Viking Captive

"Viking Captive" is one of my favorite novels by Emma Merritt. Not only was Merritt extremely detailed with her historical information, but she also wove a beautiful love story that centers around two extremely conflicting characters. Kelda, a viking warrior and leader, travels to North America in search of her chief's possible lost child and to also pay a blood debt to the Norse cheif who had raised her as his own. She is captured and enslaved by an arrogant war cheif known as Brander--who Kelda knows is part Norse because of his build and his hair color. As Brander's slave, Kelda must decide how to deal with her attraction to such a captivating man and find a way to get away from him and back to her home. Kelda fights her feelings for Brander physically and emotionally, and swears that if Brander wants anything from her, he will have to take it by force. The book then describes some of the battles that Kelda not only fights with Brander but with the way of life of the Indians that she is forced to live amoungst. She befriends Brander's mother (who also happened to be in love with Kelda's Norse Cheif long ago...hint..hint) and aquaints herself with a few of Brander's warriors. Another interesting part in the novel is the conflict of how Brander will "brand" Kelda as his slave (Even though he doesn't treat her as a slave, he still must physically "mark" her as his so that no one else will hurt her). I absolutely loved this book. There's something about a sexy half-blood warrior with a chauvanistic attitude that I can't resist. Along with Kelda's wit and strong will to add the love and spontaneity that we all hope to find one day, this book proved to be quite a page turner. If you find it, keep it, because this kind of historical romance is few and far between. NOTE: Due to the period of time that this book was written, it has the simple, historical writings of most books written in the 1980's...some/little sex (it's a steamy book since Merritt wrote it)...lots of action...lots of historical facts.