Summer of the Viking

by Michelle Styles

"We have the summer, Alwynn. It will have to be enough."

Washed up alone on the Northumbrian shore, Valdar Nerison is a stranger in a foreign land. He has unfinished business in Raumerike, but first, he owes his rescuer, the beautiful Lady Alwynn, a life debt.

Alwynn is wary of Valdar's promise to protect her—after all, she has known only betrayal at the hands of men. But as summer's end approaches, Valdar must choose whether to return home and fight for his honor or to stay and fight for Alwynn's heart…

Genres: Romance, Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Harlequin

Paperback

First published June 1, 2015

About the author

Born and raised near San Francisco Califorinia, Michelle Styles currently lives a few miles south of Hadrian's Wall with her husband, three children and menagerie of pets. An avid reader, she became hooked on historical romance when she discovered Georgette Heyer, Anya Seton and Victoria Holt in her school's library. Michelle enjoys writing stories in a wide range of time periods including Roman, Viking, Regency and early Victorian. Her website can be found at www.michellestyles.co.uk

Reviews

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don't know if I should give it a 3.5 stars or stick with 4.. I enjoyed it, it was a pleasant romance with an interesting setting with Vikings. As a Swede, I do love my Vikings!. It wasn't something extra special but fin enough to read

[Alyssa Urbano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Done reading!

I'm giving this 4 stars.

Sorry it took so long for me to read this. Got caught up in real life once more. Gaaah. I wish I could just live in books.

And in a world like this one. Who wouldn't love steamy Vikings?

Okay. I'm getting carried away.

4 stars.

I liked this book. Nice story and I liked the chemistry between Valdar and Alwynn. I liked Valdar since he appeared in Return of the Viking Warrior. My heart went out to him. Being jilted at the altar could do that to anyone, you know.

Like always, I liked the world-building. There's just something about Vikings I can't put my finger on.

The plot was great too. Hero comes in need of saving. And then it becomes mutual for he also saves the heroine.

Some parts dragged. Some parts were so bittersweet.

I liked this story. Giving this 4 stars since I still think that Ash's book (Return of the Viking) was much better.

Kudos again, Ms. Styles for the #goodread :)

[Yelena Bosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review coming VERY SOON!!

This review better do justice for this beautiful story..

<3

[Annie Burrows · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been waiting for Valdar's story ever since Kara left him at the altar in Return of the Viking Warrior - and I wasn't disappointed!

[Gribouille Lechat · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://leslecturesdegribouille.blogs...

J'aime bien les romances, et surtout les romances historiques, mais je dois avouer qu'il y a toujours des choses qui m'agacent. Les tergiversations, les hésitations sous des prétextes divers et variés mais généralement ridicules, les non-dits qui compliquent tout, les malentendus, les personnages qui se drapent dans leur fierté ou s'emportent avant d'avoir pu entendre ce qu'on voulait leur dire...

Bien sûr, vous allez me dire que c'est ça qui fait tout l'intérêt de l'histoire, et que sans ça, ça se terminerait en 20 pages. Je sais bien, mais c'est plus fort que moi, ça m'agace, même si je dois reconnaître que ces gros clichés et petits défauts sont plus ou moins présents et appuyés selon les romans. Certains sont en effet mieux que d'autres, à ce niveau.

Et celui-là, il fait partie de la catégorie "énervant". Pourtant, sur le papier, ça ne pouvait que me plaire : une jeune châtelaine anglaise veuve qui recueille et cache un viking blessé, désobéissant ainsi à la loi qui veut que tout étranger retrouvé sur la plage soit mis à mort, il y avait tous les ingrédients pour que ce soit une bonne lecture.

Mais j'ai été déçue. D'abord parce qu'il ne reste pas caché très longtemps - la jeune femme le faisant rapidement passer aux yeux de ses "gens" pour son nouveau régisseur - et qu'il m'a par conséquent manqué cette bulle d'intimité qui aurait pu se créer pendant la période où elle l'aurait soigné et où il n'aurait pas pu sortir de chez elle. Je me suis sentie vraiment frustrée car j'adore ce genre de situation où les protagonistes sont plus ou moins obligés de cohabiter (c'est encore mieux si c'est dans un environnement restreint) suite à un enchaînement d'événements inhabituels et imprévus, où ils apprennent à se connaître par la force des choses et où l'attirance mutuelle naît et s’accroît peu à peu. C'est ce que j'attendais de ce roman à la lecture du résumé, et j'ai donc été fortement déçue qu'il n'y ait rien de tout ça.

Ensuite, ma patience à durement été mise à l'épreuve par le nombre de pages qui s'est écoulé avant qu'ils surmontent leurs résistances intérieures et leurs scrupules moraux et se décident à s'embrasser. Pour les ébats plus intimes, je ne vous en parle même pas, c'était encore plus long.

Et même là, quand ils ont sauté le pas, ils n'arrêtent pas d'avoir des doutes, de vouloir tout arrêter, de s'interdire l'idée même que leur histoire est possible...

Quand on sait que ça va forcément bien finir, il y a de quoi bouillonner intérieurement. En tout cas, c'est ce que moi, j'ai ressenti.

Au niveau de l'histoire et du contexte historique, en revanche, c'est plutôt réussi. On comprend bien la méfiance à l'égard des étrangers, compte tenu des nombreux et très violents raids et pillages perpétrés par les hommes venus du nord qui terrorisent la population de cette région du nord de l'Angleterre. De plus, ces gens simples savent très peu de choses sur les "barbares" qui les attaquent, et les prennent au mieux pour des sauvages incultes et païens, au pire pour des démons venus de contrées infernales. Pas étonnant qu'ils en aient si peur et les haïssent autant !


Conclusion : Une bonne romance, pour celles qui aiment les nombreuses hésitations et obstacles (qui n'existent souvent que dans la tête des personnages).

[Trudy Miner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during the time of the Viking raids on Northumbria, Valdar Nerison is on a supposed trading voyage when he's chosen to be sacrificed during a storm and is washed up nearly dead on a shore in Northumbria where he's discovered by Lady Alwynn and her daughter. Since all strangers have been ordered to be killed, Lady Alwynn must hide Valdar until he's recovered. A widow, an unscrupulous earl wants to marry her to gain her property but he's gone to the king for the summer so Alwynn allows Valdar to stay as her steward for the summer. Valdar proves to be a qualified and trustworthy steward who all of Alwynn's tenants come to love and admire. During the summer, Valdar and Alwynn draw close together and Valdar becomes undecided whether he should tell her the truth about who he is or leave as planned. Soon, however, his ship returns and Valdar's choice is taken from him. What will he do?

The story of Valdar and Alwynn is moving. The characters are well-drawn and the plot moves smoothly. This is one of my favorite authors whom I haven't read in awhile and am glad to read again.

[Toth Jo-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoy Michelle stories. She makes the characters come alive. In this book I like how she makes a point here with Valdar. To many people are judged on heritage. Which Valtar is worried about. I also like the other story line covered thru Alwynn. She does a excellent job of weaving the story, for it draws you right into the story from the beginning. It gives you a chance to see how there is good and bad in every culture. I like how she blends just the right amount of action and story to make the book work. I love the young stepdaughter Merri. I am going to hint at a story for her please! I will strongly recommend this story. For its well written and its hard to put down I discovered. I look forward to my next adventure in reading with her. J

[Risadris♥ · Rating 2 out of 5]

El libro es apasionado, la escritora sabe muy bien como capturar con su historia, cumple con su objetivo de entretener y prácticamente lo leí de una sola sentada, pero debo decir que no es bueno.
La historia no profundiza en los personajes salvo lo que ellos dicen. Los personajes no paran de contradecirse, en un momento los dos dicen que no pueden tener una relación romántica y dos líneas después ya se están besando y quitándose la ropa; y esto ocurre mas de una vez.
Todo se resuelve muy rápido y ni siquiera hay un epílogo.
Le pondría solo dos estrellas.

[Gioconda Méndez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es un romance bonito y soñador, seré sincera, no es una maravilla de la literatura contemporánea, solamente es un romance ligero y entretenido, en especial creo que es un libro para salir del bloqueo de lector.
Además la lectura se siente rápida desde el inicio.

Lo único que me dejó a deber es que ese epilogo no me dijo en realidad casi nada de cómo los protagonistas vivieron después del desenlace.

Por último, por favor necesitamos mejorar esa portada :)

[Babette Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

(Teresa Siciliano)
Una bella storia d’amore, ambientata in Northumbria all’epoca delle incursioni piratesche o commerciali da parte dei Norreni, che noi in genere identifichiamo sbrigativamente con i Vichinghi. Avvincente e mai noioso. Uno dei titoli migliori di quest’autrice.
Peccato per qualche refuso di troppo.

[Maria Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Noioso, primo romanzo per me di ambientazione vichinga.
Una palla assurda. Peccato :(

[Ariday Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ay no, y luego que? No se dijo nada de si pudo o no cumplir su sueño de ser madre, me quedo a deber sinceramente.

[Tatiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Porque ese final? Dame un poco más de sus vidas por Dios
Si termina "bien" pero necesito un epilogo contando que fue de sus vidas.

[Proud Book Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing Style
So, I found the writing style to be a little less intricate than her newest novel. I don’t know if this is because this one was an older one or not, but I did feel there was a little bit of a difference compared to what I read in Sent as the Vikings Bride.

It did grab my attention and kept me involved when I was starting to feel stressed about my study. I was worried coz I started another book and I wasn’t really into it, so being able to take the break from that book to read this one; which I knew I’d enjoy; was a really good feeling.

Michelle continued her enjoyable style with a character driven story steeped in history that spans the Viking countries, and what we now know as Great Britain. What was really cool about this for me was that it featured Northumbria, which is the area my family originally came from before immigrating to Australia.

I really enjoyed reading even a tiny little bit of history from that corner of the country knowing my family history.

Initial Thoughts
My initial thoughts of this was that again, I wasn’t too sure who was who at the start of the book. After experiencing that again, I’m thinking this is just the way Michelle sets up her stories. But I do find it a little bit confusing trying to figure out who’s who until it settles down.

My only other big kinda thought at the start was that Michelle talked about the various different Northmen nations. Like when she referred to one country as Viken, it made me think that maybe we broadly apply the term “Viking” to all people from the Scandinavian countries.

And this thought led me to reflect on how we now, and even then, broadly applied our experiences of a few individuals to an entire nation. Or in some cases continent. And these can be both positive or negative. But it made me reflect on how often I might do this and the effect it might have on my interactions with those around me.

Final Thoughts
My final thoughts of this book when I first finished it was that it was the polar opposite of Sent as the Vikings Bride. In that one, the girl went to the guy, the guy was the landowner, the girl was the hero (or at least that’s how I took it). Whereas, in this one, the guy went to the girl, the girl was the landowner and the guy was the hero.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy the story. Because I did. It was just something that I noticed and made me pause. But in that pause, I reminded myself that there are only so many variations of those catalysts that an author can come up with.

Something that I think was done subtly that I really liked, was how domestic violence was handled in those times. I know historically that we probably didn’t do much. But Michelle tackled this in such a positive way. She talked about how people can pretend like everything is ok when it’s not, how you can be almost brainwashed into thinking that person gives you everything when in actual fact, they are the one causing more damage. And even how the people close to them wish they had have seen it happening in order to help them.

From this perspective I really liked that it was spoken about, without being overly confronting for the readers.

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I originally started reading this one because my kids and I were studying Sweden, and one of the mythologies from Sweden and Norway is about Odin and his sons Thor and Loki. This particular book does include discussion about these particular Norse gods.
As for the rest of the story, I was unimpressed. Valdar, from a distant country, is found by Alwynn and her stepdaughter Merri on beach in Northumbria. He was a survivor of storm and shipwreck, and after he heals, he becomes Alwynn's steward of her estate. But the first half of the book is overly talky and redundant. The story went absolutely nowhere. It didn't become even the slightest bit interesting until the halfway mark. But in the second to last chapter, I was about ready to give up on the entire thing because Alwynn's character was being a stubborn idiot about her feelings toward Valdar. She allowed her racism to impede upon her relationship with him, even though he just saved her from one of his own enemies from his own country. Valdar's character also became suddenly whiny and pleading with Alwynn while she was being obstinate. It was rather irritating to read.

[Juliette Cen]

Roman abandonné assez rapidement, sentant poindre l'agacement aux premiers échanges entre les personnages. En réalité, ce n'est pas tant le roman qui doit être remis en question que mes attentes. Si j'avais sélectionné une histoire de viking (dur de passer derrière la Viking insoumise), c'était pour trouver un certain exotisme des hommes du Nord bien différents des lords anglais et autres highlanders. Ma quête du récit parfait continue donc... Mais sinon, le modèle de couverture, graouuu !

[Karine Darnessy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Une histoire idéale pour les jours de pluie.
Mon avis complet via le lien. https://songedunenuitdete.com/2016/06...

[Eteline Rangel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bonita historia y lo mejor, libro unico jejejeje