【 A FATE INKED IN BLOOD】
book #1 in the Saga of the Unfated series

Genre: Fantasy [Nordic mythology]
Audience: New Adult [sex scenes described in detail]
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
Published: February 2024
Publisher: Del Rey
Pages: 464 (paperback)

This was so much fun! I feel like, before reading, I’d heard so many mixed reviews and went into it with reasonably low expectations. But I thoroughly enjoyed this story.

Vikings, gods and magic. This has all the good things. It’s pacey from the get-go and I really enjoyed the way gods and their magic are involved.

I also had a lot of fun guessing the twists and turns in this book – nothing was so obviously handed to you that it felt predictable, but there’s enough throughout for you to get a good guess in as to where it’s going.

The romance was fine, and the sex scenes were a bit much. Idk what it is with YA fantasy and the need for the super overly descriptive (and long?! Like multi-chapter scenes?!) sex scenes these days. I don’t think the story needed it.

But! What I will say, is that it wasn’t totally irrelevant. Without saying too much more, I was really satisfied with the web of plot twists that Jensen wove throughout this and was 100% on board with what she was building up for Freya and Bjorn’s storyline.

And it’s a great game of guess who, working out who’s evil, who’s okay and who is just flat out not what they seem.

I’m keen as a bean to keep reading this series! There’s so much fun to be had in Viking-inspired fantasy. And I can’t wait to see if those meddlesome gods are going to get more involved to stir the pot a little more.

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Title: A Fate Inked in Blood
Series: Saga of the Unfated
Author: Danielle L. Jensen
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A shield maiden blessed by the gods battles to unite a nation under a power-hungry king—while also fighting her growing desire for his fiery son—in the first book of a Norse-inspired fantasy romance series from the bestselling author of The Bridge Kingdom series.

Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.

Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.

Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.