Hearts Aflamed - Vikings 2 by Johanna Lindsey
Beautiful and defiant, Kristen Haardrad meets the hot, longing gaze of Royce, Thane of Wyndhurst, with icy fury - vowing never to be enslaved by the powerful Saxon lord who holds her captive.
She is his enemy and his prize - a wild and lusty hellion to be tamed by her dashing conqueror's kiss. But though maddened with desire for the golden-haired Viking temptress, noble Royce, in conscience, cannot force his exquisite prisoner to submit. For only Kristen's willing surrender can quench the blistering fires that sear his tormented soul - and heal a heart consumed by passion with a soothing balm of rapturous, unconditional love.
Top Reviews
This is about the 4th I’ve read this book and it’s still as great. Kristen & Royce are such a great couple. Although she’s a captive enemy, Royce has been attracted to her from the moment she appeared to him as a woman. I like how it was chemistry for them right from the beginning. One of the reasons I like this book so much is that there were many tender/sweet moments between them even though Kristen fights with him regarding the chains she has to wear around her ankles. It really softens th...
This is about the 4th I’ve read this book and it’s still as great. Kristen & Royce are such a great couple. Although she’s a captive enemy, Royce has been attracted to her from the moment she appeared to him as a woman. I like how it was chemistry for them right from the beginning. One of the reasons I like this book so much is that there were many tender/sweet moments between them even though Kristen fights with him regarding the chains she has to wear around her ankles. It really softens the times when they are at odds. But since she’s a bit mercurial with her emotions, snapping out of her bad mood rather easily, the times they fight isn’t too heavy. I like how they both can’t seem to resist each other and stop thinking about each other.
The plot is very interesting also. It captured my attention right from the beginning and even now, have not released it. The plot of her and her people being captured as slave, the Saxon king’s visit, him having a betroth, among others were all intriguing and had me glued to this book.
I can see me reading this several more times in the future and recommend it.
By Lasonya Torphy
I love most of Ms. Lindsay's books. PRISONER OF MY DESIRE was the first romance novel I ever read and it completely turned me on to romance novels. I have been reading romance for almost twenty years now, and I continue to go back and re-read Ms. Lindsay's older books. HEARTS AFLAME has to be one of my all time favorites. Kristen, our viking heroine, is fiesty, hot tempered and goes after what she wants. What she wants is a love like her parents (FIRES OF WINTER) share. So she stows away on h...
I love most of Ms. Lindsay's books. PRISONER OF MY DESIRE was the first romance novel I ever read and it completely turned me on to romance novels. I have been reading romance for almost twenty years now, and I continue to go back and re-read Ms. Lindsay's older books. HEARTS AFLAME has to be one of my all time favorites. Kristen, our viking heroine, is fiesty, hot tempered and goes after what she wants. What she wants is a love like her parents (FIRES OF WINTER) share. So she stows away on her brother's ship, which she thinks is going trading. Unbeknownst to her, they are going raiding and they all end up being captured and enslaved. Their captor, Royce of Wyndhurst, hates vikings because of a previous raid that killed most of his family and his fiancee. He puts them to work building his defenses and separates Kristen to use as a hostage to ensure the good behavior of the rest. He hadn't counted on his attraction to her, or hers to him. She's been taught by her mother to put her own desires above what is "acceptable" to society so she sets out to tempt him. The rest, as they say, is history...
What I loved about this book was the interaction between the two. He isn't brutal (the way Garrick was)--he doesn't hit her and he doesn't brutally rape her (yes a couple of time he coerses her but even then he doesn't hurt her). He is hard headed, stubborn, impatient and used to having his own way (he was a nobleman in the 9th century, after all) but all that, I think, makes him strong enough to be the perfect match for her. She can't walk all over him or push him around and she knows it...probably one of the things she finds so attractive about him. Even though he thinks of her as his slave, he still does things that make her happy--taking her riding, swimming, etc., which he doesn't have to do. He is perfect.
Out of all the books I've read over the years (and I've read thousands), this one still makes the top ten and I give all the credit to Royce. Yes, I liked Kristen as the heroine, but for me, if the hero isn't a hero (in every sense of the word), the book loses something. Royce is a hero for the ages (along with Devil Cynster from Stephanie Laurens' DEVIL'S BRIDE, Clayton Westmoreland from Judith McNaught's WHITNEY, MY LOVE, Anthony Malory from Johanna Lindsey's TENDER REBEL, and Dominic le Sabre from Elizabeth Lowell's UNTAMED--all of which I would recommend). For those who like medival and regency romances, a must read.
By Maybell Kuphal
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