REVIEW - THE VOW

Author: Juliana Garnett
Pages: 280 pages
Publisher: Loveswept / Random House Publishing Group
Published: August, 2011
Form: E-Book (Review Copy through NetGalley)
Amazon: Buy

"Sent by William of Normandy to quell a brazen Saxon rebellion, Luc Louvat believed his mission would be easily accomplished. For what foolish Saxon lord had any hope of triumphing against an army of seasoned Norman knights? But the great warrior was in for a shock. First he is surprised by the ferocious battle that had been waged and then by his adversary--a beautiful princess. Suddenly, Luc finds he's waging a dangerous new war--the war that threaten's the warrior's heart." ~Goodreads

1062. At sixteen Ceara is a woman in the eyes of countrymen but she is also considered a bad tempered she-wolf and possibly a women who conspires with the devil because of her bad temper and wicked tongue. She’s not pleased of the shaky truce with the Normans and tries to convince her father so, but for her being a woman she isn’t listened.

So the day comes when the Normans do arrive lead by Luc Louvat, a Knight without land, a bastard son of a Lord, if he can win Wulfridge from the stubborn Saxons he can keep it. But Wulfridge doesn’t fall easily, and it isn’t until the cunning wit of the Knight that they infiltrate the castle only to notice that they’d battled not against a Lord, but a Lord’s wicked daughter.

Ceara belittles and smites Luc with her wicked tongue and seriously tries his patience and gets him angrier than he has ever been, but there is something else about the fair-haired maiden that raises emotions, but it isn’t anything he wants to further explore. With as many tricks as Ceara has in her pocket he’s wise to be cautious as he begins to transport the Lord’s daughter to the King's court to lay her at his mercy.

But it turns out it’s not so easy to hate when you feel more elaborate emotions, electricity running between them drawing the two stubborn together, and the two fight to figure out what they want and what they need and wither those two just might intersect eventually and what would have to be sacrificed for that.

Ceara does seem her age in her emotions of invulnerability and in her teenage hormones, but she also has the side of a woman who has been through war and seen blood, and not being a stranger to a sword. She's not your frail maiden type, but an honest to god saxon warrior princess.
Luc comes off harsh and controlled but it’s yummy to read his resolves crack around her and her temper. She keeps tempting him, shunning him and purring for pleasure and it’s fun to see him control on how to react to her.

I love historical novels, there is something about the brute ways and swords and the knights taking what belongs to them, but doing it while falling in love with the heroine!

A temper filled, headstrong journey with passion that simmers to a boil as fast as you can draw your sword and hack down the enemy.

Rating :

Started Reading : 12th of Aug. 2011
Finished Reading : 25th of Aug. 2011

REVIEW - LOKI'S DAUGHTERS

Author: Delle Jacobs
File Size: 453 KB ( aka approx. 250 pages )
Publisher: Delle Jacobs
Published: January 11, 2010
Form: Kindle Edition


I found this free on Amazon.com for Kindle, and read it in less than 24 hours.

The story begins with 9th Century Cumbria where a village is inhabited by Celt women only, after raid, after raid of Vikings who killed their men in their wake. Arienh is the rock of the whole village of women, but as hard as she tries they aren't doing good. What changes everything is when Arienh runs into a lone Viking in the hills, he tries to capture her only to be stabbed to his and her surprise by Arienh.

Her conscience eventually nags enough that she allows the dying Viking the warmth of her cabin she shares with her sister and her nephew. As it happens he doesn't die, but his brother does show up to collect him.

The women see trouble right away as the men begin to feel far too much at home in their valley. As the men decide to stay and court the women for their wives Arienh will have none of it and the battle is ready to begin. Sneaky battle that is. Arienh in the front and center has decided to make the men's stay in their valley as unpleasant as possible, to drive them elsewhere.

It's not easy to come to terms that these men, who call themselves Northmen and not Vikings, are not the same Vikings who raider and raped the village in the years before.

While Arienh worries over her sister and nephew she finds that she's not quite immune to her Viking's courting after all, which gets her to heap of trouble.

The story is nice trip to Middle Ages in a soft romantic way. I myself have a soft spot for historical romance genre, after having grown up with the medieval romances written by Kaari Utrio.

I really did like this book, but I think reading it at the end of the winter would have been perfect.

You can find this book for free at amazon.com and at the author's blog.

Rating :

+ ☆ ☆ ☆ ★ ★
Good book, well worth reading

Started Reading : 12th of July 2011 : afternoon
Finished Reading : 13th of July 2011 : morning

Music: Loreena McKennitt, expecially "Skellig" ( http://youtu.be/EWvG2fLSypY )