Miss Cecily Hale is at a country house with a number of friends, and they are trying to keep themselves entertained with stories and diversions. Cecily really wants nothing more than to catch the attention of Luke Trenton, Viscount Merritt, the man she has pined for since he kissed her four years ago, on the eve of going to war.

 

The war is over, but it changed Luke irrevocably. His memories of Cecily kept him company on the battlefield, but he has returned from the Napoleonic wars a changed man. He has done dark and unforgivable things to survive and while he admires and lusts for Cecily, he wants better for her than someone like him.

 

Of course, Luke is not the only one changed in the last four years. Cecily hasn't just been sitting at home, hoping for Luke's return. She's kept herself occupied, trying to be useful. She just needs enough time alone with Luke to show him that he's wrong about her and her delicate nature, and even as dark as his memories of being a soldier are, she is more than woman enough to take care of him. 

 

This is Tessa Dare's first ever romance. It's a prequel to her first series of novels, the eye-rollingly entitled Wanton Dairymaid trilogy. While there is some traces here of what makes her such an enjoyable writer in later books, I think a lot of the charm and spark of her later novels is missing. There is some banter, the Gothic house party setting is clever and I really enjoyed the reveal of what Cecily has been keeping herself gainfully occupied while the country was still at war with France. I don't regret reading it, or spending the dollar I did on it, but I doubt I'm going to ever re-read it, or think much about it in future. 

 

Judging a book by its cover: This is a fairly generic romance cover. Brooding dude with his shirt half undone, so you can see his manly chest clutching beautiful lady with a heaving bosom. As is sadly usually the case, she's wearing a dress that isn't even vaguely period appropriate, it looks more like someone's prom dress. I can't say I'm very enthusiastic about it at all.

Surrender of a Siren (The Wanton Dairyma... The first half of this book gets a 3 and the second half a 5, thus the 4-star rating.

Sophia Hathaway's voyage to Tortola on the Aphrodite takes up the first half, as she and our hero, Benedict "Gray" Grayson, struggle with their attraction to one another. The journey is loooong, and when the ship becomes becalmed the story does as well. I almost put the book into the DNF category.

Things pick up, however, when the action moves to another ship, and the lovebirds give in to their passion. More developments await in Tortola, and there's a clever courtroom scene where Sophia surrenders to the court and declares herself to be a pirate.

Both Sophia and Gray learn a lot about themselves and each other. The proverbial motley crew and Gray's black half-brother, Joss, contribute interesting side stories, and I'm sorry that Joss didn't get his own book.

I expect I'll move on to the final installment, where Sophia's jilted groom makes a revenge play for Gray's innocent young sister.

This is an enjoyable read, but not nearly as entertaining as Tessa Dare's Spindle Cove books.

Goddess of the Hunt (The Wanton Dairymai... I've enjoyed Tessa Dare's Spindle Cove books and read praises for this one, her debut novel. I liked it, but it didn't grab me. Lucy is a fun, hoydenish heroine, and her plans for catching her first love, Sir Toby, are fun to watch unfold. The interplay among the four gentlemen, friends since school, was entertaining. Ultimately, though, the second half of the book involves the proverbial Big Misunderstanding, most of which could have been avoided if the characters had just had a couple of frank conversations.

Goddess of the Hunt (The Wanton Dairymai... This booked started out so promising and then took a nosedive at about the 50% percent mark.

It's a character driven book. No villains, mysteries, murders or mad-cap antics. The heroine, Lucy, is young and a bit immature but I like that she's a tomboy and holds her own among the men. The hero is haunted by a tragic incident in his past that is supposed to have left him cold and distant. Lucy worms her way into his heart and he finds himself inexplicably drawn toward her and wants to protect her.

Trouble is, he's not at all distant or aloof. The secondary characters keep insisting he's cold and distant but I just never saw it. His actions and internal thoughts are the opposite of the Cold Alpha Hero. He's more of a beta hero. But regardless of alpha versus beta one thing is certain. he becomes an idiot as soon as he marries Lucy. This is the the point at which the book nosedives for me.

While there's not one specific Big Misunderstanding, there is a maddening inability for either Lucy or Jeremy to talk to each other. It's clear from incidents in the first half of the book that there are deep feelings between the two. Yet they spend chapter upon chapter in the second half of the book denying these feelings until you want them both to go off a cliff Thelma & Louise style.

I've not given up on this author because she's a good writer and there are definitely some very romantic moments in this book in between the bits I didn't care for.