If we could just talk to the animals – that would be very noisy.
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On to the second book in Ms. Litton’s Viking series, Believe in Me. Lady Krysta, aka Super
I-Talk-To-Animals-and-Fantasy-Creatures Girl, is the heroine and she is a Norse woman who has been forced by her brother to marry Lord Hawk. Lord Hawk is our Saxon lord and he is being encouraged by King Alfred to wed Krysta. You know that this wouldn’t actually be a romance without the requisite bad plan, only this time it’s the heroine who has the stink-a-roo. Krysta is going to – wait for it – wait for it – disguise herself. Instead of pretending to be a boy, she is going to pretend to be a servant. She is pretending to be a servant and ensconce herself in Hawk's stronghold so she can keep an eye on him. She just wants to be very sure he is a trustworthy sort before she commits herself. If she had really thought her plan out, she would know that she didn’t really have any choices, but this is make-believe. She has dyed her hair black, I’m not sure why because I don’t think Hawk has ever seen her. She has also brought two of her trusty servants along. These servants have been with her since she was a child and her parents abandoned her. Here’s the deal. Krysta’s servants are not what they seem. Raven, the female servant, is a shapeshifter and she can turn into birds. Mainly, Ravens, hence the name. Krysta’s other servant, Thorgold, is a troll. I’m not actually sure what the benefit of having a troll for a buddy can be. The bird I get, because a bird can fly into a room and eavesdrop – which is what Raven does. But a Troll, they live under bridges and collect money. Not sure how that would be of any use to Krysta. As you may have guessed there is a slight paranormal element in this tale, and I wonder why. When the story begins we are told that Krysta’s mother wasn’t human, or we are led to believe that she wasn’t. Because Krysta’s father could not accept whatever it was that Krysta’s mother was, her mother was “called” back to the sea and never seen again. So, all of Krysta’s life, everything she does all centers around a paranormal mother. I suspect the mother was a Selkie because Selkies used to show up a lot in older books. However, we never actually know. All we know is that Krysta has to marry a man who will really, really love her, even if she does swim with the fishes. And, paranormal romances are fine, don’t have a problem with them, as long as they are treated as such. What this story does is bring up all the shapeshifting, trolls and non-human stuff and then just sort of forget about them as the book progresses. The story then turns into a Saxon/Norse real story with the villain from the previous book. I think this book would have been a lot better if these elements had either been left out or been stronger. For me, the narrative didn’t blend the paranormal elements into the story very well.
Let’s talk about Lord Hawk. When I compare Hawk to the hero from the previous book, Wolf, Hawk doesn’t stand up too well. Just making a hero big doesn’t really add anything to his character. Hawk was a pretty flat guy; quite a cardboard person. Sure, sure, all the correct body parts twitch when they are supposed to but there wasn’t any substance to it. There was also tons of sex with no chemistry.
After an interesting start with the first book in the series, Dream of Me, Believe in Me was a let-down. I was disappointed in this book; there was just nothing to it. It does come as part of a package, but it doesn’t really enhance that package. Second story not so good.
Time/Place: Vikings, Alfred the Great time - long, long, time ago
Sensuality: Lots of mediocre sex.
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