Um livro que me machucou.

Desde que o assunto da terapia de conversão foi colocado em pauta (algo que não entendo o motivo de ter acontecido), eu comecei a sofrer bastante por pensar que existem pessoas que poderiam ter sido submetida aquilo. E certamente, me peguei pensando na relação com os meus pais.

Acho que eu nunca me entreguei tanto pra uma história. Eu chorei, sofri, torci, vibrei e amei cada um dos persoangens e gostaria de parabenizar o autor por isso, pois tenho certeza que ele também se machucou enquanto escrevia isso.

É uma leitura dolorosa, mas que me deu esperança e eu acho que esse é ponto, a gente precisa de esperança. Obrigada Netgalley por ter me dado a oportunidade de ler esse livro!

A great story that kept me on the edge of my seat. Adam Sass is a great new voice in YA and I can't wait to see what he does next.

I enjoyed this book for what it was which was a way to expose conversion therapy for the atrocity that it really is. I think it’s a great way to tell LGTBQ+ youth that they are able to stand up for themselves and who they are!

My anxiety has been steadily mounting these last few days, like climbing a roller coaster that has no summit. So I'm trying to focus on the here and now: crossing off to-do list items; enjoying the extra time with my partner.

Other things that are helping:
- Having a deadline for the last big revision of my debut
- Supportive coworkers at my day job
- Virtual write-ins with my crique group
- The 2020 debut ARCs I've been getting my grubby little paws on 👀

And SURRENDER YOUR SONS is one of those! Hilarious, dark, LORD OF THE FLIES but jubilantly queer, fast-paced and hopeful. This debut from @itsadamsass is out September 15th. Preorder from your local indie bookstore, friends. Future you will thank you.

Surrender Your Sons
Book Review | 📚📚📚 3/5
Adam Sass | Flux Now

One Sentence Summary:
Young Adult novel that’s one part Hardy Boys, one part Lord of the Flies, where a mystery unfolds on an isolated island housing a gay conversion camp.

Publisher’s blurb for Surrender Your Sons can be found here: https://fluxnow.com/product/surrender-your-sons/

Surrender Your Sons.jpg

Why I was interested in this book:
See my intro sentence. Cool premise that takes an altogether horrifying situation and adds murder and mayhem.

My assessment:
With Surrender Your Sons, author Adam Sass came up with a great story. The characters are dynamic and the book is filled with page-turning suspense. While I do not read many Young Adult novels, I think there is a disconnect between the story and the actual writing. I would give the book five stars for its endearing yet edgy themes and fast-paced story. However, the delivery of the story was uneven and distracting.

Stories of the human condition:
In this single book, every single character has a voice for their own human condition story. Some don’t realize it. Others don’t evolve. However, each person in the book has their own story that sometimes resonates with other people and other times repels. I found it difficult to empathize with some, but that did not mean their stories were less than those who were changed by the situations in the book.

I recommend this book for fans of: YA novels, coming out stories, mysteries, books with good plot twists, and Lord of the Flies.

Full disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book through NetGalley(dot)com in exchange for an honest review. I would not have selected this book had I not been interested in it based on the description.

Read more of my reviews at https://tugglegrassblues.wordpress.com/.

TAGS:
#SurrenderYourSons #review-book #book review #AdamSass #comingout #YAcomingout #conversioncamp #FluxNow #Adam Sass #TuggleGrassBlues #Tuggle Grass Reviews #TuggleGrassReviews #NetGalley

I wanted this book to highlight the types of torture these kids go through. Instead, it was just about the kids and their captors. I enjoyed it. This subject makes me so mad! I can't believe people do this to their loved ones. To their children. I also can't believe it's legal. The book was written well. The characters were fun. And a revenge story is always great. I would recommend this to other readers.

Content/Trigger Warnings for Surrender Your Sons
Homophobia
Death
Suicide
Murder
Conversion Therapy
Religion used as basis for hate
Violence towards LGBTQIA+ characters
internalised homophobia

I was provided with a free arc of this story via netgalley - thank you to the publisher!

Surrender Your Sons is a powerfull LGBTQIA+ story with a broad and diverse cast. The reader follows the protagonist Connor as he deals with the aftermath of him coming out as gay to his super religious mother. She decides to send him to conversion therapy on a secluded island where escaping seems impossible. When everything seems hopeless, he starts to get to know the other children and teens in Nightlight conversion therapy camp and finds some hidden truths that change everything on the island.

I loved how the author chose to write this book in a way that conveys hope in a hopeless situation, still has humor and characters that are true to who they are. Adam Sass didn't shy away from painful parts eighter and careffully made them part of the story in a way that never felt like just another trope or lliterary device but natural and real.. The book was written in a way that made me nearly unable to put the book down and I wanted to keep reading this story. The end of the book is satisfying and provides closure for the characters and an outlook on how their life continues after the conclusion.

What I really apprecciated was the authors note in the beginning of the book that informed the reader of some of the triggers in the book and about why the story has to be told in the way it is. A truly amazing book and if you feel safe reading it with the given content warnings, I would 100% recommend it!

This ARC was provided to me through NetGalley.

I was looking forward to reading this book, and much of it was realistic and suspenseful.

Connor has just come out to his religious mother that he is gay. His boyfriend had convinced him this was the right thing to do and would make his life so much easier. However, all he and his mother have done is argue and she has taken his cell phone, so he doesn't have contact with his best friend or his boyfriend. His only chance to get out of the house (it's summer break) is to deliver Meals on Wheels. His favorite person to deliver meals to is a man who is partially paralyzed from an accident and lives with his elderly mother. When that man dies, Connor is told he is no longer delivering any meals.

Connor and his mom live in a house out in the country. Their only neighbor is their minister, who owns and runs the farm next to their house. It turns out, he also runs Nightlight Ministries, conversion therapy camps run in remote places. Connor finds this out after he is kidnapped from his home by two men and flown to Costa Rico. He is then taken by boat to a remote island.

While at the camp, he meets other kids (some as young as twelve) who are also there to be changed, adults who work at the camp, several of whom are former campers, and finds out that most campers have been there a year or longer. He makes a plan to get himself and the other campers off the island and to expose what is going on there.

My problem with the story is that once Connor arrives at the camp, everything else takes place in one day. That did not feel realistic to me when you consider everything that has to be done within that one day. What I did like is that there is a trans kiddo and correct terms were used to refer to them.

There is some graphic sexual content, so definitely upper high school. It is (obvioiusly) LGBTQ+.

I got to read the ARC ebook, and this is my honest review.

I completely fell in love with how Conner phrases things, very kid-like and off-the-wall word choices, shifting emotions and weird humor. For me, that was the best part of the book, and the reason it works well. I also very much enjoyed his character arc, and Marcos's.

It is a thriller, as the author points out, so some bad things go down. The timeline's a little frantic. The Author's Note contains content warnings, and it is reasonable. If you enjoy thrillers, queer victory despite everything, and a complicated ending, this is your book right here.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a DRC of this title for review. All opinions are my own.

OK-I read the synopsis of this book and I wasn't exactly sure what I would be getting, but I was VERY intrigued. After finishing it, I am so glad that I took a chance on it and am glad to see if enter the realm of contemporary YA.

This book, believe it or not, is a mix of conversion camp (you know, the "pray-the-gay-away" cesspools), the television show Survivor and a murder mystery. No really, it's all of those things. And it's all of those things done pretty well. Connor Major is a junior in high school who has bombed on his SATs, has an ex-girlfriend who just had a baby (that isn't his, no matter what everyone else believes) and has just come out to his mother since his boyfriend encouraged him to live truthfully and out of the closet. Unfortunately, his mother refuses to believe in that part of him and sets up a deal with the next door neighbor who just happens to be a reverend who runs a secret conversion camp in Costa Rica. One night Connor is taken from his home, packed on to a plane and deposited in a camp in the middle of an island off the coast of Costa Rica. There, he begins to realize the truth of his neighbor and the camp he's been sent to. A camp that most people spend at least a year, if not more at. What he also begins to understand and that there is more to this camp than just the conversion story of its campers; the camp was also host to Ricky some 20 years ago. Ricky was another man in the town where Connor lives, and someone he saw on his Meals on Wheels route. After passing, Ricky left Connor a playbill with a cryptic note to watch out for Nightlight, the name of the camp Connor now finds himself at. Ricky had a tragic injury from earlier in his life and the more Connor finds out, the more he realizes this injury, and the death of Ricky's husband, all stem from Nightlight. So now Connor has to find a way off the island, and he has to figure out as much about it as possible before he leaves.

Highly recommend. Appropriate for grades 9-12.