The Warlord's Wife by Sandra Lake

 

This was exactly what I was in the mood to read. THE WARLORD'S WIFE is such a delight. It kind of feels like a throwback to the more "gentle" Zebra bodice-rippers of the late 80s and 90s. Magnus is a rather terrifying hero, who doesn't really have any soft edges and is good at holding his throne in the North and commanding battles and not much else (even though at heart, he is, in fact, a cinnamon roll). Lida, on the other hand, is a strong heroine who feels the crush of the times, and does her best to overcome the setbacks of womanhood with wit and a light hand.

The book opens with Lida being accused of adultery by her shitty in-laws. She's pregnant and her beloved husband is barely cold in the grave, but her bitch-in-law is claiming that she must have had sex with another guy to be so big. What actually happened was that her husband was so horny for her that he banged her before they were married, but when she says this, her father in law gets even angrier and banishes her back to her previous family in shame.

Now she tends her parents' and brothers' farm and lives in relative peace with her beloved eight-year-old daughter. Which is when the viking warlord comes a-calling, looking for brides. His first wife died in childbirth and was of a weak constitution, so when he sees beautiful Lida working in the field, he is like I MUST HAVE HER. But being an arrogant Man(TM), he makes it sound like he's doing her a huuuuuge favor, which makes Lida angry and refuse him, despite much squawking from her greedy relatives, who are all blinded by the dollar signs (kronor signs?) in their eyes.

Anyway, she obviously ends up marrying him because this is a romance novel, which results in hot, slightly dubious-consent sex scenes (it was the middle ages, right? there weren't any tea videos explaining consent), loads of misunderstandings, jealousy, manly arrogance, and Lida's daughter, Katia, being super fucking adorable and precious. There's also political machinations and scheming, and all of the side characters are so great. Somehow, despite this book being just over 200 pages, the author manages to squeeze in a bit about the oppression of the Sami people, the homelife of vikings in the North and the way their communities work, and so many show-not-tell scenes that explain how both Lida and Magnus are motivated, and how who they are allows them to fall in love with one another.

I'm giving this four stars instead of the original five because the pacing did feel a little off and sometimes it felt like the book was moving a little too fast. Given the length, the author did an amazing job conveying the flow of time and making the book go by pretty quickly without being too rushed, but I do think they fell in love a little too quickly. The ending also dragged a little. After pages and pages of scheming, I was hoping for more of an explosive climax (although technically, I guess I did get the explosion I craved, hehe). It reminded me of a shorter, tamer version of Nadine Crenshaw's EDIN'S EMBRACE, which is one of my favorite viking romances of all time. The villains are scary and the marriage of convenience plot is done well. I didn't even mind the pregnancy trope too much, even though that's usually a trope that can put me off entirely. 

I bought all three books in this series when they went on sale and I'm so glad I did because apparently the next book in the series is about Katia, all grown up.

P.S. The author's note at the end is worth a read. It made me tear up a little. It just goes to show that writing isn't easy for everyone, but ease has nothing on skill.

4 out of 5 stars