Dream Island by Josie Litton (Akora #1)

4 Stars

This is the first book in another trilogy by Josie Litton that seems to go by two names.  Either “Akora Trilogy” or “Medieval Trilogy”, the last of which is odd because it isn’t medieval, except for maybe they are referring to their time on Akora?  If you haven’t first read this author’s Viking & Saxon series, then I would recommend that.  They make some mention to the Hawkforte’s, but nothing you would need to have read the books to understand.  The main reason that you should read them first is because they were A-W-E-S-O-M-E!

Lady Joanna Hawkforte is looking for he brother, Royce, who left nine months ago to go to Akora.  Akora is a warrior island nation that kills any and all visitors.  Royce should have been back six months ago and Lady Joanna is understandably distressed.  Royce is the only family that Joanna has left.  Joanna leaves Hawkforte for London and tries every avenue she can find to get information about Royce.  Her last option is to pursue information through Lord Darcourt who is a decedent of the only known survivor to land on Akora.  Lord Darcourt snubs Joanna in front of the ton and leaves Joanna no choice but to stow away on his ship as he leaves to go back to Akora.  That is all I will say because the rest is all the intrigue of discovery of Akora and the treachery of both Akorans and the English. 

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as the Viking & Saxon series, but perhaps some of that was that I was only able to snag small pieces of time here and there to read this.  Perhaps I wasn’t able to immerse myself as much as I wanted.  I enjoyed all the Akora stuff, but I felt like the time between Darcourt and Joanna was a little flat.  I am however looking forward to the third book which is the Vanax and Brianna. 

Come Back To Me by Josie Litton (Viking and Saxon #3)

4 stars

This is the third book in this series (and I think it is probably the last book in the series).  The first two followed Wolf (a Viking lord) and Hawk (a Saxon lord) as they meet, marry and woe their brides (in that order).  This book follows Wolf’s brother, Dragon (another Viking lord) and his bride Rycca (a Saxon lady).  These marriages were designed to bring peace between the Norse and Saxon’s.

Like the other two marriages, it doesn’t start off well.  Rycca is running away from her family and the marriage.  Dragon is having some alone time at Hawk lodge in the woods outside Hawkforte.  They meet up but neither with tell the other their real names.  Dragon wants to help Rycca, but Rycca still manages to get away again.  The marriage starts off with a lot of distrust between these two people.  And like the other books there is still danger.  There are people who don’t want the Norse and Saxon’s to unite and they are working in underhanded ways to prevent this.  So the book follows these goings on and we watch Dragon and Rycca work through their difficulties.  We do get to see Wolf and Cymbra and Hawk and Krysta again a couple times in the book and it is nice to see the friendship between the ladies. 

I loved this series.  I had never read anything by this author before, but I plan to read the rest of her books as well now.  I loved all the characters.  I don’t know which is my favorite couple.  Even the bad guys are written well.  You know who not to trust, but you can’t quite figure out all the details.    

Dream of Me/Believe in Me by Josie Litton

This is actually two books in one for a fairly cheap price.  I can’t remember exactly, but I think it is something like $3 per book. 

Brief summary of Dream of Me:

Cymbra is the stunningly beautiful sister of Lord Hawk of Hawkforte.  Lord Wolf has proposed a marriage to Lord Hawk’s sister in order to create an alliance between the Saxon’s and Norse against the Danes.  However, Lord Wolf is rudely refused by the lady herself and he seeks his revenge.  He infiltrates Lady Cymbra’s holdings as prisoners only to escape and kidnap Lady Cymbra.  He plans to humiliate her to ease his hurt pride.  Things don’t go quite as he plans and he marries Lady Cymbra anyway.  When Lord Hawk comes for her if she does not convince her brother that she is happy then Lord Wolf plans to kill her brother.  The rest of the story is how Lord Wolf and Lady Cymbra get to know one another and the other challenges that arise through this marriage of Norse to Saxon. 

Brief summary of Believe in Me:

Lord Hawk has proposed to King Alfred that more marriages between prominent Saxons and Norse could further solidify an alliance between the two.  Under protest, this puts Lord Hawk in the crosshairs.  Wolf has arranged for Lady Krysta to be Hawk’s wife.  Lady Krysta arrives under the guise of a servant of the Lady Krysta in order to get to know Lord Hawk better.  That plan proves to be faulty.  Daria, Hawks half-sister is…not a nice person and strives to make Krysta’s life unpleasant.  There is more unpleasantness for Krysta and Hawk as they travel to see the king in Winchester.  A whole different set of problems await Krysta and Hawk as they get to know one another than in Dream of Me, but the outcome is the same. 

I loved both of these books. There were strong alpha heroes and smart strong heroines.  I don’t have anything else to say, but I read 815 pages in less than a week.   I have an absolute of needing a HEA in my stories.  They are historical romance with a touch of the paranormal.   

Favorite Quote from Dream of Me: Cymbra to Wolf when they first meet:

“I can’t possibly sleep”

“Then perhaps we can find some better use for this pallet.”

“I’m almost asleep now”

Favorite Quote from Believe in Me: Krysta to Hawk:

“You had better be all right, you had just better!” she yelled, striking her fists against his chest.  The blows were so soft he could scarcely feel them but he knew better than to let her see that. 

“Ouch! Stop that, woman!  Udell did not cause me such discomfort as you now inflict.”