Dream Of Me / Believe In Me by Josie Litton

Challenge: Read a book with Vikings or Pirates. (chose Vikings)

Rating: Book one: 5 ++++
Book two: 4

Book one: In Dream of Me we meet Viking leader Wolf Hakonson as he embarks on a mission to kidnap lady Cymbra, a legendary beauty Wolf mistakenly believes is the cause of war. Instead he discovers that she is a gifted healer who will challenge him to confront his deepest yearnings -- and together they will become soul mates who forge a future blessed by peace.

Review: I LOOOOOOOOOVED this book. I cannot rave about it enough. I am a sucker for the Viking kidnapping plot, and Josie Litton does it superbly. Cymbra is the kind of heroine I love to read about. She's beautiful but she is also real and I admired (and was also slightly bewildered by) her willingness and conviction to accept her fate, them embrace it, and work towards making her marriage and life the best it can be. I was riveted by this story even at it's slowest parts, which is quite the accomplishment, I think. Wolf was wonderful -- larger than life, strong, very very sexy... sigh!!! The ending was wonderful -- Heartbreaking, then deeply satisfying.

Book Two: The Drama continues in Believe In Me, when saxon Lord Hawk, brother of Cymbra, seeks to strengthen the alliance by wedding a Norse noblewoman. But Lady Krysta arrives bearing many secrets-- including her gift for seeing what others cannot. And as an unexpected love ignites, only Krysta can sense the looming danger that threatens the peace--and Hawk as well.

Review: Lady Krysta arrives at Lord Hawk's holding disguised as a servant to see what kind of man she is getting for her husband, but all goes awry when Hawk is drawn to the 'servant' of the woman he is pledged to marry and her plan for going unnoticed is shot. When Hawk discovers the plan he is angry, but he allows Krysta her "getting to know each other" plan to move forward. I enjoyed this story very much, but the whole mermaid question mark on her parentage was a little odd. If it was going to be part of the story I would prefer it was explored more than it was. It just left more questions than it answered. That is the only reason I had to deduct a point, other than that I was delighted with the story, though it was not as gripping and emotional as book one. I have the third book in this trilogy and I cannot WAIT to read Dragon's story!!