Welcome to one of the July 2nd stops on the blog tour for Whispers of the Runes by Christina Courtenay with Rachel’s Random Resources. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts & interviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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About the Book
Whispers of the Runes
by Christina Courtenay
Published 24 June 2021
Headline Review
Genre: Historical Romance
Page Count: 368
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From the bestselling author of Echoes of the Runes comes a thrilling and epic new timeslip novel, filled with adventure and romance, perfect for fans of Barbara Erskine, Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander and Vikings.
Time is no barrier for a love that is destined to be.
When jewellery designer Sara Mattsson is propelled back to the ninth century, after cutting herself on a Viking knife she uncovers at an archaeological dig, she is quick to accept what has happened to her. For this is not the first Sara has heard of time travel.
Although acutely aware of the danger she faces when she loses the knife – and with it her way to return to her own time—this is also the opportunity of a lifetime. What better way to add authenticity to the Viking and Anglo-Saxon motifs used in her designs?
As luck has it, the first person Sara encounters is Rurik Eskilsson, a fellow silversmith, who is also no stranger to the concept of time travel. Agreeing that Sara can accompany him to Jorvik, they embark on a journey even more perilous than one through time. But Fate has brought these two kindred spirits together across the ages for a reason…
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My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
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I was granted eARC access to Whispers of the Runes via a NetGalley widget as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with Rachel’s Random Resources. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
I jumped on the opportunity to review what promised to be a relatively clean romance with time travel back to biking times, as I absolutely love anything that touches on Scandinavian heritage. I’ve seen some others reviewing this book refer to it as third in a series, and I was not aware of its sequel status when I signed up for the tour (nor is this book listed as part of a series on Goodreads!) but I do feel that this book reads well as a stand-alone, and I suspect the “series” is merely a collection of time travel romances going back to the same time and place, but with different characters.
Sara, our heroine from the future, is intelligent and strong-willed and responds exactly as I would expect one to respond to discovering that she’s suddenly in the distant past. Rurik is exactly the sort of strong, sensible leader of a biking hero I like to see in historical romances, and there’s just the right amount of standoffishness going on to make it juicy. This pairing is adorable, and the slow-burn is perfect!
Can I just ask, though, why on Earth anyone who’s educated enough to read Norse runes wouldn’t think maybe they shouldn’t read the inscription on an old viking seax, out loud no less, immediately after cutting yourself on it and thus adding blood to the runes? Come on, Sara! You seemed smarter than that for the rest of the book…
I love the fact that Sara and Rurik have compatible careers, with Sara being a jewelry artist and Rurik a silversmith.
This is a well-written, well-researched historical romance with a lot to offer fans of both historical fiction and clean romance. If this sounds like your thing, check out the whole series!
About the Author
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014). Whispers of the Runes (time travel published by Headline 24th June 2021) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).
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Giveaway Alert!
Giveaway to Win a signed copy of Whispers of the Runes plus a pair of silver Viking style earrings (Open INT)
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