Review: Savagery by Emma MacKenzie

Savagery by Emma MacKenzie
Synopsis (Goodreads):

In 10th century France, 18-year old Cherine Cadet only knows one thing: that the life of a peasant isn’t a life at all. Tired of working in utter poverty for an unfeeling Lord, with only her indifferent family and love-struck best friend as company, Cherine dreams of the day she can run away from the future set-up for her, even if she knows there’s no real escape from her destiny.

Then, in one brutal instance, everything changes. A Viking fleet led by the powerful nobleman and warrior, Rolf the Walker and his right-hand man, Erik the Axe, arrive on the shores of the Lord’s estate. In minutes, the entire land is up in flames, Cherine’s family and fellow serfs are killed, and Cherine comes dangerously close to death herself. She is saved only by the fierce Erik – but a new lease on life comes with a cost.

Cherine becomes a slave to the Vikings, a fate she thinks is no better than the one she had before. But as she finds herself being shared between the two men, the savage and darkly handsome Rolf and the mysterious and sensual Erik, Cherine discovers that she too has a fiery warrior heart and that the flames that consumed her old life might burn them all to the ground.

My Thoughts: While I did like this book, I have to admit that I was very disturbed by Rolf. Seriously, he's the type of guy who has so many faces that you never know which one you're going to get. That creeps me out beyond belief and it added a low-level edge of scary that put me on edge. The fact that this dude is the leader of his merry band of Vikings and Erik, who is ultimately a man who is fighting to hold onto his noble intentions, has to bow to his every whim upped the creepy.

Like Erik, Cherine has no say in her fate. She's taken as a slave and she's told to deal with it. And she does. She does what she has to do to stay alive and she's resigned herself to this new way of life. Yet... she longs for Erik. She pushes it to the side but it doesn't just disappear.

Honestly, trying to figure Rolf out was a big part of the draw in this book. I was never sure if we should take him at face value or pick apart his actions to see what was really driving him. His relationship with both Erik and Cerine was volatile and seemed on the verge of self-destructing again and again.

Enjoyable and definitely sexy, these characters kept me reading. I was alternately lamenting what they were going through and cheering them on. The ending took me by surprise and I'm still thinking about it a day later.

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Savagery was provided for review.