Review: South of Surrender by Laura Kaye Giveaway

TITLE: South of Surrender (Heart of Anemoi #3)
AUTHOR: Laura Kaye
RATING: 4.25/5 Stars
GENRE: Romance with a paranormal slant
PUBLISH DATE:  May 28th 2013
PUBLISHER: Entangled Publishing

About South of Surrender:

 

She’s the only one who can see through his golden boy façade to the broken god within…

Chrysander Notos, Supreme God of the South Wind and Summer, is on a mission: save Eurus from his death sentence and prove his troubled brother can be redeemed. But Eurus fights back, triggering vicious storms that threaten the mortal realm and dangerously drain Chrys.

Laney Summerlyn refuses to give up her grandfather’s horse farm, despite her deteriorating vision. More than ever, she needs the organized routine of her life at Summerlyn Stables, until a ferocious storm brings an impossible—and beautiful—creature crashing down from the heavens.

Injured while fighting Eurus, Chrys finds himself at the mercy of a mortal woman whose compassion and acceptance he can’t resist. As they surrender to the passion flaring between them, immortal enemies close in, forcing Chrys to choose between his brother and the only woman who’s ever loved the real him.

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~Karen’s Review ~

South of Surrender is the third book in the Heart of Anemoi series by Laura Kaye;  the first book being North of Need and the second book is West of Want. The books center around the Anemoi.

What? You have never heard of the Anemoi?

Well for those of you who aren’t versed in minor Greek mythology, the Anemoi were the minor gods that commanded the elements and seasons.  Since the Anemoi are not widely known or written about, Ms. Kaye is able to spin a very beautiful tapestry in her paranormal stories about them.

Kaye’s series deals with the Anemoi as a family united. All of them are brothers that command the four winds, with some of their progeny commanding lesser elements and seasonal aspects of nature.   Like any family they have their strife; and in the Anemoi family the strife is caused by the east wind god Eurus. Eurus is the son of Aeolu(supreme god of the elements), the brother of the Zephyros(Zeph) (west wind), Boreas (north wind),  Chrysander (Chrys) (south wind) and uncle to Owen (minor snow god).

Eurus is a trouble maker and was introduced as such in book two of the series West of Want, which was Zephyros book.  As book three, South of Surrender begins, Chrysander, god of summer, is in a battle with his brother Eurus who he has been trying to capture and bring to justice. I don’t want to spoil the series for anyone but he did a bad, bad thing in book two.   It is summer, therefore,  of all the gods Chrys is the most powerful, as it is his season, or so it should be.  But Eurus in this first battle, triumphs over Chrys and he goes crashing through a barn roof in Virginia during a violent storm.

Did I happen to mention that when these siblings fight they use the elements to go after each other, and they also are able to take a sacred animal shape?  Chrys’ happens to be a winged horse. No, not Pegasus, but close. The owner of the barn roof he happens to crash into while in his animal form, is that of a horse lover named Laney.  Laney has lost her sight to retinitis pigmentosa, and is almost totally blind. Despite being blind and terrified of storms, Laney braves the elements to go check on her horses.  She follows the rope guideline out of her home to her barn (as a horse woman, I would have done the same thing).  Laney checks on her horses and even slightly injures herself in doing so.  She also discovers a wounded horse on her  barn floor, which she thinks must have been dropped by a tornado; but then she feels the wings, and she is dumbfounded.

I mentioned she was blind not stupid right?

She tends to the wounded animal, and falls asleep next to the horse; both physically and mentally exhausted. One major problem is that she wakes up the next morning, to a healed man… a naked healed man. Hmmm, interesting yes, but scary as hell for a blind woman in a ruined barn.

So that is how the adventure of Laney and Chrys, starts and it is an adventure, as Kaye blends romance, sibling angst,  and mythology,  seamlessly into this story.  What I like about the Heart of the Anemoi, South of Surrender, is that despite the heroes being gods they are each vulnerable in their own way. Chrys is, in my opinion, the most wounded out of all the brothers, despite what appears to be his carefree and charmed life.  There is enough family drama to keep even a non-paranormal reader enthralled, because the paranormal elements never supersede the romance or humanity of the stories that Ms. Kaye writes.

~Giveaway ~

Do you have any questions about writing or publishing? Or, alternately, do you have a favorite actor? One commenter who leaves their email address will win an ebook of North of Need to get you started on the series plus a collection of Anemoi swag! Open to international! Good luck!

 

Also, LAST DAY to enter the Rafflecopter for a chance at the overall grand prizes to be picked on June 22!

Visit all the stops on the South of Surrender Blog Tour for more ways to win!

 

“A fast-paced thrill ride.” ~New York Journal of Books

 

“Sexy, emotional stories, powerful, evocative writing, a vivid and unique vision, and enough magic and mysticism to keep the most demanding reader satisfied, Laura Kaye delivers it all. I love this series!” ~Maggie Shayne, NYT Bestselling Author

~About the Author ~

Laura is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of a dozen books in contemporary and paranormal romance. Growing up, Laura’s large extended family believed in the supernatural, and family lore involving angels, ghosts, and evil-eye curses cemented in Laura a life-long fascination with storytelling and all things paranormal. She lives in Maryland with her husband, two daughters, and cute-but-bad dog, and appreciates her view of the Chesapeake Bay every day.

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Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book directly from the author or publisher I was not paid to read or review this book. All opinions are my own, and I was never influenced by anything or anyone.