Viking Heat

Viking II #9

by Sandra Hill

Psychologist Joy Nelson thinks things are bad when she finds herself training in the modern-day female Navy SEALs program. But then her life takes a turn for the worse. Somehow she’s been thrust back in time to the cold Norselands, being auctioned off as a thrall, or slave—a gift for a Viking warlord, who would be a perfect candidate for Male Chauvinist Viking of the Centuries.



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Genres: Time Travel, Romance, Historical Romance, Historical, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Time Travel Romance

291 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Sandra Hill is a graduate of Penn State and worked for more than 10 years as a features writer and education editor for publications in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Writing about serious issues taught her the merits of seeking the lighter side of even the darkest stories. She is the wife of a stockbroker and the mother of four sons.

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.

Reviews

[Eastofoz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Superficial, artificial, blah, dull, humorless, seen it all before, these are a few words that come to mind with this very disappointing Sandra Hill novel. Hill is the queen of hilarity from her first Viking series to her side-splitting Cajuns, but this book is way off the mark and I’m very surprised that the “critics” have said otherwise because it doesn’t read like her other books –well it’s equally as boring as The Love Potion we’ll say so maybe that’s what they meant (?)

This is one of those time travel romances where the heroine is a Navy WEAL (female version of the SEALs). While on a mission that went haywire she finds herself thrown back in the 10th century among the Vikings. Joy is described as this rough and tough warrior woman and she pretty much is until she goes head to head with the Viking jarl Brandr. All she does is yell and rant and say stupid things that are supposed to be funny but come out as the author trying too hard at wit and sarcasm especially with the feminism and moral outrage. She’s childish on more than one occasion especially when at 27 years old she feels compelled to do whatever anyone tells her to do as long as they say “I double-dog dare you” (cue the eye rolling/gawwd). Brandr is supposed to be the grim berserker jarl and he is sometimes but his character isn’t consistent so his softer side comes across too often making for a meh kind of relationship with Joy. They’re supposed to be at loggerheads all time which according to the book blurb is supposed to build up their love story but I didn’t get that feeling. There was no depth to their characters or to anything else in the story for that matter.

The book is chalk full of silly clichés, late 80s/early 90s humor that sounds outdated now. I can’t say I laughed even once during this read and that’s pretty much unheard of for a Sandra Hill novel. A lot of times I was sighing (in a fed up way) saying “just shut up already and stop being such a pain”. I really tried and wanted to like this book because it was marketed as being like her original Vikings which were beyond hilarious sometimes and the stories had substance.

Steam-wise there are some good parts but if the emotional build up isn’t there it just doesn’t cut it. Suddenly Joy was in love Brandr but I couldn’t really understand why. There’s also the stereotypical characters (the raped sister who can only be helped by Joy, the abandoned child that only Joy can save) that make you feel like you’ve read this before so there’s nothing really fresh to the story. There isn’t even a hilarious skald that was always present in her Viking novels adding to the comic relief. Surprisingly in the marketing there was no mention of Christmas and it actually does have an early Christmas feel to it towards the end when out of the blue (and after Joy's temper flare up again) everything is peachy keen.

Hill seems to be losing her touch. Too much predictability, lack of something new, almost like a book being put out there because she owes her publisher one. No real effort at quality with this read.

[Kari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun book with a silly plot and it should be taken lightly at all times. It made me laugh, the miscommunication between our modern heroine, Joy, and the group of Vikings is priceless. The love story between Joy and Brandr develops slowly and is sweet, he's the sweetest Viking you'll ever find. The beginning was very slow right up to when they meet, then the story picks up and I couldn't put it down.

[Shelley Stoker · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a male protagonist straight out of 600 A.D. and a female heroine from the 21st Century, this is truly a romance that kept me turning the pages. It's a historical romance with a tiny bit of paranormal mixed in, and is very emotionally engaging. It also has that awesome Sandra Hill "stamp" of mixing humor with deeper emotions and hot love scenes. Brandr has been visiting me in my dreams at night, I swear... gotta LOVE those dark-haired-alpha-male-with-a-sense-of-humor-vikings... delicious!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: The books in Sandra Hill’s Viking II Series have similar themes (i.e. a Navy Seal connection), but they are not directly connected and do not need to be read in order.

Summary: Joy Nelson is a psychologist turned Navy Seal. She hadn’t originally planned for a military career, but she committed to the program during an impulsive moment following the death of her favorite brother in Iraq. Her first real mission to infiltrate a terrorist cell near Norway is thwarted, and in the after-math of an explosion, Joy awakens to find herself held captive. It isn’t the terrorists holding her however, she is in some sort of ancient Norse town and is being auctioned off as a slave. Not believing any of this to be real, Joy continues to deny the obvious truth that she has traveled through time – even while she is sailing in a Viking longboat further into the frigid Norselands. She has been purchased by two young men, and is intended as a gift for their Jarl, a Viking warlord.

Jarl Brandr is certainly attracted to his new thrall, but he is completely unprepared for her hostility and independence. She refuses to follow any rules, to behave like the slave she is, or to treat him with respect…. what will he do with this irritating woman? He reasons that the best place for her to work off all her hostility is in his bed, so he offers her the opportunity to gain some freedoms in exchange for her willing attention to his needs.

As Joy and Brandr continue their game of cat and mouse, they can’t deny the heat between them. But Brandr can’t marry a slave, and as a Jarl, he must marry and have children to continue his line. So is this intense love story doomed to be nothing more than a fling? That would be the worst possible scenario for Joy – not only has she lost her heart to him, but she has nowhere to go in this ancient land to escape him, nor does she have a way to return home.

Review: I think my favorite thing about this story was how much I enjoyed the background stories for each of the main characters. Time-travel romances always have a way to set up the trip into the past, but Sandra Hill went further than just the basics. Joy and Brandr have both experienced horribly painful losses in their lives which resulted in major life changes. For Joy, this meant pushing herself to her physical and mental limits through the Seal program. In this environment, she was too exhausted to feel sorry for herself, and she had no time to nurse her depression. For Brandr, this meant assuming a leadership role for his family and clan that he was completely unprepared for. It was nice to get to know the characters individually before they were thrown together.

The plot wasn’t the most creative concept I’ve ever read, but there were a few sections that stood out. For example, I thought the author came up with a very creative way to get around the obvious problem that a Jarl can’t marry a slave. Joy didn’t wake up one day to discover that she is suddenly royalty after all, nor did Brandr swoop in to rescue her or denounce his Jarldom (been there, read that.) This solution is much more complicated, and it falls almost entirely on Joy.

The weaker parts of the book related to the way Joy got away with her belligerence and her defiance of Brandr. These were violent times in the world’s history, and a person who was in a place of authority (like a Jarl), couldn’t afford to show any signs of weakness to his people for good reason. How would you convince warriors to fight, risk their lives for you, and follow your every command if you can’t make a woman (who is considered property) obey you? In this case, Brandr practically folds to Joy’s every whim, and it just didn’t seem very realistic. It also became repetitive and predictable.

This book had a strong start and a solid finish, but the middle needed a little more variety and believability. It was still a good read, I did enjoy the book, and I can definitely see myself reading more from Sandra Hill’s two Viking Series. I’m really interested to see how she will differentiate the characters in each book.

[Barbara ★ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed this book as I do all of Sandra Hill's viking novels, it had a real slow start which had me doubting Ms. Hill. But once Joy tumbles through time, the laughs begin. The miscommunication is priceless and hilarious - exactly what is to be expected from Sandra Hill. Joy is a very strong woman with firm ideas and feminist leanings. Brandr is a male chauvinist pig like all men of that time period. The verbal sparring is great fun. Even when Brandr is starving Joy to make her comply to slavery, she comes out ahead. A truly enjoyable tale of time travel and how love really does conquer all.

[Nicci · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were time I actually laughed aloud at how ridiculous this book was. I have read several time traveling romances so the idea of the incredible didn't faze me, the ubsurd nature of the book did. Even allowing for some magic there is just no way the scenarios described would ever happen.
Funny as in I'm laughing at you, not with you

[Linn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the worst novels I have read in my entire life. The main reason I finished it, was to be able to legitimately be able to say how truly awful it was.

When reading books about time travel, there is, of course, a certain amount of willing suspension of disbelief involved. And let me tell you, I tried. I really tried. Because a novel about vikings and time travel, there must be something to like, right?

Wrong.

Before I go into chopping this novel up into tiny little pieces suitable for coffee wood (kaffeved, as the Swedish idiom goes), I just want to point out that I am aware that some of you might find me overly cirtial in the parts to follow. But, heres the thing: when you read a novel, and one or two things seem illogical or out of place, usually it's easy to ignore this, due to the willing suspension of disbelief. When, during your reading, you find more and more anachronisms, you're less and less willing to suspend your disbelief, until everything unravels like a badly secured knitted shirt. That is what we're dealing with here.

So, let's start with the characters. Joy, our time travelling "heroine" is downright stupid, and it's a mircale she has survived this far in life, since she seem to lack the very basic instincts to do just this. Yes, I can understand that time travel is not the first thing that comes to mind when ending up in a, well, time travelling situation, but when it's obvious to her that the Vikings have no idea what she's talking about when mentioning modern things, like America, then it should at least leave room for SOME kind of speculation. Joy's solution is to keep screaming at the rude Vikings, who have taken her captive and made her into a thrall.

Brandr isn't much better. Joy is his thrall. His treatment of her is inconsistent and reminds mostly of the behaviour of a narcissist. He treats her as a thrall when she behaves, but when she screams rude words to him - in public, I migh add - then all of a sudden, he cares about her feelings and refuses to take a stand - and NONE of the other charaters seem to be bothered by their leader's lack of authority here. I just want to make a face palm.

Another thing that bothers me is the so called viking culture. First of all, Brandr refers to them as "the Viking race". I'm sorry, what? Viking is the name of a profession (sort of) in Northern Europe during app. 75o-1050, which is why this period is called The Viking Age. You went in viking (gick i viking, in Swedish), which meant that you went abroad to be a merchant and often (but not always) pillage and plunder. Most people living during this time never referred to themselves as Vikings. And if you're a professional writer, it's your damn job to do at least a tad bit of research in the field your writing about, even if you in your bio in the back of the book claim to be related to Hrolf (and by the way, it's impressive how many Americans seem to be relatled to one viking chief or the other. And WHY do they keep this method of research hidden from us who are actually born in "Viking Lands"? I mean, at best we can trace our genealogy back to like the 1500s or so. 1200s if you're lucky, and resent research show that most of us are related to wallons anyway). Erhm. Where were we? Yes, the anachronisms and the lack of research. Even the tiniest bit of googling (and this novel was published in 2009, so the Internet did exist) would have told you a lot about how the Old Gods were honoroued, how the houses were built, what food you ate and how the clothes were made (no, you did NOT make a gunna by cutting out two T-shaped pieces of fabric. That way of making clothes did not appear until the 20th century, and it's called a t-shirt, for that very reason. Not even all t-shirts are made that way. Most of them are the same four piece-cut out that has been used since like forever. At least before the Viking Era). The more Hill tries to describe various aspects of "Viking life", the more she fails. It's just bad writing. Many descriptions of the building makes me think more of a medieval castle than a Viking village. It just makes me sad to know that a whole bunch of historyless Americans read this and thinks that this is "how it was done".

And the polarbears? Come on! Where did she find those? I have been working with three possible explanations:
1) The story takes placed in Svalbard (unlikely, since it wasn's discovered until a couple of hundred years later).
2) The story takes place in Greenland - possible, but there are too many other things that doesn't add up.
3) She just "wanted them there"
No matter what reason, I think it's bad writing.

Let's move on to the aspect of language. Like with time travelling (and truth be told, most fantasy stories), it requires a willing suspension of disbelief to accept that people of different nationalities can just simply talk to and understand one another. I accept this. But why on earth do the Vikings speak a wierd mix of Shakespearian and Pirate? About halfway through the novel, Hill makes a halfhearted attempt to explain this, but it doen's make any sense at all. There are several ways that languge barrieres are successfully portrayed in novels. Any of them would have been a good solution. This, is not. In fact, it would have been better to just ignore it all together and let everyone speek some verision of modern English. I'm sorry (well, maybe not), but Vikings that say "methinks" and "wench" and "swine" just makes me laugh, and not in a good way.

So, then, what about the juicy bits? This is, after all, described as a sexy and erotic story. Are the sex scenes any good? Well, I spent the first half of the book waiting for them to happen. Joy refuses to have sex with Brandr, and since Brandr is to some extent a good guy, he accepts this. When they finally DO have sex, both Brandr and Joy are so turned on by one another, and they are really having a good time, they claim. Me, I just find it to be a generic, clinical description. I've had better.

Too often when I read novels with an historical setting - especially when written by Americans - I get the feeling of a dollhouse. The author wanted to write about a kink they had about this certain time, and just refuses to do proper research about said time. (The Bridgerton series also suffers from exatcly this, by the way). As long as it's an erotci fantasy, it's okay to play with the dolls anyway you want. And it is - if you keep it to yourself. The moment you decide to publish it, you better do your homework. Hill has not.

I can't remeber the last time I read a book that sucked at so many different levels. It's kind of an achievment to write this bad, really. But again, not the good kind.

If you want to read about Vikings, or erotica, or romance, or time travel, there are sooo many better books than this one. Freja, by Johanne Hildebrant, for example. It has all of those things, minus the time travel. Don't waste your time on this book.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, enjoyable book. Starts really slow. I started and stopped and picked up a different books 3 times before getting past the first 20 pages. However, once I got past 60 pages I finished the book that night. Couldn’t put it down. Once the two main characters were toghether I was laughing out loud.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book was not funny at all. It started out as kinda WTF type stuff that was to obviously trying to humorous and then it just turned into hot garbage. The main character, Joy, was a terrible terrible person who was just a massive dick to everyone around her. Tumblr failed me with this recommendation. Don't read it.

[Sarah Winters · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the book that started me on Vikings and damn did I love it! Great characters, steamy scenes and enough humor to have me laughing in the staff room until my coworkers wonder what I'm up to. Definitely a great start and the beginning of my Viking fascination. Holy Thor, It's hot in here!

[♡Karlyn P♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

My first DNF for Sandra Hill. Got ~100 pages in but the story and characters never grabbed me. Tried twice to continue, but I am calling it quits. Too bad as I normally love this author and series.

[Mickeyfan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the humor too. It definitely swept me away to where I felt the story. Easy read - only took me a day. I would recommend it to my friends.

[Zury · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite book in this series. Loved Brandr and his fierceness and love for his family. His arrogance did help to make me laugh throughout the book!

[Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love loved itt !!

[Barbi Faye (The Book Fae) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who doesn't like a hot Viking?!

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic time travel romance with laughs and humor thrown in with some exciting tupping...
Kept reading series until I ran out of books to read. So sorry for the generic review.

[Lynne M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the premise of this story, especially since I always liked history. It started off strongly enough, with a great deal of humor, but quickly I grew bored with the characters.

I didn't find Brandr very believable as a tough Viking. His character is inconsistent within the story, and it becomes confusing as a reader. I felt like the author didn't develop him enough before putting pen to paper. While I appreciated Joy's toughness at the beginning of the story, once she came across Brandr she becomes annoying. All she does is scream and rant at him, which may be understandable given her situation, but it just becomes tiresome. She also seems extremely childish at times, and instead of a tough, smart heroine, she just becomes spastic through the story. I couldn't bring myself to care whether or not they ended up together.

I haven't read other stories by this author, so maybe others in the series are better. Three stars for the initial concept. One for the actual execution.

[Sandra R · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes!! Ms Hill has just re-released and updated this book and put it for sale on Kindle a couple of days ago and I had to have it asap - thanks to her facebook notification, I got it yesterday. (It has been unavailable for ages)

Needless to say I loved everything about this book. The romance, the fun and the story - no one can create a light-hearted (mostly) Viking plot like this author. (No spoilers) Although I can say that Joy (a navy WEAL) is flicked back over 1,000 years into the past. She finds herself on a Viking long boat, after being purchased as a slave for her captor's warrior brother.

There's lots of snow, a Viking Christmas and lots of 'steam'! Plus the blurb at the back states Ms Hill is going to re-release another book from this series and she's writing a new Viking novella!!! I wait with baited breath. :)

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

Theme: WEALS year 2009, Viking year 955, time travel, romance, heroine soldier, Hero jarl

I realized this was book 9 in a series and this was the first one that I read. I never expected this to be funny and kinda weird haha. I smiled and giggled a couple of times reading this one. The only thing that I wanted to read was the heroine to have some fight scenes with someone but it did not show that :-(

[Lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so love Sandra Hill. She makes me laugh so much with her series. All of her series. Many years ago, I picked up the Very Virile Viking and I have been hooked since. I have read this set of books many times. Year 2009. Time travel to the land of the Vikings. Or vice versa. Lots of laughter and much shaking of your head.

[Cat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too silly for me...I loved the heroine's story in contemporary times, but couldn't stretch my disbelief enough to accept the story once she traveled back in time. As a modern reader, the thought of landing in a pre-industrial era is way more terrifying than escapist.

[Rebecca Dowd · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOTS OF FUN!!

I know that I would not survive a trip back in time. Not only am I a vegetarian, but you could not pay me for enough to eat most of their food.

[Brianna Oglesby · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 ⭐️

[Myra Wray · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread. I again found this story very fascinating & quite funny.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

read this initially to celebrate valentines day, but after reading the first half on the 14th, i set it down and didn't really pick it back up for a few weeks.
surprisingly didn't fall into either the "so bad it's funny" category or the "actually invested in this ridiculousness" category, and i was expecting one of either (last year i read an actual Harlequin brand romance novel that i ended up enjoying). i dont want to accuse this book of being too silly, because i know the goal was silly light entertainment... but maybe if it wasn't so focused on being "just fun" and creating pointless ~wacky hijinx~ it could've gone more in depth with certain things to make it somewhat interesting--joy spends a total of like 3 on-page seconds being an actual psychologist and you proceed to see none of that for most of the book, and she seriously doesn't act like one, and i think it would've been fun to see brandr actually attempt anger management techniques, or maybe we could see her actual conversations with Liv before she gets better. also the side characters! are good ones! more of tork and his wife, maybe! or the thrall couple!
but the thing is is despite the plot i can usually get on board with a thing if i like the characters. but i didn't like either brandr or joy. brandr has nothing to distinguish him from the faceless photoshopped pecs on the cover, except we're told he has a temper, despite us seeing him get angry maybe three times in the whole book. he's bland as cardboard otherwise. joy, on the other hand, had a lot going for her on paper and she has a great start, but as soon as she hits the castle she goes from being soldier/psychologist/daredevil to Fiery Wench with a social IQ of -2 and all of her training goes out the window except for...maybe twice, when it's there for "laughs" (which is more secondhand embarrassment than actually funny). The two of them together had zero chemistry, as well, no matter how much the page was trying to tell me they were super into each other. Joy had more chemistry with one of the SEALs (the guy who retrieved her brother's body), who she spends maybe two pages with, than she did with the guy she spends the book actually fucking.
Speaking of side characters and fucking, part of the reason why this is two stars instead of one is the side characters, which were way more interesting than the mains. they're also what's convincing me that this book may just be a dud for the author, because i know she's capable of better just from looking at tork and his wife and joy's SEAL comrades in arms, who are pretty fun to read about. also, surprisingly, the sex scenes weren't too over the top or ridiculous as i totally was expecting, but decently written, pretty hot despite the characters not having any chemistry, and she also doesnt inundate you with too many scenes either, which is pretty common in the genre these days. the third and final reason it's two stars instead of one is because even though i didn't find it all that funny, it mostly did what it said on the tin (i guess) and i shouldn't really have expected much more out of it.
to conclude: wasted potential with boring main characters, but i have one more sandra hill book on my shelf and i'm still going to read it, because i believe she can do and has done better, and i hope to see it

[Lover of Romance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Psychologist Joy Nelson, has always been the one suffer the taunts of her older brothers, and any time they dare her to do something whatever it may be she does it, even though she is a full grown adult by now. So when they double dare her to become a WEAL-a female version program of the Navy SEALS. But then when she goes on her first mission with a SEAL team, she finds herself taken back through time where she is then auctioned off as a thrall to a Viking Warlord. At first Joy has no idea that she has been taken back through time, but then things start to click and Brandr, the Viking who owns her, starts to make compromise after compromise with the saucy woman, thinking he must be as demented as she is, but is really in love with a thousand year old woman that has stirred up his passions like none other ever has, and has claimed his heart.I would have to say that Viking Heat is by far one of my favorites that has been written by this author so far. I found that I was intrigued by the first page and I found myself finding it hard to put this one down. I found the plot so intriguing and with such a vitality to the characters, and definitely a laugh out loud read! One of the greatest aspects that I love about Sandra Hills Books is the wit that is in each and every one of her plots, especially when it involves time travel, with two characters that are from two times, and they have to learn to adapt to each others differences, and the way they learn to muddle through it is fabulous, and definitely worth reading, especially in Viking Heat.

[Jocelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first when I started to read this book it was not very captivating. This is a time-travel romance and I was thinking "How is a person from present day California going to get to the Norselands in 955 AD?". Of course, this information is explained a little more further in the book. In the beginning I liked Joy's character but, somewhere down the road she started to get on my nerves. Brandr was typical romance novel hunk; handsome, tall, muscles on muscle, etc, etc. The romance was inevitable; the attraction was there but it seemed like there was something missing. Then as the novel rolled along I became more captivated by the story. Each person had to get over their own insecurities and past hurts to move on together. This was a standard romance story with one exception: it involved time-travel. This is my first time-travel romance and as always it is funny to see modern characters go back in time and teach people a few things like making sure you wash your hands before you touch food. There was one scene in the book that was really funny. It doesn't matter what century you are in women will always find something humorous to say about men. I did like the fact that Joy was in the female version of the SEALS. This is the first time I have every read a story where the main character was in the military. I thought that provided an interesting arc to the story. I enjoyed her writing and the story was a breeze to read. I would like to read more of her novels involving Vikings.

[Fangirl Musings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like my rating says, I really liked this book. Joy's character was independent, headstrong, passionate and determined. She was clearly somebody that knew what she wanted in life, and once she made a decision, she stuck with it. Brandr was a dependable, reliable individual who looks out for his loved ones, and was very much an enjoyable character.

I loved the interplay between Joy and Brandr- the word sparring was so funny and enjoyable! My favorite aspect to this book was the fact that it had great writing, excellent pacing of scenes, connectible and "real" characters. There were countless scenes that "explained" the emotions between Joy and Brandr, which was SO nice because I hate books that write the characters magically fall in love with no backing of their emotions.

My favorite scenes of the book were Liv's rape-baby being saved by Joy. How Joy affected so much in the estate, from the Christmas and holiday tradtions of the Viking people to bringing out Liv from her shell after her rape experiences. This book really was just a flat out, wonderful read. Excellent. No complaints. Wonderful!

[Tawny Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

I skimmed through some of the other reviews before buying this book. It seems like a fair number of readers, particularly Sandra Hill fans, were disappointed. I've read one or two of her earlier books, many years ago. I enjoyed them; and I enjoyed this book. Was it silly at times? Yes. Did it get off to a slow start? Most definitely. Was the heroine annoying at times? Ohmygod, yes. Was the hero perhaps a little too soft for a berserker? I think so. And, finally, did the conflict between Joy and Brandr feel a little contrived at times? Yes.

But I still enjoyed the book. Heck, I finished it. That says a lot. For every book I finish, I've started five or more...and tossed them aside without getting anywhere close to The End. I bought it, expecting a lighthearted, fun read. That is exactly what I got.

[Kelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

While it is true this book will never be on the bestselling list because it's just a lightread romance book, I still loved it. It had everything I liked... a sexy Viking male who has dealt with tragedy in his recent life and so is very angry with a huge chip on his shoulder, but is extremely passionate with a huge heart that needed to be filled with love and understanding... a strong-willed and independent modern woman whose traits slashes with a male chauvinist, but yet, they still have chemistry and are a perfect fit for each other... a lot of hot and heavy steamy parts... a very interesting historical read about the Viking times. After I read it, I put it down for one day and then had to go back to read it again for the second time. Yes, I loved it.