Once the heroine could count her teacher and mentor as a friend but his past relationship with his father and his fear over loss of control made him break her heart. He went to another woman. Devastated, the heroine found comfort in the arms of another man and whatever friendship they had dissolved into fights and bitter arguments. Now, the heroine must finds the hero's missing brother before it's too late and as a curtesy, she asked for the hero's help. Though she still feels an insistent and powerful pull towards the Lycan male, the way he treats her and all those harsh and cruel comments make her reluctant to trust him. The hero in turn is powerfully against the heroine coming with him into the wasteland for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, she isn't a shifter, though she has the blood she can't shift and in turn is a weaker fighter against the enemy they face. Secondly, he is still bitter and jealous over her relationship with the other vampire male, the one he's convinced she loves still. And lastly, the most pressuring objection of all is his passionate urge to protect her and possess her. But that's something he can never do and so in his attempts to distance himself from her and his own feelings, he picks fights with her and criticizes her. But it soon becomes very apparent that he can no longer suppress his physical desire for her and in a move that shows his true selfishness, he proposes sex with no strings attached. He convinces himself that if he screws her out of his system, the feelings will go away. Not knowing just how deeply the heroine love him before he broke her heart and ignorant to her true feelings presently, he begins to toy with her emotions. She knows very well that she can't just have emotionless sex, especially not with this man yet she can't stop herself from wanting him. With her ex lover and still best friend as their guild through the wasteland, the hero battles his own cowardice as well as his overwhelming jealousy to a man who never held her heart. I liked this book but I didn't love it. I thought the hero was a coward and a little bit of a shit for the way he treats the heroine both before and currently. He really only thought about himself. His father and the way the man tortured him and his mother made the hero crave control. So, he thinks he knows best about everyone around him. He pushed the heroine in the vampires arms yet calls her a whore and shames her for it. He acts possessive and jealous but isn't willing to fight for her, rather he allows her to dangle on a string. In turn I thought the heroine to be a little bit spineless. She's supposed to be a warrior yet every battle she either has a panic attack or hangs back and lets the hero to the fighting. Also, she allows the hero to walk all over her. She's ruled by her desire for him and as such she permits him to purpose the sex arrangement and lies to herself about the fact that she's happy to have him the only way she can. I thought that have a strain relationship at best and a destructive one at worse. That paired with the low moving story about nothing at all really and it made for an alright book but nothing to phone home about. ( )

Kierland is a lycanthrope, Morgan is a shifter. Many years ago they had a relationship which broke up badly and Kierland is annoyed at her because she went on to have other relationships. Now he has to go with her, and the vampire she had the relationship with, to rescue his brother.

Not bad. While the setup was a bit forced and the idea that while they were not in a relationship that she "betrayed" him rankles me a lot, and doesn't bode well for trust issues later in their relationship (he continued to be pissy about it throughout). The story wasn't bad and set things up for further stories quite well. I found it readable but it sometimes stretched my suspension of disbelief a little too much. ( )

TOUCH OF SURRENDER by Rhyannon Byrd is a paranormal romance. It is the fifth in the Primal Instinct but can be read as a stand alone. It is well written with depth, detail,twists and turns. It has sadistic villians, betrayal, sensuality, evil, good. life, death, Lycans, Vampires, shape shifters,and romantic musunderstandings. The characters are strong, smart, determined, likable and will keep you guessing. The hero, Keirland, is strong, jealous, possisive, dominating, bossy, a Lycan, a watchman, warrior, share a past with the heroine, Morgan, and in love with her. The heroine, Morgan, is a watchman, a shape shifter, a warrior, strong, smart, has a shared past with Keirland and in love with him. They have to team together to find Keirland's brother, battle their enemies beyond death,overcome their feelings of feelings of betrayal and come to understand their feelings toward each other. If you enjoy paranormal romance you will like this one with its romance, sensuality, good vs evil. This book was received for review from Net Galley and details can be found at HHQ and My Book Addiction and More. ( )

I received an e-galley of this book from Harlequin a little after it was released. I've read a couple other books by Rhyannon Byrd, such as Last Wolf Standing, from her Bloodrunners series (which is written by multiple authors). I'd really enjoyed that series and so I was thrilled when I was able to get my hands on Touch of Surrender.

Coming into a series in the middle is always a challenge for the reader. You're expected to know who some of the secondary characters are, and what the overarching themes and conflicts of the series are. With some authors, it's really hard to jump in mid-series but Rhyannon Byrd has done a great job of making Touch of Surrender accessible to new readers. She explains the series mythology and history in a very organic way; new readers, like myself, get a basic understanding of the setting, but in a way that's probably not distracting to followers of the series. I love it when authors can do this well, since I've read other series in which the (re-)familiarization with the world can be clunky and overly detailed. Rhyannon Byrd's just piqued my interest in the previous novels!

All that being said, Touch of Surrender is set in a world where various types of supernatural beings exist, hidden from human eyes. Some of these clans are good, and are protected by a group called the Watchmen (very Alan Moore), who are fighting against the Casus, an evil group bent on taking over. In this story, two watchmen - Kierland, a Lycan, and Morgan, a shapeshifter - are brought together to rescue Kierland's brother. The two have a rough history, spanning a decade, and are forced to confront their ideas about one another, with the extra pressure of Morgan's ex, a vampire named Ashe, being a necessary component of the rescue.

I really enjoyed reading Touch of Surrender. The plot was interesting and the book was well-written. Morgan and Kierland are good protagonists, and the supporting characters are all well developed and smart. I really enjoyed the pacing of both the rescue mission and the development of their romantic relationship. In fact, I liked this book so much I'm going to have to find the earlier books in the series so that I can add this to my must-read list.

Also published at http://ireadgood.wordpress.com ( )

I get that this is part of a group of 3 books which form part of an even bigger group. I do have a problem with the fact that the storyline is cut off in the middle -- mid-quest we get a temporary happily-ever-after ending. Not satisfying. ( )