A big family, a reading addiction, and the occasional celebrity scandal are the ingredients of life that create one woman's opinion on just about everything.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

SURRENDER OF A SIREN by Tessa Dare



SURRENDER OF A SIREN by Tessa Dare
I have to confess that I put off reading this book a bit because it involved ships, pirates, and the high seas. I realized recently I'm not much interested in reading books with that setting. I have no idea why these things happen. For years I enjoyed to varying degrees ships, sailing, pirates, the whole nine yards. However, my tbr is currently littered with "high seas" tales that I pick up and put down with a sigh. Fortunately I ignored that impulse when I continued reading Dare's back to back releases. I've learned (finally!) there can be wonderful surprises when you take a chance.

By now you've figured out that I really liked this book. While a ship is certainly the back drop of this book, the characters are so strong that the fact a good portion of the book is spent on a ship didn't bother me at all.

Readers of Ms. Dare's first book GODDESS OF THE HUNT will remember heroine Sophie Hathaway as the beautiful prospective fiancee of Sir Tobias Aldridge in that book. Sir Toby is the young man Lucy, the heroine of GODDESS, believes herself to be in love with. However, it is to Sophie that Sir Toby proposes.

The hero, Benedict "Gray" Grayson, is a man on a mission. Trying to keep his family afloat in the wake of tumbling sugar prices and his father's death, he takes to privateering, and, when the war is over, to legitimate commerce.

In this story Sophie, who loves to write letters and make up stories, decides to take up a fictitious name and travel as a governess to a place where she remembers her friend Lucy has family. Sophie burns bridges and her engagement with Sir Toby by leaving letters to Toby and her family making up a story about running away with her painting (music?) instructor all in the name of true love. Sophie's plan is to lay low far from England and her family's interference until she turns 21 and comes into her inheritance.


Sophie doesn't count on meeting Gray, who after he saves her from a mauling in a tavern, turns out to be the owner of the vessel she hopes to sail on. Gray's brother and partner captains the ship, while Gray tries to resist the temptation to take back his duties as Captain. Only his love for his brother and his determination to keep him his partner help him resist. That leaves the only passenger on board, the luscious Sophie, as the single diversion to focus and obsess over.

Filled with full bodied secondary characters and a rich texture of the times, this book really surprised me. With an excerpt of LADY OF PERSUASION in the back of this book, I'm anxious to get my hands on it knowing that Sir Toby gets a chance to even the score with Gray when he sets his sights on Gray's sister.

My Grade = B+

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12 Comments:

Blogger KT Grant said...

Wait till you read Lady of Persuasion! That is my favorite of this trilogy and Toby is one sexin hero!

Tessa Dare is one of my favorite debut authors this year.

5:03 AM PDT  
Blogger ~ames~ said...

Eek! I'm reading Goddess of the Hunt right now and I just had to read the summary for SoaS and noticed that Sophie drops Toby - I was shocked since he just proposed to her in the book I'm reading. LOL

But I'm really enjoying my book and I have this one in my tbr pile. :P

5:40 AM PDT  
Blogger Tara Marie said...

Our taste in books is usually so close, and yet there's something about each story line I'm not convinced about. I'll just have to bite the bullet and give them a try.

My word verification is "urabibre" What's a "bibre"?

6:29 AM PDT  
Blogger Rosie said...

kb, I'm pretty much salivating for the new book. Just a little over a week to wait. I'm excited because TD is going to be at SL Wendy's library event in April. I barely got a chance to meet TD at RWA so I'm looking forward to April.

ames, I wasn't Sophie's biggest fan in GotH. I'm not a big fan of the intentional airhead. Throw in a ship etc. and that's why I resisted reading the book. Thinking about it now a part of my grade may be my surprise at liking it when there were elements that usually don't work for me.

TM, besides what I just said to ames, maybe you aren't buying off on the characters "innocence". Gray seems remarkably optimistic, and almost too benevolent as a sea captain considering his past career.

I think the same could be said of the characters in Goddess of the Hunt. Just throwin' it out there.

6:50 AM PDT  
Blogger Kati said...

I've got my copy of Goddess of the Hunt on my TBR shelf. I've heard nothing but really excellent things about it. So I'm looking forward to reading it. And a B+, that's a really good grade from you, isn't it missy??

7:06 AM PDT  
Blogger Mandi said...

I just read Goddess of the Hunt and have been telling anyone who will listen to read it!! I ordered Surrender of a Siren and can't wait to get it!!

8:16 AM PDT  
Blogger nath said...

Ohhh, sounds good. Now, I need to read both of them LOL.

11:31 AM PDT  
Blogger Rosie said...

Kati, me darlin' tis indeed a good grade from me. Tessa Dare is a good writer and I can only see her getting better. *fingers crossed*

Mandi, oh my, you'll like this then if you've already read and enjoyed GODDESS OF THE HUNT.

Nathie, so many books, so little time, isn't it? Hey, has your work week been as horrid as you thought it would be?

6:15 PM PDT  
Blogger Lori said...

I'm so glad you liked it!!

And can I just say? I'm hating KB right now, since she already got to read ALoP. No fair!

10:46 PM PDT  
Blogger Rosie said...

Lori, yeah let's throw rocks at kb and call her names! Miz Lori I saw the comment you posted on Beanie's post at 3:25 AM. What is up with that?

6:14 AM PDT  
Blogger KT Grant said...

I sorry Lori. :(

But it is ohh soo good! ;)

8:41 AM PDT  
Blogger nath said...

Hey Rosie. Well kind of. At least, the experiment went well and worked. Otherwise, I don't know what I'd be doing... but lots, lots of work ahead :(

10:44 AM PDT  

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