Series: Victorious Vikings #3
Published by Harlequin Historical on 17 September 2013
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance
Pages: 288
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
Consumed by revenge—and desire!
Captured by his enemy and chained like a dog, Leif Egilsson has one thought in his mind: revenge. He'll no longer be beguiled by the treacherous beauty of Lady Astrid, and her innocence, which he so craved, will finally be his.
On his escape, this fierce, proud Viking is bent on making her pay the price of her betrayal—in his bed! Only, Astrid has the heart of a warrior, and she will not be tamed as easily as he believes….
*I received a free ARC of Defiant in the Viking’s Bed from Harlequin via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*
Defiant in the Viking’s Bed is very slow-paced, at least for a little over the first half of the story. Both Astrid and Leif are pretty strong-minded, but I really didn’t get to know either of them very well. There is a lot of information shared, but not all of it felt necessary in order to follow the story and the plot. I also thought the syntax was strange in places, as if changing the word order would somehow make it sound more viking-like. And while the word order in Old Norse or even Old English is quite different from modern English, it just made it difficult to read in my opinion.
Astrid was defiant at times, but other times, she was ‘feeling angry, but with no means to act on it’ and after reading that more than once, it was repetitive. And I think she could have acted on some counts, however she chose not to. Going from hot to cold and back again, Astrid’s reactions confused me more often than not, and Leif was more of the same. He was supposed to be this strong, hard viking, but little Astrid was able to hurt him with her words. Defiant in the Viking’s bed didn’t live up to my expectations, however, it did pick up in the second half.
As the pace quickened, Defiant in the Viking’s Bed became more interesting, and I enjoyed it when Astrid finally took her destiny into her own hands, and made Leif realize that he had to act differently if he wanted her in his life at all. It just took so long to get there I couldn’t feel the joy when it happened. The final resolution also was a little too easy, and I did not enjoy Defiant in the Viking’s bed as much as I hoped I would.
His contact with women in recent years was about money for favours rendered. Astrid fell outside that category which made things potentially tricky.
Her husband could be old, or ugly or cruel, or all three, and it would make no difference to Jarl Einar. He would see her wedded and bedded regardless, and by force if necessary.
The only bright spot in the gloom was Dalla. The servant woman had looked after her when first she was brought to her uncle’s hall six years earlier, prior to her attendance on Ragnhild, and was the only person to have shown her any kindness there. Apart from the addition of a few more wrinkles, Dalla was unchanged, greeting Astrid with unfeigned pleasure and helping her settle in.
She wasn’t entirely sure why it had returned now, except perhaps that, like her marriage, it had involved coercion.
A touch that was both skilled and seductive and arousing. No one had ever touched her like that before and it kindled something inside her that she hadn’t known existed.
Aw. I am so sad that this one didn’t work out for you. I feel you about books that only get interesting when you’re halfway through. Whenever that happens, I always contemplate about DNFing the book. But I always finish it.
At least this book was still able redeem itself even if it’s already too late. And too easily resolved conflicts are really annoying. It’s like the author has lot her energy to make her/his craft awesome.
I guess I can’t get only four and five star books either, Charlotte. It’s OK, though.
Thanks for stopping by, my friend <3
I don’t know, maybe she wanted to be original with the language, and it was original. It just didn’t make the story flow very well, and since I’m a linguist, I always tend to notice those kinds of things, especially if the story doesn’t make me blind to everything else.
It’s still as foggy as it was this morning… but at least it isn’t too cold. My son in Norway is having very cold weather – I hope he dressed accordingly this morning 😀
I hope no trees are too close to your house, then, if they have to fall down, they should not do any damage, at least!
I look forward to chatting with you soon! *hugs*
I’m sorry this one took so long to draw you in, Lexxie. From the sound of it, at least syntax-wise, it seems maybe the author didn’t do enough research?!? I am glad it picked up in the second half so this wasn’t a total lost cause. The premise did hold so much promise.
I hope the fog lifted a bit. And I hope your Monday was grand! 🙂 It is WINDY here today – we’ll probably lose some trees. 🙁 I’ll be looking for you on fb when I get back from dropping the kids off. *HUGS*
Twitter: bmreviewsohmy
To bad you didn’t like this one as much as you would have liked. I hate when the book is really slow at the beginning because most of the time I decide to DNF it and it could have ended up good. Wish we could love them all but it happens. 🙂
Yeah, I almost DNF’ed this book, but I somehow continued reading on. And really, the first half wasn’t necessary for the plot or the story to be understood.
You’re right, though, we can’t really love them all. Thanks for stopping by, Stormi 🙂
Twitter: talksupeblog
Maybe the author failed to mention that heroine is PMS-ing or something.
LOL 🙂 I don’t think Astrid was PMS-ing the whole time.
Thanks for stopping by, Braine 🙂
Sorry this book didn’t grab you. It is disappointing that the first half was so slow!
Oh well… I still got to read about vikings, though 🙂
Thanks for stopping by, Pamela.
Yeah, it’s super hard for me to get in to a story that is really slow. Plus the whole grammar/syntax thing would bug me too, as well as too much repetition, and too easy and unrealistic resolutions to problems. To badd this story was a disappointment. I love Vikings too. Great Review Lexx.
Yeah, too slow is never good…
Thanks for stopping by, Lindy 🙂
Astrid and Leif? That is Viking “Jane and Joe.”
I had to come by when i saw “Viking”.
I’m horrible.
LOL I kind of thought just that one word would make you see what it was about. Alas, not really worth the detour.
Thanks for stopping by Lyn 🙂