Viking Warrior Rebel - Asa Maria Bradley

Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Published: October 2016

ISBN: 9781492618874

She can’t let him discover… Immortal Vikings are among us

Astrid Irisdotter is a Valkyrie—a fierce warrior fighting to protect humanity from the evil god Loki and his brutal minions. She’s on an urgent mission for her queen when everything goes hideously sideways. Undercover agent Luke Holden arrives on the scene just in time to save her life—and put his own on the line.

Luke may have saved her, but that doesn’t mean Astrid can trust him. Tempers flare as they hide secret upon secret from each other, but Astrid’s inner warrior knows what it wants…and it will not take “no” for an answer.  

My review
Immortal and very independent woman - check. Good looking guy with dark secret - check. Ugly and scary monsters to fight - check. Unexpected feelings and sexual tension - check. Well... Asa Maria Bradley has certainly all the ingredients to make a very appealing story. And she has one brewing here. Since I haven't read the first part of this series (Viking Warrior Rising), I don't know if the first one is as good as the second one. But Astrid is one fierce, yet funny character. 

She is on a mission to retrieve the brother of her queen from a hospital. Since she has failed on her last assignment, she is determined to not fail her queen again. What she didn't expect, was to run into the good looking Luke Holden. She had a fling with him, but he disappeared after one night of (well, let's just say they didn't get a lot of sleep). So, naturally, Astrid is not very excited to meet him yet again. However, when Luke saves her life from some ugly looking minions of Loki, she has some explaining to do. But how do you explain that you lived for hundreds of years and that you are not totally normal? Well, you kind of stretch the truth a bit. "I was born in Sweden. Almost a thousand years ago, but a woman didn't discuss her age.

But since Luke has some secrets of his own, Astrid and Luke have a lot of difficulties in trusting one another. "Apparantly Mr. We-Need-An-Honest-Talk wasn't all the chatty when he was the one responsible for sticking to the truth" . 
So the tension is through the roof. Take into account a jealous viking and we have some fireworks. The story unfolds nicely, yet suprisingly, so you just keep on reading.

A very good read. Four out of five stars for Viking Warrior Rebel. With special thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. And now I'll have to go find part one to read.