by Kathleen Kirkwood
- Print Length: 351 pages
- Publisher: ByDand Publishing (May 12, 2013)
- Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00CRQ99I4
Dispossessed of her lands by the marauding Norsemen, Brienne Beaumanior is brought from cloister by royal decree and offered as a bride to her enemy.
A golden warrior of the North . . .
Sent to escort his father’s promised bride to the Barony of Valsemé, Rurik Atlison finds himself entranced by the dark-haired beauty and his passions set aflame.
Love unexpected, bringing peril to all . . .
Tormented by their desires, Rurik and Brienne resist giving into their yearnings and endangering their people.
But destiny will not be denied. Their love will burn brightly through all the ages to come as Norse and Frank meld into a new people — the Normans.
Lyting - What a cutie. His character is very likable and honorable. I adored him from the get go.
Aleth - Everyone needs a best friend like her. So sweet, and clever.
Rurik - My heart ached for him the whole time. A memorable Viking. Valiant. Passionate.
Brienne - Poor thing went through hell, but stupidly she brought on a lot of it herself.
***SPOILERS ***
Waite's mother heavy with child, from beginning to end of book?The time that span was enough to grow several women's bellies, a war and a lot of other things. The prediction of twins during the Viking age? Handheld mirrors to gaze at yourself while you comb your hair? These weren't even around during the time of Henry VIII!
84% into the book, I am furiously angry, and almost unable to keep reading!! How much more can this strained relationship take? Having Brienne continue to doubt her husband because he is of Norse decent was so annoying! Just the same as the "necessity" to convert Pagans into Christians. I understand it is historically based, but this book goes into some really strange supernatural ritual experiences that are inaccurate to real life, and it truly blurs the lines of history.
Katla was a deranged woman, and brought much conflict to the book, but come on. Some things are so far fetched that reality isn't even an option here.
Having Brienne come face to face with things she "thinks" her husband is doing behind her back, then turning and running away makes the vein in the middle of my forehead want to explode! This book actually caused me stress! What kind of woman catches her husband in something, then turns and runs? Any normal, hot blooded woman would get pissed off enough to confront the guy. Seriously.
So then, I skim through a bunch of unnecessary details, scanning the dialogue, only to find Brienne again goes through several other obstacles keeping her from Rurik. And the cliff jump, WTF? It left my blood boiling.
Way too much in this one book. The author completely strips away Rurik's heart, throws it on the ground, and stomps on it. What's the deal? How much pain and sorrow can be inflicted on a man before he dies from a broken heart?
Even for Brienne, it's like she lived a whole lifetime in a year and a half. I think I even sprouted three grey hairs a midst her struggles! My emotions are like a roller coaster, but more annoyed than anything. I feel if the book ended half way through, it would have been spectacular. I truly believe that the author didn't want to let her own characters go, so she wrote and wrote until she couldn't anymore.
For me, too long. I only read to the end because I HAD to know what happened. Then there was an epilogue. OMG!
I enjoyed the book all the way to the middle, then after that I felt the author should have had one more struggle and a happy ending. For me, there is way too much conflict on these pages. Perhaps the author could eliminate some of her ideas next time instead of cramming them all in one book? When you find yourself skimming for dialogue, you've grown bored.
The author can write very well, so I hope she reads this and takes my review with a grain of salt, and takes my advice with her future books because I truly think she has it in her to knock the socks of her readers. Just because you have a lot of cool stuff to put into the book doesn't mean that it all belongs there. Even with the happy ending, it didn't heal my heart from all the turmoil that it went through reading the book. I felt let down, and I am now unable to sleep.
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