Ræliksen: Book One of the Emerald Isle Trilogy Paperback – July 30, 2010

See the original review here:[...]In a word: WOW.I stumbled upon Renee Vincent quite by accident online, and after discovering she was a fellow Kentucky gal AND wrote historical romance, I had to purchase the first two books in her Emerald Isle Trilogy. It took a while for me to finally get to Book One in my reading list, and I'm so glad I did.It had been a while since I'd read a historical romance, especially one set in 10th century Ireland. I can't claim to be a history buff, but every detail, from Viking customs to speech patterns rang true. The writing is exquisite, and the characters grew on me, even most of the support cast, whose numbers weren't scanty.The story begins with young Mara, an Irish princess who has caught the eye of Daegan Raeliksen, son of a Nordic king. It's love at first sight for Daegan, but not for Mara, who believes that all of his kind are murderous and cruel. He saves her from a horde of his fellow Northmen, whisking her as far from them (and consequently her home) as possible, and deciding that on the way, he'll convince her to fall in love with him and make her his wife.Their journey together is one of extreme peril, betrayal, and war in the midst of their compelling and heart-wrenching romance. You can't read this book and NOT be rooting for this couple to find peace at last. The love scenes between them were simply beautiful, becoming bolder as the two of them explored their shared passions.Daegan was wonderfully cast as both hardened warrior and tender lover when it came to Mara. Even though she was young and naive, she brought out the best in him. Especially endearing to me was how she encouraged him to finally embrace the faith of her God and let go of the violent nature of his pagan gods. As any man worth respecting, he was also devoted to his family, particularly his mother and younger brother. I got pretty teary-eyed on a few scenes he shared with them.The only issues I had with the book were pretty minor. Within some scenes, the point-of-view changed from one character to the next abruptly, which was a little jarring until I got used to it. Also, at the very beginning, I wished Daegan had more incentive to fall for Mara other than her just being young and pretty while she rode her horse by the River Shannon. She did grow from naive princess to a strong woman by the time the story was over, which pleased me greatly.I have to say, there were points that I ranted and raved, laughed, cried, and pounded my fist on the table. But, I won't offer spoilers, because you just have to experience Raeliksen for yourself. I'll be reading the next two in the series, MacLiam and The Fall of Rain as soon as I can.I highly recommend this book for any historical romance fans out there, particularly if you enjoy Irish/Nordic settings. It won't disappoint!~Mysti Parker [...]

I wanted to take a break and read for FUN... Every once in a while I like to go off the beaten path from all the reads I have promised to read and just grab something. I know Renee Vincent is not a new author, but she is new to me. After a little Twitter back and forth, I went to her website and checked out the blurbs for her historical series and decided I would give one a try. Only thing is, after reading the first one, Raeliksen and being left a crying mess, I had to jump right into Mac Liam for my own sanity, once I was left in a much better state of mind, I grabbed The Fall of Rain and once again was gasping for air. I loved this Trilogy and I wanted to share it with you.What is it that kept me coming back? Hmmm well let's see... Hot Vikings, ancient Ireland, beautiful princess and battles are a few of the reasons. Maybe the awesome story... in addition to the fact that I have never read something quite like it.In Raeliksen, we find Daegan Raeliksen, a wealthy merchant and a chieftain in his own right, in search of a wife. Daegan. In his travels, Daeaen has come upon the beautiful Mara, a Irish woman wandering the countryside on her own. Days go by and Daegan watches Mara as she spends her time near the shore. He is captivated by not only her beauty, but her essence as well. Daegan doesn't realize, but Mara is the daughter of a Irish King, regardless of that fact, the merchant/ chieftain has decided in a his infinite wisdom, that Mara is to be his wife.When Mara's life becomes endangered, Daegan must act quickly to save her, in the process, whisk her away, or basically kidnap her. Raeliksen is an epic tale of the determination this larger than life man has when it comes to what he wants and the woman that at first seems the shy bit of a thing, but upon closer observation is quite the strong character. Be prepared for tears in this tale as well as deep, dark secrets that come to light.

I am glad romance authors are still writing Viking romance. Thankfully some publishers are wise enough to know there's an audience out there!Renee Vincent writes with lyrical prose. It's truly beautiful. And she tells a good story with attention to historic detail that will satisfy lovers of historical romance. It's a bit of an unusual Viking story in that there is no raid, no pillaging, no taking of women--none of that. No, our hero, Daigan Raeliksen, a wealthy merchant chieftain from Norway, is an honorable man who makes his home in Ireland. It is there he first sees Mara, daughter of an Irish king, riding her horse near the Shannon River and it is there he decides he must have her for his wife. It's love at first sight for him. He only takes her to save her from a band of warring Norsemen. And, of course, then he must keep her until he can safely return her to her father, the king. He knows he should have permission to wed and to pay the bride price, but neither can wait to marry and she is not complaining. It's a complicated tale of betrayal (Daegan has an evil twin brother), and deception with a few twists and turns you will like. Daegan and Mara's love is never in doubt, however. The ending will tear out your heart and you will DEFINITELY want to get the sequel.It's going on my Best Viking Romances list and I recommend it. You should also note it is part of Vincent's Emerald Isle trilogy. This is the first, followed by the sequel, MAC LIAM, and then THE FALL OF RAIN (a contemporary with a descendent of Daegan's and harkening back to the first). The first two are out now and the third is due out Dec. 2011.

I read just under half of this story before deciding that I just could not continue. The characters are uninteresting as is the story. What is worse is the writing. The author is either unfamiliar with the English language or at least unaware of word usage and meaning. She describes a dragon prow on a ship as "self-righteous"; when the hero and heroine are making love his smile is 'callous' his hands 'avaricious' his needs 'feral' All of this misuse of English is jarring and detracts from the story. Several times she uses verb forms as nouns and attempts to produce an old style of English by placing 'not' after a verb and then using 20th century slang when a character speaks. All of this could have been corrected with some careful editing.I have only decided once before not to finish a book I was reading and I do a lot of reading. Do yourself a favour and don't waste your time with this one.

I would have given this book a full 5* until the last chapter!I loved the characters, loved the story, would definitely have kept it as a read again book..... however, I am just about to delete it from my kindle!I honestly got quite wrapped up in the book when reading it (read it becuase of previous review) there is no mention of the crappy ending in that reveiw! so was gutted with the way the author ended it - if I had realised I wouldn't have bought it.Honestly it has made me dubious about buying any more of her books - in case she gives any other of her leading characters an early ending.