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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Entertaining Read, June 16, 2011
This review is from: Surrender the Wind (Paperback)
If I gave half stars, this would be one of those occasions for 3 1/2 stars. Surrender the Wind was an entertaining read with a twisting plot which included murder, kidnapping, mystery, shipwrecks, and adventure. The story starts out strong in the prologue, bringing me instantly into the story. It pleated out slightly in the middle, but picked up almost instantly and then continued on, the plot thickening, till I found myself reading as fast as I could toward the end to finish it and find out how it will end.
Seth is a pretty awesome character. He's brave, strong, handsome, supportive, understanding, protective, and so much more. I really enjoyed going along with Seth has he took the big leap to go to England. What a big decision to be made in that day and age. Juleah was also a strong character with a very tender and sweet side that endeared her to many people. Her devotion to Seth's sister was also very commendable and I enjoyed watching the two girl's special friendship.
The plot was very adventurous, as I mention above--murder, mystery, shipwrecks, kidnapping, etc. While this all was exciting to read, I personally found the plot fairly predictable. As first, one than another twist entered the story, I could guess how it was going to turn out--and was proven correct at the end. But this might just be me. Besides the predictability, I really enjoyed the story and thought that the way Seth was first introduced to Juleah was very special and unique.
Rita writes differently than what I am used to, but it was still good. A bit flowery at times, but for those who like vivid, fancy words would enjoy the writing style of this book. Once or twice I wished the author had gone into more detail--mainly, on Seth and Juleah's growing attachment. It was kind of only vaguely mentioned by saying they spent time together and began to care for the other. While this didn't ruin the book for me, I confess I wished I could've watched their love for the other bloom a little more.
While I did mention that I had a few problems with the plot and writing style, I still enjoyed the story and had a hard time stopping during the last 100 pages or so. The author has more books coming out in the near future, and I will certainly want to read them. The historical aspects of the story, while not the main part, were interesting. It must've been hard for Seth, who fought against the British during the war, to go over and live in England. A bit dangerous at times. All in all, I found this book a light, fun, entertaining read.
I reviewed this book for the author, Rita Gerlach. It was not required that I give a positive review, but solely to express my own thoughts and opinions of this book, which I have done.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Historical Romance at its best!, July 18, 2009
This review is from: Surrender the Wind (Paperback)
If you love a great historical novel, filled with romance, action, and intrigue, then you won't want to miss Rita Gerlach's latest release, Surrender the Wind. Your heart will soar from the shores of America to the lush green hills of England and then plunge into despair as the characters you've grown to love face a cruel and bitter enemy, kidnappings, murders, and deep sorrows. But do not despair, God's justice and true love prevail in the end. Ms. Gerlach's historic research is evident throughout the story, and her attention to detail and literary descriptions of scenes placed me right in the middle of the action, whether in England or on a ship crossing the Atlantic or in America. I could smell the flowers, the salt in the sea, feel the wind, and hear the sounds of birds, the clank of wagons, and the lap of waves. Though the story starts out a tad slow, your perseverance will be rewarded with an action-packed adventure that will keep you up in the late hours of the night. A thoroughly enjoyable story. I look forward to reading more from Rita Gerlach.
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13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Literary Voice of the Finest Merit, August 2, 2009
This review is from: Surrender the Wind (Paperback)
Rita Gerlach, BRAVO! This author is what Vladimir Nabokov calls an enchanter. If he were giving his "Lectures on Literature" today, he would cite SURRENDER THE WIND as the 21st Century's example of a classic novel, side by side with the 19th Century's "Bleak House" by Charles Dickens and "Madame Bovary" by Gustav Flaubert.
The exceptional editing of Abingdon Press Editor Barbara Scott has empowered Gerlach to mesmerize her readers as she transposes them to the post-revolutionary period between England and the United States. A structural counterpoint of VIRTUE and VICE permeates her work in phrase and action. Often words associated with love are used to describe despair. For instance, the play of dualism on the word "embrace," with the opposite perception of entrapment intended, is repeated: "High in the heavens the moon broke free from the embrace of clouds." And later: "The sea crashed against the hull, lifted the ship and brought it down again into the sea's dark embrace." This is no mere gift of language. This is literary genius.
Further proof of the author's astounding mastery of literary craftsmanship is the application of Faubert's own test. In July 1852, he wrote, "A really good sentence in prose should be like a good line of poetry, something you cannot change and is just as rhythmic and sonorous." Numerous passages of Rita Gerlach's novel can be printed as free verse and read in exactly the same way: "The wind rose and rushed through the darkness as the skiff mounted and fell over the swells."
Like Dickens and Flaubert, her minor characters stand out--not just for the roles they play in her plot but for their very human qualities--from scraggy scared Hetty, the rough but good-hearted seadog Bonnecker, or the flatulent Constable Latterbuck to Juleah's dear `forgetful' father, Sir Henry, and her `delicate' mother, Lady Anna.
Literary devices such as assonance, alliteration, metaphors, similes and symbolism abound throughout Gerlach's magical imagery, but she moves beyond Dickens and Flaubert with her unique voice, electric pacing and concise plotting. From the prologue through every scene thereafter, the reader feels the villain lurking, waiting, conniving, ready to pounce with meanness and passion, as he eventually does. Supreme suspense hovers through every twist and cranny in the events that unfold.
But most of all, the historical love story of Juleah and Seth set against the terrible retribution of Darden's unrequited love joins the greatest love stories of all time. Seth Braxton, a Virginian patriot fighting in the American Revolution against Britain's unfair treatment of the colonies, is captured in the last days of the war and is almost hanged. Captain Bray, an English officer who recognizes his name intervenes because he know Seth's sister in England, but not before the step-son of Seth's grandfather, Captain Darden, demonstrates his loathing for the rebel. Seth escapes the British and returns home to find his father has been killed in the war. The family's plantation is now his. Planning to raise horses, Seth begins rebuilding the farm, but a letter from England reveals he has also inherited his grandfather's estate Ten Width in Devonshire, and his sister, who has lived with their grandfather through the war years, begs him to cross the ocean to claim it. When he arrives, he finds his sister deathly ill. She is also mourning the loss of her son and husband. Caring for her is her best friend, Juleah, who steals his heart with her beauty and independent spirit, but prior to the war she had promised herself to his grandfather's step-son, Captain Darden. Darden challenges Seth's right to Ten Width and wants Juleah to marry him at once. Now aware of his cruelty, she rejects Darden in favor of marrying Seth. Can Seth and Juleah survive Darden's sinister plotting? The stage is set, and SURRENDER THE WIND is everything the author promises it will be
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