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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
I felt mixed while reading this about whether I was enjoying it or not. On one hand, I loved the premise of a hero who's always remembered the woman who saved his life, and vowed to return to her someday. And I liked the device of a heroine marrying a barbarian with unusual wedding customs that adds a bunch of steamy scenes. I'm new enough to the romance genre that I'm not up on all the tropes, so if these are tropes, they are new to me. The writing was good and I mostly enjoyed reading about the characters.
But I kept finding my attention knocked out of the story. For one thing, both characters seem to have two personalities. Malthior is smitten with Halla and cares about her comfort and pleasure, but more times than I can count, he suddenly thinks "Halla belongs to me" or "She is mine" or "I get everything I want" and it was so jarring. And Halla flips between being a 100% shy virgin and being an assertive leader. Some of the vocabulary was a little more dirty than I'm used to, and the barbarian customs were a little squeam-inducing (squeamish-inducing?), and there was talk of war and killing as if it was no biggie—not something to do when necessary, but what Mathior loves. The little distractions took away from the story, and there were so many of them that they threatened to overwhelm my reading experience.
But I kept finding my attention knocked out of the story. For one thing, both characters seem to have two personalities. Malthior is smitten with Halla and cares about her comfort and pleasure, but more times than I can count, he suddenly thinks "Halla belongs to me" or "She is mine" or "I get everything I want" and it was so jarring. And Halla flips between being a 100% shy virgin and being an assertive leader. Some of the vocabulary was a little more dirty than I'm used to, and the barbarian customs were a little squeam-inducing (squeamish-inducing?), and there was talk of war and killing as if it was no biggie—not something to do when necessary, but what Mathior loves. The little distractions took away from the story, and there were so many of them that they threatened to overwhelm my reading experience.
challenging
funny
hopeful
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4/5⭐️
Let’s not talk about how I should be studying for my math final but instead I’m reading
Let’s not talk about how I should be studying for my math final but instead I’m reading
It's okay
This was a sweet romance but not exactly what I was looking for. The sex scenes were good but there wasn't a significant conflict.
This was a sweet romance but not exactly what I was looking for. The sex scenes were good but there wasn't a significant conflict.
A sweet story.
Older woman, younger Hero. 33 and 24.
Interesting new world and culture.
Loyal, protective Hero.
Good start to a new series by different authors.
Older woman, younger Hero. 33 and 24.
Interesting new world and culture.
Loyal, protective Hero.
Good start to a new series by different authors.
[3.5]
It was a cute, light read to consume in the middle of the night. Nothing more.
It was a cute, light read to consume in the middle of the night. Nothing more.
DNF at 75% - Love the premise, but the story goes overboard focusing on how “old” Halla is (she’s 33/34), and the repetitive language got really exhausting
First dip into Ruby Dixon.
Enjoyed the writing style! And it seems like there is quite some underlying worldbuilding, which I didn’t expect.
Also enjoyed the age gap - you don’t see it this way round a lot... if ever. Can only think of Outlander as the only other time I’ve come across that.
The romance is not very deep, the smut is okay and has good female agency.
The whole “she is mine” and “I’m happy that she is virgin” (at 33 mind you... like seriously, what did she do for 16 years in that convent? She wasn’t a nun, but a guest...) wasn’t great, but to be fair, she was his first, too and I don’t think, that it would have been bad, if she hadn’t been a virgin. Which makes is even more annoying to me, that her virginity is treated as something positive.
All in all fun and well written, and I can see her full novels to be more in depth and nuanced.
Enjoyed the writing style! And it seems like there is quite some underlying worldbuilding, which I didn’t expect.
Also enjoyed the age gap - you don’t see it this way round a lot... if ever. Can only think of Outlander as the only other time I’ve come across that.
The romance is not very deep, the smut is okay and has good female agency.
The whole “she is mine” and “I’m happy that she is virgin” (at 33 mind you... like seriously, what did she do for 16 years in that convent? She wasn’t a nun, but a guest...) wasn’t great, but to be fair, she was his first, too and I don’t think, that it would have been bad, if she hadn’t been a virgin. Which makes is even more annoying to me, that her virginity is treated as something positive.
All in all fun and well written, and I can see her full novels to be more in depth and nuanced.
The traditions that had to happen before the wedding were interesting and I liked that there was a chapter showing what happened 16 years ago, even though it could have been a bit longer.
I liked seeing Halla and Mathior interact but I wanted to see more of them interacting and getting to know each other.
I wanted to see what they would actually do after the wedding and what ruling would actually look like.
There were some names mentioned but there weren’t really any side characters and I wanted to see more people.
I liked this book and how the cultures were shown and I will want to read more books in this series but not much was included in this book.
I liked seeing Halla and Mathior interact but I wanted to see more of them interacting and getting to know each other.
I wanted to see what they would actually do after the wedding and what ruling would actually look like.
There were some names mentioned but there weren’t really any side characters and I wanted to see more people.
I liked this book and how the cultures were shown and I will want to read more books in this series but not much was included in this book.