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Viking Rose
SHE WAS A SPIRITED IRISH MAIDEN
When Alanna sighted a blond giant of a man bathing in a nearby stream, the Irish maiden guessed he was one of those dangerous raiders she'd heard tales of. Though she should have fled, Alanna could not draw her eyes away from his bronzed muscles, long sun-gold hair, and piercing blue eyes. Before she knew it, the Norseman had captured her.... Outraged, Alanna planned her escape; yet when his rock-hard arms enveloped her and his demanding kisses set her pulse on fire, she marveled that a man from a frozen land could evoke such a rapturous heat in her own blood...
HE WAS A FEARLESS VIKING RAIDER
Intent on scouting the alien country for his Viking raiding party, Storr had no time for a furious Erse maiden! Yet, he could not let her sound an alert, so he took her captive. And what a choice beauty he'd gotten! Her lush curves, cocoa-colored eyes, and dark auburn-streaked hair made her a prize beyond compare, But it was the brave but gentle spirit in this fair rose of Erin that finally made the fierce warrior wish to brand her as his alone. He would calm her with his soft caresses, thrill her with his fiery kisses, then bring her to rapturous heights with a masterful Viking passion she would crave again and again!
When Alanna sighted a blond giant of a man bathing in a nearby stream, the Irish maiden guessed he was one of those dangerous raiders she'd heard tales of. Though she should have fled, Alanna could not draw her eyes away from his bronzed muscles, long sun-gold hair, and piercing blue eyes. Before she knew it, the Norseman had captured her.... Outraged, Alanna planned her escape; yet when his rock-hard arms enveloped her and his demanding kisses set her pulse on fire, she marveled that a man from a frozen land could evoke such a rapturous heat in her own blood...
HE WAS A FEARLESS VIKING RAIDER
Intent on scouting the alien country for his Viking raiding party, Storr had no time for a furious Erse maiden! Yet, he could not let her sound an alert, so he took her captive. And what a choice beauty he'd gotten! Her lush curves, cocoa-colored eyes, and dark auburn-streaked hair made her a prize beyond compare, But it was the brave but gentle spirit in this fair rose of Erin that finally made the fierce warrior wish to brand her as his alone. He would calm her with his soft caresses, thrill her with his fiery kisses, then bring her to rapturous heights with a masterful Viking passion she would crave again and again!
480 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 16, 2016
"Viking Rose" has to be the worst Viking romance I've ever read. In fact, it's one of the worst romances I've ever read.
The hero, Storr is nothing but a big cry-baby.
I HATE books where the hero is in eternal mourning for his dead wife. That is my #1 pet-peeve in romances.
It's one thing to have had a love that died, but when 95% of the book is about how the hero can't get over her, there's really not much room for romance with the heroine. And quite frankly, I prefer the other woman to be alive. It's one thing to have a flesh-and-blood woman to compete with, but how can the heroine ever win out to a perfect ghost?
Not to mention, this book was boring as hell. Did anything happen, except for Alanna and Storr traveling together endlessly, while Storr hates Alanna and cries (over and over--oh, those pillows!!) about his wife? If it did, I blocked it out.
(It's also weird how at the beginning of the book, the heroine has black hair, but by the end it's red).
0 stars/ big fat F
The hero, Storr is nothing but a big cry-baby.
I HATE books where the hero is in eternal mourning for his dead wife. That is my #1 pet-peeve in romances.
It's one thing to have had a love that died, but when 95% of the book is about how the hero can't get over her, there's really not much room for romance with the heroine. And quite frankly, I prefer the other woman to be alive. It's one thing to have a flesh-and-blood woman to compete with, but how can the heroine ever win out to a perfect ghost?
Not to mention, this book was boring as hell. Did anything happen, except for Alanna and Storr traveling together endlessly, while Storr hates Alanna and cries (over and over--oh, those pillows!!) about his wife? If it did, I blocked it out.
(It's also weird how at the beginning of the book, the heroine has black hair, but by the end it's red).
0 stars/ big fat F
February 28, 2025
Dnf. Read 100 pages and nothing much happened. Gave up
January 10, 2025
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4.5
🥀 Viking Raider
🥀 Irish Virgin Maiden
🥀 Enemies To Lovers
🥀 Culture Differences
🥀 Prisoner To Lover To Wife
🥀 Irish Wilderness
🌶️ bath scenes
Despite the days they had passed alone together, of two very dissimilar cultures, and there was beginning to seem less and less possibility of bridging their differences.
Viking Rose is everything I wanted in a Viking romance. Readers follow a Viking MMC. He is what you'd expect. Tall, blonde and has icy blue orbs for eyes. He is feral, wild and savage compared to the Christian MFC. She is Erse, being from a village on the coast of Ireland, and is opposite of him in every way. She is a virgin maiden, young and naive.
The naive MFC wanders outside her fort walls to the river with her little dog to find a beautiful foreign man bathing naked. She has never seen a naked man before, and is intrigued enough to linger and watch, despite it being sinful behavior. MMC ends up capturing the little maiden, and the entire book is their journey together. The book remains in Erin, whether inside the wilderness or on the beachy shores of Erin. The two characters journey the entire book together, as enemies to lovers, building up their friendship as they grow fond of one another, until they end up in the arms of each other. Vikings not only plunder villages on the coast for jewels and gold, but also, for taking slaves back to tend to their homesteads. MMC tends to do just this with his MFC prisoner. She is to be his slave.
To my surprise, this could almost be considered a clean romance. The entire journey lacks sex scenes until the very end of this story. There is barely romance between the characters throughout their long journey together. I read over some reviews of this book, and a lot of readers complained of the lack of romance between the two - and the fact that the MMC was so deep in grief over his dead wife, Freyja, that it hindered any romance between him and this Irish MFC. HOWEVER, it didn’t bother me. The entire journey felt realistic, not corny, or fictional. In real life, the little maiden, taken prisoner, would have naturally put up a fight, not wanting to be a slave, and the Viking, deep in his grief, probably wasn’t thinking much about “taking” his little maiden just yet. It allowed the characters to build up a fondness for one another while trekking through the wilderness. I didn’t mind the slow burn romance. I always enjoy survivalist stories, so maybe this is personal preference, but I enjoyed watching them journey together, forced to depend on one another until feelings bloomed.
My biggest issue, in which I did knock it a star, was that the ending of this book comes abruptly. Ending so abrupt that I felt the author was simply done with writing them. I never once felt bored reading this. I found myself emotionally invested in these characters. When the ending abruptly closed, leaving the plot unfinished, I felt upset with the lack of closure. The entire story takes place in Ireland with the maiden his prisoner to become his slave. In the end, the two characters have come together in romance with the understanding that they both want more, but a Jarl cannot take a slave woman as wife! I expected to see this seen through with his people accepting Alanna as his bride. I expected to see them set sail from the shores of Erin, and head home to Norway, where he would wed her and she would settle into Norse living. BUT the book closes without fulfilling these needed things for closure. It is cleared up in the epilogue, but it is rather “told” than “shown” to me. Made me disappointed. Worse, the conflict with his brother Gunther is left up in the air with no closure. We didn’t even get to see the MMC wake after being poisoned. Overall, the entire ending felt OFF. No closure. Just ended. A terrible ending for a book. After enjoying the entire read, despite the slow burn of it all- made me upset.
That being said, I genuinely enjoyed the book. I loved the characters. Religion is a big portion of this story. The characters debate God/Gods throughout the entire story. The pagan viking held many questions about her christian God. This is one of my favorite things about historical romances: cultural differences. The clashing of faith. How can two people of two different worlds fall in love? Reading these romances is like dissecting this question. It fascinates me.
Trigger Warnings: suicide is talked about a lot in this read. The mother of the MFC having taken her life after her husband was lost at sea. The MMC also ponders it feeling not dead but not alive. Depression vibes and deep grief struggles.
Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot despite that ending.
🥀 Viking Raider
🥀 Irish Virgin Maiden
🥀 Enemies To Lovers
🥀 Culture Differences
🥀 Prisoner To Lover To Wife
🥀 Irish Wilderness
🌶️ bath scenes
Despite the days they had passed alone together, of two very dissimilar cultures, and there was beginning to seem less and less possibility of bridging their differences.
Viking Rose is everything I wanted in a Viking romance. Readers follow a Viking MMC. He is what you'd expect. Tall, blonde and has icy blue orbs for eyes. He is feral, wild and savage compared to the Christian MFC. She is Erse, being from a village on the coast of Ireland, and is opposite of him in every way. She is a virgin maiden, young and naive.
The naive MFC wanders outside her fort walls to the river with her little dog to find a beautiful foreign man bathing naked. She has never seen a naked man before, and is intrigued enough to linger and watch, despite it being sinful behavior. MMC ends up capturing the little maiden, and the entire book is their journey together. The book remains in Erin, whether inside the wilderness or on the beachy shores of Erin. The two characters journey the entire book together, as enemies to lovers, building up their friendship as they grow fond of one another, until they end up in the arms of each other. Vikings not only plunder villages on the coast for jewels and gold, but also, for taking slaves back to tend to their homesteads. MMC tends to do just this with his MFC prisoner. She is to be his slave.
To my surprise, this could almost be considered a clean romance. The entire journey lacks sex scenes until the very end of this story. There is barely romance between the characters throughout their long journey together. I read over some reviews of this book, and a lot of readers complained of the lack of romance between the two - and the fact that the MMC was so deep in grief over his dead wife, Freyja, that it hindered any romance between him and this Irish MFC. HOWEVER, it didn’t bother me. The entire journey felt realistic, not corny, or fictional. In real life, the little maiden, taken prisoner, would have naturally put up a fight, not wanting to be a slave, and the Viking, deep in his grief, probably wasn’t thinking much about “taking” his little maiden just yet. It allowed the characters to build up a fondness for one another while trekking through the wilderness. I didn’t mind the slow burn romance. I always enjoy survivalist stories, so maybe this is personal preference, but I enjoyed watching them journey together, forced to depend on one another until feelings bloomed.
My biggest issue, in which I did knock it a star, was that the ending of this book comes abruptly. Ending so abrupt that I felt the author was simply done with writing them. I never once felt bored reading this. I found myself emotionally invested in these characters. When the ending abruptly closed, leaving the plot unfinished, I felt upset with the lack of closure. The entire story takes place in Ireland with the maiden his prisoner to become his slave. In the end, the two characters have come together in romance with the understanding that they both want more, but a Jarl cannot take a slave woman as wife! I expected to see this seen through with his people accepting Alanna as his bride. I expected to see them set sail from the shores of Erin, and head home to Norway, where he would wed her and she would settle into Norse living. BUT the book closes without fulfilling these needed things for closure. It is cleared up in the epilogue, but it is rather “told” than “shown” to me. Made me disappointed. Worse, the conflict with his brother Gunther is left up in the air with no closure. We didn’t even get to see the MMC wake after being poisoned. Overall, the entire ending felt OFF. No closure. Just ended. A terrible ending for a book. After enjoying the entire read, despite the slow burn of it all- made me upset.
That being said, I genuinely enjoyed the book. I loved the characters. Religion is a big portion of this story. The characters debate God/Gods throughout the entire story. The pagan viking held many questions about her christian God. This is one of my favorite things about historical romances: cultural differences. The clashing of faith. How can two people of two different worlds fall in love? Reading these romances is like dissecting this question. It fascinates me.
Trigger Warnings: suicide is talked about a lot in this read. The mother of the MFC having taken her life after her husband was lost at sea. The MMC also ponders it feeling not dead but not alive. Depression vibes and deep grief struggles.
Overall, I enjoyed this one a lot despite that ending.
January 31, 2018
It ended a little quick, like she was tired of writing these two.... Alanna didn’t seem quite developed and all I got out of it was she didn’t like baths at first and was so in love with God, she shoulda been a nun. I would love to hear about her cousins that she was so worried about and then kinda dropped off the face of the earth.... and the sex.... well.... reminded me of why I wasn’t looking for any.
October 17, 2014
it was ok
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews