Customer Reviews

My Warrior's Heart

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My Warrior's Heart is one of my favourite romances. It's like a myth of love and passion. The confrontation between Aaren and Jorund is exciting! I like the description of the Norsemen and their village. It gives me an impression of real, simple, lovable people rather than bloodthirsty Vikings. Thanks to Betina Krahn for this wonderful novel!

This is my favorite book of all time and I had a chance to tell Ms. Krahn this a few years ago. She told me that it was her favorite book to write even though it didn't get the critical acclaim some of her other books have. This is a good one and frankly, the only unsigned book I have on my keeper shelf!

Well.... i went into this without high expectations as i have read two of her books(Unlikely Angel and the Mermaid) I found this book refreshing and one of the few books which depicts life during Viking times.. i felt like i was there !! It does have a slow start but once you get into it, you better hope that you have time to spare cos you can't put it down !!

I have come to appreciate Betina Krahn's attention to detail in her well told romances. She spends time with each description, each phrase...it is truly excellence in romance writing. At 400+ pages, you definitely get a well woven tale with this one that spends time with character development, and gives you a feel for the way they looked at the world, the customs of the time, etc. This is a Viking romance that takes you back to the time in the late Viking period when the Swedish Vikings sailed all the way to Byzantium. It was also a time when the old Asa gods were being replaced by Christianity and the "White Christ." Krahn treats this subject with great care, showing us how the old often combined with the new in this story that begins with belief in myths and ends in very real action.

Since she was a young girl, Aaren, daughter of Serrick, understood she was unusually tall and strong, trained to be a warrior, a battle-maiden, and not a woman of the hearth, because her mother was a Valkyr, a daughter of the Viking gods. She is beautiful with a long, lean body, dark red hair, and golden eyes. Aaren had two beautiful sisters, also daughters of Serrick, and born from another, blond Valkyr. Serrick brings his three daughters to the village of Borger, a powerful jarl, and gives them in payment of a tax debt--but with conditions. No man may touch them or wed them until one man can defeat Aaren in sword fighting; then each may be given in marriage. Borger accepts the payment and the conditions with his eldest son, Jorund, in mind. Jorund is a huge, handsome Viking, who two years ago tired of battlelust and the "dew of wounds" (blood). Jorund has no intention of fighting any woman, but after Aaren defeats two of Borger's best warriors, Borger decrees that no man may fight Aaren save Jorund. Aaren wants to end the curse and the condition to her sisters' ability to marry, so she prods and taunts Jorund into fighting her, but he resists.

That's the basic storyline, and except for the myth underlying Aaren and her sisters' introduction to the village, which myth Jorund doesn't accept since he is a follower of the White Christ, the rest of the story is purely historical romance. It's an unusual courtship, to be sure, and there is more than one romance in this one. As Viking romances go, it's unusual, detailed, well written and I highly recommend it. It's not a fast-paced light read, however. You need a good rain storm, a cup of tea and a fireplace to settle in for this one.

NOTE: THIS WAS RE-RELEASED AS THE ENCHANTMENT. Here's her whole book list with those re-released under other titles:

The Convent of the Brides of Virtue Trilogy:

* The Husband Test (2001)
* The Wife Test (2003)
* The Marriage Test (2004)

Library of Alexandria/High-Victorian Romantic Adventures:

* The Book of the Seven Delights (2005)
* The Book of True Desires (2006, RITA winner 2007)

Tudor:

* Caught in the Act (1990)
* Behind Closed Doors (1991)

Mistress:

* The Last Bachelor (1994)
* The Perfect Mistress (1995)

Other Historical Novels:

* Rapture's Ransom (1983)
* Passion's Storm (1985)
* Rebel Passion (1987)
* Hidden Fires (1988)
* Passion's Treasure (1989 - rereleased as Just Say Yes)
* Passion's Ransom (1989)
* Midnight Magic (1990 - rereleased as Luck Be a Lady)
* Love's Brazen Fire (1990 - rereleased as The Paradise Bargain, 2003)
* Passion's Romance
* Luck Be a Lady
* My Warrior's Heart (rereleased as The Enchantment, 1992)
* The Princess and the Barbarian (1993)
* The Unlikely Angel (1996)
* The Mermaid (1997)
* The Soft Touch (1999)
* Sweet Talking Man (2000)
* Not Quite Married (2004)
* Make Me Yours (2009, nominated for the RITA, 2010)