Book Review: Surrender the Night

Surrender the Night by MaryLu Tyndall



Surrender the Night is the second book in the Surrender to Destiny series by MaryLu Tyndall.  This book can be read as a stand-alone novel.  I have not read the first book in the series and I had no trouble following the action in this book.

The year is 1814 and living in Baltimore has been rough during the British siege of the Chesapeake Bay.  Young farm girl, Rose McGuire, prefers to stay on her farm with her animals and not get involved in things of the war.  Much to her dismay the war comes to her.

While feeding her animals in the barn one night a rogue British naval officer attempts to assault her.  Thinking her virtue is as good as gone, she is surprised when another British naval officer, Alexander Reed, comes to her defense and gets wounded in the process.  Feeling obligated to the enemy who rescued her, she must now save his life as she hides him from everyone around.

Without meaning to, the two start to fall in love.  Will their love survive the war?  Can Rose get past thinking of Alex as her enemy?

My Thoughts:

Surrender the Night was interesting to me right off the bat because it was about the War of 1812.  In my mind that's one of those forgotten wars in American history.  We all know it was between us and the British but I don't have any idea what started it or what we were fighting about.  So the fact that Tyndall wrote a book set in that time period was already intriguing to me.

The book has so many fully developed characters that I just couldn't pick my favorite.  Rose is the opposite of the headstrong, don't-need-a-man type of heroine that I've seen in a lot of other historical romance novels.  She is timid, scared of everything and unsure of herself.  Yet she is loveable.  Her uncle, another of my favorite characters, is an unrefined, thief-turned-pastor who is just delightful in the novel.  He also provides some much-needed comic relief.

Overall the action in the book is engaging.  There are a few times that the dialogue and action seemed a bit melodramatic.  But, hey, I can put up with a little melodrama if it helps out the romance in the book.

After reading this book, I'd love to read the first book in the series and have already put it on my wish list on Amazon.

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars.
  
I was provided with a complementary Kindle version of this book by NetGalley.  The opinions are all my own.