'Aurora Teagarden' series by Charlaine HARRIS

‘Real Murders’ from the BLURB:

Lawrenceton, Georgia, may be a suburb of Atlanta, but it's still a small town at heart. Librarian Aurora "Roe" Teagarden grew up there and knows more than enough about her fellow townsfolk, including which ones share her interest in the darker side of human nature.

With those fellow crime buffs, Roe belongs to a club called Real Murders, which meets once a month to analyze famous cases. It's a harmless pastime--until the night she finds a member dead, killed in a manner that eerily resembles the crime the club was about to discuss. And as other brutal "copycat" killings follow, Roe will have to uncover the person behind the terrifying game, one that casts all the members of Real Murders, herself included, as prime suspects--or potential victims.

Once again Charlaine has a thoroughly ordinary female protagonist repeatedly thrown into extraordinary circumstances. Aurora is perhaps the most outwardly hum-drum of all of Charlaine’s protagonists; she is a librarian, complete with modest cardigans and horn-rimmed glasses. But don’t let appearances (or occupation) fool you. Aurora is just as interesting and lovable as Charlaine’s other leading ladies, maybe even more so because she is aware and makes fun of her outwardly plain-Jane appearances. Like Lily, Sookie and Harper, Aurora is an appealing protagonist because despite self-doubt, when push-comes-to-shove Aurora becomes a brave and ballsy heroine.

There is a lot of suspended belief in the Aurora series – throughout 8 books we are expected to believe that Aurora just keeps stumbling and unwittingly becoming involved in all the murders around town. But because Charlaine beautifully incorporates the bizarre with the mundane of Aurora’s everyday life, and because she constantly makes a joke of the coincidences, you really don’t mind the improbability inherent in the series.

“Two murders,” he repeated. He took his turn at head shaking. I would have to find someone at whom I could shake my head incredulously. “She just confessed two murders to you. How do you do it?”

‘Aurora’ is a fascinating series if you’re coming to them after reading Harris’s ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ books. Aurora is surprisingly similar to Sookie; both are women whom, at the start of their respective series, are really unaware of their femininity and have lived fairly sheltered lives. Sookie has been a loner because of her telepathic ‘handy-cap’, and Aurora because of low self-confidence and a focus on her work. Throughout their series both Aurora and Sookie are put through trials and tribulations that force them to come out of their shells and measure their mettle. But perhaps the ladies biggest connection lies in their romantic lives. As you compare both series you can pinpoint certain consistencies between the romantic entanglements. In both series Charlaine prefers multiple possible partners for her leading ladies, and enjoys keeping readers guessing as to whom they will ultimately end up with. In the ‘Aurora’ and ‘Sookie’ books Charlaine also puts her heroines through the romantic ringer – be warned, there are up’s and down’s that will tug at your heartstrings as you live vicariously through Aurora.

Unlike Sookie, Aurora has a tight family unit. This is really Charlaine’s only series that explores family dynamics and it is refreshing to read Charlaine’s funny take on family matters.

Once again, the ‘Aurora’ books are definitely murder-mystery. Charlaine has a very devious mind when it comes to writing crime, and it is a tricky pleasure to try and figure out the ‘whodunnit’ along with Aurora. But ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ fans should once again be warned that there is no element of urban fantasy in Charlaine’s debut series.

With a whopping 8 books in the series, Charlaine Harris has said in interviews that she has more ideas for Aurora Teagarden, but can’t see herself finding the time between Sookie books to pen a 9th novel. This is a shame. The eighth ‘Aurora’ book (‘Poppy done to Death’) did have a certain open-endedness to it – not so that it frustrates and leaves readers hanging, but just enough that you’ll wish Charlaine would continue with the series.

I don’t love the ‘Aurora Teagarden’ books as much as Harris’s ‘Lily Bard’, ‘Sookie Stackhouse’ or ‘Harper Connelly’ series’. But I do love them. I love Aurora, I love her leading men and I highly recommend this series to anyone who loves Charlaine’s writing and a good murder-mystery.

5/5

'Lily Bard' series by Charlaine HARRIS

Shakespeare’s Landlord BLURB:

Lily Bard is a loner. Fiercely protective of her independence, she concentrates on her karate skills and her work as the proprietor of a cleaning and errand-running service, and pays little attention to the town around her. When her landlord is murdered, though, she looks like the prime suspect. Uncovering the real killer may be the only way to prove her innocence, and Lily realizes that she must focus on the other residents of tiny Shakespeare. Her job gives her easy access to people's private lives, and she begins to snoop, finding plenty of skeleton-filled closets, and exposing herself to the unwanted attentions of a murderer.

I first read Charlaine Harris’s ‘Lily Bard’ series shortly after discovering her ‘Southern Vampire: Sookie Stackhouse’ books. I wanted to fill the Sookie void between books, and thought reading Harris’s previous works would be a good start. I’m so glad I did, because this series is now one of my all-time favourites.

‘Lily Bard’ is by far Harris’s darkest work. When Charlaine Harris was younger she was the victim of a sexual assault. With this knowledge in mind, it becomes clear that the ‘Lily Bard’ series is perhaps closest to Charlaine’s heart.

Lily Bard has a tragic history. She is a rape survivor. So horrific and awful was the assault, and so dramatic was her escape, that Lily’s name and story were in the news for months following her recovery. Because of the undue media attention Lily effectively went into hiding; finding the small town of Shakespeare, Arkansas on a map and deciding that she would live out her life in solitude. Before escaping into anonymity Lily underwent a physical change; she discovered bodybuilding and set herself the task of making her body into a weapon so that she would never again feel physically threatened.

I love Charlaine Harris. She is a beautiful writer, able to effortlessly flip between fresh prose and acerbic wit. Her stories are often fanciful, but grounded in reality. And her heroines all follow the same mould of being utterly ordinary women living extraordinary lives. Sookie Stackhouse, for instance, is a thoroughly ordinary waitress whose life is irrevocably changed when a vampire walks into her town. Likewise, Lily Bard is a cleaning lady whose loner-existence is changed when her landlord is murdered. Charlaine’s other murder-mystery series, ‘Aurora Teagarden’, has a title character who is a librarian but finds herself thrown into a murder investigation when a friend is found bludgeoned to death.

The contrast of ordinary woman/extraordinary circumstances has more meaning in the ‘Lily Bard’ series than any other of Charlaine’s works. Lily’s extraordinary circumstances can be stretched to the event that brought her to Shakespeare, Arkansas to begin with – her rape. Lily was an ordinary girl when one event changed the entire trajectory of her life.

The ‘Lily Bard’ series is very dark – far more so than Charlaine’s other books, even the most recent Sookie novels. But surprisingly enough the Bard series has a very clear, uplifting message at its centre. The series is ultimately about reconnecting. In the beginning Lily is a determined loner, scarred by the events of her past, Lily is convinced that the key to her well-being lies in never allowing anyone to get close to her. Over the course of five books however, we witness Lily making tentative connections with those around her – she finds romance, love, and friendship and learns that these connections are important to her continued physical and mental recovery. It is a beautiful message – and seems to be Charlaine imparting her own wisdom to victims about how to continue living your life without fear of the past. And although the series has a lot of darkness, it ultimately ends on a high-note and happy ending.

I love this series, not least of all because of Lily Bard herself. Lily is a ballsy, funny, loyal and hard-working woman. When you learn, in explicit detail, the events of her rape your respect for Lily increases ten-fold. In the beginning Lily is defined by the rape. The ordeal shaped her entire life – she moved far away from home (and the pitying looks of family and friends) to live out a life in quiet, safe solitude. She began bodybuilding as a means to protect herself, so fearful that the past would repeat itself. Clearly letting tragedy define who you become is no way to live – and Charlaine articulates this message beautifully through the character of Lily as she evolves throughout the five books. In each book there is a new murder-mystery, and as the local cleaning lady privy to the skeletons in her client’s closets, Lily finds herself at the centre of all of the cases. Through these mysteries Lily is able to measure her own mettle, push herself and discover the levels of her bravery;

“There’s a lot I know about you that you won’t admit about yourself,” he retorted.

I didn’t understand.

“You pull old men out of burning buildings. You saved Jack Leeds’s life and almost died in the act. You’re willing, and brave enough, to risk your life to save others.”

What a misconception! “No, no, no,” I protested angrily.

I also love this series because of the romance at its centre. In book two ‘Shakespare’s Champion’ Lily finds her leading man – Jack Leeds – and trust me when I say he is H-O-T. The Bard series also has one of my all-time favourite secondary characters – Bobo – the son of one of Lily’s cleaning clients who pines after her in the sweetest puppy-love fashion.

If fans of the ‘Sooke Stackhouse’ books come to the ‘Lily Bard’ series with a hope that it will scratch a Sookie itch, they will be disappointed. This is in no way supernatural or urban fantasy. This series is strictly murder-mystery. The only similarities between the books are Charlaine’s love of a good, steamy romance for her heroines, ordinary leading ladies leading extraordinary lives and doing so with tremendous courage and biting wit.

Highly recommend this series.

5/5

'Kitty Norville' series by Carrie VAUGHN

Kitty and the Midnight Hour – from the BLURB:

VAMPIRES. WEREWOLVES. TALK RADIO. Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station--and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts "The Midnight Hour," a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success. But it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew…

One of the reasons I love this series so much is Vaughn’s fabulous character development. Over the course of six books Kitty has a complete personality overhaul, and it is a fascinating transformation to read. In the first book Kitty is living in a very bad situation – she is the runt of her werewolf pack, and subject to the carnal whims of her Alpha and constant battering by the werewolf who bit and changed her. Over the course of five books Kitty finds her moral centre and the courage to become a lone wolf and eventually her own Alpha. I can safely say that in every book Kitty reveals new facets of her personality, and the events in each new novel subtly alter Kitty’s perceptions and character. I, for one, hate it when characters stagnate and authors stubbornly refuse to let their beloved hero’s/heroine’s experience a personality renovation – it’s especially frustrating when those protagonists keep repeating the same mistakes, making the same choices as though the events of the past have had no impact on them (Anita Blake, I’m talking to you!).

Kitty Norville is a fantastic protagonist – mostly because she is flawed. In the first book she is very weak, she has outbursts of independence, but for the most part she plays doormat to the dominants in her pack. It is inspiring when Kitty finally stands up to her Alpha and exerts her own dominance. But what’s even better than Kitty discovering the depths of bravery is the fact that it doesn’t come easily for her. It’s not as though she wakes up one day and decides to grow a spine. Kitty struggles with the task she has set for herself, and she constantly battles moments of self-doubt. She is a fantastic protagonist because she is imperfect and entirely relatable. I especially loved the fact that Kitty doesn’t get saved by a knight in shining armour; she finds her own salvation.

I also love this series because of the slow-burn romance. Kitty fans are segregated into two camps – there are those who are rooting for werewolf hunter Cormac to end up with our favourite radio DJ. And then there are those who hope for a happy ending with Cormac’s lawyer and cousin, Ben. Cormac and Ben each started out in the series as secondary characters – as readers we witness Kitty’s first meeting the cousins and it is has been very interesting to read as Vaughn slowly inserted the two men into Kitty’s life and gave them a bigger role in the series.

The good news is that Kitty Norville will be around for a little while longer. Vaughn recently posted on her blog that she is contracted for 4 more Kitty books, meaning the series will end with a total of 10 books. It’s sad to know that one of my favourite series has a definite end in sight, but Vaughn mentioned in the same post that she knows how the series will end (apparently it’s going to be a doozy!). There is comfort in the fact that Carrie Vaughn isn’t blindly stumbling around her series; she knows its trajectory and the next 4 books will no doubt be an elaborate set-up for the conclusion. The 7th book in the series, “Kitty’s House of Horrors”, comes out January 4th 2010.

The front covers have a certain trash-factor and the kitschy series titles are reminiscent of the Ernest movies (‘Ernest goes to camp’ – ‘Kitty takes a holiday’). Don’t let these things put you off. This is a worthwhile series and if you love your Urban Fantasy you really need to add the Kitty Norville books to your TBR pile.

5/5

'Perfection: a memoir of betrayal & renewal' by Julie METZ

From the BLURB:

Julie Metz's life changes forever on one ordinary January afternoon when her husband, Henry, collapses on the kitchen floor and dies in her arms. Suddenly, this mother of a six-year-old is the young widow in a bucolic small town. And this is only the beginning. Seven months after Henry's death, just when Julie thinks she is emerging from the worst of it, comes the rest of it: She discovers that what had appeared to be the reality of her marriage was but a half-truth. Henry had hidden another life from her.

"He loved you so much." That's what everyone keeps telling her. It's true that he loved Julie and their six-year-old daughter ebulliently and devotedly, but as she starts to pick up the pieces and rebuild her life without Henry in it, she learns that Henry had been unfaithful throughout their twelve years of marriage. The most damaging affair was ongoing--a tumultuous relationship that ended only with Henry's death. For Julie, the only thing to do was to get at the real truth--to strip away the veneer of "perfection" that was her life and confront each of the women beneath the veneer.

Perfection is the story of Julie Metz's journey through chaos and transformation as she creates a different life for herself and her young daughter. It is the story of coming to terms with painful truths, of rebuilding both a life and an identity after betrayal and widowhood. It is a story of rebirth and happiness--if not perfection.

The first chapter of ‘Perfection’ is a poignant retelling of Metz’s journey as a first-time widow. Metz is quite funny, very witty and bold in her mourning – she explores facets of grieving that are universal but rarely discussed;

Henry had been dead for a month. I was horny. I was horrified.

When she discovers Henry’s infidelity it is a shocking blow, despite the fact that as readers we’ve been gearing up for the explosion from the get-go. A combustive mixture of grief, denial, sadness and white-hot anger are succinctly described by Metz;

I couldn’t kill Henry anymore, since he was, conveniently enough, dead.

It’s an uncomfortable subject matter, but like a car wreck you can’t stop reading. Much like Julie Metz herself, when she discovered her husbands numerous affairs, she was able to feed her despairing curiosity by reading Henry’s journals and e-mail correspondence. Henry vividly recounted his trysts in his diary and through e-mails with one of his lovers, and Metz likens reading these excerpts to following tabloid gossip, her very own “small-town celebrity horror show”.

The pen is indeed mightier than the sword. I relish the fact that Metz holds nothing back against Henry’s mistresses – especially her ‘friend’ who had a two-year affair with Henry (the same ‘friend’ whose daughter was best friend’s with Metz’s child – it’s revealed that play dates between the children were convenient rendezvous’). In interviews with Metz she has confirmed that her husbands mistresses are all aware of the book, but she doesn’t know if they have read it. As a reader you completely sympathize with Metz and vicariously loathe the ‘other women’ (especially the poisonous ‘friend’), you can only hope that they have read and been duly shamed by her powerful memoir. But perhaps Metz’s sweetest revenge is against her dead husband – Henry always aspired to be a famous novelist, but lacked the drive and organizational skills to follow-through with his literary attempts. With ‘Perfection’ Metz has written a New York Times bestseller that is going to feature on Oprah’s book club. Ha! Oh, revenge is indeed a dish best served cold.

There is a draw back to ‘Perfection’, and that lies in the novels second half. Pace falters as Metz starts looking for scientific reasons behind Henry’s cheating and embarks on the perilous world of online dating. In the second half of the book, Metz has a sexual awakening that is fascinating and often funny to read (you can’t help but be a cheerleader for Julie, and relish her newfound liberation). But it feels like there’s a gaping hole in plot – for one thing, how did Metz come to write this memoir? What compelled her to put pen to paper and expose the worst two years of her life?

‘Perfection’ is a jarring read, guaranteed to boil your blood as you sympathize with Metz and are scandalized by her predicament. It is definitely an uncomfortable story to get through – whether you’ve been a cheater, cheated on or the ‘other woman’, or even if Metz’s story is your worst nightmare – everyone can take something from ‘Perfection’… even if it’s only to learn how to forgive, but never forget.

‘Perfection’ is so compelling because Metz lays everything on the line. There’s a big irony here, in that Metz constantly refers to herself as the shy, quiet type – an exact opposite of her late husband who was loud, exuberant and flamboyant. Yet in writing ‘Perfection’ she is opening herself up to scrutiny and pity – an incredibly courageous move… and the novel is all the more powerful for Metz’s brutal honesty.

4/5

'Lady of Persuasion' by Tessa DARE

From the BLURB:

Only one thing could convince Sir Tobias Aldridge, an incorrigible libertine, to profess undying fidelity to a woman he's just met. Revenge. What better way to get back at an enemy than by stealing the scoundrel's sister? Not that Toby finds it a chore, seducing a beguiling, sultry beauty freshly arrived from the West Indies. When the prize is Isabel Grayson, vengeance is doubly rewarding.

Isabel is determined to marry a wealthy, powerful lord and become a lady of influence, using her rank and fortune to fight social injustice. Sir Toby, with his paltry title and infamous reputation, is unsuitable husband material-but he makes her blood race, her heart pound, and her long-buried passions come to the surface. If she can reform the charming devil, she'll get exactly what she craves: society's respect. But it's a dangerous gamble. For if Toby wins this battle of persuasion, Isabel could lose her heart.

The plot of Dare’s third novel totally surprised me. Reading the blurb I thought I had a fair idea of what to expect from the book. Toby Aldridge, jilted groom of Sophia Hathaway (now Grayson) would exact revenge on Gray by wooing his little sister. That is so far from the actual plot it’s not even funny!

As it turns out Toby is the one craving love and acceptance – after being abandoned by Sophia he’s feeling a little bit raw. Furthermore he’s a bit sick of his rakishnesss. His exploits have been monitored in society rag ‘The Prattler’ and by Toby’s estimation he is nothing more than a bit of frivolous fun for London’s debutantes. Toby even laments the loss of Lucy’s girlhood crush on him;

“And if I did offer for you,” he asked, “would it be so very horrible?”.

He hardly knew what murky pit of his soul that question had crawled out from, but he knew it wasn’t aimed at this girl. It was meant for Sophia, and Lucy, and every other young lady who’d grown out of loving him and married some other man.

Furthermore, Toby genuinely adores Isabel (‘Bel’) and it is a bizarre case of love at first sight. What a shame. I was actually looking forward to a thoroughly raked male protagonist. Jeremy in ‘Goddess of the Hunt’ was supposedly a real cad when in London, and of course when we meet Gray in ‘Surrender of a Siren’ he is a quasi-pirate with a lady at every port. But really we never witnessed Jeremy’s caddishness because he was on his best behaviour at his friend’s holiday house. Likewise, when we meet Gray he has reformed himself into a gentleman – and is putting his best foot forward, not least of all to impress Sophia. Toby is the one male character who really has every reason to be behaving badly and it turns out he’s more interested in finding happily ever.

Isabel ‘Bel’ Grayson is a bit of a drip. In contrast to pretty much every other female character in regency romances, Bel doesn’t want a love match. In fact, Bel thinks falling in love with her husband would be a huge inconvenience and get in the way of all her charity work. Bel is kind of like those students in High School who were on the Greenpeace/environmental committee – forever pestering you to sign petitions to save the one-legged Swedish mountain goats from over-bleating, and other such nonsense. She’s ‘holier-than-thou’, and happily perched on a pedestal of high-mindedness.

I just didn’t like her. The same way I didn’t ever really warm to the ethereally beautiful Sophia Hathaway, I couldn’t muster much sympathy for the exotically beautiful Isabel Grayson. She laments throughout the book that men appreciate her full body – large breasts, flared hips. I liked Lucy Waltham so much because she was an awkward tomboy on the cusp of womanhood – initially overlooked by Jeremy and Toby because of her reed-thin frame and oddly proportioned face she had yet to grow into. As for Bel; I can’t really muster a whole lot of concern for a female protagonist whose biggest hassle in life is dressing her Double-D’s.

Once again, the younger Grayson brother – Joss – steals what little limelight he is given. In ‘Persuasion’ Joss gets a love interest; Hetta Osborne was introduced in ‘Goddess’ as the daughter of the local doctor on the Kendall estate. A proficient surgeon herself, Hetta’s moral outrages about women’s liberation are far more interesting than all of Bel’s opinions combined. It’s just a shame that Dare seems to have decided to wrap up Joss’s story as a secondary plot in ‘Persuasion’. He’s an interesting enough character that he could have easily carried his own novel – and I for one would have loved 300+ pages detailing the sparky romance between him and Hetta. Their chemistry was my favourite part of ‘Persuasion’ – their scenes are full of heat and a genuine pleasure to read.

I did appreciate that Lucy & Jeremy made an appearance in ‘Persuasion’. I missed them in ‘Surrender’, but Dare makes up for their absence ten-fold. Lucy is a total scene-stealer, and her reappearance was fantastic… I even cried a little.

I do intend to read Dare’s ‘Stud Club’ trilogy (‘One dance with a duke’ comes out May 25, 2010) – but I have learnt my lesson to not go into her books with high expectations. Dare is still a very green author. Her trilogy books came out very quickly – ‘Goddess’ in June, ‘Surrender’ in August and ‘Persuasion’ in September this year. That’s not a whole lot of time between each book for Dare to gauge readers’ reactions. I can also appreciate that it is a tall order to capture lightening in a bottle twice. ‘Goddess’ was a superb read and a brilliant kick-off to Dare’s romance writing career, and she is no doubt still on a learning curve with her subsequent novels.

2.5/5

'Blood and Chocolate' by Annette Curtis-KLAUSE

From the BLURB:

Vivian Gandillon relishes the change, the sweet, fierce ache that carries her from girl to wolf. At sixteen, she is beautiful and strong, and all the young wolves are on her tail. But Vivian still grieves for her dead father; her pack remains leaderless and in disarray, and she feels lost in the suburbs of Maryland. She longs for a normal life. But what is normal for a werewolf?

Then Vivian falls in love with a human, a meat-boy. Aiden is kind and gentle, a welcome relief from the squabbling pack. He's fascinated by magic, and Vivian longs to reveal herself to him. Surely he would understand her and delight in the wonder of her dual nature, not fear her as an ordinary human would.

Vivian's divided loyalties are strained further when a brutal murder threatens to expose the pack. Moving between two worlds, she does not seem to belong in either. What is she really--human or beast? Which tastes sweeter--blood or chocolate?

This is one of my all-time favorite YA urban fantasy novels. I love this book because it teeters on the brink of the young adult genre. Klause’s YA writing reminds me of Melissa Marr; because both authors allow their teenage characters to be somewhat sensuous, and sexual – making for a far more realistic read.

Vivian is an enigmatic Lolita-wolf; she knows her worth and flaunts it to her heart’s content. She is a werewolf princess (her father was the packs Alpha before his death) and that puts her in a privileged position. She is beautiful, self-assured and has the young male wolves panting after her.

But for all of Vivian’s self-confidence there is something fractured about her. She is carrying a good deal of guilt over her father’s death, and the unwitting role she played in the events that led her pack to flee West Virginia. Vivian is also coping with her mother, Esmè’s, widowhood. As the previous Alpha female, Esmè is scrambling to reclaim some power in the new pack hierarchy, by any means necessary. Vivian looks on as her mother flaunts herself for the new Alpha, Gabriel, and fends off other females. This is a new dynamic in the mother/daughter relationship, in which the line between adult and child is blurred, and just when Vivian needs her mother most. All of these pressures lead to Vivian’s avid curiosity in human boy, Aiden. Her growing infatuation for him is a safe harbor in a sea of uncertainty as she starts to wish for a simpler, human existence.

Klause’s wolves are deliciously animalistic. They have fights amongst the men to determine the new Alpha – and the females also fight one another for the privilege of being Alpha’s mate. In human form they pursue one another like wolves; aggressively, a flirt-and-retreat mating dance that is fascinating to read for its restrained animalism. We see a group of teenage wolves in their pursuit of Vivian, Gabriel is biding his time for the wolf princess and most interesting is reading Vivian’s approach to courting the human Aiden, as she applies her werewolf-learnt flirtation skills to the school boy;

She drifted inside and saw a bathroom, the tub still full. He didn’t have to bathe for her. She would have devoured his sweat, licked it from him, and rubbed herself against his fragrant body until she became his essence. No matter, she thought. I will make him sweat more.

I love this book so much. It is YA, but there is an underlying, pulsating sexuality throughout the entire book. Vivian’s werewolf side is a euphemism of sorts for teenage hormones, but there’s a deeper message in ‘Blood and Chocolate’. Ultimately the book is about acceptance – accepting events of the past. Accepting one’s mistakes and learning from them. And most of all accepting who you are.

I’m just upset that ‘Blood and Chocolate’ is a one off novel, and not a series. It was ‘adapted’ into a 2007 film of the same name – but that’s all the film and book have in common. It is one of the worst adaptations I have ever seen, and I do not recommend you waste you’re time. But I do recommend this book as an absolute must-read!

5/5

'Surrender of a Siren' by Tessa DARE

From the BLURB:

Desperate to escape a loveless marriage and society's constraints, pampered heiress Sophia Hathaway jilts her groom, packs up her paints and sketchbook, and assumes a new identity, posing as a governess to secure passage on the Aphrodite. She wants a life of her own: unsheltered, unconventional, uninhibited. But it's one thing to sketch her most wanton fantasies, and quite another to face the dangerously handsome libertine who would steal both her virtue and her gold.

To any well-bred lady, Benedict 'Gray' Grayson is trouble in snug-fitting boots. A conscienceless scoundrel who sails the seas for pleasure and profit, Gray lives for conquest-until Sophia's perception and artistry stir his heart. Suddenly he'll brave sharks, fire, storm, and sea just to keep her at his side. She's beautiful, refined, and ripe for seduction. Could this counterfeit governess be a rogue's redemption? Or will the runaway heiress's secrets destroy their only chance at love?

I have to admit I went into ‘Surrender of a Siren’ with very high expectations. I absolutely loved Tessa Dare’s debut romance, ‘Goddess of the Hunt’ – and therefore began reading her second novel with unmitigated enthusiasm, but ended up a little bit disappointed. It’s hard to pinpoint why I didn’t really like ‘Surrender’ without drawing comparisons to ‘Goddess’. Maybe it’s not fair to judge a book on its predecessor, but it couldn’t be helped.

One of the things I liked about ‘Goddess of the Hunt’ was its straightforwardness. It was a fairly simple romance, with a few emotional twists and turns for the female protagonist. In ‘Surrender of a Siren’ there’s a bit more at stake. For one thing, Sophia is travelling abroad under a false name and occupation – Miss. Jane Turner, governess. So from the get-go there’s a false identity to eventually be cleared up. Hazards of the sea mean there are also several spikes in the plot; including a shark attack, lightning strike and attempted mutiny. Such peaks in plot made for a lot of action, which was a stark contrast to the rather more sedate ‘Goddess of the Hunt’, which focussed solely on Lucy’s romantic conquest.

I also didn’t particularly like the leading man, Benedict “Gray” Grayson. He was a little bit too smooth, to the point of being even a little bit sleazy. And actually, I found his brother far more interesting. Gray is the Aphrodite’s owner, but his half-brother Joss is the ships’ captain. Joss had a fascinating background – he and Gray share the same father, but Joss’s mother was a black slave. The boys were raised together, but separated when Gray was sent to London for University. Dare made Joss into a real enigma – when we meet him Gray divulges very little information about his little brother, beyond saying he his still grieving for his wife, Mara, who died last year. Joss and Gray look very similar, except for Joss’s cocoa-coloured skin. I would love it if Tessa Dare wrote a book for Joss, because even though he has very few scenes his background was thoroughly intriguing. But it doesn’t bode well when I would rather read about the leading man’s brother than the leading man himself.

One of my favourite things about ‘Goddess’ was leading lady, Lucy. She was a clumsy, naïve, witty tomboy and a delight to read. Sophia is very different from Lucy - she’s a bit of a walking contradiction; a sensuous lady, novice temptress and above all else, a dreamer;

She’d been escaping for years now, thought clever lies and wicked fantasies. Surely Sophia was the only girl at school who kept a secret folio of naughty sketches buried beneath the obligatory watercolor landscapes. The only debutante at Almack’s who mentally undressed unsuspecting gentlemen between dainty sips of ratafia. Surely none of the other young ladies in the Champion of Charities Junior Auxiliary lay abed at night with their shifts hiked to their waists, dreaming of pirates and highwaymen with coarse manners and rough, skilful hands.

Sophia is determined to follow her passions, and on the one hand I really admired her courage. But she spends half the novel berating herself for her wicked thoughts, selfish actions and unladylike behaviour. In the end I got a little bit sick of hearing all of the contradictory shameful thoughts regarding herself.

Measuring ‘Surrender’ against ‘Goddess’ makes for harsh reviewing. ‘Surrender’ isn’t bad; it’s just not as good as ‘Goddess’. There are plenty of redeemable features in the book; Tessa Dare writes wonderfully sensuous love scenes, for instance, and her secondary characters are lively and compelling. I did like ‘Surrender’, I just didn’t love it and I was expecting a bit more than I got.

2.5/5