Izzorah Ceeow, the brilliantly talented drummer for music group Kumwhatmay, might be a rock star on Tarth, but he lives in fear. Fear that his dubious immigration status will get him sent back to his female-dominated home world of Felidae, where he’d be executed for fleeing his arranged marriage. Fear that his family will learn he’s gay. Fear that his band mates will discover he’s practically blind as the result of a childhood illness. Fear of heights so acute that he won’t go near a window. Izzy even has such severe stage fright that he throws up before his shows.
But the young felinoid refugee is stronger than he appears. Despite his terror, he has never missed a performance. He spends his money supporting less fortunate Kin, illegal immigrants struggling to get by and stay under the Empire’s radar. And he knows his heart. When he meets the unimaginably rich and powerful Luc St. Cyr, he’s almost certain that, improbable as it seems, this is the warrior of whom he has dreamed, the man to whom he will give his heart and his virginity.
Luc St. Cyr has everything he could want, except a loving partner. An immortal with a dark history, he has lived many lives and he keeps many secrets – not the least of which is the fact that he’s a double agent spying for both his king, the temperamental Pietas, and Pietas’ sworn enemy, his own father. His attraction to Izzorah astonishes him, but despite being on the rebound from a bad break-up, he knows he shouldn’t fight what feels so inevitable. Izzorah brings out all his protective instincts. Luc’s determined to use his wealth and influence to nurture the fascinating young Kin male and keep him safe.
Surrender Love is the first part of Luc’s and Izzy’s love story. Although the book has a scifi setting, it is first and foremost a romance, and as a romance, it succeeds very well. Although Luc and Izzorah make a highly unlikely couple, Ms. Allen had me believing in their connection from their first encounter, when Luc is so flustered he spills the water he’s pouring for the handsome Kin musician.
Luc isn’t used to real love, and he doesn’t do all that well at it. Izzy, in contrast, is a warm and generous soul who understands that love is about giving, not taking. But the young Kin won’t tolerate dishonesty – a challenge to Luc, who never tells anyone the entire truth. Since Izzorah is practically an empath due to his ability to smell emotions, Luc is going to have a difficult time keeping his secrets.
I very much enjoyed Surrender Love, but this was almost entirely due to my enchantment with Izzorah and with Kin culture. As a hero, Izzy grows and changes, gradually becoming the true prince Luc names him. The final scenes, in which he welcomes Luc’s former lover Wulf with both graciousness and strength, make it clear that despite his youth, Izzorah is in fact a worthy match for Luc St. Cyr.
As for Luc, well, I found him boring at best, infuriating at worst. The first chapter, which he spends acting out his anger and grief at being dumped by Wulf in the most dramatic and juvenile ways possible, almost made me give up reading. I would expect immortals who’d lived for thousands of years to be at least a bit mature, but Luc, Pietas and his twin sister Destoiya seem like petulant, self-centered teenagers much of the time. I suspect this isn’t the author’s intent – she likely wants us to find her Immortals mysterious and fascinating – but I’m afraid that isn’t the way I see them.
However, Luc’s love for Izzorah may redeem him. I am ready to believe that The Harbinger will actually change (and maybe grow up) in this relationship. I might even read the next book in the series to see this happen.
The novel is long (over 500 pages) but quite tightly plotted. I learned a bit about Luc’s past, but those side excursions did not overshadow the love story. The secondary characters are enjoyable and memorable, especially the Kin females, Luc’s head of security Shohn Lexius and Izzorah’s aunt Mynkoh. Even the android butler has an engaging personality. Despite the length, I never felt that the story dragged.
Before I close, I need to mention how intensely erotic I found the love scenes in this novel. This is noteworthy because these scenes are not at all graphic. Although Luc and Izzorah clearly have gay sex, no details are provided. Nevertheless, the heat flowing between the two men is palpable and vicariously arousing. Sometimes a kiss can convey as much passion and lust as a full-out naked clinch. Ms. Allen also uses Kin physical attributes, such as retractable claws and a soft pelt on the chest, to heighten the eroticism. As an author of explicit romance, I was deeply impressed.
Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) If there is a thing that an author can do to displease me is to ruin my Happily Ever After... and so when I read Surrender Love's blurb, I thought, OMG Mrs Allen, what have you done? But since I'm a faithful reader and I remember that I liked the previous book, Wulf, I bought it anyway, and put it in my reading list... only to see it everytime I opened the reading folder to choose a book to read. The ebook was there and it was beckoning me... read me, read me, you know that you will like me... it was like a Mermaid's song, and I did my best to resist, and BTW the length of the book helped, since I always need a lot of courage to sit down and read a novel plus. Till today I was strong, but then I surrendered.
And Kayelle Allen didn't even make my surrender easy! Since not only Wulf and Luc have split after the HEA they had in that book I read, but it was not even a break-up due to an uncontrollable fate, like if Wulf is dead or something similar (look? I can accept if you ruin my HEA, but I'm ruthless if you do that!). No, Wulf and Luc were torn apart by the most common trouble, the inability to communicate. Luc thought that Wulf thought that Luc thought... and no one of them really knew what the other thought. At the beginning of the book, Wulf is running away with his new lover, Alitus, and Luc is mourning the loss... for an handful of days! Then he meets Izzorah, and his everlasting love for Wulf is all but forgotten, and he is hot on the trail of a new lover.
Now you would think that I'm a bit hard with Luc, he is not a bad guy, but probably he is too used to loose a lover that he has a calluses around his heart. Luc is a Sempervian, means that he is immortal, and everytime he starts a relationship with someone, he has always to take in account that his lover will age and die, and he will be near him for all the time. Maybe this time he suffered a bit more since Wulf didn't die, he simply left, and Luc feels betrayed, but maybe one of the reason for Wulf's behavior is that he has never really felt like Luc was totally involved with him. The reason why they split seems so stupid, that you really wonder if they were really good together, but I remember they were, at least in that first book. I haven't read the two books in the middle, and probably something happened in them, but one thing I know: in my old fashioned mind, all those sharing your lover with your friends (since you think he wants that) and turning your sex life in a complicated play scene, well, I don't think it helped at all.
Anyway, it's not use crying over spilt milk, and maybe someone else is interested in that milk... maybe a little nice kittie? Izzorah is a feline man from an aline planet which has commercial agreement with the Tarthian Empire. He is the drummer of a rock band and they have just signed a contract with Luc's business firm. Izzorah is all you can expected from a man with some feline traits, furry ears, some furry in other strategic places, no tail, but all purrs and little cute quirks. Plus Izzorah's planet is a matriarchal one, and he flew his hometown to avoid a forced marriage with a warrior woman: Izzorah is gay and he couldn't bear the idea to be a woman's lover. But Izzorah is not against the idea to be a warrior's lover, since he is a natural submissive... only that for Izzy, a total virgin, submission is a really simple thing: you find a man who takes care of you in all your needs, and in exchange you give yourself to him. For Izzy, submission is not a shadow dungeon or pain/pleasure games, it's more like be pampered and cuddled. And yes, I like very much Izzy, probably even more than Luc: Izzy is a total innocent character and you can't hold against him the guilt to be the third man, the one who splits the perfect couple, also since it was not him.
In the end I have two recommendations: if you are a reader like me arriving from the first book, well, probably after few pages you will manage to pass over your disappointment for the lost romance, and enjoy the new one, that probably has more chance to last since Luc has learned from the past; and instead if you haven't read the previous book, well, I will say that probably you can read directly this one, avoiding so the disillusion about the past romance, and fully enjoying the current one.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002BY77MW/?... Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) Ms Allen is an award-winning author including two EPPIEs.
Surrender Love was the first of her books that I read and my reaction, including general awe, was, How did she think up all this? I believe Ms Allen's imagination goes far beyond that of most fantasy authors. She has created a world far removed from our own with its own races and languages. I was amazed at how quickly I became integrated into this world and related to the characters.
I realized that some of these characters had already appeared in previous books by Ms Allen, but this does not affect the first-time reader like me, because the author is an expert at backstory which she relates so succinctly without detracting from the plot in hand.
Far be it from me to summarize this amazing world that she has created. Suffice it to say that the main character is Luc Saint Cyr, an exiled, immortal Semperivan (don't ask - read the book if you want to find out what that is). This handsome hunk of a hero has spent eternity bedding partners, yet his relationships have always dwindled out in the end. Surrender Love begins with such a story - Luc has been dumped by the love of his (ever-lasting) life, Wulf. This is where reading a previous book may have helped because I believe I was supposed to feel something akin to sympathy with Wulf, but I couldn't - I didn't know enough about him. Also, it would appear that Luc enjoys indulging in certain fantasies, that he is a tough cookie - often cruel. Yet this did not entirely come through in Surrender Love because Luc discovers the next love of his life: Izzorah Ceeow - a Kin by race and not unlike a cat with his upstanding ears (soft and velvety), smoothly blond furred body, a tendency to purr and bite with fangs and slanted green eyes. Oh but I loved this character - to the extent that I intend to start a I love Izzy campaign. And Luc feels the same - if Izzy (or Rah as he calls him) needs a cuddle, Luc will give him one, if Izzy needs heart surgery, Luc will provide it. Is this the cruel, wild Luc I was led to believe? Yes, he's still there, but plucky Izzy (a drummer in a famous rock band), who has had so much to withstand in his short life, steals Luc's heart away (and mine). Izzorah is no way a softie, he can stand on his own feet if he has to (despite being blind - a fact most people don't realize, so well does he hide it). It's just both he and Luc have been searching for love and, it looks like, this time they've found it.
The plot is complex and twisting but the reader is never far away from Luc and Izzorah. It has its fair share of good and evil and even some in between. The pace is fast and steady, picking up when necessary and slowing down during beautiful and steamy love scenes between the two MC's.
I have no difficultly giving this a five star rating and I can't wait to read the rest - although if Luc ever does anything bad to Izzy I shall personally duff him up. Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) The language contained a fair amount of sci-fi vocabulary in the beginning, which made it difficult to process at the outset. After a little while however, you dive into a fascinating world of aliens, culture, societal norms and, most importantly, a sexy couple. Luc is human/not-human, wealthy, powerful and involved in very politics with his former people as it were. Izzorah is a Kin from a female-dominated warrior society that has little respect for their male counterparts. While the majority of the tale is about Luc and Izzorah's relationship, there are cultural elements delving into the paparazzi, assisting immigrants and quite a few politics on various levels. I loved the smoldering aspects of Luc-Rah's relationship (though a few more details would have been nice). At the same time, I felt as if Allen skimmed the surface a bit to much. We jump extremely fast into the relationship, and yet barely touch how that will effect their families and society at large. Izzorah is a fully submissive male and while that pairs perfectly with Luc's dominant traits, it makes for a bit of a lacklustre character. He walks away from his career in a heartbeat to be with his mate, which seems a bit too stereotypical housewife motif. I appreciate that this is the first book in the series and more books will reveal the intricacies of this universe, yet I believe more details into the society and other elements would prove to be enriching of both the characters and their circumstances. Copy of the book provided by the author via Voracious Readers. Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) I was blown away by the depth of this world and the characters inhabiting it. You could feel Luc and Izzorah's emotions pouring off the page. I swear I could feel the cool breezes on my skin. Don't let the book size deter you - it's an epic tale well worth the read. I rated it at a 4 simply because there were times when it felt like things were moving very slowly, and I had to push through. That said the descriptions and plot are wonderful, and make you want to keep reading until the end. Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal)
An immortal alpha male. An illegal, near-blind rock musician. And twelve thousand years of lies...
Luc is the most powerful man in an intergalactic empire of 22 planets—but he's alone, life after life.
Izzorah survives by hiding both his illegal status and his blindness for fear of banishment.
Only Luc's immortal blood can heal Izzorah's sight—and only Izzorah's love can heal Luc's heart. Luc might risk violating the highest law among the immortals by sharing his blood, but it means revealing the truth of what he is, and that means baring every damning secret, every twisted truth, and twelve thousand years' worth of dirty hidden lies... With no guarantee their love can survive that kind of truth.
Surrender Love, a steamy sweet MM Sci-Fi romance featuring instant attraction between a hot immortal and a feisty rocker with a galaxy full of secrets between them. Book 1 in the explosive Antonello Brothers: Immortal Science Fiction series. Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal)
Highly recommend this story. Couldn't put it down
Five star book
I do plan on rereading this book later on the year Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) A must read
Ms. Allen is new to me.
When i started reading I was a little confused but the details helped pull me in and I couldn't put my reader down.
Luc and Izzorah love was felt throughout the book.
This was well written and an easy flow.
I highly recommend this book. Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) I'm a bit disappointed in this...it had the potential to pretty epic but fell short for me.
Let me start by saying this is absolutely NOT a standalone. There are too many political and personal things happening between side characters for you to understand what's going on without having read the previous series (which I did not). And unfortunately I think the story really suffers from not having any explainers for new fans. Especially for the scene when Luc throws a family dinner with characters who are clearly from another series with backstories of their own.
The romance storyline is nice. I enjoyed Luc and Izzorah both separately and together. There is some insta-love but I didn't mind it. I really loved Izzorah's ability to smell emotions and personality traits to an extent. It was a really great ability to attribute to an alien cat species. One thing I didn't like though were the fade-to-black sex scenes. I don't know if the author doesn't know how to write mm sex scenes or just wanted a clean read for their readers...but I really don't see the point in making a big deal about Izzorah being a virgin and then not showing us him popping his cherry so to speak lol It was this big turn on for Luc and virginity is always used as a way to show purity and sexiness...I just thought that building all that up for a fade-to-black scene was pretty pointless. It's also annoying to later have the MCs tell each other things like wait until I get you home later *sexy eyebrow wiggle* when I'm not going to get the payoff and read about the sexy times. Sexless books are great...fade-to-black scenes are great...but if that's the route you're gonna go then don't make one of your MC's important traits being a virgin.
I was really disappointed at the end when Luc was still keeping his big secret from Izzorah, even though he said he'd tell him. I think he tells him in the sequel short story, but honestly I was too exhausted with the plot of this story to continue any further.
I really wish the author had attempted to make this series more understandable to new readers by fleshing out the world and explaining the immortal race and its politics. That being said, it's a fine romance and if you've read the original series I'm sure you'll enjoy this!
3 Stars Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) I'll admit I didn't get very far, but it was just that bad. Nothing about it, in fact, was good but the quality of the prose within each sentence. Yet the sentences taken as a whole were a disaster.
First the book starts out with a GIGANTIC info dump. The author generously labels this a prologue, but it's in fact an outline that she couldn't figure out how to work organically into the story, so she instead just shoves it at you and clearly hopes you'll remember everything, despite it reading like a history textbook. So much of what she said in the prologue made so little sense, too, but since it remains there unexplored, you just have to take it as it is.
Then the book starts out with a whiny, heartbroken protagonist whom we first meet through an endless, repetitive dream--in and of itself a corny device. I'm so glad when the scene is over that I decide to read on out of sheer relief.
Which takes us to the next protagonist (I assume), a guy on tour with a rock band (or possibly a member of said band) who promptly gets into a wrestling match with his cousin that actually includes the lines Did not, Did too. The scene is as long, unnecessary, unenlightening, and obnoxious as any other did not/did too fight you might see between a couple of six-year-olds in real life. It was at this point that I gave up on the whole thing, and frankly I'm baffled by all the good things other reviewers had to say about it. I dunno . . . maybe it gets better? Or maybe I'm just a really picky reader; I started out as an editor, after all, and that does tend to suck the enjoyment out of things that aren't done to near perfection. (It also makes me wonder how any editor, especially one at a house as large as Loose Id, thought this fit to publish.) Alas, this just felt amateurish in so many ways; the prose is solid, but the elements of character, story, and scene-building are a total disaster.
EDIT: I think maybe I'll try to come back to this in a few days and see if it seems any less awful then. I'd be quite relieved to find myself wanting to add a couple stars to my review. Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal) omg, i so totally LOVED this book! First, I'm going to say that it helps to fully understand and appreciate Luc in this book if you've read Jawk, which can be read by itself, even though it's the third book of a series.
Kayelle Allen is a very imaginative author. She's come up with a huge history for her universe, several races and languages. I love the epic sci-fi scope of this universe and the unique characters who populate it. The level of detail put into fleshing out the universe gives this book allot of depth. There are enough well-fleshed out secondary characters introduced for another 6 or 9 books!
I'm not sure if I can put this into words well, but the book's strength is in it's story and characters, the m/m aspect is just another detail of the book, not it's focus like many m/m books. Most m/m books, stripped of the smut, would be decent but not very compelling. This book would definitely stand on it's own if stripped of the smut. Which is ironic coming from me, since I read almost no non-m/m books these days. So if this hadn't been m/m, I'd have never read it and definitely been the poorer for it.
I very much want to see more from Rah and Luc. There are allot of plot points that are still open and knowing that there are two more books leads me to hope that they'll be covered in the next two books and that the author won't switch to other characters as the main focus for the next two books. Surrender Love (Antonello Brothers: Immortal)
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