28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
My Least Favorite Hill, June 7, 2000
The word "Reluctant" in this book's title is decidedly apropos. Never has a man been more exasperatingly reluctant to love a woman than Thork, the Viking "hero" in this novel.
Admittedly, I read the stories of Thork and Ruby's children first ("The Outlaw Viking", "The Tarnished Lady", & "The Bewitched Viking"--in that order). So, I was disappointed when I went back and read the parents' story only to find an extremely aggravating relationship between the hero and heroine.
Ruby loved Thork from the get-go and remained faithful to him because of that fact. Thork, on the other hand, realized that he felt something for Ruby, but refusing to acknowledge it, availed himself of every woman he came across in the novel. He was hurtful to the heroine to the point where in one scene he actually threw her out of his bedroom, but not before she overheard him loudly ask a servant to bring his mistress to him to take care of "his needs".
Worse yet, Ruby continued to pursue the idiot...relentlessly. I knew ths novel wasn't for me when I started hoping that Hill would have Ruby take another lover. Thork simply didn't deserve her love, or even her caring. He didn't even come around and admit his feelings (and start being faithful) until the book was a chapter or two from being finished.
Still, I gave this novel 3 stars because it contained a lot of Hill's trademark humor and it was well written. There are some readers who will no doubt like this book a lot...my mom enjoyed it immensely. But my mom also enjoys Danielle Steele and ulcer-inducing sagas like "The Thornbirds". If you're like my mother and enjoy reading those types of gut-wrenching, harrowing novels where tragedy isn't triumphed over until the very end, then you will like this book. If you're like me and can't stand novels like that, then save your money.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
5 star story for first in the Viking series..., November 10, 2000
I have to admit, this isn't as funny as her other books, but I still loved it and thought it was EXCELLENT. The history in this book is outstanding and very accurate. The story is about a woman named Ruby Jordan. It's the year 1994 and her husband Jack of 20 years walks out. Ruby is distraught and confused. She sits back and listens to a tape to calm her emotions when suddenly she wakes up in the 10th century and aboard a Viking ship! Ruby sees a man that looks EXACTLY like Jack, but this man is a powerful Viking with long blonde hair named Thork. He thinks she is a spy sent by his enemy to destroy him and the village. No one believes she is from the future and Ruby tries to convince everyone she is married to Thork in another life, this is when everyone believes she is insane. The story takes us through the turmoil the Vikings went through and shows us they are a fierce and proud people, but also a gentle and loving people. We get to meet the characters from the other books in the series. Although I was upset with Thork's fate, I liked the ending a lot. What happened to him was meant to be and it touches your heart. This is the first book in the Viking Series. Here they are in order---'The Reluctant Viking', 'The Outlaw Viking', 'The Tarnished Lady', and 'The Bewitched Viking'.
Tracy Talley~@
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Another great from Sandra, November 3, 2000
I was in tears reading this book, from laughter. I had tears of sadness at Thorks destiny. Even thought he was not very nice to Ruby until the end, he is still a man to die for. You are never disapointed by Sandra's hero's.
Ruby's antics in the 10th. century are absolutely hillarious. The things she got up to were totally unbelievable, like giving women contraception advice, starting her own lingerie business.
The ending had me in stitches while she was trying to seduce Jack into coming back to her.
If you love a book that will make you laugh and cry this book is the one, but saying that all the books i've read of Sandra's make me feel this way. Great read Sandra!!!!!!!
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