UNDER A VIKING MOON

Author: Tami Dee ISBN: 1933874554 6/2006 HISTORICAL/TIME TRAVEL Publisher: TRISKELION PUBLISHING
Time Period: 900 / 2006

Bound hand and foot by his enemies and cast into the sea, Leif Nabboddrson, a mighty Jarl of Norway, is washed up on the shores of a new land in a new century, rescued by a woman who is the very image of the treacherous bride he left behind. His arrival turns the life of Katla 'Kat' Jonsdottir, a young woman of Nordic heritage, upside down. Together, they tumble through time, taking with them, not only a powerful attraction, but a legend of love, trust and betrayal.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Tami Dee gives a good, solid accounting of herself with UNDER A VIKING MOON. From the first page, I knew this was going to be one action-packed book!

When we begin our story, it is the year 900 and the mighty warlord, Leif Naboddrson, has been betrayed in the worst possible way. His men have all been slaughtered, his hands and feet are bound and he is thrown off of a ship and essentially killed by his wife-to-be. Now, it is the present day and Leif has washed up on the shore to be rescued by our babbling, over-the-top, yet lovable heroine.

When I first met Leif, I knew that his character was going to be one tough nut to crack. He has been betrayed by the one woman who should have been trying to protect him and has had to watch while all of his men—including his brothers—are ruthlessly killed. When he is thrown overboard, he knows that things are not done between himself and Katla—one way or another, he will make her pay. Upon opening his eyes in a strange time and place, he is not only surprised just to be alive, but he is looking into the face of none other than Katla. The only thing that he can feasibly understand at this moment in time, is that Kat will die for her part in slaying his entire entourage of men. Watching Leif learn to trust again is a painful and heart wrenching journey, but one that is well worth it in the end.

When Kat's dying grandmother starts giving her cryptic advice concerning a long lost relative—advice that Kat can neither discredit or believe because it seems so far-fetched—she has no idea what to do. She knows she is supposed to go somewhere with a man—she is not to let him leave her—but she has no idea who or what her grandmother is talking about. Seeing his face in the glass on the bus can only be a coincidence. Finding a bedraggled, half drowned Norseman—one that has the same name as her traitorous ancestress's dead husband— washed up on the shores of the beach, can only be a coincidence. I mean, seriously, these things don't really happen. Do they??

An amulet takes them back in time to a beautiful, yet scary place, where treachery and mischief abound. Leif has one thought in mind when he gets home, which is to kill the offspring of the treacherous Katla, while Kat's one job that has been given her by her grandmother before her death is to save Katla's son. The fact that no one knows or understands how the Kat who has come home with Leif is not the Katla who killed their entire clan, adds some great edgy heat to the story. But Kat loves Leif and is trying her hardest to make things right for him. Their love is one that made me sigh out loud. It is beautiful and magnetic from the very beginning.

I loved most of the aspects of this book. The storyline itself is maybe a more common one in time travels, but it is still one that I relish. I love the people, places and things that go on in different time periods, and Ms. Dee did a wonderful job blending the story of these two character's lives together. I loved Leif from the start, and though Kat was a bit harder for me to love at the beginning, I really was rooting for her at the end. The only real problems that I had in the book were how silly and naive Kat seems to be in the first few handful of chapters. She babbles a bit and tends to act a little on the tipsy side of the coin, at times, but she does level off and become very likable after a little bit. And when she travels to Leif's home, we really see her grow as a person and learn what true love is all about.

I loved UNDER A VIKING MOON. Brilliant, fast paced, and full of heart stopping moments, romance readers will eat this story up!

Kristal Gorman