REVIEW: Dragon of Denmark – Jennifer Ivy Walker

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Skårde the Scourge, bastard son of the Danish king Harald Bluetooth, is a fierce Viking warlord who earned the prestigious title Dragon of Denmark through victorious battles and lucrative Viking raids. When his royal father announces that Skårde will forge a Viking alliance through an arranged marriage to the daughter of Richard the Fearless, the Dragon of Denmark considers the voyage to Normandy an infuriating banishment.

Illegitimate daughter of Richard the Fearless, the Viking Duke of Normandy, Ylva is a Druid priestess and Celtic healer with the otherworldly gift of sight. She learns that she must leave her Breton village behind and travel to Normandy, where she will marry the Viking brute that she has foreseen in a terrifying vision.

When the Frankish king, determined to drive the Vikings from Normandy, attacks and seizes Richard’s clifftop fortress, the Dragon of Denmark must ally with Ljósálfar Light Elves, a Viking völva with powerful seiðr magic, and a vitki-- a shapeshifting sorcerer who can assume the form of a falcon--to reclaim the ducal palace.

Ylva’s mother was captured by Richard the Fearless and when she was born, she was the apple of her dad’s eye. Pampered and given everything she wanted until ten years ago when her father decided to end his Pagan marriage and marry legally to ensure his new status as Duke of Normandy. She and her mother were abandoned living alone and hated by the townspeople for her Nordic heritage.

Considered outcasts, it was only because of the wool and medicines she and her mom traded to get supplies that they could go into town. When her mother died Ylva found herself alone and lonely no man would ever want her for a wife because of her Celtic healing she was both feared and hated.

Then the day came when her father reappeared revealing that she would marry Skarde the Scourge, Dragon of Denmark, the illegitimate son of the Danish king, Harald Bluetooth. Like Ylve he was neglected and never accepted by his father, but he was a warlord controlling his father’s army. Now his father has advised him that he is to marry to form an alliance.

Neither Ylve nor Skarde want to marry but they have no choice. Ylve grew up hating the Vikings for destroying her town and for how her mother and her were treated and now she is marrying a huge, scarred Viking who both scares and interests her.

Ylve has no idea what to expect to happen with a Viking wedding, but Skarde’s grandmother helps her. The celebration lasts for days and on the honeymoon night the sheet from the bed is examined to ensure consummation. Unfortunately, neither Ylve nor Skarde are willing to consummate the marriage, and a sharp knife takes care of the blood.

As part of the wedding gift Skarde is appointed the Count of White Chalk Cliffs with an army of five thousand and a slew of ships. Now he is known as the Count of Normandy and Ylve is the countess.

As Skarde and Ylve spend time together she sees a different side of the man she is married to, and he wants to consummate the marriage with the beautiful bride he married. Of course, they both give in to their feelings and love grows and while all of this is going on betrayal, and war is being set in motion, the Frankish King wants to drive all the Vikings from Normandy.

Betrayal, lies, secrets, romance, sex, magic and suspense. It was hard to put down the book, so many things happening that I won’t reveal.