Status Updates From Timeless (Stolen Brides #4)

"'It is rather hard for me to remember to be angry with people who are so kind.'" (125-126)

Love that Josette is completely won over because Keldan made a nice home for her in a nice field by the ocean and was so gentle with her and made her a giant breakfast and nice furniture. (And didn't care that she broke all the gifts he gave her previously).

Props for her getting caught in her lie so quickly, even if she does not realize it yet. I expected the lie to get drug out instead of being brought up this quickly and the full truth of it having to be faced.

....the claim holds even if they are already married.

"They were too fragile. Too rare and precious, like delicate blooms he could hold in his hands for only an instant of time. He preferred the occasional liaisons he enjoyed with Asgard women, which lasted however long he and the lady might wish."

"And when he lost her, as well, the emptiness inside him had widened and deepened, and his life was all the darker for having known even a brief touch of the sun...he had learned his lesson: it was best not to hope, not to dream of a life different from the one the gods had given him. Most of the time it was not even a struggle anymore."

"And for a time, he had known hope. Had allowed himself to believe that this time, it would be different. That she would heal the emptiness inside that had been with him since he was a boy."

"Maeve, whose laughter had brightened his life like the sun. She had been so entranced by the moonlit waterfall...his cheerful lass had been happy to leave behind her life of poverty...had quickly fallen in love with Asgard's beauty...and with him."

"his movements gentle, almost tentative, as if he feared that his delicate, fawn-eyed beauty might break."

"By great Thor's bearded goats,"

"The rogue seemed most familiar with of lacing a lady's gown."

The men all walk around shirtless with just "leggings" on...for some reason.

She describes being forced into physical proximity as uncomfortable and yet causing a "heat that shimmered between them, growing more intense with each moment she remained in his company"

"Male" scent, body, physical attributes vs "feminine" sensitivities, emotions, sense of moral decency

She gets changed into a see through dress with a low cut and slits on the side....

If one of the islanders shouts "I claim her" in front of another islander than the woman *belongs to them for life.*

"Keldan's arm tightened protectively around the girl he had claimed." - I really can't with the calling grown women 'girls.'

They drug the women they kidnap so they sleep through the journey so that they 'won't be able to know where the island is and tell others'...

"Keldan whispered, as if barely daring to say the words aloud for fear she would vanish."

"'A voice like music and the body of a goddess..and her laughter...her sweet face. She is charming. She is perfect.'"

"The rushing whirl of skirts and soft curves that had hit him were clearly a woman"

"'I want a woman who will stir my heart as well as my loins." - Keldan being the less problematic king (bar is very low)

"'Sparks, liveliness, intelligence...what does it matter? One woman is more or less like the next in bed. Choose one." Bruh

Okay, I am rooting for the love interests more knowing they are both widows.

"If I found love, I should catch it close and hold it tight."

"'I don't want to worry Gaston - because he'll spend the rest of the day hovering over me like a big butterfly."

"petite Josette tended to be sweet and amiable while she herself was more outspoken and headstrong."

"'Why is it impossible for you to let anyone take care of you?'"

"Gaston glowered...looking very much like the name he had earned in battle :the Black Lion. The fact that he carried his...son, Soren, on his broad shoulders did little to soften the impression."

She's 22 and the norseman is implied to be much older. Add onto that she conveniently has battle experience and is trained to use weapons??