Surrender of a Siren (Toby and Isabel Trilogy, Book Two): Tessa Dare

"New author Tessa Dare takes passion to the high seas in this steamy tale of a runaway bride and a devilishly disarming privateer.

"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 said 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 finally get to do my RAIR method again!  (Granted, I’m nearly done with the book, but I’m just going to say this counts because I’m not done yet!)  I was happy to see Sophia get a book of her own.  She was very flat and almost non-existent in the first half of Goddess of the Hunt.  She felt more like a doll than an actual human being; that was, until she and Lucy bonded over Lucy’s budding romance with Jeremy.  I was very surprised by the ending of that book – I hadn’t expected Sophia to run off like she did; especially after Toby finally showed some physical and romantic attention toward her, just as she’d desired.

Sophia is a far more complex character than she seemed in the first book in the series.  Her knack for lying/weaving tales is interesting – if a bit bolder than I would have thought her capable.  This is probably the only thing I find a bit shaky about the story thus far – the ease with which Sophia spins lurid tales.  It is one thing for her to imagine them and make up stories for Lucy, quite another thing for her to tell them to Gray.  I like that “Gervais” made another appearance in this book.  I get that Sophia was drawing a lot of inspiration for her stories from the “dirty” book Lucy had given her, but I think her boldness with some of her audiences was a bit unbelievable

I like Gray thus far.  Unlike Jeremy in the first book, I felt like I got a very good sense of what he looked like from the get-go.  I also appreciate how the descriptions of him are told from the mind of an artist; the details are managed very well and I think they keep very true to Sophia’s mindset and training as an artist.  As for Sophia, I already learned about her from the first book, though I still feel like Dare is doing a good job writing from Gray’s point of view.  She threw in a bit of a character quirk about him (I won’t reveal it here, even though it’s not some jaw-dropping revelation) which, thinking back on it, I realize Dare kept very true to throughout the story.  I’m impressed.  She clearly gives a lot of thought to her characters.

Thus far, I feel like both Sophia and Grey are well-developed characters.  Dare will sometimes develop either her male or female lead more than the other, but she has done a great job of balancing this out in this book.  When she does do this, the chemistry is excellent and it’s so easy to fall into the book and lose yourself.

I’m finding Gray’s self-deprecating behavior and statements a bit annoying.  I struggle with the fact that even I, the reader, don’t think Gray has done things “evil” enough to warrant his poor opinion of himself.  Maybe some worse confession is coming?  I’m not sure, but I’m nearly done with the book and I can’t quite see why Gray thinks he’s such a bad person.  He wasn’t a real pirate, but a privateer and sanctioned by the Crown.  Sure, he was sometimes selfish when it came to his brother, but he’s genuinely trying to make things right and it seems like he’s taken great strides toward doing so.  He’s trying to keep his promises, but I’m sometimes left frowning at the voracity with which he sometimes does this.  I guess his motivation is a little bit unclear and I’m wondering if it will be clarified as I read further.

I really like the book so far.  It’s a fun read and I’m having a difficult time putting it down.  I’m looking forward to finishing it and seeing how everything ends up!

…

Tessa Dare has done it again.  I sincerely enjoy her writing style, her storytelling abilities, her captivating plots, and the vibrant characters she weaves.  As a follow-up to Goddess of the Hunt, I thought this was a very appropriate book.

I will admit that I became a little bit annoyed at both Sophia and Gray.  Gray’s self-deprecating behavior felt a little bit overly dramatic and Sophia’s own self-deprecating behavior was overblown.  However, I will say that I got over this and really enjoyed the book nonetheless.  I realize there has to be some conflict and personality quirks to make the characters believable and create an interesting plot – Dare was only doing what she needed to do in order to create a unique story and (what I feel to be) her trademark captivating characters.  I’m always so impressed with how different her characters are from book to book.  I’ve read quite a few books by Dare (as I’m sure you can tell) and not once have I even sensed a hint of laziness or repetition in the creation of her characters.  This is a pretty remarkable accomplishment and one I think I’ve only ever experienced with Sherrilyn Kenyon’s works (very different branch of the romance novel genre – much darker and more paranormal).  A few authors I’ve read have fallen into this trap where they need to write another book and they recycle traits or personality quirks from other stories; part of me wonders if they always realize they’re even doing this because some of those authors are such prolific writers.  Still, Dare continues to impress me.

Overall, I thought the book was very good.  It’s definitely still one of Dare’s earlier works, but I enjoyed it a great deal nonetheless.  As I mentioned, there were points when I grew frustrated with some of the characters’ adamancy that they were “bad” people.  I never did quite understand why Gray thought himself such a wretched human being.  Sophia’s anxieties were a bit more solidified, but still a tiny bit frustrating.  I loved the chemistry between Sophia and Gray, though.  Gray was a powerful, confident male lead.  Sophia was so much better developed than she was in Goddess of the Hunt (of course, this is to be expected because this is, after all, her book).  I thought the dialogue was witty, the romance was sweet, and the characters were unique.  There was one bit toward the end that literally had me laughing out loud (I’m pretty sure my dogs thought I was crazy), but I won’t give it away so you can all enjoy it as much as I did.  I thought the last two chapters wrapped everything up quite nicely – even if I am a bit “unsatisfied” (for lack of a better word) about how Sophia chose to spend her trust (while a nice gesture, I don’t think it quite fit with everything else).  Sophia was brave, Gray was selfless, and we were introduced to Bel, a.k.a. Isabel – she stars in the final book in this trilogy.  As of right now, I’m a bit unsure about Bel.  While I realize she’s supposed to be selfless and pious, I just don’t see her being much of a romantic heroine at this point in time.  She was too good, too pure, too much a servant of God and missionary-like that I am unsure how Dare is going to pull off the final book.  I have faith in her abilities as an author, though, and that’s what’s driving me to read the final installment in the series.

I don’t think this is much of a spoiler, but I thought I would warn you just in case:  I liked how Lucy was brought back in at the end of the story.  I love seeing former “leads” return in other books in a series; it lends an air of realism and really rounds everything out.  I just thought Lucy might say something about how Sophia had changed because, at the very least, her appearance would be far different from when she’d last seen Lucy – before spending months at sea.  This is a small note, however.

I recommend this book.  Dare obviously did an insane amount of research after she decided to have this book set (at least 95% of it) on a ship.  She used excellent sailing terminology and it really helped to sell the story.  I already have the third book in this series waiting in my purse for me to read on lunch at work today, but I’m torn about whether or not I should dive into it just yet.  I love Dare’s writing, but I don’t know if I necessarily want to plow through this series in the span of a couple of weeks.  I should probably take a break and do some more of my Shakespeare reading for grad school.  While I absolutely love Shakespeare, I think I might love Dare’s writing just a smidgen more.