The Gripping Beast [Paperback]

Charlene Teglia (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2006

The wild magic that brought them together is nothing compared to what they find in each other's arms. Lorelei Michaels, flamboyant lead vocalist of the all-female rock band The Sirens, has a passion for myths and legends. She just never expected to find herself actually living one. While touring with the band, a Viking armband with an interesting history and a design known as the gripping beast throws her into a time warp-full of Norsemen, macho attitudes and a lamentable lack of modern amenities. Upon seeing the strange, beautiful woman being auctioned off, Erik Thorolfsson was mesmerized. Until the slave trader put his hands on her. With a roar of rage and sword drawn, he charged forward to take that which he wanted for his own. But he discovers owning her isn't enough, he has to make her his-for all time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Charlene Teglia is the award-winning author of seventeen novels and novellas in a variety of erotic romance subgenres. She lives in Washington with her husband and two daughters. Visit her website at www.charleneteglia.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Samhain Publishing (May 16, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159998055X
• ISBN-13: 978-1599980553
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,062,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charlene Teglia's adventurous romances have garnered several honors, including the prestigious Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award. Her work has been translated into Spanish and German, excerpted in Complete Woman, and selected by the Rhapsody, Doubleday and Literary Guild Bookclubs. When she's not writing, she can be found hiking with her family or opening and closing doors for cats. For news, excerpts, and more visit www.charleneteglia.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A well-written erotic Viking / Time Travel romance, October 14, 2006

By 

S. Fischer (Germany) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Gripping Beast (Paperback)

Lorelei Michaels is the lead-singer and song-writer of the all-female band The Sirens. But despite her success and the love of her music, she is unhappy and unfulfilled because she still hasn't found that special someone. So when a friend lends her a Viking armband named The Gripping Beast after the animals depicted on it and tells her a beautiful story about true love connected to the band and one of his Viking ancestors, she wishes she could find that kind of love and passion, too. The next moment, she finds herself on a slace auction block in the Viking town of Hedeby! Lucky for her, Erik Thorolfsson sees her and charges to the rescue when a slave trader would rape her to make more money from the sale. While Erik sees Lorelei as his slave, i. e. his property to do with as he pleases, she finds it hard to accept the reality of the world she stumbled into. He wants her and in order to keep her safe in a world where a slave has no rights whatsoever, he feels he must teach her her new place. But although Lorelei feels attracted to him and definitely enjoys his love-making, she doesn't want to submit and obey, especially since she can't see a future between herself and Erik as long as she isn't an equal he can respect. Both will have to adapt and learn to accept the other if they want to make their love last...

This is the first book I've read by Charlene Teglia, but it will definitely not be the last. Not only is it very erotic, but the characters and the world are well-developed, the conflict believable, the humour great and very entertaining, but the seriousness of the situation is not underrated. It reminded me of Sandra Hill's early Viking-Time Travels since there is a great sense of humour as well as some of the problems that would logically arise if a modern woman were confronted with the Viking-age. So this book is entertaining and erotic as well as intelligent. The sex scenes are quite explicit, so if you're into more subdued eroticism this would not be the book for you. Otherwise, I can definitely recommend it!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly surprised, March 14, 2007

By 

almitchell "alex_says" (Roswell, GA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Gripping Beast (Paperback)

This book wasn't what I expected. If I take it in the sum of its parts, it shouldn't be a very good book. Brief, sketchy, with an ending that left me feeling cheated - but it was a good book. I really, really enjoyed it. Well, with the exception of the ending. But it's a fairy tale. And to take it any other way seemed to me to rob it of what magic it does have.

Lorelei is the talented and driven star of a rock band who discovers at the peak of her fame, her private life is suffering. She can't meet that special someone and is afraid she's so repressed that she never will. One of the men she should want, but doesn't, shows her a family artifact he has, knowing that Viking antiquity and mythology pleases her. This artifact is an armband inscribed with a creature known as a 'gripping beast', and is accompanied by a legend of a magical bride who marries a Viking and at the moment they marry, they both disappear, leaving the one armband behind.

Since it is a fairy tale, she doesn't go insane, she instantly melts into the arms of the ruthless and intimidating Viking (who you just know is a big ol' cuddly teddy bear behind closed doors), discovers that rather than being a liberated woman she enjoyes being submissive - sexually, at least - to this big hulking man, and that she'd rather subject him to her future than stay in his past. For his part, the fearsome 'Black Erik' is just a bid ol' cuddly teddy bear, with the exception of one or two situations, and since he's so captivated by her beauty and spirit, he gives up his life to be with her.

I read it in two hours, I couldn't put it down. Even though you know how it's going to turn out, you still want to go there with the characters. They have wonderful chemistry. I enjoyed their banter. I enjoyed Lorelei trying to understand the situation, and Erik trying to understand her modern language. They are that engaging, especially for fairly two-dimensional characters. The fact that the ending was so short, and seemed so rushed may contribute to that. For whatever the reason, it seems that the author was either past deadline or just got tired of it, because this wonderful story screeches to a halt with a very unsatisfying happily-ever-after ending. I did like the sly wink about Harold. I don't know that many people would make a connection. That was very clever.

On the nitpicky side, because that's me, don't the smaller publishing firms still use human editors and proofreaders? I'm sadly getting used to improper punctuation and small word mixups, but halfway through this book, one whole paragraph is in a completely different typeface - a completely different size and font. How did that get published and distributed without someone noticing? This author deserves better than that.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sirens Rule, June 4, 2008

By 

Jessewave (Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Gripping Beast (Paperback)

Lorelei Michaels is the flamboyant lead vocalist/songwriter of the all female rock band The Sirens and she has always had a passion for myths and legends. Tonight was going to be the final performance of the band's very successful Legends tour but for some reason she feels that there is something missing in her life, something for which she is waiting. Her friend Dane gives her a Viking armband with a gripping beast in the design and tells her its unusual history of two lovers who had vanished while wearing the armbands.

On this night of the band's last performance on the tour Lorelei is thrown into a time warp 1100 years in the past into a room full of Norsemen and finds herself being auctioned off by a slave trader. She is rescued by Erik Thorolfsson a merchant trader who takes her to his ship. When she recovers she is his prisoner and they are out to sea. She notices that her arm band with the gripping beast is missing; instead her captor Eric is wearing two of them. After a while she realizes that she is in some sort of parallel universe and not on a movie set, which was her first assumption, and when she tries to explain to Eric that she is from the 21st century he believes she is insane. What is Lorelei going to do about Erik the Viking, who treats her as his slave and expects her to obey him, even in bed? For a 21st century woman this is hard to swallow.

Ms Teglia included a great deal of historical information in this book about Norse mythology which made for very interesting background to the story. She also has a remarkable sense of humor which shows up at the strangest times. When the heroine recites the Star Trek motto: "Our mission: To explore strange new worlds" the first time she has sex with our hero it was too, too funny.

The Gripping Beast is book 1 of The Sirens series and this story moves from present day to Norse mythology in an instant and the reader is along for a great ride. What I loved most is that the author took the time to develop the supporting characters as well as the relationship between Erik and Lorelei, before they had sex half way through a 224 page book. The sex between them is unpredictable as would be expected between two people whose backgrounds are so diverse. The Gripping Beast is a terrific beginning to what this reader hopes is going to be a great series.