Synopsis:

The past is waiting.

Josie Jackson is whisked further into the past, to the era of Vikings and the (almost) eternal winters of Norway. Carter, the mastermind behind her foray through time, reveals that she’ll be remaining there for six years – assuming she survives the first winter. To complicate matters, Josie has an unexpected health condition, one that threatens her life more than the frigid cold, Viking raids and wild animals.

After un-creating Taylor and leaving Batu in the Mongol era, Josie wants nothing to do with any other man, especially not the Viking warrior she’s engaged to shortly after dropped into a fjord in front of his village. Not everyone is as he seems in this era, from her reluctant new husband, to the mystic – scorned by the rest of the village – whose futuristic visions are too accurate to be divine, to Carter, the evil genius who’s tormented her through three eras of history.

When she finally learns the truth behind why he chose her, she understands too well what the stakes of this game really are.

I couldn’t wait to start this book, so my idea to pace my reading out to give the final book in the series a chance to be published has gone out of the window somewhat…

I’m so glad I did read it though, I was up late reading this one because I couldn’t bear to put it down – Josie is one of my all time favourite characters and I had to check in on her after the heartbreak of the last book.

She’s learnt some major lessons after her past two trips through time, she’s a little older and wiser now, and prepared to do whatever it takes to survive in her new home. This includes gathering her ladyballs in one hand and finally learning to prepare animal carcasses for cooking – after a liberal amount of swooning in the last book it’s good to see her rolling up her sleeves!

The past two books in this series have been brilliant standalones but the cliffhanger to this book is even more shocking than the previous ones and makes me anxious to get my paws on the next book! Some of the loose ends from the previous book are tied up while we’re served up some more mysteries and surprises.

This story is mostly about the harsh realities of a 21st century woman trying to survive a Norwegian winter during the Viking age rather than a journey, but the suspense that Ford creates is still incredibly strong.