Surrender The Heart By MaryLu Tyndall

Hullo everyone! So, lately, I've been ignoring my summer reading list to read more of MaryLu (M.L.) Tyndall's books. I recently stumbled across her blog Cross and Cutlass and found out about her book Surrender The Night. Now, unfortunately again, this was the second book in a series of three, therefore I had to read the first book first. Which I am so glad that I did. Or else book two wouldn't have made too much sense at all.

Marianne Denton is a woman with a mission. She must marry a man to unlock her inheritance. Problem? How about the fact that her fiancé, Noah Brenin, is the same man who, as a little boy taunted her. And even worse, he has no interest in her. He doesn't even like her to be honest. But when he abandons her at their own engagement party, Marianne has had enough. She follows him aboard his merchantman and accidentally stows away. But that's not the worst part. They end up getting impressed on a British Navy ship. Yay! NOT.

So Marianne is a good character. I still have to say that I like Hope from The Blue Enchantress better. Marianne has had her past and as usual, has turned her back on God. Noah, is a man who bears the shame of a tragic accident from long ago. He always is trying to please his father but to no avail. I liked Noah a lot. I really did.

CHARACTERS:
Marianne Denton- protagonist
Noah Brenin- protagonist
Luke Heaton- Noah's first mate
Lieutenant James Garrick- protagonist (UGH)
Lieutenant Alexander Reed- Side character/good guy/bad guy (SQUEAL)
Captain Milford- British Captain/protagonist?/mad
Blackthorn- protagonist/also impressed
Daniel- protagonist (plays a big role in the book with his prophecies)

So this is pretty much the character list. I have to say, though I loved Marianne and Noah to pieces, I loved Blackthorn and Daniel better. Annnnndddddd I absolutely loved Alex (Lieutenant Reed). He was one of those characters, in which I'll describe like I describe my love of William from Donwton Abbey. He was just that character, that when I "met" him, I loved him despite him being the "enemy" (William's not an enemy, but hopefully you get the point). Seriously, I loved him. I stayed up until half an hour after midnight to finish it. SPOILER: He proved to be a good man after all. Can't share all the secrets, though. You'll have to read it and find out.

Rating: 8.5 stars out of 10

Bring In The Books: The Raven Saint by M. L. Tyndall

The Raven Saint is the third and last book out of the Charles Towne Belles series. It follows the youngest Wescott sister, Grace, on an adventure, involving kidnap, ministry and romance. Grace is kidnapped by French mercenary, Rafe Dubois, after she goes off to help a family in need. She is betrayed by her servant and handed over to Rafe. Once on the ship, she is informed that she will be sold to a Spanish Don in Columbia. Amidst all of this, Grace still tries to cling to her faith, but is faced with turmoil and her own human weakness. But above all the bad things that have/will happen to her, nothing could be worse than falling for her kidnapper.

The book was just as good as I thought it would be. I loved it, completely. Though all of the three books in the series are nearly completely alike, with the characters, it was still a great read. Rafe is a man who is by no means, a gentleman. He drinks often, is all over any kind of woman, and expect the affections returned. He's suffered a terrible cruel past concerning his father and an old lover. But when he meets Grace, she is nothing like he thought she would be like. He was expecting some kind of trollop of some sort, nothing like the good spiritual person that she really is. He finds himself respecting her for the kind person that she is, and finds himself unable to rid her from his thoughts. He even ends up saving her a few times during the book. Grace, well, Grace is a God fearing woman who tries to look on the bright side of her situation. She tries to see it as a chance to minister to Rafe, his crew and people at the places that they stop at. But when no one listens to her, she doesn't really know what to do. They don't even give what she says a second thought.

I say this all the time and I'll say it again, I love how imperfect the main characters are. They're not one sided, a.k.a., all perfect. Rafe, by no means, is perfect. He drinks to drown out the pain and the hurt from his past and always is going after women to spend the night with. Not to mention the fact that he has kidnapped an innocent woman. Grace, I love Grace. She tries to do so much good for other people. When will she realize she needs a spiritual check on herself? Well, let's say she figures it out later in the book.

Well written, it kept me captivated and up in my bunk for nearly an entire morning. I'll give The Raven Saint a rating of 8 stars out of 10.

I Recommend This Series Whole-Heartedly. Add Them To Your Summer Reading List!

Bring In The Books: The Red Siren by M. L. Tyndall

Hello, all! So, this book was book one in the series "Charles Towne Belles". I reviewed the second book The Blue Enchantress, because I read that book first. Well, this made everything completely come together, since, after all, this is the first book. Especially Hope and Nathaniel's story of how they didn't even start off on the right foot. 

PLOT:
Faith Wescott is a lady by day and pirate by night. But not just any pirate, the most feared pirate with her ship The Red Siren. It wasn't always hers, though. She swindled it from a man named Dajon Waite. But she doesn't practice piracy for the pleasure of it. It's for her sisters, for their lives, and sometimes it seems, for their survival. Faith has four sisters. Charity, the oldest, Grace and Hope. Charity was left behind in England, for she is married to a brute of a man, while the other sisters and Admiral Wescott go on to America. With that terrible past, Faith has lost her belief in God all together. Faith is doing her best to be the woman of the house and to protect her sisters from the fate that her older sister suffered. Dajon, on the other hand, is just trying to avoid women all together after a bad past that involved a woman.

Now, this is was EXCELLENT. But not as good was The Blue Enchantress. It made me a *leetle* bored at some parts, but over all it was fantastic. I love female protagonists like Faith. She's not your damsel in distress in a tower waiting for Prince Charming to sweep her off her feet. No, not at all. In fact, she'd probably break out of the tower before any knight can even think about rescuing her. She's got spunk, wit and a protective instinct. Dajon, I love you, man. He takes on responsibility of being the guardian to Faith and her sisters, though he tried to back out as soon as he found out. He's calm, compassionate and God fearing. Like, really God fearing. He's got a past that no one knows about and he doesn't want anyone to know about. Especially Faith. So what happens when this fiery red-head who is determined to save her sisters from a cruel future and this man in the navy who has vowed to see all pirates with a noose around their necks fall for each other? Will Faith ever have the courage to tell the man who she robbed of his ships, name and goods the truth? Will Dajon ever be able to tell Faith about his damaged past? You'll have to read the book to find out. Oh yes, and you'll have to meet Sir Wilhelm. Snotty rich guy who wants to make Faith his wife. And he'll do anything to force her into marriage. Even if that means destroying Dajon's name and revealing his past. He complains a lot too, so I can see why Faith didn't want to marry him.

SIDE CHARACTERS:
Lucas: Faith's first mate
Molly: Wescott's cook; Lucas' crush
Borland: Dajon's first mate; Friend/Enemy

I loved this book. I loved the characters. I loved Faith. I love this series, because it just shows how much you don't know about a person, how your past don't define you and how God is always there, even through the toughest times. I love seeing characters crumble (in a good way) and how they find the strength to say "Lord, I'm sorry. Please come into my heart." It's touching and I love reading books such as this. Rating: 8/10