I wanted this to go a bit deeper than it ultimately did, and struggled with the pacing and prose style a bit, but I'm glad this book was written, and hope the kids it was written for are able to find it.

This book broke my heart. It made me angry. It made me cry. It made me cheer. So many emotions, and 100% worth the read.

Connor's experience, told through first person narrative, was entirely gut-wrenching to read because it was so genuine and emotional. Every single character in this book felt entirely real and relatable, despite the fact that I don't have much in common with any of them - just our humanity. The ferocity with which the plot advanced was akin to watching a thriller (so much so that I read this book in less than 24 hours).

Highly recommend!

I think this may just be one of my fav books I’ve read all year.
Big words, I know. But this was just *that* good.

Like the rest of y’all living on this rather large planet, I live for a good original plot, and hoo-boy, I think I got it. First of all, there was great LGBTQIA+ rep, and it was the perfect mix of contemporary with a mystery, and just...there was a lot going on.

I love a good book that gets me riled up. If you can play with my emotions and either make me blissfully happy or down-right pissed, there has to be something good about your writing, right?
And I was both. I was down-right pissed for the majority of this book and I was flipping through this book so fast it was like one of the crazy over-acted Australian TV dramas you see on TV. You know the ones. I was all bug-eyed and so ready for the happily ever after my characters deserved.

This book does talk about many sensitive issues though. Most of the characters in this book are LGBTQIA+ and most of them don’t come from very accepting backgrounds, which is absolutely devastating. But that’s the truth, and it sucks, so I just want to forewarn people because it could be triggering to some!
This book was so devastating to me. I felt like I was a bubble of pent-up anger and frustration ready to burst because of how angry I was at some of the things the characters were going through. AGHhHHHHhhHH.

But y’all. It was kind of a li’l like The Promised Neverland. Kids at a conversion camp trying to escape from literal MONSTERS. My instinct is to make some really great comparisons between the two (it would be a timeeee) but realise this could be quite insensitive so I won’t. But y’all know I love a good book where the characters rise up and take back their human rights. It sucks that they were taken away in the first place (understatement of the century) but that moment when characters feel that pit of fire at the bottom of their stomachs and fight for what is right is what I live for. That burning passion and desire. It gets me.

All I can say is that you MUST read this book. It is imperative that you do.

Netgalley granted this off my wishlist. I had been hearing about this book for some time. While the premise of story caught my attention and I found premise interesting, I did find some holes with the book overall . Connor Major a teenager who came (forcibly) out before he was ready, his family not happy about it. Connor is a fantastic MC, his POV direct, witty, he is open about his insecurities of being a teen, falling for someone and sexually. The writing from his POV incredible, his candor and wit spot on. Connor is taken from his home to a conversion camp, with others in the same situation. There were many great messages within this story as well as fantastic writing that I really enjoyed.

However everything happens within the shortest time period it’s unrealistic, odd and did not give me a chance to adapt to the new setting or situation. Revelations, mysteries, instant friendships and love happened within 24 hours. I felt the story would have worked better if there was more development of that part of the story.

Okay, so I'm rating this book 2 stars based on my own experience (because that's what I base my ratings on.) I didn't think this was a bad book. But I'm also wishing I hadn't picked this up at all. I think this is mostly a me problem: I don't normally read thrillers, and I don't enjoy reading about extreme violence. I had completely different expectations about what this book was going to be, and that's on me, it's not the book's fault. But it did make this a very heavy, very challenging read. Especially because all of the extreme violence is targeted towards queer people because they're queer.

The author's note said that this book wasn't about queer pain, but about what queer people do with queer pain. I really appreciated this note, but it also made me wait for when the pain would stop. This was probably a wrong assumption on my part, but please be more aware than I was going in that this is not a very uplifting or hopeful read, and that there's a lot of suffering in this book.

Overall, I thought this was a really triggering read, so I'm having a lot of trouble articulating my thoughts. I'll give it a try, though. Honestly, if you're a fan of dark thrillers, you'll probably enjoy this book. As long as you're aware of the trigger warnings, that is. But the reason thrillers often don't work for me is also why I didn't end up enjoying this book: I often find that the characters are very flat, and I don't enjoy reading plot-driven books if the characters feel underdeveloped. For me to like a thriller, it would have to keep me on the edge of my seat and really surprise me with some of the plot twists. That didn't happen in this book. I also didn't appreciate that the one disabled character in the book was killed off to advance the plot. This was very central to the plot and it feels comparable to the "bury your gays" trope but with disabled people. I know thrillers often have tropes like this, but that's another reason why I'm not generally a big thriller fan.

I'm sorry if my review isn't very clear. I was just really thrown off by this book. I'm personally not someone who wants to read about extreme homophobic violence if it isn't dealt with very carefully and framed in a really hopeful narrative, but I know there are probably people out there for whom it will be important to read this. I'm really glad there's space for different queer stories to be told, this just wasn't one that worked for me.

CWs: murder, conversion therapy, abuse, homophobic violence, extreme internalized & religious homophobia, abduction

gay culture is teaming up to take down your oppressors.

cfgvbhujik every time a book about conversion therapy comes out, i say i'm never going to read it then immediately read it as soon as i get the chance. why am i like this 😂

first i gotta say this was some heavy stuff. i mean for real i felt so weighed down reading this, i think readers really need to be prepared before getting into all this trauma. so trigger warning for murder, violent anti-gay hate-crimes, child abuse, and suicidal imagery. and of course all types of queerphobia.

okay! so this book really gets into a lot of stuff. obviously the main theme is what each individual does with queer pain. some of them use that pain to stand up for themselves and others, while some use it to hurt others like themselves. i really liked how adam sass described many different reactions to living in the camp, being rejected by family, and coming out.

the big mystery in the book of what happened to ricky hannigan was something i wasn't expecting. i had no idea what each piece of evidence meant in the long run, but i remained intrigued to the end.

and the characters! man what a cast of awesome characters. connor was pretty cool. stubborn, caring, and brave. molly, was so fucking fierce? what a total badass. darcy was so strong and a great leader. lacrishia was protective and tough. marcos flourished. jack was such a little rascal. vance and alan are a duo to rival trixie and katya. even the creepy ass camp director was interesting. i mean i wanted to stab him, but his brand of crazy was enthralling. i kind of hated briggs the most though. like please choke.

this book was like a much darker The Miseducation of Cameron Post and Beauty Queens. the absolute absurdity and extremism of parents hiring people to kidnap their kids and take them to a super expensive secret jungle conversion camp in costa rica was oddly reassuring. with how serious the topics in this book are the low odds of this happening in real life brought a scant bit of levity to the story. i kept thinking that this camp has been around for thirty years and it's never been leaked? when they casually take the terrified kids (who genuinely think they're being kidnapped) through the airport, through security. and they somehow have tasers that don't get caught in baggage screening? when campers get home they never report it? ever? like i understand the camp being able to cover shit up, but in thirty years something must have been able to slip through the cracks. right?

anyway if you're looking for a gay thriller, i definitely recommend this book.

Surrender your Sons a gay thriller that I absolutely enjoyed. Set in a conversion camp which is more brutal than it seems, Connor is determined to unravel the truths about the camp and the mysterious note that Ricky Hanigan leaves for him before dying. And he's in no way going to suddenly turn straight. .
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Told in an intriguing tale of twisted events, Surrender your Sons tries to show what it is to love and lose, and find yourself in the midst of chaos.
Firstly, reading this book was so difficult because of the extent of violence that was depicted in the book, to show the way that people would go to prevent same sex love. It was disturbing, to say the least, when one by one secrets reveal itself and the puzzle pieces finally fall into place. My heart ached for Connor and Drew and Marcos and all the housemates at the camp who had to go through so much. These characters were created with so much intensity and their development throughout the story was commendable. I enjoyed Briggs's character even though he was such a baddie in the beginning. And even Connor's mom, although I hated her to the core. I think her as a potential bad person was extremely well written. Her hatred, her nasty ideas - it made me hate love the character.
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The writing was spectacular and one that'll keep you hooked. The suspenful plotline surely did keep me guessing until the final pieces of the puzzle were revealed, and my my what a twist that was. .
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This story was terrifying, to be honest. Because at one point, you'll see how the hatred against queer people still exists, and how their closest ones cease to accept them. It was realistic to so many extent. The ending was bittersweet and made me want to cuddle all the little queers in a big hug. Surrender your Sons is heartbreaking but also hopeful at the same time.

An absolute big thanks to the publishers and Netgalley for providing me with this e-arc. All views expressed are fully mine, and I cannot be thankful enough.

"Surrender Your Sons" is a fictional story based in reality. This book follow Connor Majors as his mom ships him off to a gay conversion therapy camp, disguised as a "vacation". Although this story is fictional, it's based on real life events for many rural queer kids. These stories should never be dismissed - and I loved that Adam Sass gave these voices a platform.

That being said, I think this was a bit too YA fiction-y for my taste. What's really funny is that I wrote a short story that almost mirrors this story (differences: lesbian, military camp), which is why I was so drawn to the plot. However, it was just okay for me. I figure someone who really enjoys YA will love Sass' writing and Connor's internal dialogue. Overall a 3/5 for me.

One of the most anticipated 2020 releases, Surrender Your Sons doesn't disappoint! When Connor is sent to a "pray the gay away" conversion camp, he must struggle to survive with his identity intact, as well as try to survive the staff. A difficult read, this is none the less a powerful book. With sympathetic characters and a horror-esque setting, this novel is one that you cannot put down!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this YA debut! There had been so much word of mouth circulating about the tale of Connor Major and his descent into hell on earth that I was itching to dive into the chaos. The narrative delivers, and quickly, the heart pounding and pulse quickening cat and mouse game I was looking for. Connor's life falls apart like cotton candy submerged in water in front of our eyes, and just as he's confronted with coming to terms with himself and going public with his boyfriend to his religious and uptight mother, his bravery is rewarded with fear and violence. His mother arranges for him to be sent away to Nightlight, a remote conversion camp, so that they can bring back the faux version of Connor that exists in her head; a straight boy who is in love with his best friend and fathered her child.

So, Connor is kidnapped one morning and brought to Nightlight with Molly, a fellow camper. It is here we meet our cast of characters who are all suffering but surviving in their own ways. There are kids ages eleven to over eighteen, all overseen by an imposing adult force that is spearheaded by a familiar face; the Reverend from Connor's hometown. What begins to unfold is an epic mystery that I did not expect. Connor sees threads between Nightlight's history and a handicapped neighbor he would take meals to who recently passed away. In this way, the emotional tale of the torture of LGBTQ+ youth gains a suspenseful vein. The two do not diverge, however, so the action is never split between the two. It is a cohesive story that flows effortlessly; Connor's ticket out of Nightlight is to solve a crime from decades past.

All in all, this is a story told in a youthful voice that, even while navigating the hardships the LGBTQ+ community face, is still full of hope and humor. There is great pain between these pages, but also immeasurable joy as Connor and his companions grow to accept themselves despite the conditions they've been thrust into. It really speaks to the resilience of these young people both in the novel and in the real world. This experience is something I will never understand, as I am just an ally in the community, but even under the fictional pretenses of this book, I know this pain is something that is mostly universal with these kids. The fact that they are able to find their way out, whatever their situation may be, is awe-inspiring. Like Connor, they may not escape these challenges unscathed, but in the end, love truly does win. We don't really get road maps in life, but sometimes life sends you signs that you're going in the right direction. I think this book will be such a waypoint for a lot of struggling youth, and that is a beautiful thing.

Surrender your sons was one of my most anticipated 2020 releases so when NetGalley send me the "The Publisher has granted your wish" message I almost cried. Anyway, this didn't disappoint me. This book was absolutely fantastic and I enjoyed every single page of it. It's not easy to read, and I had to stop a lot because I needed to process all that was happening but it was totally worth it.

It has all kind of LGBT representation as well as Lantinx character. And one thing I loved about it was that they don't speak Spanish randomly in order for you to know they are latinx, I really appreciate that. It also deals with depression and anxiety in a very realistic way.

Apart from that the story was great, most of the thrillers start really slow and it can be little boring, however, this book is wild from beginning to end. It's really intense and made me suffer. A LOT. Since the moment it starts I just wanted to know more and more, and at the same time I wanted to protect all the children. Also, I've never read a book set in a conversion therapy camp and even tho I'd like to see more about the camp itself I found it fascinating.

The characters are great and I love how Connor lives everything. It's great to see how he uses humor as a coping mechanism, it's probably the most relatable thing I've read on thrillers book. How he deals with anxiety and tries to control it and fails sometimes it's, as I said, very realistic. The other characters are good too. Brigs has an amazing redemption arc, I started hating him and ended pitying him and I think he even made me cry at some point.

So. summing up: do I recommend this book? ABSOLUTELY, I'm begging you, please go read this as soon as you can.

I was very happy to receive the Arc of Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass. This book was very hard for me to read, already having a fear of Christians and being queer myself. Always feeling like a second class citizen and unable to truly be yourself is hard. This book shines light on what makes queer people able to overcome challenges and dig through the hard times. The characters show so much heart and determination you can’t help but cheer them on.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking to read an own voices author telling the trails that queer people still have to fight in 2020.

4/5 stars purely cuz I’m a soft boi and this book was borderline too heavy for me.


Thank you to netgalley and flux books for providing me with a free Arc copy in exchange for an honest review. ❤️


This review will be posted on amazon when it’s available, goodreads, and my Instagram @aaron_austin_author

Just based on the synopsis, I knew Surrender Your Sons would be gritty, fast-paced, a little painful to read, but I hoped it would ultimately end with a little hope for the characters and the reader: it delivered on all of these things.

I was unable to put this book down as we navigated Connor’s summer at Nightlight. Books like Surrender Your Sons are so important, because they are fast-paced and thrilling to read but they highlight stark issues in our society that are dystopian in nature but very real for many people out there.

I’d say it’s time for Lord of the Flies to move aside in the high school English room so young students can explore Surrender Your Sons.

Surrender Your Sons, by debut novelist Adam Sass, is a horrifying mystery/thriller with a lot of heart. It follows a group of teens who rebel against the leaders of a conversion therapy camp on a tiny Central American island and plan their escape.

Surrender Your Sons has an amazing premise. I was so excited by it that I added it to my list of Most Anticipated YA Books of 2020. I was privileged to receive a complimentary advance reading copy. All of my comments and opinions reflected here are my own.

In Surrender Your Sons, Adam Sass does a great job of weaving in backstory through multiple timelines in a way that doesn’t come off as an info dump. He builds tension, suspense and mystery through those flashback chapters, which carries over to the present timeline.

Surrender Your Sons also does a great job of showing the high stakes of coming out. It’s easy as a straight cis man to take for granted that family and friends will be accepting and supportive. But through Connor Major’s journey, Sass demonstrates the confusion and feeling of betrayal when you’re rejected.

The action in Surrender Your Sons unfolds quickly. Once at the conversion therapy camp, Conner works on unravelling several secrets and mysteries. It’s unclear who amongst the campers and staff can be trusted to plan and execute their escape.

I don’t want to spoil the ending of Surrender Your Sons, so I’ll just say that it ends on a very satisfying note. I greatly enjoyed the book and I can’t wait until September 15, 2020 when it’s released and everyone else can too.

Thank you to Netgalley and Flux Books for the ARC!

Usually when I write reviews for a book, I do so almost immediately after I finish the book. I want to get all my thoughts out before I forget anything, and it always seems like a better idea to do that while it's all still fresh in my mind.

I finished Surrender Your Sons a few hours ago, and I still don't think it's quite sunk in yet. This book is by no means an easy read. It's an adventure story, but with a huge undercurrent of abuse and trauma targeting queer kids. I can't even really call that an undercurrent. It's a huge part of the plot. It's probably more accurate to say it's a story about queer kids surviving and fighting back against systematic abuse. With a side of adventure. The setting of this book is very cinematic, and I would love to see this made into a movie.

Anyway, back to the plot. Connor, our hero, is a gay teen who has recently come out to his mom. It didn't go well, to say the least. When the story starts, Connor is spending the summer before his senior year of high school working for Meals on Wheels, and sneaking off to see his boyfriend Ario, who is leaving for college in the fall. He also spends as much time as he can with Ricky Hannigan, his favorite Meals on Wheels customer. Connor's goal is to survive the summer without too much interference from his mom or Reverend Packer, the community leader, and a man who Connor's mom basically worships.

Ricky dies and leaves behind a Playbill from the musical South Pacific with a cryptic message for Connor written on it, and before Connor can figure anything out, his mom ships him off to Nightlight, a conversion therapy camp hidden in the jungle of a Costa Rican island. Connor quickly realizes that Nightlight is dangerous, and Ricky was trying to warn him that something sinister is going on, which is when the real adventure begins. I don't want to spoil the plot, so you'll have to read it yourself to find out what happens.

It took me over a month to read this book, which is almost unheard of for me. But like I said, this book is hard to read. And in between when I started this book and finished it, the world as we all know it changed drastically. For a while I wasn't in the mood to read about kids fighting against abusers and pretending to change their identities to essentially stay alive when it seemed like the world was falling apart around me. But I finished it today, and I'm so glad I did. Between all the trauma that these teenagers suffered because of who they are there was a strong message of hope. Connor decided to fight back against the injustice of Nightlight and inspired the rest of the kids not to give up.

What really hit me about Surrender Your Sons is that although it's presented as an adventure story, for some kids it is terrifyingly real. Conversion therapy is a real thing, and some of the comments that the kids in the story hear are things I have heard myself. Things that no kids should ever have to deal with, but things that are all too real in the everyday lives of queer kids. Adam's book brings those things to light, and that, in my opinion, makes this an extremely important book. I've read so many books with queer characters, but none quite like this. This one will definitely stay with me awhile.

I hope that with the current state of the world that this book is still published in September, but no matter when it comes out, READ IT! Thank you to Adam Sass for writing this book, and thank you to Flux for publishing it. There was a time in the not-so-distant past that a book like this would have never found a publisher, so I'm glad that it is getting the chance to be widely read.

Conversion Camp Kids Gang Up on their Homophobic Guards - now that is a story I NEED in my life.

Hold my gin, cause I cannot do that while writing this. Also know that I'm slightly buzzed so I do not guarantee that this review will make any sense.

It is no surprise that I have been hyping this book since I first learnt of its existence. That also means my hopes were mile high and my fears of it not being able to deliver had my knees shaking. Luckily, my fears were completely unnecessary because deliver it did. Be warned though, this book is dark. It does not shy away from showing the ugly with all its open wounds and oozing sores. There will be blood, graphic violence, murder, abuse, slurs and more.

I loved this book for many reasons. I like a good, dark, ruthless thriller. I love it even more when it's gay and this book is admittedly rather gay. Plenty gay. It is very very gay, friends. Hence the conversion camp, I suppose. And that's where the trouble starts. So imagine a handful (or two handsful? It's probably "handful", but it's plural and I like making up my own rules so) of queer children and teenagers on a lonely island surrounded my water and a mobster of cruel, definitely not well-meaning and actually super evil adults pretending to "re-straighten" them while really they just enjoy oppressing and manipulation people that have less power than they do. These kids need to find a way to escape, otherwise they'll be spending months, if not years on that island. Some of them have already been there for a long time. I'm glad that this book only spans a few days cause I don't think I could have handled any more than that. In order to escape, they will have to uncover a lot of abhorrent secrets that will make the mobster want to keep them hidden away on the island until their last breath, be that in thirty years or, well, tomorrow.

I don't want to to take too much away, plot wise. So let me just say that this was an incredibly well-plotted, super fast-paced and intense story. The characters had depth and while there were quite a lot of them, it wasn't difficult to keep them apart. I personally prefer well-written characters over a well-constructed plot, but luckily this book had both, so why choose.
I loved that it discusses coming-out, and that the privilege of having a supportive and loving family often makes people forget that not everyone is in a safe enough environment to guarantee that it will accept them. So don't let anyone, not even yourself, pressurise you to come out. Dean Atta wrote a fantastic poem about this that you can find in both, the Proud anthology and his novel The Black Flamingo. Both come highly recommended.

I found the romance very insta-lovey but considering these kids are under so much pressure, I honestly cannot blame them for falling in love with a friendly, muscular, bespectacled dude with great hair. The use of the word amoeba made me giggle once or twice, cause suddenly I was thinking of bacteria rather than teenagers but then, where's the difference, really.

Now I'm hoping you could make some sense of this review which, I agree, is all over the place. So if there's one thing you should take away from this it's: Read, This. Book.

Anyhow, Adam, if you're reading this, you better give us a sequel otherwise I will be M A D.

One of the first things I really enjoyed about this book was that the cast was about 90% queer. The next thing was that although this is a book about queer trauma, it also treated queer characters as regular, real, different people. There was no "one type" of gay, lesbian, bi or trans person. Each person had a different set of morals, different needs and wants and goals. It's nice to see queer characters written this way. It definitely helps that this book was own voices, and that Sass worked so hard and long on it.

The story itself is somewhat of a thriller. It has Lord of the Flies vibes, in the sense that there are a bunch of kids trying to survive on an island, though this time there are adults involved. The stories on and off the island intertwined well, and little clues were given throughout as to who was responsible for what, or who was connected to who. These clues weren't overt, or too subtle. They were just right for you to be able to discover the meaning of them at the same pace as our main cast of characters.

The subject itself being conversion camps, religion trumping law, abuse of queer people, etc. is harrowing, but it was handled well. I especially enjoyed and appreciated the imperfect ending. The acknowledgement that often our lives don't end up wrapped up prettily and tied with a bow. That it does take therapy, medication, support for anyone to survive trauma.

Overall, I would recommend this novel to pretty much anyone who enjoys thrillers, mysteries, queer literature, own-voices. Basically to everyone. This is one of those reads where no matter who you are, you will take something valuable from it.

This was such a heavy and difficult read, but it ends beautifully with hope. I knew just from the description of this book that it would bring about a lot of emotion, and it certainly did just that. This was a book that I just couldn't put down for anything. It was such a page turner that kept me going back for more.

Thank you to the Publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

This book has it all—suspense, mystery, adventure, revenge, and romance. It’s gristly and dark, which could be triggering for some readers, but I found the revenge satisfaction more than made up for it. It’s damn hard to be a queer kid and to see queer kids take down the establishment was freaking awesome.

It’s fast-paced enough to hold my attention during our current stress-overload, and that is saying a lot. It reads like a great movie, without any dull spots that can make my mind wander. Sass’s previous experience interviewing conversion therapy survivors really made the ending ring true. Unlike the movies, life doesn’t end neatly, and it’s often a hard road to happily-ever-after. Kudos to Sass for not giving in to the “wrap it up with a big bow” easy ending. This book made me cry both happy and sad tears, and I can’t wait for it to come into the world.

A book that I've been longing to read for a pretty long time. Namely a YA thriller, finally daring to do something new.
I was allowed to read the debut of Adam Sass: Surrender your Sons.
This book is about Connor, who is kidnapped and dragged to a conversion camp up on an island in Croatia.  We witness the whole event through Connor's eyes and get to know and feel what’s going on at this camp and discover how brutal some of the methods are.
For all of you, who know Umbridge (Harry Potter): She was like an angle in comparison to the methods used on this screwed up island. And reading this book hurt - like really hurt, but it was worth all the pain.  Adam Sass has a fresh, youthful writing style which perfectly suits his targeted audience.  The author creates - step by step - a tremendous amount of tension and I don’t see any reason to put this book down.  That’s how captivating it was. I really couldn't stop reading.
I suffered with Connor, Jack, Marcos and Lacrisha and all the others, but I also felt the hope burning in them.  Like, even in the deepest darkness there was a glimmer of hope.  A beacon to hold on to.
Sass great ability is to show human abysses - and it’s absolutely spot on. The most frightening thing is: In many nowadays countries it just could happen like described in the book.

This book is not a book you just read in between. It’s a book you will never forget.  It’s gonna make you happy, only to push you into sadness and than again it’s gonna make you mad.  Don’t miss out on it.  Rarely have I read such a good YA thriller.  Starting on September 15th you can read it yourself and I’m gonna tell you once more: This is one of the best books of the year so far.