Monday, August 16, 2010

Surrender the Heart

Title: Surrender the Heart
Author: MaryLu Tyndall
ISBN: 978-1-60260-165-9

Blurb from Goodreads:

On the brink of the War of 1812, Marianne Denton must marry to unlock her inheritance. Without the money, her mother can't receive medical care and her sister will be destitute. But Noah Brenin needs to sail his cargo to England before the war commences in order to prove his worth to his father and make enough money so he won't have to marry at all.

Defying his father's wishes, Noah loathes the idea of marrying a woman he finds plain and pompous. Marianne wants nothing to do with the rogue who taunted her as a child, yet she must convince him otherwise or her mother will die.

But when Noah walks out on their engagement party, Marianne chases him down and ends up on his merchantman out at sea. The situation worsens when Noah's ship encounters a British man-of-war and the couple are impressed into the British navy. While a young lad's prophecy of destiny looms over them both, Marianne and Noah are forced to face their darkest fears as they desperately try to find a way to escape and fulfill their destinies-destinies that could change the course of the war and history forever.

My Take:

There are some authors that you return to over and over again because they consistently deliver stories that capture your imagination and their characters win over your heart and continue to live in your thoughts long after you close the back cover. There are some books that you look forward to as soon as you hear about them. The more details you get, the more you can't wait for the book to be released. This was one of those books for me. It didn't let me down either. :o)

From the very first sentence: "I would rather boil in oil than marry Noah Brenin." I was totally hooked. These characters went through a lot and I literally skipped meals in order to find out what was going to happen next. One of the things this author does the best is marry action into her stories. I feel like I'm reading what could be the next big movie. The other thing she did so well is make her characters real people. These are not cleaned up, cardboard, perfect cut-outs. They rebel, get angry, don't do what they're supposed to do ... feel real feelings and act like real human beings.

This is going on my list of best books of the year. I hope you'll consider reading it.

3 comments:

  1. Woohoo! I'm glad to hear it's so good, I just got it today to review...guess I better get reading LOL! Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews! I've been missing them!

    XOXO~ Renee

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  2. Awesome review, Lee!! Sounds like this is a great author, i'll have to look out for her books! I love a great sea story :)

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  3. Renee ~ I've been missing you all too! Moving is not fun. Add in my shoulder injury and I'm just barely keeping up. I'm going to make a short post about that just so people know what's keeping me away.

    Carrie ~ She is really fun. She is a Christian author - but her stories are edgy and fun. She puts a lot of action into them - her characters feel real attraction for each other - and she doesn't write people that are ... sugar coated. I can relate to these people. I mean you have people who don't open their Bibles, she has a series about pirates... lol (okay maybe I can't really relate to a pirate) but you know what I mean. Sometimes the people in novels are so perfect you can't feel for them because they don't seem real. I really loved "The Falcon and the Sparrow" as well (though that one does take place on land). I can't wait to see what you think if you read one of her books.

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