Dark Viking (Viking II series #10)

Book: Dark Viking (Viking II series #10)

Author: Sandra Hill

Bookshelves: 2011, fantasy, fiction, historical romance, romance, Sandra Hill, time traveler, Vikings, Vikings II series

Begun: February 16, 2011

Finished: February 21, 2011

Media Type: book (paperback)

Setting: present day Coronado, California (USA) and 10th century Norstead (Norway)

Characters: Rita Sawyer, Steven of Norstead, Lady Thora, Sigge, and Oslac

Review: Rita Sawyer, experience and sought after stunt woman in Hollywood, is approached by two of the Navy SEALs’ finest and is encouraged to join the ranks of a newly formed class of WEALS (Women on Earth, Air, Land and Sea – the female equivalent of the SEALs. She readily accepts when she learns of the sign on bonus that will allow her to pay off her mother’s daunting medical bills (that piled up before her death).

Rita is on a training mission in California one day when her boat (and her world) is turned upside down with a knock on her head. She awakens to 10^th century Norstead and Steven and his friend Oslac calling her a mermaid. They bring her back to the keep and cage her (basically because they think she is a sea beastie and then accuse her of being a spy of one of the pirates in the area).

Steven leaves Norstead for some time and Rita breaks free of her cage. She meets up with Sigge who her aunts have sent to help Rita. Her aunts … the witches … who brought Rita back to Norstead to bring Steven out of his funk.

The usual happens. Rita brightens up Stevens’s day. Steven falls for her. They have sex. She gets pregnant and tries to go back to her time because she thinks Steven will leave her for his betrothed.

While I generally love Sandra Hill, I just didn’t find this book as exciting as others she’s written. Maybe it’s time to stop writing the Viking I and Viking II series for a while and come back to them later? Not a bad read. Just not her best.

Awards: none

Recommended by: personal find

Recommend to: Nora Roberts’ fans, romance fans, time travel fans, historical romance fans, history fans

Book: Hot & Heavy (Viking II series #5)

Hot & Heavy by Sandra Hill

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
I've gotta say. I think that this book, so far, is my absolute favorite of Sandra Hill's books. It reads fast and beautifully. The emotion, the love, the sex, are all there and in the perfect quantity. The plot is believable and well executed.

Ian MacLean is as hardassed as they come. Leader of a SEAL team, Ian takes it in spades when something dangerous has to be done, like entering a cave in enemy territory. But what he finds there will knock his socks off.

Madrene Ogladottir is the last of her family alive. Alone he defended her homestead of Norsestead until Steinhold took her prisoner and threatened to kill off all of her holders. He sells her into the harems of the Arab lands when she refuses to wed him. One day, two years later, she finds herself in a horrible sandstorm one minute and a cave shelter the next.


Ian wanders upon a woman, smelling to high heaven and looking like Phyllis Dyller. What is she doing in the middle of the desert? And why does Ian feel like he knows her already?

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The Bewitched Viking (Viking I Series #4)

The Bewitched Viking by Sandra Hill

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Another great book by Sandra Hill.

Tykir just wants people to leave him alone so he can harvest amber and return to his home of Dragonstead in the Norse country.

Alinor just wants her idiot brothers to leave her alone so she can continue to raise the sheep that make her the finest wool in all of Northumbria.

But there is always a hitch. When Alinor "curses" a certain king's "manroot" to fall off and then said king gets a kink in his ... "manroot" ... well said King thinks that Alinor is a witch. He sends a messenger out to get Tykir and asks him to find the witch and bring her back to him.

Tykir doesn't want to ... but then the messenger lets poor Tykir know that the king is holding Adam (his adopted nephew) as a friendly hostage. What's a good Viking to do?

Go out and kidnap the witch that is ... problem? Alinor is NOT a witch.

Hilarity ensues.

A great read. Not as good as some of Hill others but this was an early novel in her series (Viking I). They all seem to get better in time.

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