The Lifeblood of Ill-fated Women The Blood, Sun, and Moon. Book 1
Fantasy
January 9, 2017
391
Reviewed by: Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Astrid the White, daughter of Kol the ruler of the kingdom of Birka is woken by her sister screaming that they are being attacked. Astrid is a warrior and she wastes no time in running into the middle of the battle to save her family and her people, unfortunately a bright light is all she sees in the midst of screams and burning.
When she awakes it is to find herself laying in snow and no sight of her mountains and kingdom in sight. She manages to kill an animal that she knows is sick and after eating it she falls ill. When she sees two men walking she is immediately prepared to fight but after eating bad meat she is so weak that she collapses.
Warren and his younger brother Hammond come across Astrid and Warren brings her back to his home. Warren was once a soldier and now he is happy to live on his farm away from death. Astrid is unlike any woman that Warren has ever seen and when she wakes up she immediately goes on the attack. She wants to know where she is, where her family is and where her kingdom Birka is. Unfortunately Warren has no answers for her and agrees to take her to the elders as soon as she is strong enough.
The elders are aware of Birka but inform Astrid that it was destroyed ages ago, something she is unwilling to believe. She is a warrior and will do whatever is necessary to ensure she gets back to her home. She knows that she is in a totally different place, a place with farms and farm animals. This is Gromstad not a Nordic kingdom like Birka. She wonders if what she is going through is a test set out by her father or by Odin and she is determined to pass the test.
Warren agrees to accompany her in her pursuit of Birka but they are attacked by bandits. Astrid has her throat cut by the leader of the group and is sure that she is dead and in Hell. When Warren gets her back to his home she appears to be healed, was it magic or have the gods intervened?
I loved Warren he was understanding, warm, caring and did everything to make Astrid happy. It didn’t take long before romance bloomed between the two of them. Of course, evil was not far off and the leader of the group was Emmerich the total opposite of Warren. Emmerich had no redeeming qualities whatsoever. There were surprises, sex and violence.
Fantasy is not a favorite genre of mine and so my review might reflect that. If you love fantasy and Viking mythology and strong Viiking Norse woman; then you will love this book. I did find the first half to be very slow moving, but the second half made up for it.
4.5