The Reluctant Viking (Viking I Book 1)

Sandra Hill's entertaining Reluctant Viking was fun to read especially as Ruby, wife of Jack Jordon in the present, tried to sort out how she ended up in the past. She quickly met her "husband" in the past. To her surprise, he was a great Viking warrior named Thork; a look alike but NOT her husband. Also, Thork has the difficult task of trying to figure out why Ruby pulls on his hear strings and how she knows about moles and other hidden marks on his body.The story contains a seemingly failed marriage and two love stories, subterfuge, battles and so much more! In the past and current times Ruby has decisions to make about her custom lingerie business, relationships and her marriage. What are her priorities, what is most important? Does she want to live in the past or the present?

I hate a tearful ending but as Sandra states the main character doesn't die. But, the readers are still brought to that place of loss and grave with Ruby. The storyline is a time travel novel. Which bring you back to the present and all the characters are alive and dealing with their own drama. I fine this novel of Sandra Hill is a worthy read and I like that she has brought the pages up to date. I love a good Viking story.

This book alot of people can relate to and is an excellent story to read. It made me laugh, cry and have such strong emotional feelings inside while reading it. Sandra, this is one of your best I think. It took along time for the two characters to come together, but it was well worth the wait. Powerful emotions that the reader can feel..great job great book!

What fun! At first, I thought it was going to be another Outlander, but it has its own characters and story that were unique and interesting. I've ordered another book by the author about one of the characters in this book. I'm hooked!

I get great enjoyment reading this authors romances that have a bit of humor, history and many explicit sex scenes

love this writer............ from my home state :)All I can say is .............take a look at you guy, Is he something a daughter does NOT want to take ....bring your DAD to work datThor reminds Ruby of family and

A good romance with a slightly different model then most but still predictable.

I like a good romance book

This is the first book I've read by Sandra Hill. It follows modern businesswomen Ruby whose marriage has just ended, in a journey back in time to the Vikings. It is here she meets Thork, the Viking equivalent of her husband Jack who she sets about trying to win over as she does not want to lose the same man twice. Meanwhile she meets many other Vikings and even ancestors, learns about their way of life and tries to avoid being beheaded for outrageous behaviour.This was a really difficult book to rate so I felt I had no choice but to go with the middle ground. This book had many good points: I found the concept really interesting. Ruby's antics were pretty hilarious: trying to convince Vikings that she is from the future but not a witch/setting up a lingerie business/discussing birth control etc. This book had me laughing out loud, feeling sad for the characters and also angry at certain situations which overall makes an addictive read.However the bad points including the utterly ridiculous and (unoriginal) "it was a dream" thing. (Ridiculous as what amounted to a few months with the Vikings was a two hour dream?) I know this is a spoiler and I'm sorry but I would have wanted a warning of the lameness of that explanation. Next was Ruby herself who while very funny was highly annoying at times. Threatened with death and torture she still doesn't give it a rest! Her morals irritated me too - she was no "other woman"/ she was better than that/ couldn't do that to someone yet her resistance crumbled in a heartbeat and after this point i disliked her completely (I don't enjoy reading about cheating no matter the situation, it just disgusts me - not something I want from a book.Thork - (yes I am aware he was a Viking) was an arrogant pig who had sex with several other women in the course of the book (for me there was no going back after this - why would anyone want a man who sleeps with other women purely to hurt you?). He spoke to her like she was scum and hit her which in my opinion does not exactly make him the hero of the piece (some catch he was!). Despite softening a bit towards him at the end, I still thought he was a pig.Ruby and Jack were not much better and I didn't see the need for Ruby to dress up like a middle aged tart to seduce her husband - it was cringeworthy not funny.Last gripe and the real reason that this book didn't score highly was the serious undertone of what I imagine to be the author's opinion of society. Ruby goes back to the Vikings to learn where a woman's role truly is? By the end of the book I was genuinely annoyed about the implication that women should be in the home and less career minded. Bear in mind the age of Ruby's children - what on earth was she supposed to do all day? Potter around till hubby comes home and make his supper?! Get a grip! I don't think women should pander to the fragile egos of men with hunter-gatherer attitudes in this day and age. Yes, make time for family (which Ruby obviously wasn't) but the message that seemed to come with this book just grated on me.Overall the book was a good laugh at times and believe it or not from my huge rant I did enjoy it, though personally I prefer a book with a strong woman that is a good match for the overbearing alpha type. Not a doormat.

I found myself really liking this story. I loved the sense of humour that Sandra Hill gave her characters and loved the descriptive way she went into detail. i found myself wanting to read the other books in this series