Customer Reviews

Viking's Woman

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a lover of period and epic romantic novels, I was sorely disappointed that this novel contained no romance at all. Eric was so abusive to Rhiannon, I thought I had mistakenly bought a self-help book on the signs to determine if you're lover is abusive, instead of a romance novel. I enjoy fiesty, independent heroines and saw no real problems with Rhiannon, other than her reason for falling in love with a man like Eric. I cringe at the number of times he grabbed her by her hair, yanking it brutally; or ruthlessly throwing her on the bed before diving on top of her with all his weight, even while she was pregnant. The almost-rape left me cold and detatched. I cannot understand the motivation for Eric. I know he wanted and coveted land, but his personality was woefully lacking in charisma, humor and warmth. Eric was just another handsome character that was unworthy of the brave and intelligent heroine. I know men of that period considered women as property, whom they could treat as they please and abuse at will....but who want's to read about it in a romance novel?

I don't usually bother to write reviews of books, but this is one I can't fail to write my opinion of. I am in love with the Viking era, read as many romances set in this time period as I can find, and an a member of a reinactment society. Yet this is the first Viking romance I couldn't bring myself to finish.

The history is fine, but even the setting was not enough to keep my attentions. Something just doesn't work about this book. We get both a tortured hero and a near-rape forced seduction all in one. No man who is a man commits rape, and there is simply not enough to this plot to overcome the hero's terrible failings.

I was disgusted.

This is the second in Graham's Viking trilogy (Golden Surrender, The Viking's Woman and Lord of the Wolves).

Set in 9th century Ireland (Eire), England and the north coast of France, these are the stories of Prince Olaf of Norway, the first Lord of the Wolves, and his bride, Princess Erin, daughter of the Irish High King, the Ard-Righ of Tara, and their descendants. I warn you that the Viking men are strong willed, arrogant and domineering, even if the two in the last two books are half Irish. Their women are independent, stubborn and courageous and can fight with the best of the men. They have no intention of allowing a Viking male who has taken everything from them to dominate them. But then wolves and the cubs of wolves mate for life or so says the druid who is advisor to the Irish king's family and these men are wolves. Each of the marriages is arranged over the objection of the females who fight the husbands who have laid claim to their lands and to them.

This, the second story, tells of Rhiannon, King Alfred's favorite niece who has lands on the Saxon coast of England, and Eric, second son of Olaf, King of Dubhlain in Eire (who we encountered in Golden Surrender). Alfred seeks Eric's aid to fight against the Danes, his enemies, and to defend Rhiannon's lands as most of her men are fighting with Alfred. But the message to tell Rhiannon that Eric is coming at Alfred's invitation is diverted through treachery and when Eric comes to her castle in his Viking ships, she thinks he's attacking and she defends. In the ensuing fight, she wounds him with her own arrow. When Alfred learns how Eric was greeted, he knows he must make up for it as he needs Eric's sword. So he decides to give both Rhiannon and her lands to the Viking lord. But while Eric wants the land badly, he does not want the woman. He has loved once and lost that love and does not desire to wed. Meanwhile, Rhiannon loves one of her own people, Rowan, who she believed she would marry. Though he doesn't want her, Eric consents to the marriage thinking he'll send Rhiannon to Ireland and be rid of her. She is forced to marry him in a hasty ceremony. As predicted, Eric does not treat her well. The wedding night is somewhere between a seduction and a rape (it has elements of both). It is a battle between them for most of the book. But love wins in the end.

Graham's writing is, as always, very well done with superb historical references woven into a complex love story that befits the cultures of the hero and heroine. I recommend it.

I have read some of the previous reviews and there is absolutely no rape in this book. Yes, she is unwilling to consummate their marriage but, well, I won't go into detail but her body sure seemed willing enough. And afterwards, she even admits to herself how much it excited her. Eric is a great hero, for being who he was. A man-of-war, of course he is not intuned to tender feelings and murmuring sweet-nothings. Yes, he manhandles his bride at times, but for when this book was written (1990), that was the style. He tries to understand his wife but she is what makes this a 4 star not a 5. She is very similar to Eric's mother in the first one. She is horrified to be married to a 'viking!' She goes on and on and on...well, you get the picture on what a bast*rd he is, d*mn viking till it gets a bit tiresome. She seems to forget he is half Irish and raised in Ireland. Real Vikings would have killed everyone and made her a slave. I think too much of the book is spent on her feeling sorry for herself. Only close to the end does she finally accept her fate and her feelings. The story is action-packed and humorous at times. If you don't like whining she-wolves, this is not the book for you. If you like action & a strong-alpha hero, you'll love it.

But I just didn't really like it that much. I plain old didn't care for either of the main characters, and didn't find thier love story believable.

This was the first book i read by Heather Graham and i absolutely loved it!! I enjoyed this book for a variety of reasons

Firstly even though Eric is a very rough and dominant character he never rapes Rhiannon although in some scenes you would almost expect him to.

Both Eric and Rhiannon have very strong persionalities that clash all the time and most of the book revolves around their fights so if you are the type of person who's into a sweet read this book is definetly not for you.

I throughly recommend this book to anyone who is not afraid to read about strong love scences and turbulant emotions.

This book also doesn't have any adultery which i hate reading about!!!

I remember reading the other reviews of this book on here and hesitating. One reviewer said she hated how the male lead, Eric, had been in love with another woman and was thinking of her throughout the book -- I think they mention that previous woman all of three times. Another reviewer (or it may have been the same one?) mentioned that she hated the domestic violence in the book -- Eric grabs our girl, Rhiannon, by the hair a time or two but there's no spanking or slapping or anything like that. Eric threatens all that of course but it's all bluster on his end. And let's remember the time period we're dealing with here and the fact that it's just this manly control that's attracting a lot of women to these kinds of historical romance novels. It's a fantasy so let's not be judgmental.

Now that I've defended the book, now let me rip it apart. Actually, no, this was a decent romance novel. I liked it. It wasn't the best I've ever read but it wasn't the worst either. I don't know if I'm happy I paid full price for it but that's another story. In fact, in total opposition to the other reviewers, my main problem with this romance novel was all the romance-y, touchy feely stuff. I'm just getting back into romance novels (I read them a lot when I was a teen) and what I seem to remember is the passion and arguments of two people fighting their feelings for each other but not saying how much they love each other "oh, and could this be true, my own love" etc, etc for pages on end. Again, not to judge, maybe it's just me, but I skipped over those pages.

After reading Heather Grahams "Lord of the Wolves", which I enjoyed tremendously, I thought I'd try another one of her many novels. I was rather disappionted to find this book lacked all the wonderful dialogue that "Lord of the Wolves" had. After our heroine is captured and wed to the Viking pretty much nothing else goes on but constant pickering. Which of course would be o.k. if I hadn't expected "romance" in a romance novel........

I had this book in a different cover which was probably a different issuing of it and like it a lot. I have read it several times and when I lost it was in the middle of reading it again. I am a romance novel person so if you are this is a very good story.

I'd read this novel quite a few years ago and passed it along to my sister; she wanted to re-read it recently and couldn't locate it, so it was great to find it on Amazon. She's a happy camper now!