A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen

Summary:

Trapped in an unwanted marriage, Freya faces the last straw when her husband betrays her and has her fight to the death. To survive, she reveals the secret she’s been hiding. She possesses a goddess’s blood and is the shield maiden that has been foretold will unite the land. Jarl Snoori claims the shield maiden for himself believe she will help him unite the land under his rule. She must fight her rising attraction to the jarl’s son and focus on her controlling her magic and protecting those she holds dear.

My Thoughts:

I knew this was going to be a good book after reading the first three chapters. 

I typically choose to read Greek mythology over any other type and I didn’t realize this was based in Norse mythology until I was already hooked in the book, which to be fair didn’t take long. I loved the Norse basis for the book and the world that’s been created. I honestly am hungry to learn more.

Freya started out strong as a character. She is fiercely protective and is a survivor. As the story went on though, I feel like she wasn’t quite as strong as I would have expected given the intro. I felt like she spent much of the novel being obedient and afraid to even look at ways to change her fate. There was so much that she took at face value and rarely seemed to explore things past her own perspective and feelings. 

I loved Bjorn as a character and I always suspected there was more at play with his connection to Nordeland. I definitely think he made a huge error with how things played out at the end. 

You could tell there would be a connection between Freya and Bjorn but I’m curious to see how that holds up in the next book.

Many of the plot twists and points don’t necessarily come as a shock given all of the foreshadowing. Some I would even say are predictable but I don’t think it cost the book in any way which cannot be said for all books. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book. I’m torn between if it’s great but not quite extraordinary or you need to drop everything to read it. Of course I want you to so I can chat with more people about but I do think the book fell a little short in some areas.