What a fantastic book.
The world building is top-notch, the characters so well written that you love and hate right alongside them.
I will keep this short and sweet. It drew me in from page 1. Freya is a perfect balance of strength and compassion. She wants to protect everyone she loves, even at the expense of her happiness.
I loved the way we were brought into the world and introduced to the magic. It was perfectly paced, and I did not want to put it down.
Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I'm so glad I finally got to read it. a Fate Inked in Blood did not disappoint!

The characters, setting and plot drew me in so quickly and I couldn't put this book down. Sometimes when you read the same genre over and over it starts to feel a little formulaic, but this book felt so fresh, while still having so many of the tropes I can't help but resist.

Freya was such a bad ass and although she had her flaws I ultimately loved her. Bjorn was great. He was funny and his and Freya's developing relationship really drew me in.

The magic system was unique and explored an aspect of mythology I feel like I haven't frequently seen. This entire world was so interesting.

I couldn't put it down and the ending had me staring at the last page in disbelief that I would have to wait an unspecified amount of time for the sequel!

I had such high expectation for this book after absolutely loving the Bridge Kingdom series by the same author. Sadly this did not meet it.

Some dialogue are slightly awkward or clunky and there is very little description which to me made the story less immersive. Especially in the beginning, it got better further in the book.

While being a slow burn because of circumstances it did have the feel of an insta love, with instantaneous attraction and love at first sight for the MMC.

The characters were also a bit two dimensional, they lacked depth and complexity. I also wasn't that invested in the FMC, she lacked agency for most of the story. The plot was also quite obvious, the twists could be seen from miles away.

Overall it's an entertaining story about vikings but its not great. It sit somewhere between 2.5 and 3 stars.

Rating: 4.5 stars

This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I’m so happy that it lived up to all my expectations!

From the time Bjorn and Freya first meet, I just knew I was going to love this book. It was fast-paced and had me at the edge of my seat. The book was full of non-stop action and I never found myself bored. The world that the author has created was also really fascinating. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book with Norse mythology, but I enjoyed learning about their culture and all the different gods. It honestly gave me flashbacks to my Percy Jackson days😂

The FMC Freya was easy to root for. She was caring, brave and honourable. She has had a hard life, but it never snuffed out the fire in her. She became a bit annoying at the end as her temper and grief got the best of her at times, but overall I enjoyed her as a character. Bjorn was also the perfect complement to Freya. He was so flirty and charming and I just loved him so much! He was without a doubt my favorite part of the book.

The romance, the banter and the chemistry between Freya and Bjorn was everything! I’m obsessed with them and already Bjorn has made it onto the list of my favorite MMCs. Their interactions were just so witty and so full of sexual tension. Both of them have been used and mistreated by their families, but with each other, Freya and Bjorn finally have someone who truly cares for them as a person and not as a weapon to be used.

The rest of the characters were just as interesting. The family dynamics between Snorri, Ylva, Bjorn and Freya was probably the most compelling to me. Snorri was a good vilain as well. He was power hungry and demonstrated multiple times how easily he can manipulate those around him to achieve what he believes is his destiny.

The only reason it is not five stars is that the twist at the end was pretty obvious. Most of the author’s books contain dual POV, and so I was also a little bummed that we didn’t get Bjorn’s POV, but this is a really minor complaint because he was still present for a majority of the story and the book is more romance heavy than plot heavy.

All in all, I loved this book so much and I can’t wait for my physical copy to arrive. It is a great start to brand new duology by Danielle L. Jensen! If you love fantasy romance, I would highly recommend checking out this book!

Thank you to NetGalley for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

(Reviews will also be posted on Amazon and on my Instagram during the week of release)

A Norse-based fantasy. Freya is a shield maiden and has a drop of of the goddess's blood. She's forced to be binded to Bjorn, the jarl's son.

I love the slow burn between Freya and Bjorn. Great complicated characters. Terrific chemistry. Love their banter. I love how fast-paced the book is too. Really enjoy it.

Thanks to the publisher for the arc.

*3.5 rounded down*

I think this book is going to do well and I can see it being a new favourite for a lot of readers, but I wasn't as excited by it as I'd hoped I'd be.

There were inconsistencies in the language and overall everything felt very rushed. It could have easily done with 50-75 more pages at the top and more smattered throughout. The way it is, the story starts far too suddenly and we feel rushed along when there could have been more storytelling about the gods and their children among other details about the world.

On the other hand, I know a lot of readers likely want something with this fast of pacing and don't need added world-building/suspense. But Freya being that upset about Bodil dying when they only knew each other for maybe 72 hours? Come onnnn. It just doesn't make sense.

A fun, very romance forward romantasy. I will probably tune in for book 2 but I'm not going to be rushing it to the top of my TBR.

This book was decent? I think the angst and the drama can keep me going but overall, it reads flat. I know romantasy kind of falls into the "blegh" worldbuilding phase, but it was really evident with this one. It was a little predictable and presented a little too simply for the political and relationship intrigue it set up. Overall, it's a promising set up and I will be continuing the series, but I really hope it looks up!

This is the first book I've read from Danielle Jensen, and now I'm definitely going to have to read her backlist!

The banter in this book is TOP notch! I loved the sarcasm, the snark, I knew from the first page that this book was going to get 5 stars (or close to it). I love Freya's fiery personality.

I don't know anything about Norse mythology, so I tried to pick it up as I went along. Some of the words I had to look up how to pronounce, because I just had to know. (A pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book would have been helpful.)

I did predict the big twist about halfway through, but I wasn't thinking about it the entire time I read the book or anything, and it didn't take anything away from the story.

This book is full of action, adventure, and there were literally no boring parts. I read multiple books at a time, and I found myself always being drawn to this one.

I cannot WAIT for Book 2!!!!

This was one of my most anticipated reads coming up and it did NOT disappoint!!!!

This is such a beautifully written epic magical world with perfect world building. You have forced marriage, forbidden romance, forced proximity, slow burn, and tension. There is flawless integration of prophecies of the gods and norse/viking mythology.

This book was filled with thrilling adventures with the right pacing.

I was partly able to guess the twist at the end, though the part I guessed, I definitely wished was not true. All in all, such an extremely excellent book and I’m itching to have more!

Although the premise of A Fate Inked in Blood was intriguing and promising, this Nordic folklore romantasy didn't work for me.

Freya, previously gutting fish for her horrible husband, has been sought out by jarl Snorri. Snorri believes Freya is the key to uniting all the clans and making him king. For the sake of her family, and possibly the curiousity for the jarl's hot viking son Bjorn, she obliges in the forced marriage.

Freya was an unbelievably flat character. You have to read about her "stomach souring" almost every chapter. The magic system doesn't seem well thought out and it's hard to keep track of the plot. It seemed like there were too many ideas occurring at once which resulted in an all-over-the-place execution.

What should have been a fun and exciting read turned into a complete slog to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Del Rey for an ARC of this book.

OOOO WEEE! Danielle has created an incredibly rich world with beautifully flawed characters. Freya is proud, loving, broken, and angry. I found myself relating to her in that she’s built such a strong exterior to hide the broken inside. There are parts where I was questioning if I liked her still but she won out every time. I love this book being set in a Scandinavian style world with the Norse gods parenting children. I cannot wait for the next one in this series as it’s going to be WILD.

I received this as an Arc through NetGalley.

The heat/ tension stared right from chapter one and I knew this was going to be good. Our FMC Freya meets a mysterious man bathing in the water near her home, and the witty banter and tension begins.

Tropes:
Forced proximity
Forbidden love
One horse
Enemies to lovers

This book was a very entertaining read. The banter between the two main characters was funny at times and heated at next. It took me two days to read and I very much enjoyed it. About 80% through I did expect the twist at the ending, and am looking forward to seeing how this series unfolds.

I could not put this book down, and I am eagerly waiting for the sequel. This was an easy to read fantasy with simple world building, a compelling story and distinct characters. There were times where the vocabulary switched to more present terms but it was not completely detrimental to the scene.

While the FMC is strong-willed, she has also been sheltered much of her life and you can see it when she’s making rash decisions. However, her innocence does give her a different point of view when approaching difficult obstacles. At times her decisions seem hotheaded, and they are, her experiences, upbringing and passion influence what happens next.

On the other hand, the MMC is also quite strong-willed but has a completely different point of view from the FMC and many of the other characters. While charming and stubborn, he understands how to play the game. He’s being pulled from all sides so we’re waiting to see where his true loyalties lie.

I quite enjoyed the magical elements within the story and while the twists and turns were a tad predictable, that did not take away from my enjoyment of the tale.

Thank you to NetGalley and Independent Penguin Random House Canada for the opportunity to read this book. All opinions are my own.

4.5/5

While I was really enjoying this book, I simply couldn't finish it because of the poor formatting of the digital ARC that I received. Random cut offs in pages made it hard to truly appreciate this story and I found myself needing to go back and reread pages too many times to remember.

Please don't let that stop you from reading this! Jensen is such a talented writer, and what I read I really enjoyed. I look forward to picking up a properly formatted copy of this book.

Releasing February 27th, 2024

I was SO excited to get approved for this netgalley eArc!

Danielle L Jensen did it again! I am a huge fan of her Bridge Kingdom series, and A FATE INKED IN BLOOD did not disappoint. Danielle has such a knack for writing fun fantasies that sweep you into their luscious worlds with clean world building.

A FATE INKED IN BLOOD was a swoony fantasy romance that struck the right balance of romance and fantasy, with enjoyable characters and a plot that sucks you in. I loved Freya as a heroine, and her and Bjorn’s chemistry was 🔥

Do you like Vikings? Do you like fantasy? Do you like romance? Do you like badass heroines? Then this book is for you.

thank you netgalley and Del Rey for this eArc in exchange for an honest review.

True lust conquers all

** spoiler alert **

Meet our first-person narrator Freya. She's a beautiful Norse woman who knows how to swing a sword. Her hair color is not at first mentioned, but we presume she's the blond pictured on the cover.

Meet Bjorn. He's a big, extraordinarily handsome black-haired warrior. Much of his conversation consists of boasts of his sexual prowess, and women he's favored talk to other women about how great he is in bed.

Freya and Bjorn meet cute (Freya literally throws a fish in his face), and of course they are immediately possessed by a desire to jump each other's bones. You know Freya feels this way because she's the narrator and you're in her head. You know the feeling is mutual because you're not an idiot -- besides, he eventually tells her. Before the end of the book they act on this desire, and we are presented with a detailed description of moist bits rubbing against other moist bits, along with the sizes of some of them. Both Freya and Bjorn belong to the "bigger is better" school of thought.

They do eventually use the "L"-word to describe their feelings for each other, two of them, in fact. "Love" is an "L"-word, and so is "lust". The first of these they use mostly when in the throes of the aforementioned bones-jumping, so to be honest, it was, for me, the "Lu" word that carried more conviction.

If that sounds like your kind of thing, then go for it. It was not mine, though. I am not a fan of romance novels, and this is not one, so you might think that would be fine. But I discovered that a novel that tries for romance and misses was even less to my taste.

What saved the book from a one or two- star rating was the swords and sorcery. We eventually get a revelation of gods and plots and stratagems that is rather good.

I thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advance reader copy of A Fate Inked in Blood. This review expresses my honest opinions. Release date 27-Feb-2024.

A new adventurous romantasy series - I can't wait for the next books to come out! Romance side: forced proximity, forbidden love, injury. Fantasy side: great Nordic world building, impending war, high stakes. Main characters are easy to invest in. Writing is immersive and skillful.

Thanks to penguin random house for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
⭐️⭐️
This review contains spoilers!
Before I get into what I disliked about the novel, I want to talk about what I liked about it. For example, it started off great. The beginning was very promising. the writing is addicting and easy to follow. I finished this book in a couple of hours. If you are new into fantasy this may be a great start for you, if you don’t like complicated world building, if you want really easy to follow conflict, and if you just want a really quick fast read, this may be a good fit for you.

Her motivations to stay with the jarl are not compelling enough for us to invest in her as a character. Her family is terrible. She sacrifices so much for them when they have never sacrificed anything for her in their lives, I was unable to understand why she would sacrifice for them when they did not deserve it, especially since these characters were not likeable since the beginning of the story,

if they were likeable, then I would understand that motivation, but there was no motivation. Her mother called her a whore, and her brother called her a wild bitch like I don’t understand why she would go through all this trouble to protect a terrible family.

It was so easy to make the wife of the jarl, a hateful, spiteful, angry character with zero depth but of course, that was the role that she took. A more compelling story would be the two wives working together and becoming allies. but of course, why have two women characters actually be friends? Later, there was a moment where there could have been an allyship. It was immediately ruined by Freya, thinking it was all the wife, when in reality, she had nothing to do with it nor any evidence to prove it.

She is being used throughout the whole story. Everyone betrays her, but she just continues to let them betray her. She has the powers of a goddess who is protection and war, but she doesn’t use this to protect herself, but she allows the king to use her for whatever reason why not just kill him? It’s such an obvious solution of the problem,

he has no power. Yes he’s the king but he doesn’t have a blessing by the gods which begs the question why don’t those who are blessed by the gods kill the king? He is obviously a terrible king.


The book ended super abruptly, and it was very dissatisfying. unfortunately a lot of the plot points that were supposed to be mysterious were easily seen within the first. Oh I would say 50 pages it was pretty obvious who the traitor was. a lot of the planning, went into the romance and less into the fantasy. the world building wasn’t great. We are not given any reason why God and Goddesses give mortals a bit of their blood hence there’s no reason for it. Or there is no reason that is explained in book one, but alas, reading this didn’t really give me the resolve to consider wanting to continue the series. especially between the two main characters.

What was done to the main girl from her love interest in my eyes is unforgivable so if they are going to be endgame then what’s the point?

Also, I may be a bit picky here, but she just knows how to fight like the training she did as a young girl is fit for her to fight with an army that just doesn’t make sense! It was too rushed and not enough was given to the reader to understand this worldo.
This book was one of my most anticipated books in 2024 and I’m so thankful that NetGalley and Penguins Random House allowed me to review this arc because unfortunately it did not meet my expectations.

Wow, this was such a refreshing read! The beginning of this was SO strong and the ending was very entertaining.

I enjoyed reading about Freya and her powers (she's badass) and although I was infuriated on her behalf, it was such a great contrast to see just how little control she had over what was happening to her. She was so feisty and brave yet human in a lot of ways. It felt like all of the decision-making made sense to me. Freya was always a pawn for others' gain so of course, anytime she got to make a decision it wasn't always the best decision overall (iykyk). But it's all a part of the character arc.

I think fans of Danielle L. Jensen's work will love this one!
Thank you so much to Penguin Random House for my ARC!

3.75/5 ⭐

I was over the moon getting the chance to read this thanks to Netgalley.

I've struggled with a couple of viking stories of late and accepted maybe they just weren't in my wheelhouse. I instead inhaled this in one sitting and can tell I'll have q nasty book hangover tomorrow.

Freya our FMC longs for more in life than to be a wife and from the very beginning her passion and fire pull you in and you can't help but love the girl blessed by the gods. But her journey and destiny aren't always what they may seem.

Bjorn the MMC is everything good about book men. His wit and charm has even me giggling.

For fans of Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young, and anyone who already loves Danielle's writing style this is a cannot miss!