Although Fearless is my first Helen Kirkman book, I have given her other books serious consideration in the past because of their outstanding covers vividly portraying Dark Age male virility. Now I am wondering what I may have missed by sticking to my rule of never buying a book based solely on its cover. Her…
Lately the Viking romance seems to be enjoying a renaissance of sorts and I, for one, could not be happier. While I would not want a steady diet of this time period (or a steady diet of any single time period for that matter), it is one that I enjoy and am glad to see…
Sometimes I come across a book that I desperately want to like, but even if I give it every chance in the world to thrill me, I just can’t make myself recommend it. Maidensong is one of those books. It has so many unique elements going for it – non-English characters, an amazing setting, a…
Destiny is set in 875AD – and the Vikings hold most of eastern England. When the story begins Elena, a captive of the Viking leader Kraka, has just escaped and is found while on the run by Berg, an East Anglian warrior now exiled from his lands. Elena then saves Berg in a skirmish with…
I chose to review Forbidden primarily because the setting, Dark Ages England, fascinates me. But it took me a long time to both get into the story and understand what in the heck was going on with the characters. Readers lacking a great deal of interest in the period would likely be unwilling to invest…
Susan Squires’s Danegeld was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2001 for me. So I was excited to review its sequel Danelaw, and pleased to find that it was another rollicking good read. Epona is the last descendant of the Horse Goddess. She lives alone in her small cottage with only her herd of…
Life in England during the Middle Ages was fraught with danger. Epona (Pony) finds herself caught between two warring factions – Vikings and Saxons. Pony is drawn into King Alfred’s war to dominate the land but her involvement with the Valgar, a Viking, will put all of her beliefs to the test. Valgar the Beast…
If I’m reading a book that says “Romance” on the spine and has a clinch on the cover, but halfway through I have to skip ahead to the end just to make sure everything turns out all right, then I figure I’m reading a pretty darn good book. While Sara Bennett’s sophomore effort, The Rose…
My Fair Viking is the kind of book I hate to review. Although I didn’t like it, I have a sneaking suspicion that there are readers who would enjoy it very much. Adam the Healer has not practiced his healing arts for more than two years out of grief over his sister’s death. He is…
Author Josie Litton may have chosen to be a mystery, but the success of her books isn’t. Between the brilliance of the marketing scheme surrounding her and her excellent writing – as defined by her enjoyable characters and exciting plots – little is left to chance. The finale to her “debut” medieval Viking trilogy, Come…