Enslaved by the Viking by Harper St. George
Released: April 3, 2015
Historical Romance
Harlequin

Reviewed by Mandi

The title alone is the reason I wanted to read this. Kidnapped by a viking? How can one apply for this? *wink* Unfortunately, this book didn’t work for me. Eirik is the son of the jarl (the head dude) and:

He had amassed a fortune raiding and trading while leading his men to victories in the lands south of the North Sea. He would one day be called jarl in place of his father. When the day came that he, too, went to take his place in Asgard, the skalds would write verses of his heroic deeds.

This sounds great, but I never got a grasp on Eirik as this viking. I wanted to see him cutthroat. I wanted to see him badass. Instead it’s a lot of telling and not showing and I think that hurt the development of his character. Eirik has never taken a woman hostage before, but when he sees Merewyn on a scouting trip, he has the overwhelming thought to take her for his own. The next day he sets out to find her.

The need to find her pressed tight on his chest and threatened to squeeze the air from his lungs. It was madness, sheer and utter madness. Eirik recognised it and kept a tight rein on it, refusing to give  up control.

This could have been super romantic and over the top fun, but instead it fell flat for me.  Merewyn doesn’t have the best life in her village, but she also doesn’t want to be a slave. When her town trades her to Eirik so they can keep their grain, she is terrified of going with this stranger to far off lands.

Eirik starts calling her his slave right away – people assume Merewyn is his bed slave, but Eirik doesn’t want to harm her or force her to do something she isn’t ready for – so instead he just orders her around. Calling her “slave” felt off to me in the context of this book. Merewyn whimpers and is jumpy in the background for a lot of the book. Nothing really fun happens! I wanted Eirik to have a sense of humor or to be really surly or something! He just didn’t have enough personality. And with Merewyn so meek, there wasn’t a lot to engage me.

Gotta say pass on this one.

Rating: D

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