Their Dark Valkyrie: The Complete Series by
Eva Chase
My rating:
5 of 5 stars
#1 Claimed by Gods - 5*Aria Watson (Ari) is streetwise and thought she had handled everything life had already thrown at her. She was determined to stay away from the criminals she worked for and save her little brother from their Mum's house. Then she suddenly died and woke up with four incredibly hot gods telling her she is now a Valkyrie. Loki is sharp and crafty, Thor is jovial and very ferocious, Baldur is very compassionate and Hod is very grim and secretive. It seems their king (Odin) is missing and they need Ari to find him and help rescue him. Seems I'm the four Valkyrie - the previous three never made it back. Can all the new skills I have and every trick I have from my life before I died help in this huge task.? Also, what am I going to do about these hot gods that are getting under my skin?
Wow, this book merges together seamlessly the modern-day American life with Norse mythology into a story with lots of drama and action interspersed with soft emotional moments that definitely made you swallow and take a moment before continuing to read. Ari was a delightful character that I'm sure everyone can clearly see in my mind and understand how she was feeling or behaving. It was well written and all the thoughts and emotions of the characters were clear and easy to feel and empathise with. Great start to what promises to be a great series.
#2 Bound to Gods - 5*Aria Watson had been brought back from the dead by four hot Norse gods to be their Valkyrie and having got used to her new powers they together with Freya suddenly find themselves trapped in a prison that looks like their home Valhalla but is fake. While trapped there, moments from their past are brought back and they have to live through those memories something that appears to be universally unpleasant. It is certainly an eye-opener for them all to relive and understand the impact past behaviours have had on each other - even if often Aria seems to become an arbiter between them trying to stop the hurt and facilitate better relations between them. It meant that large parts of the book went deeper into the characters of each of them and understanding their motivations and the effect that actions can have on others. I think at the end of it I understood all of the characters much better and they all became better because of their emotional journey. Loki became more serious, Thor learnt a bit more diplomacy and that fighting all the time was not the solution, and I understood a lot more about Hod and Baldur and how they might be very different but there really were similarities between them as I would expect with them being twins. It was great to understand Freya better as before this she was very much on the sidelines. I think they also understood Aria better too and so it ended up with a test of trust in each other and whether they could accept, forgive and move on from their own traumas of the past. Well written, a pleasure to read such powerful character building and I can't wait to find out what happens next.
#3 - Falling for Gods - 5*Aria Watson is a Valkyrie and as her powers grow she becomes closer to her four gods in their home of Asgard. Her hopes of a quiet life and time to enjoy their company is not likely as the power-hungry giant Surt is determined to take over the world and Odin seems to have become fatalistic about how this whole situation will end. Ari and her gods have many battles and negotiations with the different parties involved in the conflict. Will they succeed so she can have a quiet life she would quite like to have or will something happen to change things?
Wow - lots of danger and drama in this instalment of the series. I loved the way Ari's relationship with the gods was developing and how they were all having distinct features in how their personalities developed and matched. Ari became a strong woman and who knew what she wanted and went for it in this book no matter who she needed to talk to to get it. I loved the way she was able to persuade all the different people to see her way of thinking and adapt to the situations she found herself in. The knowledge of mythology and the gods involved by the author was very detailed, and all that knowledge made this book and the rest of the series very rich and full of detail. Well written it was easy to understand and fell the frustrations, thoughts and emotions of the characters.
#4 - Waking the Gods - 5*Aria Watson is a Valkyrie and when Surt appears in Asgard with a huge army determined to take over the realms of the Gods and the humans. Aria and her four Golds soon realise that they cannot possibly defeat him on their own and so they seek to find all of the other Gods who are scattered all over the place. When they are all gathered, Ari has to struggle with both her own self-doubt and the doubts of the other Gods with her abilities and the worth of any contribution, she might make. Can they win the fight for their lives as well as their home in this win or lose all scenario?
I loved this story which is the last of the series. It was packed with action, drama, danger, emotion, and lots of character development. Ari definitely came into her own in this story and it also showed a really nice strengthening of the relationship between her and her four God lovers. It was great to see how much they obviously cared for each other and that it was a relationship and not just a physical thing, I loved the way the story finished and what was promised for the future - I just wish we had more stories on the way in the series in order to explore their relationships and skills more. Recommended.
#5 - Living with Gods - 5*
I loved this sweet story which nicely added a bit more of a conclusion for them all. It was nice to see all of the emotions for them all being discussed. I loved the way it finished. Well written and easy to read and understand.
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