Half of this book has my girl Freya in the worst situations possible, the other half she’s horny as hell. Loved it. ( )

4.5

A bloody Viking fantasy with meddling gods, twisty fates and a lovely slow burn romance on the side.
The “betrayal” didn’t feel like a betrayal for me - I understand the reasons behind it and feel like Freya needs to open her eyes a bit. And I will definitely be continuing the series. ( )

I love the Nordic history, I love the mountains of the undead, I love the idea of people being fated and others being unfated, I love the religious historical god references, I love the flirty, I love the banter, I love the spice factor, I love the Kings, the Jarls, the Ladies and the Warriors, I love the magical elements of the songwriters and even the scenery was as dynamic and amazing as each of the believability of the characters!

What a great book! The book was stand out action and adventure throughout each chapter to the very end of the book. I was immersed in the Saga of the Unfated with wholehearted joy and already miss the characters!

I can’t wait for the next installment so I can continue to be wowed by the heart of the Viking mythology with magic fantasy themes and the right amount of spice to keep my heart racing with the characters heartbeats!

The back of the book says, “Her fate is inked in her blood. It’s carved in her bones. This power is Freya’s destiny.”

AND I can’t wait to see how she wields her power in book two! ( )

4.5 Excellent audiobook narration. The narrator was animated and full of emotions, really making the story come to life.
Darn that ending ! Cliffhanger !!!
I really liked this story of a weak/strong/stubborn/sometimes dumb/sometimes bright/sometimes mature/sometimes immature girl/woman. I admit she got of my nerves a few times, really I wanted to bang my head on the wall, arguh girl ! She was stuck in between the rock and the hard place many times and did what she thought best, even though I thought it was stupid. LOL ! I liked that, the author did not follow the rules, she let her characters act their knowledge. Each had this wonderful freedom but Freya was the star and had the most bumps in her road. The other characters were fun too, read it to find out how fun. I'll be reading book 2
Fantasy, magic, gods, action, love, lust, hate, vengeance, misogyny, back stabbing fun ! ( )

I love Norse mythology, Vikings, shieldmaidens (thank you Éowyn from Lord of the Rings), fantasy, magic, medieval battles, forbidden romance, slowburns but instant attraction – and let’s not forget the absolutely gorgeous cover – so it was only natural I would adore this book!

“It is hard to keep one’s wits when faced with a woman as beautiful as the sight of shore to a man who has been lost at sea.”

This is my first Danielle L Jensen book and I cannot believe I have not read her work sooner! Be assured, The Bridge Kingdom series is going further up my TBR list. I was a little late to buying a physical copy and even later reading it, but I am ever so glad I have now!

Aside from its stunning blue dust cover and art, the story’s plot itself was excellent – so much so that I did not want to put the book down. The world-building was done especially well, as was the pacing in general, and the depth of the characters. It was good to see the dynamic of toxic relationships and families, effectively raising awareness of this sort of thing.

It was also very entertaining, especially whenever Freya and Bjorn had conversations. For me, I especially loved the scene in which Bjorn and Freya meet – what I call love at first flung fish haha – it got me grinning so much that I said to myself then and there that even if the rest of the book was terrible, this was a great scene. I can say without a doubt that these two were the best parts of the whole book. Especially Bjorn.

The plot twists at the very end were great, most of them I had seen a mile away, particularly *that* betrayal – but did not make it less enjoyable when they were revealed! Indeed, I was squeaking “I knew it!!!” to anyone who listened. I had no idea what the other half of Freya’s blood would be and I should have realised given those powers had happened before, but that was an interesting surprise.

Danielle did an outstanding job at drawing me into this universe, I honestly did not want to return back to the real world. Being the first part of a Saga, I am very excited to see where the story goes from here. I cannot wait to read more, though I have a feeling we will be waiting a little while.

Also, kudos to her for having a page on her website with audio clips to help people with the pronunciation of the Norse names. It would have been more useful, however, to have included a phonetic pronunciation at the end of the book and inserted a QR code there to direct readers to the website for further help.

The only thing I disliked was the cliffhanger ending. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, I am just not so keen when people do it – though I can see why it has been selected, and it was done most effectively. Apparently, Danielle likes to do cliffhangers so again, this is understandable. ( )