@JenniferIvyWalker @GoddessFishPromotions @debbiereadsbooks
@jenniferivywalkerauthor @goddessfishpromotions @debbiereadsbook
Skårde the Scourge, bastard son of the Danish king Harald Bluetooth, is a fierce Viking warlord who earned the prestigious title Dragon of Denmark through victorious battles and lucrative Viking raids. When his royal father announces that Skårde will forge a Viking alliance through an arranged marriage to the daughter of Richard the Fearless, the Dragon of Denmark considers the voyage to Normandy an infuriating banishment.
Illegitimate daughter of Richard the Fearless, the Viking Duke of Normandy, Ylva is a Druid priestess and Celtic healer with the otherworldly gift of sight. She learns that she must leave her Breton village behind and travel to Normandy, where she will marry the Viking brute that she has foreseen in a terrifying vision.
When the Frankish king, determined to drive the Vikings from Normandy, attacks and seizes Richard’s clifftop fortress, the Dragon of Denmark must ally with Ljósálfar Light Elves, a Viking völva with powerful seiðr magic, and a vitki-- a shapeshifting sorcerer who can assume the form of a falcon--to reclaim the ducal palace.
Dragon of Denmark is a sizzling, scintillating blend of historical fiction, Norse mythology, paranormal fantasy, and steamy Viking romance!
Inside the hidden sea cave, Ylva dipped her hands into the ebullient pool at the bottom of the cascade, bringing the icy water to her lips and drinking deeply from the sacred spring of Mont Garrot. She washed her face and neck with the cleansing spray from the waterfall. Bowing her head in reverence upon the altar she had built, Ylva bid her blessed goddess Divona adieu and prepared to exit the holy shrine.
But as she attempted to rise, the deafening roar of the waterfall suddenly stilled as a stifling darkness descended, transfixing her to the altar where she knelt before the pool. In the limpid depths before her, a towering, heavily armed warrior appeared in the mirrored waters of the sacred spring.
Pulse pounding, limbs trembling, Ylva was mesmerized by the terrifying image of the massive Viking beast.
Long blond locks extended past his enormous shoulders, and a braided beard covered his oxlike neck. Thick furs draped down his broad muscled back. Silver torques with elaborate carvings encircled his mammoth arms, inked with terrifying images of dragons, wolves, and bears. In an intricate scabbard belted at his sinewy waist, a gleaming sword with a glittering emerald in its hilt was sheathed upon his left hip. Dark leggings clung to heavily muscled thighs, and leather boots and furs laced up his wide, sculpted calves.
At the sight of the rippled torso riddled with scars and covered with dark blond hair, Ylva’s breath caught in her throat.
Emblazoned across his mountainous chest, a jagged thunderbolt scorched the bare skin.
As she beheld the lightning streak which marked the monstrous brute, a sizzling energy surged up her veins. Frozen in fear, Ylva was immersed in the current which flowed from the sacred spring and seared her from within. Gazing into the hypnotic waves of the mirrored pool, she glimpsed a white castle perched high upon an oceanfront cliff.
And, in the distance, anchored in a sheltered cove, the red and white striped sails and carved dragon prows of an enormous fleet of Viking ships.
4 out of 5 (very good)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Skårde is the illegitimate son of the Danish King, Harald. Ylva is the illegitimate daughter of the Viking Duke of Normandy, Richard the Fearless. Thrown together in a marriage of based only on political power and sheer strength in numbers, the two are left to navigate the seas of their new marriage. But there are other forces at work, and they must tread carefully.
For the most part, I did enjoy this.
There is much description about how both Skårde and Ylva lived, separately and then together. I liked the way their marriage grew, and how they came to know each other better, in truth, rather than the image they had of each other before.
It isn't overly explicit, but there is violence. These are Vikings, after all, fighting for the things and people they love.
I liked that both Skårde and Ylva have a say, along with some other characters who I did not expect to hear from! So I really did enjoy that, hearing from the bad guy!
There are great descriptions about the runes, and what they mean, along with the herbs and plants, and the Gods that these people pray to. This is what I felt was a bit too much. The explanation of things is repeated, over and over and it really did get a bit annoying being told who was the God of what, and what certain gems did.
BUT
I did enjoy the tale, and it is the first I've read of this author. I liked the way she told her tale.
4 very good stars
** same worded review will appear elsewhere **
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
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Enthralled with legends of medieval knights and ladies, dark fairy tales, and fantasies about Druids, wizards and magic, Jennifer Ivy Walker always dreamed of becoming a writer. She fell in love with French in junior high school, continuing her study of the language throughout college, eventually becoming a high school teacher and college professor of French.
Her debut novel, The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven, won numerous awards, including the Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal for Fantasy, the Independent Author Network Book of the Year 2023 for Paranormal/Supernatural, and the American Fiction Awards Winner 2023 for Paranormal Romance. The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven trilogy won the Paranormal Romance Guild Reviewers’ Choice 2023 First Place Award for Series in the Myth/Fantasy Romance category. Winter Solstice in the Crystal Castle, a spinoff of her trilogy, is the American Fiction Awards Winner 2024 for Best Historical Romance and the Raven Awards Winner 2024 for Fantasy Romance.
Dragon of Denmark, her newest novel, is a steamy Viking paranormal romance between a Celtic Breton priestess—the illegitimate daughter of the Duke of Normandy, Richard the Fearless-- and the Viking brute known as the Dragon of Denmark, bastard son of the Danish King Harald Bluetooth.
Set in tenth century Normandy, Dragon of Denmark is book 1 of the Valiant Vikings series, an epic paranormal fantasy incorporating history, Celtic and Nordic myths and legends, and sizzling Viking romance.
Website: https://jenniferivywalker.com/
Goodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22671046.Jennifer_Ivy_Walker
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bohemienneivy
Tour hosted by: Goddess Fish Promotions
The cover is gorgeous. Sounds like a book I would enjoy reading.
Thank you very much for reviewing my novel and hosting me on this tour!😊
Thank you so much for hosting and reviewing DRAGON OF DENMARK today.