First in a new series of Viking fantasy romance!

Freya has a pretty rough life in her village, thanks to an abusive husband who's revered by other villagers as being blessed by gods. But then her life gets even worse when her husband reveals to those in power that Freya herself has been blessed. From here Freya needs to navigate politics, power, just generally standing up for herself, and developing feelings for an entirely unsuitable person.

I really liked this book! The Viking setting worked so well, and I loved all the Norse mythology. It definitely made me want to look more into all the gods who were referenced. Freya is a great female lead - she puts up with so much from so many people but is still strong.

Bjorn, the enigmatic sort-of-outsider love interest, is a great character. The build up between the two is very slow burn, which is to be expected in the first book of a series as there's still some way to go. The romance and fantasy elements were well balanced, which isn't always a given in this genre.

Having previously read The Bridge Kingdom, I went into this expecting a cliffhanger. I'm glad I set my expectations this way. The book definitely reaches it's own end (it's not like a long book that's been chopped up) but I'm also going to be reading book 2 as soon as it's available!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free review copy. All thoughts are my own.