The Valkyrie’s Guardian by Moriah Densley
Paranormal Romance
Released: October 22, 2012
Crimson Romance
Reviewed by May
I feel like a freak show.
It’s definitely not that, baby. More like a princess on a ship with a bunch of horny pirates.
Cassie is special, and yet she’s also weak. Not being immortal combined with no super strong powers makes her an extra-sentient that needs protecting.
Jack descended from an ancient line of kilt-wearing, bagpipe-playing, Gaelic-speaking Scottish berserkers. Beyond that, Jack had won the genetic lottery. Or he was a freak of nature, also being an immortal extra-sentient, one in four million with a hyper-evolved brain and seemingly supernatural abilities.
The hero of this book is also a virgin, Navy SEAL, bodyguard, and former stuntman. Over the top? Oh yes, but as I can enjoy a good big production PNR romance that goes way over the top, I had to give it a shot. We start off with our hero getting dressed for some water skiing.
With sixty-eight inch shoulders, tapering into a thirty-eight-inch waist, it was no mean trick. He struggled to adjust the straps and had some serious man-cleavage going on.
“Where is your neoprene vest?”
“Dunno.” He followed her gaze to his chest, then flexed his pecs in a quick left-right-left. “There’s more where that came from, baby, if you ask nicely.”
When the hero announces he can’t have sex with a woman because nothing can stop berserker sperm and it is 100% pregnancy guaranteed, I laughed. When he’s lusting after the heroine at the start, I loved it. When the pair heads off to Coronado to be a part of some Navy SEAL training, I was glued to my seat. I was intrigued by the premise that he has guarded her since she was a small child, and that what was once hero worship on her end developed into a crush, and then into deepening feelings for Jack. I loved that she’s discovering how much he gave up – and how guarding her has shaped his life.
“You enjoyed your pleasant childhood, did ye not? Know why? Because I was guarding you! Every. Damned. Day/ Since you were six years old.”
Her eyes shuttered and she shrank back against the door. He lowered his voice. “While you were playing hopscotch on the playground. Plucking on your guitar with Kyros. Typing on your laptop at college- I was nearby, defending you.” He snorted, “did ye think you’d never been in danger? That Kyros’ enemies never tried to get ye?”
Jack jabbed irately, pointing to the long scar from his right temple to ear, to another circular one just right of his collarbone, and yet another running the length over his left forearm. “These were for you, Cassie. Because Kyros asked me to, because I wanted to. I did it for you.”
Our heroine does discover her true powers (as the title suggests, she is a very rare Valkyrie), and this couple does eventually find a happily ever after, but I’m very sorry to say that the story never satisfied. One aspect that put wet blanket on the whole thing is that Cassie is going to die. Let me rephrase that – because she’s pregnant (berserker sperm, remember?) she will die giving birth – this is accepted as fact. Yet – we all know that no true romance author is going to do this to her heroine! So knowing that there would be some miracle, it made that drama seem forced.
Speaking of forced, I didn’t like the bad guy. The villain in this book phoned it in – he is there throughout, he always knows where the hero is and teases him with a sniper shot now and then, but he never seemed like a true threat and was never really scary either. I wish there had been a lot more intensity and contrast with this because keeping everyone safe and out of this guy’s clutches was the whole plot.
Another issue because they kept on mounting, for me is there is sex, but not much romance. The couple has known each other for many years because he has been her bodyguard since she was a child. So they already know and like each other quite well, the only change after this book begins is that the sexual tension that has been building between them comes to fruition.
I could continue on with more issues – from the “secret” Jack doesn’t want Cassie to know to the disappointing ending to the way Jack sometimes is written with an accent, but not always. All kinds of issues arose for me both small and big – and what started as a fun read quickly disintegrated. I really wanted to love this book, unfortunately this book did not work for me on any level. All the things I liked about this book take place in the first third, I wish the rest of the book had lived up to the potential for an over the top berserker romp, and been more of a fun read instead of the forced drama.
Grade: D
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Hee Hee “man cleavage”.
Too bad it fell flat for you, the idea of it sounds fun. I love stories with Valkyries in them.