Review: I Love Vikings, But...
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 01 5, 2013
I love a good Viking story almost as much as I adore Highlander romances, and the author certainly does transport you back to the Viking Age, a time full of raiding and pillaging.  The heroine, Cherine, is a French peasant on the brink of forced marriage to another serf.  Curious and not at all satisfied with her lot in life, Cherine dreams of more. When her village is attacked by Vikings, she decides to stay and fight rather than run, and while her sisters and mother perish in the raid, she is taken hostage by one of the Norsemen, Erik the Axe.  Erik is under the control of a commander, Rolf, and though he's been Rolf's star berserker in the past, he's beginning to feel the wear of the constant battling. When he sees Cherine in the midst of the raid, he quickly instructs her to run and hide, but she is too traumatized to respond, forcing him to take her as his slave or watch her be passed amongst the other warriors. Erik quickly becomes attached to his prize, but is informed by Rolf - who, by the way, is pretty much a nut job - that he will share Cherine with his commander.Erik and his captive form a sensual bond almost from the beginning, and when he has to allow Rolf to have Cherine, it's fairly awful, in my opinion. I've read a lot of erotic romance, and this seemed to have the erotic part down just fine. However, the actual romance was sadly lacking. I wasn't sure if Rolf was supposed to be the villain, or simply another character fighting for Cherine's affection. I'm not opposed to a little sharing between friends when it comes to these types of books (In fact, those have been some of my favorite storylines. HOT!) but Rolf's treatment of Cherine was abusive, not some sexy form of bondage. And I wanted Mr. Berserker, Erik, to man up and fight for his girl instead of just meekly passing her to Rolf.  It was never fully explained why Erik felt he HAD to do whatever Rolf said, whenever he said it, when he was such a fierce warrior in his own right. Yeah, I get the whole leader/follower thing, but it seemed like there was more to the relationship between the two men than that simple explanation. And while Cherine is in Rolf's clutches, she shrugs off the degrading acts like it was nothing at all. I just didn't understand where the characters were coming from most of the time.In addition to that, some of the language used was totally anachronistic. I'm pretty sure no Viking thought to himself, "Hmm, I have to make sure she gets hers before I can get mine." But hey, I'm no historian. And the ending was just horrible. **Spoiler Alert** As soon as Erik and Cherine escape and begin to live the lives they've both realized they've always wanted, Erik gets killed and Cherine's all alone in Norway.  I know it may appear simplistic, but maybe if the ending had been a bit more happily-ever-after, I would feel differently about the other content. On the plus side, I love the cover art (dark and sexy!) and there were certainly some erotic moments between Cherine and Erik that I enjoyed. I'm not sure whether I would buy another of the author's stories, though. I'll have to wait and see.