Surrender by Stephanie Tyler (Section 8, # 1)
Romantic Suspense
April 2, 2013
Signet

Reviewed by Helyce

Favorite Quote:  “You’ve known how fucked-up I am, and you still…you still…”

She embraced him, put her cheek to his chest to hear his heart beating. “I still.”

Section 8, an elite military black ops team shrouded in mystery, was formed many years ago to do the military’s dirty work. These highly trained soldiers were sent on extremely secretive missions via orders issued from their “handler”, someone they’d never met and could not identify. When a mission goes badly and a member is killed, Section 8 is disbanded.

Twenty years later, former Section 8 member Adele, brings a message to Dare O’Rourke, the son of Section 8’s leader, Darius. Dare is a former Navy SEAL who is in hiding after being kidnapped and tortured. Adele informs him that his sister needs his help. It’s apparent that all former Section 8 members and their families have been targeted by their handler and that “kill” orders have been issued. When Adele is shot, right in front of Dare, it sets off a chain of events that will pull together a group of people, somehow connected, who can only survive if they come together as a team.

Surrender is the first book in this new series by Stephanie Tyler. As a fan of her previous romantic suspense books, I had high expectations that I’d fall into this one much like I had her previous books, but while the suspense and intrigued were definitely there, the romance gets lost and that was very disappointing.

Dare O’Rourke, a former Navy SEAL, was supposed to die. During a mission, he’s captured and tortured and left for dead. Key, an army ranger in the area on a different mission, disobeys a direct order and rescues Dare. When Key is brought up on charges and Dare does not show up at his hearing, Key receives a dishonorable discharge. This ruins Key’s life, so he begins to hunt for Dare to seek his revenge. Along for the ride is Key’s brother Gem, who is CIA.

When Dare learns that his sister is in trouble, he finds her and takes her to New Orleans to another former contact of his, Gunner, who he knows will keep Avery safe while he finds and kidnaps Grace Powell, the step daughter of Richard Powell, who is the former Section 8 handler who has issued kill orders of each and every remaining S8 member and their families. Dare plans to use Grace as leverage, but once he meets her and learns about her true relationship with her step father, he realizes that he cannot use her that way.

Grace is not what Dare expected at all and as she reveals the truth about her time with Richard Powell, it cements that fact that Richard Powell really has to die. When he learns that Grace was extracted from Powell’s clutches by his father and Adele and lived with them in secret for years, he knows he has to find another way to get to Powell and keep both Grace and Avery safe.

There is so much going on in this book. There are multiple story lines and points of view, but they all lead to Richard Powell and the common goal of ending him once and for all. To this end, the author does a good job. I liked how the characters are connected and how they bond and form a team against the common enemy even though the reasons that they initially meet were all different. From a suspense stand point, this story delivers and I was satisfied with how it ended. However, the road there was bumpy and I found myself flipping back and forth a bit to clarify things.

Most disappointing was the romance of Dare and Grace. From the moment they arrive at the first safe house, it’s clear that there is some sort of chemistry there. Even after they begin to move from their kidnapper/kidnappee status, to them building trust and understand that they share a common enemy, I just didn’t feel any intimacy between the couple. Dare just assumes that he will have sex with Grace at some point. The sex scenes didn’t do it for me either; they were not fade to black, but they lacked details and too much had to be assumed. Also, once the group is together, Grace and Dare are hardly alone, which I guess accounts for the lack of smexy time as well. Not that sex scenes = romance, but there is very little dialogue between Grace and Dare that would indicate their attraction.

The secondary characters in some respect appeared stronger to me because of the lack of romance. Gunner has many secrets and I can’t wait to learn them all. There was a little spark between him and Avery and we’ll just have to wait and see on that. Avery actually showed more of an attraction to Key and that’ll be an interesting triangle if the author takes that route. We didn’t get to know Gem too well, but we know that he will do anything for his brother. They all bring a different skill set to the table and I look forward to seeing where this goes.

As a first book in a new series, I think the author succeeds in introducing the world and its players. We get an HEA, but the relationship of Grace and Dare got lost among the suspense plot. While I enjoyed the action and intrigue, I still had questions. I guess I will have to read book two and see if the answers are there.

Rating: C

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