Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

14 reviews

melissaslibraryy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Story fell flat for me unfortunately. I saw so many great 4-5 star reviews about this book which hyped me up to start my first Danielle L. Jensen book, especially since her bridge kingdom series has been on my radar/tbr for a while. The Norse mythology retelling is what intrigued me the most because it’d be my first book with this type of background within a fantasy setting.  Yet once I got into it, the story and the characters were just meh. 

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noellelovesbooks's review against another edition

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3.75

 Content Warnings: sexual content, violence, blood, war, death of loved one[s], gore, murder, torture, sexual harassment, sexual assault, kidnapping, sexism, classism,
Mention of: rape, physical abuse, infidelity, child abuse,

The first part of this book has me excitedly devouring it...sadly the middle was a lot of the same which had me forcing my way through a lot of it...then the last part threw so many things at me I was excited but also a bit overwhelmed 🤷🏽‍♀️

Looking forward to reading the next book and hoping that the pacing is better. 

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blacksphinx's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

This is the first book I've ever finished my skimming the last ~80 pages. It was a book club pick and something I had been highly anticipating. I've been craving a Norse fantasy and this author came highly recommended to me. Oh man, where do I start?

Our protagonist was so insufferably stubborn and I found no redeeming qualities in her. I'm not sure she does one action that someone asks her to for the entire book, even if they would have been to her benefit. She's so hot-and-cold, changing her mind at the drop of a hat to whatever course of action would be the least convenient for her and the people around her. I wanted to like her! I especially loved that opening scene with her love interest; they had banter that I actually enjoyed!? But I was so frustrated with her by the end I couldn't enjoy anything about their romance. 

I predicted one of the big main twists from the first moment it was foreshadowed. The other big twist was something I guessed was probably going to happen. It didn't feel fun, it didn't feel like I can solved the author's intricate puzzle and now I was in on it. I spent a lot of this book going "are you serious?" and "how it is not obvious to you!" 

The magic makes NO sense and was a constant source of irritation. People who possess the blood of a god are "unfated" and both do not have a destiny/fate of their own and can change the destinies of those around them... but can also be the center of a prophecy and two of them can be destined to be together? How does that make sense! 

The final cherry on top is that I could not help but notice the number of named female characters
that die or betray Freya compared to the named men. Every time I hoped Freya would form a friendship with another woman, something would happen to destroy that relationship.


I am so grateful I hesitated on preordering this book, and will not be continuing with the series. 

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iamsammie27's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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grace_b_3's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A fun, Norse-inspired fantasy romance, A Fate Inked in Blood has a cool magic system, where the children of the gods have powers in accordance with their godly parent. There’s also runic magic, which is unrelated to the godly magic (I think). The world-building is a little light, but the vibes are there. 

As to the romance, Jensen is really good at building that sexual tension, but the arc of the romance leaves something to be desired. It’s very lust-at-first-sight. Most of the romantic development is that snippy banter typical of the genre. 

The plot of Freya figuring out her place in the world was compelling, especially with all of the mysteries and prophecies. Wanting to find out what’s going on definitely keeps me turning the pages. I’m curious to see where this story goes and I’ll keep an eye out for the next book in the series. 

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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

💬: "I'll let the past burn to ash, Freya, because you are my present. My future. My destiny."

Jensen L. Danielle. A Fate Inked in Blood (Saga of the Unfated Book 1) (p. ?). Del Rey. Kindle Edition. 

📖Genres: fantasy, romance, romantasy, mythology (Norse), vikings

📚Page Count: 400

🎧Audiobook Length: 15h 16min

👩🏾‍🏫My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5 
----

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen is the first book in the Saga of the Unfated series. This story is about Freya who is a Goddess Blessed fisher man's wife in an unwanted marriage. After her fisher man husband breaks faith with Freya and betrays her to the local Jarl, the local Jarl orders her to fight his son, Bjorn, to the death. Secretly, Freya has the blood of a Goddess on her side, that helps her survive the fight. Soon after she gets the news that she is the shield maiden that is supposed to make this particular Jarl, the King. That was foreseen in a prophecy. The Jarl then forces Freya to bind herself to him and thus begins the saga of Freya learning how to fight and tame her magic. Will she be able to ignore the lingering lust she feels for the Jarl's son? 

This book had interesting parts, but it did not do a good job of keeping my attention throughout the book. I had such high hopes for this book. Mostly because it's so highly rated amongst my peers but also because the beginning of the story was really good so I expected the action and the overall story to keep up a good pace. The first 25% was interesting, the next 50% really dragged on and was boring, and the last 25% had everything thrown in there, in an exciting way (spicy scenes, action, fighting, surprises, secrets, and a cliff hanger.) 

There was one spicy scene
in the middle of the book
and there are two more spicy scenes
at the end of the book.
Yes there are many ways to be intimate with someone but I really hated that we had to wait until
the end of the book for the two love interests to have intercourse.
I'm giving the spicy scenes two chilis 🌶️ out of five chilies.

Overall, I had high expectations going into this book but it was just okay. The beginning and the ending were very exciting, but the middle of the book was really boring. I'm giving this 3 out of 5 stars. 
⭐️⭐️⭐️ - 3/5  Stars

I listened to this for free on the library app [Libbyapp.com]

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avialaeleigh's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

This was an interesting take on fantasy. I have personally never read something that was a Nordic based fantasy novel. But I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the accent of the voice narrator of the audio book as I did a dual read with both the physical and audiobook. 

I liked that we got to see a lot of mythology and the life of people that might have been alive at the time that the book takes place but we also get the fantasy aspect of that they have powers and are supposedly of the gods decent. 

There were also a lot of plot twists, especially at the end of the book. I am also unsure that why Bjorn father is under the impression that marrying Freja will make him King of Skaland. Especially if Freja is unfated. He himself may have a fate but that does not mean it can not change because of Freja. 

The book had a great mixture of flirting, mystery, Adventure, fighting, tension, and grief all mixed in with the norse mythology. It was a very captivating read. 

Also the witty banter and friendship between Freja and Bjorn is great. And how they first meet is one of the best first meets I have read in a while. The spice was okay in this book I almost think that the main event didn't hold up to all the teasing and suspense of evey other "spicy" interaction that Freja and Bjorn had prior. 

It was a very well written book, and it hooked me from the very beginning though I do felt that it was a little rushed at the end though I am excited to read the next book in the saga. Whenever it comes out. 

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goldenjoy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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jasper_is_atypical's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

I'm just tired of people calling an FMC strong or badass and then the MMC does all the fighting and planning and hard work and hero stuff. She literally sits around at points while he does all of the work, although she does try at points, overall she get's used and abused and just sits and takes it and then lashes out at the only people who actually care about her. She's not badass (when she is she's killing innocent civilians mostly) and every decision she makes for herself is a bad one. It was super disappointing thinking she would be this badass in control of her fate while she just let's herself get tossed around like a toy the entire book.

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soniajoy98's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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