Viking's Prize

What a Surprise!!!

I really enjoyed this story. It was well written and excellently narrated. My attention was kept the whole way through and there are some interesting notes at the end about the true history. I just wish more of her books were available through audible...

8 of 8 people found this review helpful

Awesome combo of Story & Narration

Any additional comments?

Loving Tanya Anne Crosby's stories, I ventured into the Viking world… not my usual, but a surprising delight. She explores relationships of trust here and I love the actual historical aspects of King Olaf she talks about in a note at the end. Awesome narration and the combo of Tanya's work with Braden Wright narrating is why I chose this. I loved it! I read in a blog post that he does a lot of research (learning Cheyenne for Sagebrush Bride… a favorite) and he used the actual Norwegian pronunciations for places and gods (Loki, Vikings, Trondheim) It added to the historical world for this historical romance.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

wow on so many levels.

On so many levels it was beautiful handsome intense and full of a desire and love that came and eclipsed through terrors. Thank you for the beautiful story.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Viking's Prize

I thoroughly enjoyed the story and, that it was written from the point of view of the Vikings.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

WOW a captivating non-stop feast for your ears

Well I never thought I'd say it but move over Vampires, Rogues, Werewolves, Playboys, Dukes, Highlanders (ok maybe not them) ....... because the Viking's are here.

Right from the start Ms Crosby transports you to a time when beefy Vikings battle, murder, pillage, plunder and capture then the Norse Warriors sail away in their longships with the spoils of war. Alarik, a golden haired, handsome, sexy, swoon/drool-worthy Viking Leader is one such man and his prize is Elienor a French, feisty, strong willed beauty who's got the gift of second sight and knew he was coming for her.

This well-written action-packed listen will suck you right in and keep you enthralled until the bitter-sweet end as the rocky road to their HEA is paved with greed, revenge, twists and turns, struggles, betrayals, battles and lots of interesting secondary characters who infuse the plot with villains and heroes. As Alarik becomes more obsessed with Elienor his softer side comes out which slowly melts her heart and desire, lust and passion ignites into sex but he wants more...... her heart too.

Worth a credit? An enjoyable, addictive, passionate love story which is sending me off to hunt through Audible for more Vikings - so YES it's very creditworthy.

17 of 22 people found this review helpful

FANTASTIC Viking Story

Where does Viking's Prize rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I'd say it ranks in the top 10 for sure. It's a well written story with a great narrator.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Alaric was my favorite character. I liked him because he was a real man. He marched to a beat of his on tune despite what others thought of him. He was logical and fair and of course sexy!

Have you listened to any of Braden Wright’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No this is my first but I'd love to hear more from him. He was awesome.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

YES. I purchased this book @ 10am this morning and I'm already done.

Any additional comments?

More Tanya Anne Crosby on audio book please!

5 of 6 people found this review helpful

Vikings Prize

Any additional comments?

Something a little different for me to listen to. I didn't really connect with the story but can see how others who love Viking stories would totally enjoy this book. Very well narrated :)

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

WHOA! LOVE ME A VIKING ROMANCE!

This book was just wonderful! It was a welcome adventure and so different for me because I had gotten tired of the formula of REGENCY and even HIGHLAND NOVELS (say it's not so!!!!), without even realizing it. Who knew how exciting a Viking romance would be??!!! This audiobook will pique your interest and melt your heart with Braden Wright's swoon-worthy voice. Wright does such a great job with all of the voices....Well, especially with Alarik's strong, masculine voice. He did well with the female voices as well.

VIKING CULTURE:
I love learning about cultures, and each moment of this book was somewhat of a suspense because in so many of the circumstances between Elienor of Baume les Nonnes and Alarik Trygvason, I was not sure about how the Hero would treat the heroine because his cultural, value system was unfamiliar. I mean, in a similar circumstance I could assume what an English gentleman or a Fierce Highlander would do....but certainly not a Viking warrior!

Well, Alarik came across Elienor at the the end of a siege where he came in like a flood and plundered Brouillard castle in France. Elienor was of immediate interest to Alarik because, well really, he found her to be the most beautiful woman he had seen....to him she had no equal with her sable hair & violet eyes (well, that makes sense since most Vikings are blonde right?...LOL). She was also of interest because she was betrothed to his French enemy. Alarik decides to take Elienor with him, by force, to his homeland in the north.

THE VIKING WARRIORS ARE NO GENTLEMEN:
Well, regarding the Viking crew, there are not many among them who showed a tenderness for the care of women. Alarik tells his warriors before they set sail home to bring whatever pleases them as their booty. So, Elienor meets this criteria for Alarik, and there is another woman ( a French maid, Clarice) who is captured & taken on board as well. Clarice is injured and is in a lot of pain on the ship during the voyage. The men don't pay the woman a lot of attention. THis shows how impulsive and uncaring the Viking men are. They impulsively wanted the women, but become angry with Elienor when she begins to request water and materials to care for Clarice. The poor ladies were also exposed to the sun as well. The men close to the women mistreat them (more like push them back to the corner). Alarik & another warrior come to their rescue....eventually...

Another interesting finding......If the Scottish culture uses the word, "lass" as a term of endearment for a woman, and the British use the term "lady" for a woman of both higher class and one in high regard; well, the Vikings refer to women as "wenches." Yeah, it doesn't really matter if the woman they are referring to is noble, common or whatever...women are "wenches."

THE LOVE DEVELOPMENT:
I LOVE a relationship that develops among the leads in which the Hero falls in love first and must wrestle his own self-conflicting ideas against love as he risks everything to win the affection of his heroine. And, that is exactly what happens to Alarik in his regard for Elienor.

This man experiences a torturous, passionate, deep, and insatiable love for Elienor. He demonstrates a type of hunger for her and longs to be worthy of her true affection that comes out of her free will. It was humorous to see him struggle, in that, even though he used some harsh words with Elienor, in his mind his thoughts of her are always warm. Of course, his words eventually catch up to his thought process and the man just can't help but adore Elienor!

HEROINE:
Elienor, a woman of French and noble descent, has more to lose in this relationship (as it always is with the women..arg). As a French woman, she is brought to this foreign land that she must adapt to. She has immediate enemies in a jealous woman who wants Alarik (Nessa), Nessa's father (another Nordic leader/jarl) and an evil warrior who wants her dead as she is perceived as a threat because of Alarik's love of her. To add on to Elenor's worries, she has a gift of "sight/vision" and sees some impacting future events. She is hesitant to share this part of herself with Alarik because of her fear of being accused of being a "witch" and perhaps meeting the same early, vicious death as her mother (who also possessed the same gift). Ultimately, Elienor does fall for Alarik and develops a deep love for him, but she's more cautious. She learns to give in as he melts her heart, step by ravishing step..... :-)

HERO:
Alarik is the "jarl" of his clan and is a strong, fierce warrior and leader. He has to be. The Vikings live in a remote, very cold somewhat barren land where only the strong survive and have a place in their society.

Alarik's affection for Elienor becomes evident and very public as he......

~Decides to care for Elienor and treat her wounds on the ship instead of take the helm during a storm (he sends his 2nd in command & his men are almost jealous...lol),

~Keeps her in his chamber once they're on his land. One of the most important things is that he does not force himself on her sexually. He waits until she is ready for his ah-hem... "affections." Now that doesn't mean that he doesn't put a lot of thought into seducing her...because whoa! HE really does!

~is constantly studying Elenor and brings her anything that gives her delight (her puppy...that was so cute).

There are so many more details, but overall this was a fascinating read/listen. The adventure was great & I love how both Alarik and Elienor save each other in the end (in that battle at sea)----THAT WAS CRAZY! The scene in the church at the end (where Alarik proposes, or TELLS Elienor she's going to be his wife, was also very impacting and really different.) It was funny how he wanted to "take her" on the church floor & she's like "no, never here!"...LOL But, the lovely part was how they both shared beautiful words of love & commitment with one another in one of these last scenes. I love how Alarik prayed for Elienor. There were very interesting perspectives on faith and religion in this book, yet this topic was pursued with taste.

The love scenes are steamy and the epilogue was very sweet.

WISHLIST:
Even after reading this book, I felt like just a little something was missing and I think that was related to the missed opportunity of intimacy between Elienor and Alarik. In that, I wish she would have disclosed her "vision/sight" gift to him personally. He finds out about her gift through another. Eh, just a missed opportunity...that's all.

5 of 9 people found this review helpful

yes to Alarik

I love Ms. Crosby's stories and this one is a gem too.
A story that has a mix of passion, drama and intrigue where Elienor, captured by Alarik, discovers and adapts to her new world and falls in love with Alarik, and finds out the feeling is mutual. A fascinating story I recommend with confidence especially being narrated by Mr. Wright. His voice is one that I could listen for hours, and did too, the characters come alive and the story becomes real.

Ouch, narrator!

The story was okay, but it would have been better with a different narrator. It was difficult to become involved with the story, I had the feeling the narrator was mocking it in some places. Nice voice, wrong genre.

'Loki' is pronounced 'L-oh-key', not 'Lou-kay', and it's 'vy-kings', not 've-kings'. Rather important points for a book featuring vikings. How could someone not catch this?

1 of 2 people found this review helpful