Terms of Surrender


Fiction - Historical - Event/Era
347 Pages
Reviewed on 12/13/2013
Buy on Amazon

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Author Biography

A Navy brat and graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, LORRIE FARRELLY is proud to be a Fightin' Banana Slug (well, we’re really lovers, not fighters). Following graduate school at Northwestern University, she began a career in education that included teaching art to 4th graders, drama to 8th graders, and finally, math to high school students. (If anybody loses asymptotes, she can probably find them...)
She's a three-time winner on Jeopardy! (despite forgetting the chemical symbol for sulfuric acid ... oh, wait – she never knew that in the first place). She has shepherded wide-eyed foreign exchange students along Hollywood Blvd. ("As many stars and lunatics as there are in the Heavens"), and happily curried and shoveled as a ranch hand at Disneyland's Circle D Ranch. And always, she writes.
Lorrie has won a Presidential Commendation for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics. She's been a Renaissance nominee for Teacher of the Year and a finalist for the Orange Rose Award in romantic fiction. She's never won the lottery, except where her family is concerned. For her, they're the ultimate prize.

    Book Review

Reviewed by Michael McManus for Readers' Favorite

Captain Michael Cantrell of the Confederate Army leaves Virginia at the end of the Civil War, his entire life in shambles, his father and brother dead as a result of the war and his childhood home in ruins. His travels have taken him to the gold strike in Montana for a time, but are now carrying him back to his beloved South, his saddlebags full of gold and precious stones. Suddenly, he is sidetracked when he runs into an ambush in progress, where he saves the lives of a young woman and her even younger brother. He is critically injured by a rogue gunman. The target of the ambush is Annie Devlin, the owner of a small farm in Wind River Basin in Wyoming, a place surrounded by more raw beauty than Michael has ever seen. Annie nurses him back to health while trying to protect her land from being taken over by the evil Colonel Randolph, a land baron who wants to buy her out, the very man who hired the gunman to attack her. There is an immediate attraction between the rebel soldier and the beautiful young rancher, but those feelings have to be suppressed. There is no guarantee that Captain Cantrell will stick around.

Terms of Surrender is another beautifully crafted tale by Lorrie Farelly. This story, a mixture of passion and nail-biting suspense, will engage you and continue to hold on until you read the last page. Ms. Farrelly is an author who continues to come out with winners. I highly recommend Terms of Surrender to an audience who likes romantic fiction.

Natasha Jackson

Terms of Surrender begins as the war between the States comes to a close and the remaining soldiers are slowly trying to pull their lives and bodies together. One soldier in particular, Captain Michael Cantrell, has seen his entire life — his family, his home and his spirit — devastated by this war. In an effort to heal or simply get away from it all, Michael roams from place to place in search of a purpose in his life. Lorrie Farrelly gives him that purpose when he saves Annie and her brother Robbie from an unscrupulous Colonel seeking to take their land. Michael is a soldier and he is used to doing battle, but this particular fight leaves him wounded and at the mercy of Annie’s kindness to heal his body and possibly to soothe his soul.

Lorrie Farrelly has created a fantastic tale of love, war, and painful memories. Despite the desolation all around, Terms of Surrender doesn’t feel like a dark, cold story full of misery. That’s because it isn’t, even though neither Mike nor Annie have had an easy time lately and they both are suffering from nightmares that prevent them from moving forward. As the love slowly develops between these two lost souls, both are able to open their lives up to others. Specifically, Michael takes a shine to Robbie who fills the void left by his lost brother. Terms of Surrender could have been a depressing read but it is a credit to Farrelly’s skill as a writer that she is able to infuse the story with splashes of humor. It is a story that is filled with hope and healing and best of all, action. She takes a story that has been told time and again and spins it into something wonderfully gripping and engaging.

Brenda Casto

After the civil war, Captain Michael Cantrell finds himself haunted by the losses incurred, and he blames himself for a tragedy that took everything he held dear. With nothing left, he heads west, determined to never allow anyone to get close to him again. When he comes upon a brutal attack against Annie Devlin and her ten-year-old brother, he can't help but become involved. While he thwarts their attacker, he is wounded himself. Annie takes him home and tends to his wounds, and soon Michael learns that Annie and her brother are being tormented by a rancher who wants their land. Michael decides to stick around long enough to help keep the Devlins safe. Soon he has feelings for Annie, which makes him question whether he should just go ahead and move on because, while his physical wounds have healed, he is certain that the emotional scars he carries never will. Will Michael continue to run from the ghosts that haunt him or has he finally found a place to belong?

Filled with sweet emotion, but also heart wrenching hurt, Terms Of Surrender by Lorrie Farrelly is exactly why I am such a fan of historical fiction! It's a story that had my emotions all over the place. From the harshness of the west, to the birth of a new baby. Tenderness at one turn, but heartbreak could be right around the corner. The storytelling is done with such amazing clarity that I found myself easily transported into the lives of Annie, Robbie, and Michael. Each character literally jumps off the pages. I couldn't read the book fast enough to see whether Michael would stay or go, and whether he would ever be able to stop blaming himself. The character of Gavin plays a unique role in this story as well, infusing a spiritual twist that really enhanced the plot for me. Great characters, a touching romance with a bit of sizzle, and a plot that provides enough danger and suspense to keep it interesting make Terms of Surrender a stand out historical romance. While this is the first time I have read anything by Lorrie Farrelly it certainly won't be my last.