In Warrior Nights (Odin's Bastards #2) by Sheryl Nantus, Kara has fallen from grace. In other words, she's no longer a Valkyrie and finds herself walking on earth with hardly any memory. Really, the only thing she can recollect is the time she spent with Liam Wolfson. When she arrives on his doorstep, she finds he doesn't have the answers she needs to discover who she is. However, when the past collides with the present, Liam and Kara find they'll need to trust each other to survive the people coming after them. Will Liam and Kara be able to keep each other safe or will they die trying?
Ms. Nantus does it again in writing a wonderfully-crafted, fast-paced, absolutely enthralling paranormal romance that I could not put down for even a second. Then again, a story encompassing a Valkyrie, a sexy hero, a few mentions of Ragnarok, Gods such as Odin and Freyja, and a good dose of suspense is a book too hard to pass up in reading for a reader that loves romance suspense and all things mythological. The way this story started had me loving the hero and heroine immediately and also had me sympathizing with the pair, as the hero is determined to atone for his past and having the heroine back in his life is trouble waiting to happen. Will someone discover how much of a connection they have and will they use it against Liam?
As for the dialogue, it was intense and utterly captivating due to the main characters back stories, the suspense that had me worried for Liam and Kara, and the obstacles these two face to be together. Will the hero be able to accept the fact that Kara was a Valkyrie? Will the heroine return to her duties as a Valkyrie? Will the pair be able to defeat the people coming after them? Moreover, both the main characters are fantastic and so are the secondary characters who definitely make this story exciting because of the suspense and interesting with the way people of a small town are so big on gossip and getting to know everyone.
With the main characters, I loved the heroine's resilience, her courage and her determination to get to the bottom of who she was. How did she come to find herself on Liam's doorstep? Why can't Kara remember what happened to cause her to lose her memory? I also liked how determined she is to help Liam because she's not going to let him face whoever they're up against alone. Luckily, she's almost as skilled as he is. If not more skilled, considering everything she learnt as a Valkyrie. While the hero, I loved his confidence when it comes to going up against the bad guys since he has some serious skills. I also loved his determination to protect the heroine. She doesn't deserve to be dragged into the mess they find themselves in. Yet, what I liked most of all is that Kara doesn't back down from anything and challenged the hero.
Overall, Ms. Nantus has delivered a superb read in this book where the chemistry between this couple was off-the-charts; the romance was full of heat and passion; and the ending had me worried for the main characters, but had me loving how things work out for the best for these two. However, it was the ending that wrapped this story up perfectly, as Kara has exciting news. I would recommend Warrior Nights by Sheryl Nantus, if you enjoy paranormal romance, the second chance romance trope or books by authors Nina Croft, Dana Marie Bell, Gina L. Maxwell and Abigail Owen.
Kara slid her tongue
over her lips, an innocent move that shot straight to his groin. It was hard
not to flash back to seeing her naked this morning in his bed then go back
further, to their week in Vegas. For the first time since arriving in the
Ridge, he felt alive.
She might be trouble,
but sometimes trouble was just what you needed.
Geraldine Hamilton, the
town librarian, knew Liam well—he’d been in and out at least once a week to
help shelve books and move heavy boxes the elderly woman couldn’t handle. She
peered over her glasses at the pair as they approached.
“This is Kara,” he said
before she launched herself into a gentle interrogation. “Just visiting. We’re
going to look over the travel books.”
Before she replied,
Liam had taken Kara’s arm and maneuvered her over to the geography section of
the library, where a giant globe sat atop the shelves.
“She’s a sweet lady,
but she loves to talk. We’ll never get anything done if she corners us. Don’t
worry—Marie will fill her in on our backstory soon enough. If someone mentions
seeing you, she’ll let us know.” He patted the back of a wooden chair. “Have a
seat and relax. I’ll grab some travel picture books and you can page through
them, see if anything triggers.”
There was no one else
in the library, making it easy for him to go from aisle to aisle and select a
collection of books dealing with North America. It was a start.
He grabbed a thin book
about Las Vegas, adding it to the stack. If he could figure out where she came
from, it’d make it easier to see where she fit into his life.
And then what?
The question echoed
through his mind as he strode back to the table.
The empty table.
Liam laid the stack
down, resisting the urge to run through the library looking for her. The chair
sat upright, pushed back.
He headed for the front
desk, ready for a quick interrogation with Geraldine to see if she’d seen where
Kara had gone and if she’d been with anyone.
The front desk was
empty.
Fear crept along his
spine, the icy tentacles wrapping around his heart. His right hand slipped
around to the pistol at the small of his back.
If someone had taken
them both…
A high-pitched twitter
had him spinning around, relief tamping down the anxiety. Geraldine’s laugh was
a distinctive sound, not likely given in a hostage situation.
But still…
He crept along the
edges of the bookshelves until he had a clear view of the children’s area.
The two women sat at a
small table. The white-haired librarian flipped through a book before turning
it around to show Kara. A quick sweep of the room showed it to be empty except
for the pair, easing the last of his worries. He turned his attention to the
women.
Kara was…
Smiling. Laughing.
A bit of the heaviness
lifted from his heart at seeing her like this, a part of her inner nature set
free. It looked good on her, and he liked it.
She clapped her hands
together as Liam approached from behind. “It’s so beautiful…”
Liam stopped and
glanced over her shoulder at the children’s book spread out on the table.
Geraldine turned and
smiled. “Jack. Your friend here was telling me about Valhalla.”
A throbbing erupted
behind one eye as he gazed down at the book, spotting the title.
Viking
Myth and Legends.
The brightly-colored
images showed a variety of people and creatures, most of which he recognized
from his own childhood, tales recited by his father and grandfather.
His heart raced as he
saw the two women focus on the image of an armored woman, multicolored wings
spread wide as she flew over a battlefield.
A Valkyrie.
He tried to tamp down
the fear rising in his gut, the bile choking the words from his throat.
Sheryl Nantus is an award-winning romance writer published by Entangled, St. Martin's, Samhain, and Harlequin's Carina Press.
When she's not writing about hunky heroes, she is sipping tea, playing board games and writing haiku.
A total fangirl at heart, she met her husband through an online fanfiction community and currently lives in Pennsylvania.
