Surrender of a Sirenby Tessa Darereviewed by Lyndsey LeaskSeptember 2009, 400 pages, Publisher: Ballantine, ISBN: 0345506871 Back Cover 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 all her wildest, 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?
Tessa Dare's first novel, Goddess of the Hunt, was remarkably well-written, so I had very high expectations for Surrender of a Siren. I'm happy to say that I wasn't disappointed in the slightest. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to say which of the two books I liked more.
When we first met Sophia Hathaway in the previous book, she was engaged to Sir Tobias Aldridge and about to have an elaborate wedding. However, we also learned that she yearned for adventure and was frustrated with the way her fiancé treated her. So it wasn't really much of a surprise to see her shake things up in this book, but the scale on which she does so surpassed all my expectations: she decides to travel to Tortola using a false name. She expects adventure and excitement. She doesn't expect to fall in love.
Benedict “Gray” Grayson also making some changes in his life: he's stopped privateering and is going legit. While he's happy to have a passenger on his ship, his lust for Sophia is making it hard to be an honorable man. She's beautiful, talented, and irresistible. Too bad she's also hiding a secret that could tear them apart.
Sophia is an interesting character. She spends most of the book lying about herself, yet Dare manages to make me like her anyway. Her lies come back to haunt her, and she does have to take responsibility for them. She grows in subtle ways throughout the book, and while this growth is less obvious than Lucy's was in Goddess, it's equally important. Gray is her perfect match, her great adventure, and I can believe that they'll be incredibly happy together.
Gray is lot of fun. Dare plays with traditional gender roles a bit in this book, and the results are hilarious: at times, it seems that Gray's more innocent than the virginal Sophia. For once, the hero is the one being lied to and feeling hurt and the heroine is the one realizing the error of her ways. The heroine is the aggressor and the hero is the one being ravished. While Gray can be a strong male, he also has the most adorably vulnerable side I've come across in ages.
In my review of Goddess, I mentioned that Dare's writing style was what took a typical book and made it excel. Siren only served to reinforce that opinion. Dare's prose is polished and refined, her descriptions superb, and her characters stunningly realistic. She has a gift, and she knows how to use it to her advantage.
Goddess of the Hunt taught me to expect a lot of Dare, and Surrender of a Siren raised my expectations of her even more. I can't wait to read A Lady of Persuasion, the final book in this trilogy, when it comes out next month.
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