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Deadly Angels #2
Kiss of Surrender
It’s not easy being a Vampire Angel
No one knows that better than Trond Sigurdsson. In the centuries since he last went out drinking and wenching with his Viking buds, Trond has been a gladiator, a cowboy, a ditch digger...even a sheik. But now he’s the baddest of them all: a kick-butt Navy SEAL kicking butts of terrorist immortals with the help of his hotter-than-Hades female partner, police officer-turned-Special Forces operative Nicole Tasso—whom Trond dearly hopes to “partner” with very shortly in a whole different way.
It’s not easy being a Vangel’s lover
The “cop” part of Nicole tells her there’s something bizarre about her gorgeous godlike teammate. But her “all-woman” side can’t help wondering how great it would be to have a virile Viking in her bed. Trond has secrets galore, but Nicole feels certain she can dig them out—and really get to the heart of this powerful, unnerving stranger whom she may be risking her soul to love.
No one knows that better than Trond Sigurdsson. In the centuries since he last went out drinking and wenching with his Viking buds, Trond has been a gladiator, a cowboy, a ditch digger...even a sheik. But now he’s the baddest of them all: a kick-butt Navy SEAL kicking butts of terrorist immortals with the help of his hotter-than-Hades female partner, police officer-turned-Special Forces operative Nicole Tasso—whom Trond dearly hopes to “partner” with very shortly in a whole different way.
It’s not easy being a Vangel’s lover
The “cop” part of Nicole tells her there’s something bizarre about her gorgeous godlike teammate. But her “all-woman” side can’t help wondering how great it would be to have a virile Viking in her bed. Trond has secrets galore, but Nicole feels certain she can dig them out—and really get to the heart of this powerful, unnerving stranger whom she may be risking her soul to love.
354 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 27, 2012
65 people are currently reading
1955 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Hill
92 books1,313 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Sandra Hill is a graduate of Penn State and worked for more than 10 years as a features writer and education editor for publications in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Writing about serious issues taught her the merits of seeking the lighter side of even the darkest stories. She is the wife of a stockbroker and the mother of four sons.
This biography was provided by the author or their representative.
Sandra Hill is a graduate of Penn State and worked for more than 10 years as a features writer and education editor for publications in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Writing about serious issues taught her the merits of seeking the lighter side of even the darkest stories. She is the wife of a stockbroker and the mother of four sons.
This biography was provided by the author or their representative.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 151 reviews
October 3, 2012
A Viking vampire angel??? LOL It's sounds crazy, but I like crazy! And I love Sandra Hill's books. (I received an advance copy from my publisher, Avon, who also publishes Sandra's books. I jumped for joy when it arrived in the mail!) I'm just getting started on it, and I am loving it! So funny, so clever, so full of surprises. You never know what crazy thing will happen next, but with Sandra, you can always count on a sexy hero, a smart and feisty heroine, a hot romance, and lots of laughs!
November 16, 2012
This book took all my might to finish. We have everything from Vangles, Lucipires, to SEALS and WEALS (Women SEALS)...Oh my! Yep you heard me right and that is not misspellings. Our heroes are Vampire Angels and their foes are the Lucipires or the affectionately deemed Lucie's. They are Lucifer's Vampires, get it? Yeah me either. All this and it's based in my home town of San Diego, CA! What the heck is not to love!! Ok so the first thing I gotta say is, it totally is waaaaaayyyyy to long a book. It should have been around 200 pages but it's 384. There is waaaaaayyyyy too much description and endless chatter about things that are not important to the story. The story drags with this stuff. I do have to give it credit though, it does have some very cute dialog between our hero, Thrond Sigudsson and our heroine, Nicole Tasso. Basically the concept is, Thrond is a Viking who's biggest sin was Sloth. He was so lazy that the village and people he was supposed to be protecting perished. When he finally decides to get out of bed one day, he is met by St. Michael the Archangel and given a second chance to either become a Vangel or he can go to Hell. He chooses the Vangel. Now he's on a mission to help vanquish the Lucipires for Mike (seriously, that's what they call the Archangel). He has been thrown about in time (yep there's time travel in this book too) and has to blend in to those societies to find the tainted souls that the Lucipires have gotten to, so he's been everything from a gladiator, a cowboy, a ditch digger . . . even a sheik and now he's a SEAL based in Coronado, CA where he meets our heroine, Nicole. Nicole has a very ugly past. She was in a very abusive marriage and when she got out, she became a cop then she was recruited into the WEALS. Nicole is a hard as stone woman who doesn't tolerate men with secrets. When she sets her sights on Thrond, she will do whatever it takes to uncover his.
Kiss of Surrender does have some very witty banter between Nicole and Thrond, if you don't mind weeding through all the other stuff. On the flip side, a few things that did bother me were that the characters seemed at odds on what we were lead to believe is their base personalities. There's a point where one of the bad guys basically tells Thrond that he'd like to be redeemed. Thrond eventually tells Michael and Michael blows the whole concept off. I mean, dude, he's an Archangel, isn't he supposed to look for the good in all things but Mike comes off as more interested in things he's never experienced himself and totally bored then anything benevolent. Then there's Thrond, he's also supposed to be as close to a typically classic angel as you can be, yet he's still full of sloth even after a thousand years and don't get me started on Nicole. She's a pit-bull when it comes to ferreting out Thrond's secrets and they blame it on her abusive past. She goes as far as even sexually harassing Thrond when he plays the "I'm Gay" card to get her to back off but does she, no! She throws his butt in a closet and practically rapes him, then when the incident is discovered, she gets a slap on the wrist for it. Along those same lines, I also felt it shed a really bad light on SEALS and WEALS. Rather than honoring the military, the story pokes fun at it indirectly. I think that bothered me most of all. The author paints them more like a bunch of frat boys and girls whom have nothing better to do then run their exercises and then go to a bar to find a bedmate while getting drunk. When they do get this super high profile mission, the way they talk about it, it almost feels like graduation day with a super cool school outing thrown in, oh and they also get to bring down the baddie. Needless to say, I found the whole book a bit hard to swallow. I'd suggest passing on it.
Kiss of Surrender does have some very witty banter between Nicole and Thrond, if you don't mind weeding through all the other stuff. On the flip side, a few things that did bother me were that the characters seemed at odds on what we were lead to believe is their base personalities. There's a point where one of the bad guys basically tells Thrond that he'd like to be redeemed. Thrond eventually tells Michael and Michael blows the whole concept off. I mean, dude, he's an Archangel, isn't he supposed to look for the good in all things but Mike comes off as more interested in things he's never experienced himself and totally bored then anything benevolent. Then there's Thrond, he's also supposed to be as close to a typically classic angel as you can be, yet he's still full of sloth even after a thousand years and don't get me started on Nicole. She's a pit-bull when it comes to ferreting out Thrond's secrets and they blame it on her abusive past. She goes as far as even sexually harassing Thrond when he plays the "I'm Gay" card to get her to back off but does she, no! She throws his butt in a closet and practically rapes him, then when the incident is discovered, she gets a slap on the wrist for it. Along those same lines, I also felt it shed a really bad light on SEALS and WEALS. Rather than honoring the military, the story pokes fun at it indirectly. I think that bothered me most of all. The author paints them more like a bunch of frat boys and girls whom have nothing better to do then run their exercises and then go to a bar to find a bedmate while getting drunk. When they do get this super high profile mission, the way they talk about it, it almost feels like graduation day with a super cool school outing thrown in, oh and they also get to bring down the baddie. Needless to say, I found the whole book a bit hard to swallow. I'd suggest passing on it.
August 6, 2019
Ms. Hill has written another delicious romantic suspense with snarky dialogue, hot and sexy romance between Trond and Nicole and some exciting thrills as the vangels, SEALs and WEALS taken on an Islamic terrorist who has kidnapped women from across the globe.
November 17, 2017
These books are proving really fun to read. The characters are so over the top that they're absolutely hilarious, and the dialogue is cheesy and completely lame. High literature they are not, but seriously, they are funny.
are-you-serious
December 8, 2012You have got to be kidding me. Why not just throw in a werewolf, an S&M fetish, and a few magical powers too? I mean it wouldn't be much of a leap considering how you've taken every OTHER popular fad and crammed them into one character. Apparently anything can get published these days. Anything. This is the first book that I've ever just flat-out refused to read, and I'm willing to read A LOT of bad books.
April 2, 2014
I fondly remember HIll's earlier series of time-traveling Vikings, so when I saw she had a new series of Vikings (this time they are Viking vampire angels!), I was intrigued. Either my tastes have changed considerably or this book bears little likeness to the earlier series. Of course, I would like to believe that my taste has gotten more discerning, but I think it is more likely that this story is just not on a par with the earlier series. I found it trite, inane and boring.
wish-list-maybe
January 27, 2012Is he wearing a wife beater??!
March 6, 2020
* You need to have read the previous book to fully understand this entry in the series.
Trond Sigurdsson became a Vangel ( Viking vampire Angel), like his brothers, after the archangel Michael found him guilty of the sin Sloth. His whole existence Trond never did to much effort and preffered lounging around, but now he's in the Navy SEALS. His partner Nicole Tasso makes him work hard for it and when they need to go on an mission in Afghanistan, Trond finds his attitude AND live changed forever.
Pro's:
+ The progression Trond goes through in this story is really the strong point of the whole book. Yes, he find love in the end and yes, he seems to find the downside of his lazy attitude. But the best progression, and this ties in with the overarching story, is that he makes friends with ( and saves) a ancient lucipire called Zebulon. The initial animosity gives way to a strong friendship and that definitely was the highlight of the whole story.
+ The storylines were Jasper ( evil Lucipire leader) tries to spread his evil around the world with his minions are always quite funny. You can see the plans go haywire from miles. The Lucipires are not very smart, but the author always seems able to still make them come off as dangerous.
Con's:
- I know it really is part of the storyline, but sometimes the religious aspect of the story is just to much. I know christians see the archangel Michael as a prefect being, but I would prefer it if he had some flaws so he also could go through some kind of progression himself too. It would make him way more relatable.
All in all a very entertaining read. The military aspect in combination with Tronds laziness was very funny and there was a little lie with Trond being gay that made the whole story even more hilarious. Nicole was not a particulary interesting character, but this story has enough good points and excitement to make up for that.
Trond Sigurdsson became a Vangel ( Viking vampire Angel), like his brothers, after the archangel Michael found him guilty of the sin Sloth. His whole existence Trond never did to much effort and preffered lounging around, but now he's in the Navy SEALS. His partner Nicole Tasso makes him work hard for it and when they need to go on an mission in Afghanistan, Trond finds his attitude AND live changed forever.
Pro's:
+ The progression Trond goes through in this story is really the strong point of the whole book. Yes, he find love in the end and yes, he seems to find the downside of his lazy attitude. But the best progression, and this ties in with the overarching story, is that he makes friends with ( and saves) a ancient lucipire called Zebulon. The initial animosity gives way to a strong friendship and that definitely was the highlight of the whole story.
+ The storylines were Jasper ( evil Lucipire leader) tries to spread his evil around the world with his minions are always quite funny. You can see the plans go haywire from miles. The Lucipires are not very smart, but the author always seems able to still make them come off as dangerous.
Con's:
- I know it really is part of the storyline, but sometimes the religious aspect of the story is just to much. I know christians see the archangel Michael as a prefect being, but I would prefer it if he had some flaws so he also could go through some kind of progression himself too. It would make him way more relatable.
All in all a very entertaining read. The military aspect in combination with Tronds laziness was very funny and there was a little lie with Trond being gay that made the whole story even more hilarious. Nicole was not a particulary interesting character, but this story has enough good points and excitement to make up for that.
March 27, 2019
Trond has joined the Navy Seals. It is his punishment for being sloth. Nicole is one of his trainers. She senses something is being hidden and she sets out to find out what it is. Meanwhile, JAM and Sly have been bitten and see showing uncharacteristic behavior. Will Nicole find out Trond's secret and can the Deals be saved? Read and find out.
Old friends resurface. Love this story.
Old friends resurface. Love this story.
February 18, 2018
Hot hot book another great book by Sandra Hill
November 8, 2012
This review is also posted on www.thebawdybookblog.com
This is the second book in a new series by Sandra Hill. I still haven’t decided where this series ranks with me, but I did enjoy the first two books. If you can get past a couple of flaws they are enjoyable to say the least.
Synopsis for those of you that haven’t read the series. God is angry at the Vikings for their terrible ways. All they do is sin and cause trouble so he has decided to end the Viking lines. The whole culture is about to become a speck of dust when the angel Michael steps in and intervenes on their behalves. Michael feels that with the right help they could be redeemed. God gives him the worst of the worst to prove that he can fix them. A family of 7 brothers, the Sigurdssons, each more wicked than the last and each committing a different sin (ie 7 deadly sins) are given a new life. Turned into vampires and given a sentence of 1000 years of servitude they go out into the world and rid it of evil.
Now this is where I have my first issue. Hill names them Vangels, yup Vangels, Viking angels. I know I couldn’t stop laughing at the name either, but it gets worse.
So they now work for God and can’t sin, but they are Vikings and some things are hard not to do. The boys all end up with extended sentences due to their various sins. So they spend their days trying to be good and saving humans from the, ready for it, Lucipires. See worse than Vangels, Lucipires or Lucifer’s vampires. So the Lucipires basically infect humans who have sinned and the Vangels come and remove the tainted blood and keep them from being taken to Hell. Oh did I mention they also have the ablility to bring more Vikings into their ranks and time travel. The time traveling thing though gets squashed in the first book. Mike, the boys all call him that to piss him off, feels that they are better off staying in the present as that seems to be where the Lucipires are doing their worst.
I really struggled with this concept in the first book. It just seems so hokey and I can’t help but giggle whenever I read Vangel or Lucipire. That said I enjoyed the first one enough to pick up the next one in the series and most likely will keep picking up the books.
So in this book we meet the next brother Trond. He has been many things, but for this story he is a SEAL. He has been sent here due to a couple of people have become tainted by the Lucipires and he is there to sort it out. During his time there he meets, Nicole Tasso, she is part of the female SEAL initiative. Nicole is a smart woman who was a former cop and she can tell that something isn’t right with Trond. She thinks he is lazy and crude.
The lazy thing is what got him into trouble in the first place, as it is his major sin. Mike thinks its funny to send him to SEAL training since it is the last thing that one would consider easy.
Trond thinks that she might be one of the tainted ones, but alas not so much. She doesn’t carry the distinctive smell that the tainted have.
Oh did I not mention that’s how the Vangels find them. Apparently once bitten a person smells like lemons. See again, I can’t help but giggle. Mainly due to the fact that every time I read this, all I could think was Consuela, the maid from Family Guy, saying “lemon pledge.” I just couldn’t take it seriously.
So he goes about trying not to think about her and find the ones he was sent to help. The rest of the story some nice twists and turns, but the love part between Trond and Nicole is straight forward.
If you enjoy the vampire aspect of books, this one is nice as it’s a little different from most of the other ones out there. For me there was a good amount of steaminess. Since the boys can’t have sex, it’s a sin outside of marriage; they find plenty of creative ways to burn off some of that sexual tension. What girl doesn’t like foreplay! This series is not one that I would shout from the rooftops about, but it does keep you entertained.
**Disclaimer** This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
October 3, 2012
Kiss of Surrender ~ Deadly Angel Sandra Hill
Sandra Hill author of many romance novel of various sub-genres has a new series that focus on vampire angel known as vangels. What a creative combination part vampire and angel. Hmmm! What would readers and authors do without a vivid imagination? Some of us are afraid to entertain that issue.
Ms. Hill takes her readers on a trek in her latest book Kiss of Surrender back to 850 A.D. the Norse-lands where the Viking men were wild, powerful, and often ruthless.
Ms. Hill has quite a wonderful sense of humor which she demonstrated throughout the book with comical dialogue and spirited bantering between her characters.
When I started Kiss of Surrender, I was so excited with unrestrained anticipation to fall in love once more with the achievements of our Navy SEALS, WEALS and wondering how Ms. Hill will incorporate vangels into a novel about irresistible heroes and heroines. Ms. Hill, myself and many readers possess a deep sense of reverence for the Navy SEALS and savor novels featuring them. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for the many men and women in this branch of military service. The SEALS and WEALS are magnificently skillful accepting and completing the toughest military tactics against terrorists with unparalleled successful.
Growing up in the church I loved studying religion and the battle between Archangel Michael and Lucifer. Ms. Hill's characters are well defined and realistically portrayed in their human form. The elements that appeal to readers five senses is delivered through with Ms. Hill's writing style.
Trond Sigurdsson and his six Viking brothers previously sinful heathens must turn over a new leaf to avoid the eternal sulfuric environment and blazing fires of Hell. These gruesome Vikings are recruited by Archangel Michael to help with a Special Forces Project to slow down Lucifer's and his band of demons soul gathering before the unsuspecting person repents for their sins. The constant battle of St. Michael and his vangels to save souls from eternal damnation fighting the Lucifer's demonic warriors is demanding, exhausting but a rewarding task.
Tround Sigurdsson, Nicole Tasso, Archangel Michael, Cage, Karl versus Lucifer's King Jasper, are the major characters the story focuses on combating evil.
Ms. Hill's secondary characters : Frank Uxley ( F.U.). Karl, JAM, Marie Delacroix, Donita Leone, Darryl Good (Geek) were entertaining and high spirited making them delightful assets to the story.
I found many segments of the book a bit preaching about celibacy, redemption however on the other hand giving the reader conflicting messages on the same subjects. One moment Kiss of Surrender is about freeing souls from sins and damnation then the next few sentences I am learning sexy maneuvers entitled “Near Sex”!! Wow what a shift!
There were periods in Kiss of Surrender that moved much too slowly but I stuck with the novel because I desired to see how Ms. Hill and the vangels were going to pull off the salvation missions and the love interests.
Kiss of Surrender is a mixed bag of tricks and carnal acts.
I rate it as 2.5 stars.
Sandra Hill author of many romance novel of various sub-genres has a new series that focus on vampire angel known as vangels. What a creative combination part vampire and angel. Hmmm! What would readers and authors do without a vivid imagination? Some of us are afraid to entertain that issue.
Ms. Hill takes her readers on a trek in her latest book Kiss of Surrender back to 850 A.D. the Norse-lands where the Viking men were wild, powerful, and often ruthless.
Ms. Hill has quite a wonderful sense of humor which she demonstrated throughout the book with comical dialogue and spirited bantering between her characters.
When I started Kiss of Surrender, I was so excited with unrestrained anticipation to fall in love once more with the achievements of our Navy SEALS, WEALS and wondering how Ms. Hill will incorporate vangels into a novel about irresistible heroes and heroines. Ms. Hill, myself and many readers possess a deep sense of reverence for the Navy SEALS and savor novels featuring them. I have the utmost respect and appreciation for the many men and women in this branch of military service. The SEALS and WEALS are magnificently skillful accepting and completing the toughest military tactics against terrorists with unparalleled successful.
Growing up in the church I loved studying religion and the battle between Archangel Michael and Lucifer. Ms. Hill's characters are well defined and realistically portrayed in their human form. The elements that appeal to readers five senses is delivered through with Ms. Hill's writing style.
Trond Sigurdsson and his six Viking brothers previously sinful heathens must turn over a new leaf to avoid the eternal sulfuric environment and blazing fires of Hell. These gruesome Vikings are recruited by Archangel Michael to help with a Special Forces Project to slow down Lucifer's and his band of demons soul gathering before the unsuspecting person repents for their sins. The constant battle of St. Michael and his vangels to save souls from eternal damnation fighting the Lucifer's demonic warriors is demanding, exhausting but a rewarding task.
Tround Sigurdsson, Nicole Tasso, Archangel Michael, Cage, Karl versus Lucifer's King Jasper, are the major characters the story focuses on combating evil.
Ms. Hill's secondary characters : Frank Uxley ( F.U.). Karl, JAM, Marie Delacroix, Donita Leone, Darryl Good (Geek) were entertaining and high spirited making them delightful assets to the story.
I found many segments of the book a bit preaching about celibacy, redemption however on the other hand giving the reader conflicting messages on the same subjects. One moment Kiss of Surrender is about freeing souls from sins and damnation then the next few sentences I am learning sexy maneuvers entitled “Near Sex”!! Wow what a shift!
There were periods in Kiss of Surrender that moved much too slowly but I stuck with the novel because I desired to see how Ms. Hill and the vangels were going to pull off the salvation missions and the love interests.
Kiss of Surrender is a mixed bag of tricks and carnal acts.
I rate it as 2.5 stars.
November 2, 2012
The first time Trond rolls onto the pages of this series is in the previous Deadly Angel book Kiss of Pride. He excited about being the first vangel to be a seal, an animal. His brothers laugh at his misunderstanding and not knowing what a Navy SEAL is. This made me think Trond and his heroine would deliver the humor that Vikar and Alex did. It didn’t happen for me.
I honestly found it difficult to find sloth, Trond sexy. Every time I visualized him in my head he resembled the fella on the cover, but the wife beater tee had pizza grease stains on his beer belly along with sweat stains around the underarm area. Trond is NOT represented in this way. Hill wrote him as a physically sexy virile Viking man. It is just the image that stuck in my head. The sin he was punished for was sloth, sloth is not sexy.
Most of the banter between Nicole and Trond that was supposed to be funny left me wondering how people this childish have made into the adulthood, much less the SEALs and WEALS. After all the humor that Kiss of Pride had I was expecting the constant giggles again with this installment of the Deadly Angels series. There are humorous moments, but it was when the other brothers were present. Trond often gives the impression that he is ignorant or uneducated.
I love angst and conflict. Both of the conflicts that readers see Nicole and Trond headed into are resolved neat and efficiently and quickly swept under the rug. The conflicts had some serious weight to them. One involved the secrets in Nicole’s past that she tries to keep hidden. The other was a major mission for the SEALs and WEALS. I felt teased. I was given the idea of some serious conflict then it just resolved and went away.
I still found the near sex awesome. These poor angels, they know that premarital sex is a sin. They know that they must abstain from the sins of the flesh. The other side of this is they are Vikings who cannot change from their Viking ways. The things they (Hill) comes up with to push the limits on going around this rule while still pleasuring their lady and getting their fulfillment, I just love it. It is something that is enjoyably different.
Overall Kiss of Surrender left me with a meh feeling. I still like the idea behind the series, Viking vampire angels with a huge slice of snarky humor. I will continue the series. I think Trond and Nicole just didn’t work for me. It happens on occasion. I’m very picky about the couples in my romance novels.
I honestly found it difficult to find sloth, Trond sexy. Every time I visualized him in my head he resembled the fella on the cover, but the wife beater tee had pizza grease stains on his beer belly along with sweat stains around the underarm area. Trond is NOT represented in this way. Hill wrote him as a physically sexy virile Viking man. It is just the image that stuck in my head. The sin he was punished for was sloth, sloth is not sexy.
Most of the banter between Nicole and Trond that was supposed to be funny left me wondering how people this childish have made into the adulthood, much less the SEALs and WEALS. After all the humor that Kiss of Pride had I was expecting the constant giggles again with this installment of the Deadly Angels series. There are humorous moments, but it was when the other brothers were present. Trond often gives the impression that he is ignorant or uneducated.
I love angst and conflict. Both of the conflicts that readers see Nicole and Trond headed into are resolved neat and efficiently and quickly swept under the rug. The conflicts had some serious weight to them. One involved the secrets in Nicole’s past that she tries to keep hidden. The other was a major mission for the SEALs and WEALS. I felt teased. I was given the idea of some serious conflict then it just resolved and went away.
I still found the near sex awesome. These poor angels, they know that premarital sex is a sin. They know that they must abstain from the sins of the flesh. The other side of this is they are Vikings who cannot change from their Viking ways. The things they (Hill) comes up with to push the limits on going around this rule while still pleasuring their lady and getting their fulfillment, I just love it. It is something that is enjoyably different.
Overall Kiss of Surrender left me with a meh feeling. I still like the idea behind the series, Viking vampire angels with a huge slice of snarky humor. I will continue the series. I think Trond and Nicole just didn’t work for me. It happens on occasion. I’m very picky about the couples in my romance novels.
January 3, 2013
Loved the book. Trond and Nicole were great. Trond's sin was sloth/laziness which makes his current mission as a SEAL a particular punishment for him. His constant mental complaints about why things always have to be done the hard way are pretty amusing. His other problem is his conflict with Nicole the woman SEAL or WEALS as they are called. They are constantly rubbing each other the wrong way. She can't stand his laid back ways and her constant peppiness makes him crazy. But there is also an attraction there that can't be denied. As a vangel Trond is forbidden to have sex outside of marriage so his attraction to Nicole has him constantly on edge. He also has his mission to stop the demon vampires from infiltrating the SEALs and has two of them he needs to save. Nicole has her own past issues that she is trying to overcome. She left an abusive marriage and her perkiness is her method of compensating for the way she submitted to the abuse for so long. Now she feels that she has become the woman she is supposed to be. Her attraction to Trond is unwelcome as she finds his attitudes offensive, but she can't deny his physical appeal. She also trusts her instincts that say he has secrets that he is hiding. This reminds her too much of her ex-husband and she is determined to find out what they are. The more time they spend together the more their relationship changes as it moves from dislike to intrigued to attracted to love. The trust that developed was very important also. The mission that they and the other SEALs are sent on to recover some hostages is well done but ends up with Trond and Nicole sort of captured themselves. Their interactions with Zeb the demon vampire are great and I loved his part in the story. The ending was a lot of fun with St. Michael playing his part yet again. I loved seeing characters from Sandra Hill's Viking SEALs books as they played their own parts in this book. The meeting of Trond and Max was great as they recognized each other as Vikings. I also loved the wedding scene at the end. The concept of the Viking vampire angels has been a lot of fun so far. The idea of Viking angels (oxymoron for sure) fighting evil has been great as they try to do their jobs while following the rules (not what Vikings are known for). Can't wait for the rest of the series.
May 18, 2016
Book: Kiss of Surrender (Deadly Angels #2)
Author: Sandra Hill
Publication Date: 11/27/2012
Reviewed by: Tammy Payne- Book Nook Nuts
My Rating: 5 Stars
REVIEW
*May contain spoilers *
Book two. Loving the Vangels yes I am.
We get brother Tronds punishment if you want to call it that. His mission is joining the Navy Seals. His main mission is to stop Lucifer’s demons from infiltrating the Seals. But leave it to Trond to bring another mission upon himself and that comes in the form of a female Seal. Nicole may be a Seal but she has a horrible past and she is not too quick to get close to a male.
The Vangel has a mission and he will get what he wants if he is lucky?
We get demons, angels, vamps, and a whole lot of hot alpha male.
I love this series and this is my second time reading it. I first read back in 2013.
I would suggest starting with book one in this series so you learn everyone.
I borrowed this book from my local library.
Sandra Hill
Author: Sandra Hill
Publication Date: 11/27/2012
Reviewed by: Tammy Payne- Book Nook Nuts
My Rating: 5 Stars
REVIEW
*May contain spoilers *
Book two. Loving the Vangels yes I am.
We get brother Tronds punishment if you want to call it that. His mission is joining the Navy Seals. His main mission is to stop Lucifer’s demons from infiltrating the Seals. But leave it to Trond to bring another mission upon himself and that comes in the form of a female Seal. Nicole may be a Seal but she has a horrible past and she is not too quick to get close to a male.
The Vangel has a mission and he will get what he wants if he is lucky?
We get demons, angels, vamps, and a whole lot of hot alpha male.
I love this series and this is my second time reading it. I first read back in 2013.
I would suggest starting with book one in this series so you learn everyone.
I borrowed this book from my local library.
Sandra Hill
November 1, 2020
Book two in the Deadly Angels series featuring the Sigurdsson brothers – Viking vampire angels (a/k/a vangels). This one focuses on Trond, whose main sin was sloth. He’s on a mission to save a group of Navy SEALS who are in danger of losing their souls to the Lupires (demon vampires in service to Lucifer). But he also is up against a highly suspicious WEAL (women SEALS), Nicole Tasso, who’s a former cop.
This is bad on so many levels. The plot is tortured with several loose threads. Many of the situations make no sense at all. Unlike the first book in the series, I didn’t even find much to laugh about and enjoy the ride. And the sex? There’s hardly any. (Never thought I’d be complaining about THAT in a review, did you?) Well, what’s there is entertaining. But I’m done with this series. (Unless I find a desperate need for another vampire book…)
This is bad on so many levels. The plot is tortured with several loose threads. Many of the situations make no sense at all. Unlike the first book in the series, I didn’t even find much to laugh about and enjoy the ride. And the sex? There’s hardly any. (Never thought I’d be complaining about THAT in a review, did you?) Well, what’s there is entertaining. But I’m done with this series. (Unless I find a desperate need for another vampire book…)
December 8, 2012
I actually really liked this book, you can see my full review at Romancing the Book.
It took me a while to get used to the writing style, Sandra Hill is a new author for me, but once I got into the book I was completely sucked in. I even bought the first one in the series after reading this one. I think she did a great job with a theme that in the past has totally been overdone. :)
It took me a while to get used to the writing style, Sandra Hill is a new author for me, but once I got into the book I was completely sucked in. I even bought the first one in the series after reading this one. I think she did a great job with a theme that in the past has totally been overdone. :)
January 7, 2013
This is a wonderful story wrapped in humor. It's a different take on vampires and good and bad. I loved Trond Sigurdsson and his lazy man ways. He cracked me up. I also enjoyed seeing so many past characters from other series. Kiss of Surrender is the second in the Deadly Angel Series. A wonderful, must read book!
November 26, 2014
This was a DNF. I tried. For two weeks I started, stopped and started again. It was too contrived and over the top. Viking Vampire Angels (vangels) and Demon Vampires (Luciperes)? The characters were flat and the plot was boring. What I can't wrap my head around is that there are more books planned.
May 22, 2013
A bad ripoff of JR Ward's fallen angel series....didn't catch my attention at all! There are too many good books to read to waste my time with this one!
I'm not into romance novels....from the looks of my Gave-up-on shelf, I need to quit trying those that say they are about Vampires!
I'm not into romance novels....from the looks of my Gave-up-on shelf, I need to quit trying those that say they are about Vampires!
August 15, 2014
I got 20 pages in and quit. The language was just ... Awful. I can suspend disbelief enough to read about a Viking vampire angel navy SEAL but I can't handle him saying "as if"
July 22, 2021
Terrible, and not a good way.
September 20, 2023
When Ms. perpetually-in-motion meets Mr. work smarter not harder....sparks fly, along with snarky banter, friendly competition, and sizzling desire. Trond Sigurdsson is in Coronado on a mission to save a couple of SEALS, although he has no idea who yet. Nicole Tasso is also stationed there to continue her WEALS training and she is determined to find out what Trond is hiding. The two are called up to help execute a complicated and multi-prong attack against terrorists trying to create chaos and mayhem on September 11's anniversary. In the course of performing their assigned parts, Nicole sees a glimpse of the angel/demon world, and winds up rescued by a demon who whisks her and Trond off to his secret hideaway. Temptation beckons, the demon Zeb sacrifices for them, and neither Nicole or Trond's lives will ever be the same.
The second in the Deadly Angels series, this story focuses on Trond Sigurdsson whose deadly sin was sloth. It gave a more humorous view of our mentor Michael plus the dance...oh my glory that was hilarious!!
The second in the Deadly Angels series, this story focuses on Trond Sigurdsson whose deadly sin was sloth. It gave a more humorous view of our mentor Michael plus the dance...oh my glory that was hilarious!!
June 29, 2014
635 - 2014
Seri Viking dari Sandra Hill yang satu ini dinamai Deadly Angels, dengan para tokoh utama berwujud Viking Vampire Angel, disingkat Vangel, sedangkan lawan abadi mereka adalah Lucipire, Demon Vampire. Pasukan Vangel dibentuk oleh malaikat Michael untuk melawan pasukan Lucies di bawah Lucifer (siapa lagi). Pasukan Vangel dipimpin kakak beradik Sigurdsson, yang disebut VIK, atau The Seven, karena jumlah mereka tujuh orang. Sejauh ini sudah terbit empat novel, tapi sepertinya bisa kita ramalkan kalau seri ini bakal terdiri dari tujuh buku.
Kenapa ketujuh kakak beradik Sigurdsson bisa "terpilih" menjadi Vangel? Yah, itu sih sama saja dengan bertanya kenapa seluruh kakak beradik Ericsson bisa time-travel ke abad 21. Mungkin itu tema utama Sandra Hill untuk serial Vikingnya: kekeluargaan. Jadi keluarga itu harus senasib sepenanggungan, kalau satu orang jadi vampir, semuanya juga. Kalau satu orang time travel, yang lainnya juga :)
Keluarga Sigurdsson "terpilih" karena masing-masing memiliki dosa besar yang tak terampunkan, salah satu dari Seven Deadly Sins. Pas banget ya, seven sins for seven brothers. Dan mereka menjadi Vangel sebagai hukuman yang harus dijalani kalau tidak mau masuk neraka.
Novel Kiss of Surrender ini merupakan buku kedua, dan tokoh utamanya, Trond Sigurdsson, menjadi Vangel karena dosa besar Sloth, alias... pemalas. Kesukaannya bermalas-malasan di tempat tidur, apalagi kalau musim dingin, bisa-bisa seperti beruang lagi hibernasi. Pada tahun 850, gara-gara terlalu malas untuk bangun, desa Trond hancur diserang oleh kaum Saxon atau Hun. Malaikat Michael yang mendatanginya memberikan Trond an offer he can't refuse dan jadilah ia seorang Vangel. Untung yang datang bukan Kevin Spacey, bisa-bisa hukumannya malah diikat ke ranjang selama satu tahun (buat yang tidak ngeh referensinya, kurekomendasikan nonton film Se7en, ya...).
Seperti biasanya, novel Sandra Hill memadukan tokoh Viking-nya dengan cerita yang kocak. Dan untuk seorang Trond yang pemalas, unsur komedinya digali dengan membuat tokohnya harus melakukan hal yang tidak disukainya: kerja keras. Setelah lebih dari seribu tahun jadi vampir dan menjalani ratusan misi yang berbeda, Trond terdampar di kamp pelatihan Navy SEALS, menyaru sebagai anggota pasukan elit Jaeger dari Norwegia yang ditugaskan berlatih di sana. Ia sampai mendapat julukan Easy, gara-gara terlalu malas dan santai. Buatnya, apa salahnya mencapai tujuan dengan cara yang lebih mudah? Ngapain juga capek-capek lari kalau bisa numpang mobil buggy? Ngapain juga harus repot memanjat jaring tali kalau bisa memutarinya saja? Mottonya: Work smarter, not harder. Ada benarnya juga sih, ya... Buat apa susah, buat apa susah, susah itu tak ada gunanya (ini pasti theme song Trond kalau lagi mendapat misi di Indonesia).
Ini mah dosa besarku tiap weekend... just lying there with my books :P
Premis awalnya cukup menarik, apalagi Trond dihadapkan dengan Nicole Tasso, anggota WEALS yang saking gemasnya melihat orang semalas Trond jadi rajin memaksakan buku-buku motivasi pada Trond. Tapi selain itu, Nicole juga penasaran pada latar belakang Trond yang mencurigakan, sehingga berusaha mengungkap rahasianya. Ujung-ujungnya, karena tidak mau terus-terusan diselidiki Nicole, Trond sampai terpaksa harus mengaku bahwa ia... gay.
Tentu saja, meskipun sudah hidup selibat selama satu milenia, Trond berbohong. Tapi ini menjadi sumber komedi baru bagi Sandra Hill: membuat Nicole yang penasaran berusaha membuktikan apakah Trond memang benar-benar gay... sampai nekat menyeretnya ke lemari peralatan dan "menyerang"-nya habis-habisan. Ah, itu mah dasar Nicole-nya saja yang memang sudah ngiler dari awal, cuma nggak mau ngaku dan cari alasan saja :)
Sayangnya, makin ke belakang jalan ceritanya jadi kurang menarik. Cerita tentang misi utama Trond di NAVY SEALS untuk menyelamatkan jiwa dua orang anggota yang sudah terinfeksi kaum Lucipire rasanya seperti tempelan saja. Cerita tambahan tentang misi penyusupan dan penyerbuan harem teroris malah terasa seperti memanjang-manjangkan cerita. Dan kemalasan Trond (yang ternyata tidak berlaku untuk urusan olahraga ranjang) yang bikin kocak malah jarang dibahas lagi. Duh, nggak seru deh.
Untungnya, masih ada beberapa hal yang cukup menarik. Sandra Hill ternyata menempatkan para Vangel ini di universe yang sama dengan para Viking dari keluarga Ericsson, dan ada crossover yang mempertemukan kedua keluarga ini karena salah satu anak Magnus Ericsson si Very Virile Viking itu ternyata jadi anggota SEALS juga. Selain itu, kita sedikit dipertemukan dengan beberapa saudara-saudara Trond, yang dari dosa besarnya bisa diketahui bagaimana karakternya, misalnya Ivak yang dosa utamanya adalah Lust (kebetulan yang ini sudah punya sih novelnya, cuma belum dibaca saja). Aku jadi penasaran seperti apa cerita yang diperuntukkan bagi Harek si ahli komputer (dosa besarnya kira-kira apa ya?), yang memperkenalkan malaikat Michael pada teknologi internet, dan mungkin akan mengubah cara kerja Vangel yang masih analog menjadi serba digital.
Seri Viking dari Sandra Hill yang satu ini dinamai Deadly Angels, dengan para tokoh utama berwujud Viking Vampire Angel, disingkat Vangel, sedangkan lawan abadi mereka adalah Lucipire, Demon Vampire. Pasukan Vangel dibentuk oleh malaikat Michael untuk melawan pasukan Lucies di bawah Lucifer (siapa lagi). Pasukan Vangel dipimpin kakak beradik Sigurdsson, yang disebut VIK, atau The Seven, karena jumlah mereka tujuh orang. Sejauh ini sudah terbit empat novel, tapi sepertinya bisa kita ramalkan kalau seri ini bakal terdiri dari tujuh buku.
Kenapa ketujuh kakak beradik Sigurdsson bisa "terpilih" menjadi Vangel? Yah, itu sih sama saja dengan bertanya kenapa seluruh kakak beradik Ericsson bisa time-travel ke abad 21. Mungkin itu tema utama Sandra Hill untuk serial Vikingnya: kekeluargaan. Jadi keluarga itu harus senasib sepenanggungan, kalau satu orang jadi vampir, semuanya juga. Kalau satu orang time travel, yang lainnya juga :)
Keluarga Sigurdsson "terpilih" karena masing-masing memiliki dosa besar yang tak terampunkan, salah satu dari Seven Deadly Sins. Pas banget ya, seven sins for seven brothers. Dan mereka menjadi Vangel sebagai hukuman yang harus dijalani kalau tidak mau masuk neraka.
Novel Kiss of Surrender ini merupakan buku kedua, dan tokoh utamanya, Trond Sigurdsson, menjadi Vangel karena dosa besar Sloth, alias... pemalas. Kesukaannya bermalas-malasan di tempat tidur, apalagi kalau musim dingin, bisa-bisa seperti beruang lagi hibernasi. Pada tahun 850, gara-gara terlalu malas untuk bangun, desa Trond hancur diserang oleh kaum Saxon atau Hun. Malaikat Michael yang mendatanginya memberikan Trond an offer he can't refuse dan jadilah ia seorang Vangel. Untung yang datang bukan Kevin Spacey, bisa-bisa hukumannya malah diikat ke ranjang selama satu tahun (buat yang tidak ngeh referensinya, kurekomendasikan nonton film Se7en, ya...).
Seperti biasanya, novel Sandra Hill memadukan tokoh Viking-nya dengan cerita yang kocak. Dan untuk seorang Trond yang pemalas, unsur komedinya digali dengan membuat tokohnya harus melakukan hal yang tidak disukainya: kerja keras. Setelah lebih dari seribu tahun jadi vampir dan menjalani ratusan misi yang berbeda, Trond terdampar di kamp pelatihan Navy SEALS, menyaru sebagai anggota pasukan elit Jaeger dari Norwegia yang ditugaskan berlatih di sana. Ia sampai mendapat julukan Easy, gara-gara terlalu malas dan santai. Buatnya, apa salahnya mencapai tujuan dengan cara yang lebih mudah? Ngapain juga capek-capek lari kalau bisa numpang mobil buggy? Ngapain juga harus repot memanjat jaring tali kalau bisa memutarinya saja? Mottonya: Work smarter, not harder. Ada benarnya juga sih, ya... Buat apa susah, buat apa susah, susah itu tak ada gunanya (ini pasti theme song Trond kalau lagi mendapat misi di Indonesia).
Ini mah dosa besarku tiap weekend... just lying there with my books :P
Premis awalnya cukup menarik, apalagi Trond dihadapkan dengan Nicole Tasso, anggota WEALS yang saking gemasnya melihat orang semalas Trond jadi rajin memaksakan buku-buku motivasi pada Trond. Tapi selain itu, Nicole juga penasaran pada latar belakang Trond yang mencurigakan, sehingga berusaha mengungkap rahasianya. Ujung-ujungnya, karena tidak mau terus-terusan diselidiki Nicole, Trond sampai terpaksa harus mengaku bahwa ia... gay.
Tentu saja, meskipun sudah hidup selibat selama satu milenia, Trond berbohong. Tapi ini menjadi sumber komedi baru bagi Sandra Hill: membuat Nicole yang penasaran berusaha membuktikan apakah Trond memang benar-benar gay... sampai nekat menyeretnya ke lemari peralatan dan "menyerang"-nya habis-habisan. Ah, itu mah dasar Nicole-nya saja yang memang sudah ngiler dari awal, cuma nggak mau ngaku dan cari alasan saja :)
Sayangnya, makin ke belakang jalan ceritanya jadi kurang menarik. Cerita tentang misi utama Trond di NAVY SEALS untuk menyelamatkan jiwa dua orang anggota yang sudah terinfeksi kaum Lucipire rasanya seperti tempelan saja. Cerita tambahan tentang misi penyusupan dan penyerbuan harem teroris malah terasa seperti memanjang-manjangkan cerita. Dan kemalasan Trond (yang ternyata tidak berlaku untuk urusan olahraga ranjang) yang bikin kocak malah jarang dibahas lagi. Duh, nggak seru deh.
Untungnya, masih ada beberapa hal yang cukup menarik. Sandra Hill ternyata menempatkan para Vangel ini di universe yang sama dengan para Viking dari keluarga Ericsson, dan ada crossover yang mempertemukan kedua keluarga ini karena salah satu anak Magnus Ericsson si Very Virile Viking itu ternyata jadi anggota SEALS juga. Selain itu, kita sedikit dipertemukan dengan beberapa saudara-saudara Trond, yang dari dosa besarnya bisa diketahui bagaimana karakternya, misalnya Ivak yang dosa utamanya adalah Lust (kebetulan yang ini sudah punya sih novelnya, cuma belum dibaca saja). Aku jadi penasaran seperti apa cerita yang diperuntukkan bagi Harek si ahli komputer (dosa besarnya kira-kira apa ya?), yang memperkenalkan malaikat Michael pada teknologi internet, dan mungkin akan mengubah cara kerja Vangel yang masih analog menjadi serba digital.
March 22, 2018
Laugh and enjoy
Kept me interested. Pleasantly surprised,twists and turns kept me looking forward to the next event and where the story would go. First book I enjoyed more. I will keep reading this series.😊
Kept me interested. Pleasantly surprised,twists and turns kept me looking forward to the next event and where the story would go. First book I enjoyed more. I will keep reading this series.😊
February 26, 2021
K. Starting to struggle here with the preaching. I felt more affection for Zebulan than these 2 dweebs. Pages of drivel before they even get overseas. I'd quit now if I didn't already have the next book. I don't have much hope as it's Ivak's story and his sin is lust.
May 17, 2024
Different
Vangels is a new twist. Trond and Nicole's story is another plausible thought. Good can conquer evil in many different ways. I M happy about Zeb.... He truly deserved a second chance. Coming up next, brother #3.
Vangels is a new twist. Trond and Nicole's story is another plausible thought. Good can conquer evil in many different ways. I M happy about Zeb.... He truly deserved a second chance. Coming up next, brother #3.
April 16, 2025
Dit boek in mijn kast maar eens herlezen.
Een vampier engel die op missie is gestuurd als een seal, dat klinkt goed. maar hij mag geen zonden uithalen. wat wel lastig is vanwege zijn gevoelens voor Nicole.
Een vampier engel die op missie is gestuurd als een seal, dat klinkt goed. maar hij mag geen zonden uithalen. wat wel lastig is vanwege zijn gevoelens voor Nicole.
December 1, 2012
Originally posted at: http://www.longandshortreviews.blogsp...
How does a man, inherently lazy, a slacker and a jokester ever become a convincing Navy SEAL? When a guy has the right motivation, has one of God’s warriors on his back and the penalties for failure is, literally, hell.
A reader initially meets Trond Sigurdsson at his most unmotivated – unwashed, uncaring and the term lazy is an understatement. His crime of sloth was very serious because he held a position of importance. To do those things meant others paid the price. The cost was such that he became one chosen to become a Vangel. Unlucky for him, lucky for me because his story to redemption was nothing short of fascinating.
I reviewed the blurb before writing this review and I don’t believe it does justice to the richness and seriousness that flavor this book. At first Trond and Nicole hate each other and their confrontations are full of verbal sparring and clever taunts. Trond even bit her on her apple. Their exchanges are truly entertaining and I enjoyed their reactions to each other. Their gradual growth, from intense dislike, to awareness as man and woman and then onto building trust to ultimately depending on each other for life and limb made for a gripping story. There wasn’t a slow spot in the novel.
Nicole was a strong character. She didn’t think so and a reader understands after the author revealed what the heroine went through. Nicole was her own worst critic but she doesn’t hide the truth from herself. She tried, oh yes she did, but eventually, Trond’s inherent yumminess won her over and she had to admit that she finally succumbed to loving a person - the very kind she’d sworn never to get involved with again. But she never met a man like Trond before. The more she learned about him, the more questions she wanted answered because the hero was a mystery to her. As readers know, with good reason. The process of getting to know the hero meant I got to see her grow as a person. I liked her character.
Once again, Jasper, the ultimate villain and sexual sadist, has a plan. It’s as vile and as topical as one would wish. That being said, I was amazed as to the political references made in this book. There is no possible way that Ms. Hill could have predicted how some points in her storyline followed the happenings in real life. When I read this book, it was around 9/11 and the similarities were eerily accurate. It was freaky. Because of it, reading the story made me a bit uncomfortable because it gave an element of reality to the atmosphere of the story. Because it made it feel real, it scared me.
Another hard hitting revelation for me, and I’m sure quite unintended by the author, is the possible reality of the theory that every soul has the potential to be saved. I refer to villain assistant, Zeb. Once I read the ending of this novel, I had the strangest feeling. I’m aware of Christian dogma and the theme that encompasses the story of Saul turned Paul. That a man who persecuted the early Christians with zeal and fanaticism and was dead set on destroying any and all he came across, could somehow be saved, changed and become a believer and proponent of the forgiveness of God. I came away from this reading experience with a shivery sensation – that no matter how vile, evil and depraved a person may be, and perpetrates acts that offend our values and beliefs, it ultimately is not our place on this earth to judge a person’s ability to be redeemed, saved and find their way back into Grace. I’ve heard the He sees into our souls where no mortal has a clue and whether Ms. Hill meant to or not, she taught me to let go. Or at least try. It made me realize it’s not my burden to carry; the burden to condemn others and call them irredeemable because of what they’ve done. I refer to the terrorists because in this story, the author surly voiced what a lot of people feel. And yet, there is Zeb. Zeb is her Saul. I’m really looking forward to seeing what she’ll do with his character in the future. When she does, it’ll be an auto-buy. The author has created a compelling situation that begs to be explored. I hope she does.
Back to the overall story of Kiss of Surrender. I heartily recommend it for all Sandra Hill fans and anyone who is enjoying the latest hot genre of angels versus demons. Trond really is a sweetheart in spite of all his failings. Love has a way of smoothing out the most bumbling of sinners and the power of it is effectively explored. I think Nicole and Trond make a sizzling couple and the sensual build up was extra hot because they try so hard to not succumb. There is the classic sense of humor and clever word play that is the signature of every adventure that Ms. Hill writes and this one continues the legacy. Ms. Hill also provided a wonderful and exciting surprise – some characters from her Viking series showed up and it was awesome to see some of them again. It caused some serious ear to ear grinning.
Ms. Hill has a vibrant and powerful storytelling voice and it comes through loud and clear in Kiss of Surrender. It’s a must read.
How does a man, inherently lazy, a slacker and a jokester ever become a convincing Navy SEAL? When a guy has the right motivation, has one of God’s warriors on his back and the penalties for failure is, literally, hell.
A reader initially meets Trond Sigurdsson at his most unmotivated – unwashed, uncaring and the term lazy is an understatement. His crime of sloth was very serious because he held a position of importance. To do those things meant others paid the price. The cost was such that he became one chosen to become a Vangel. Unlucky for him, lucky for me because his story to redemption was nothing short of fascinating.
I reviewed the blurb before writing this review and I don’t believe it does justice to the richness and seriousness that flavor this book. At first Trond and Nicole hate each other and their confrontations are full of verbal sparring and clever taunts. Trond even bit her on her apple. Their exchanges are truly entertaining and I enjoyed their reactions to each other. Their gradual growth, from intense dislike, to awareness as man and woman and then onto building trust to ultimately depending on each other for life and limb made for a gripping story. There wasn’t a slow spot in the novel.
Nicole was a strong character. She didn’t think so and a reader understands after the author revealed what the heroine went through. Nicole was her own worst critic but she doesn’t hide the truth from herself. She tried, oh yes she did, but eventually, Trond’s inherent yumminess won her over and she had to admit that she finally succumbed to loving a person - the very kind she’d sworn never to get involved with again. But she never met a man like Trond before. The more she learned about him, the more questions she wanted answered because the hero was a mystery to her. As readers know, with good reason. The process of getting to know the hero meant I got to see her grow as a person. I liked her character.
Once again, Jasper, the ultimate villain and sexual sadist, has a plan. It’s as vile and as topical as one would wish. That being said, I was amazed as to the political references made in this book. There is no possible way that Ms. Hill could have predicted how some points in her storyline followed the happenings in real life. When I read this book, it was around 9/11 and the similarities were eerily accurate. It was freaky. Because of it, reading the story made me a bit uncomfortable because it gave an element of reality to the atmosphere of the story. Because it made it feel real, it scared me.
Another hard hitting revelation for me, and I’m sure quite unintended by the author, is the possible reality of the theory that every soul has the potential to be saved. I refer to villain assistant, Zeb. Once I read the ending of this novel, I had the strangest feeling. I’m aware of Christian dogma and the theme that encompasses the story of Saul turned Paul. That a man who persecuted the early Christians with zeal and fanaticism and was dead set on destroying any and all he came across, could somehow be saved, changed and become a believer and proponent of the forgiveness of God. I came away from this reading experience with a shivery sensation – that no matter how vile, evil and depraved a person may be, and perpetrates acts that offend our values and beliefs, it ultimately is not our place on this earth to judge a person’s ability to be redeemed, saved and find their way back into Grace. I’ve heard the He sees into our souls where no mortal has a clue and whether Ms. Hill meant to or not, she taught me to let go. Or at least try. It made me realize it’s not my burden to carry; the burden to condemn others and call them irredeemable because of what they’ve done. I refer to the terrorists because in this story, the author surly voiced what a lot of people feel. And yet, there is Zeb. Zeb is her Saul. I’m really looking forward to seeing what she’ll do with his character in the future. When she does, it’ll be an auto-buy. The author has created a compelling situation that begs to be explored. I hope she does.
Back to the overall story of Kiss of Surrender. I heartily recommend it for all Sandra Hill fans and anyone who is enjoying the latest hot genre of angels versus demons. Trond really is a sweetheart in spite of all his failings. Love has a way of smoothing out the most bumbling of sinners and the power of it is effectively explored. I think Nicole and Trond make a sizzling couple and the sensual build up was extra hot because they try so hard to not succumb. There is the classic sense of humor and clever word play that is the signature of every adventure that Ms. Hill writes and this one continues the legacy. Ms. Hill also provided a wonderful and exciting surprise – some characters from her Viking series showed up and it was awesome to see some of them again. It caused some serious ear to ear grinning.
Ms. Hill has a vibrant and powerful storytelling voice and it comes through loud and clear in Kiss of Surrender. It’s a must read.
January 12, 2018
Great book!
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