Book review: Eirik: A Time Travel Romance (Mists of Albion Book 1) by Joanna Bell

Gripping story ... Four and a half stars.

I usually avoid Time Travel romances - Diana Gabaldon has set the bar too high - but this one was a real surprise. The writing style grabs you from the first page, and the story is great.

The heroine, Paige, is one of the book's highlights for me. The story is told entirely from her point of view but I never got tired of being in her head. We don't get to know the hero, Eirik, as well as we do Paige, but he's definitely a great hero: strong, powerful, and ruthless when necessary, but with a deep, kind and chivalrous side.

I loved the setting too. The author brings 9th Century Anglo-Saxon Britain to life brilliantly. The Kingdom of the East Angles and the Viking raids are realistically drawn with just enough description to make the setting seem authentic without going into too much historical detail. Paige's 'portal' between the two worlds - a tree on her father's property - works too. It's simple, but unlike some other time travel romances, I could believe it could exist.

I thought Paige's back-story was beautifully drawn, the loss of her mother, and her father's depression, followed by visits to psychologists. You really want this girl to find happiness!

The only thing that didn't work for me in the book (which is why I've given it 4.5 instead of 5 stars) - was the use of language. In 9th Century Britain, the Angles would have been speaking Old English, and the Vikings, a form of Norse. However, our heroine slips from 2017 North America to the 9th Century without any language difficulties. Maybe I missed it, but she just thinks her new Angle friends speak a little differently to her. Plus, Eirik would not likely have spoken the local tongue either - there would have been two new languages to learn! Outlander works because Claire only goes back a couple of centuries to Jacobean Scotland, where the same language (apart from the local Scottish Gaelic) is used. It's quite a big detail not to get right! If the portal equips travelers with some Tardis-like language device, the reader needs to know that!

However, the story is so strong, the plot so exciting, the writing so vivid, and the characters (even the minor ones) so richly drawn that I will just overlook that issue ...

I highly recommend this novel, and look forward to more in this series.

Buy a copy on Amazon.com

Keeping it real - romance in Anglo-Saxon England

I write historical romances set in Anglo-Saxon England. Yet, if you do a search on Amazon or Goodreads for authors in this sub-genre, you will see that we are thin on the ground!

Despite this, I've discovered that there are plenty of readers who devour anything in this period - no matter what genre it's in.

There's no reason why readers who like historical fiction set in Anglo-Saxon England, shouldn't enjoy historical romance as well - provided it isn't slushy and full of purple prose! A good story is a good story, no matter what genre it's in. An adventure that transports you to another time and place; characters we care about - these are what readers are looking for. Of course, love is universal. No matter who you are, where you live or what your personal story is, love influences you. The characters in my books have to overcome huge physical, social - and emotional - barriers in order to find happiness. I like to think that although I create characters that modern-day readers can identify with, at the same time the men and women I write about could not exist outside Anglo-Saxon England - they are an intrinsic part of the setting.

Keeping it real

You can't set a book in a gritty period like Anglo-Saxon England (specifically the 7th Century, in my case) without incorporating the realities of how people lived. There's a great romance - in the true sense - in setting a novel in a world where people lived fully and took nothing for granted. Life in Anglo-Saxon England was hard, cheap and, for many, short. Despite this, the Anglo-Saxons were sentimental and passionate. They loved epic stories and riddles, and were driven by strong beliefs in fate, brotherhood, loyalty, vengeance and valor. And although the warrior ruled, and men dominated every day life, women were strong - they had to be. There's a 'realness' about the Anglo-Saxon period that makes a love story come to life.

What's coming up?

So what Anglo-Saxon adventures do I have in the pipeline? I'm in the process of editing a novella; the tale that kicks off the KINGDOM OF THE EAST ANGLES series. All three novels in the series are now available on Amazon.

NIGHT SHADOWS (out soon on Amazon!) is about half the length of the three novels that follow it (30,000 instead of 67,000-70,000 words). This novella follows the publication of  THE DEEPENING NIGHT in February this year, the novel that concluded the series.

NIGHT SHADOWS takes us back two decades, and tells a story of Wil and Cynewyn, a couple who get a second chance at love. This novella sets the scene for what is to come...

THE KINGDOM OF THE EAST ANGLES

Three kings. Three unforgettable love stories.

Find out more about the KINGDOM OF THE EAST ANGLES series on my website: www.jaynecastel.com.

The Deepening Night - the new book of the Kingdom of the East Angles is underway

Starting on a new book is always an exciting moment for any author. It's the rewriting, editing and polishing process that gives one grey hairs, and makes you wonder why you put yourself through it.

Of course, you know exactly why you do it - to be able to see your story come to life, and for others to read and enjoy the novel once its finished. At least, that's why I write. I love sharing my stories with others.

The Kingdom of the East Angles series has, in many ways, been very easy to write. These days, I plan and research meticulously before I ever sit down to write. I employ a far more 'businesslike' attitude to my writing. I schedule writing time, and I stick to it. I also keep records of my writing, so that I can get a sense of when, where and how I'm most productive. Plus, it helps that these stories are gritty, romantic adventures set in my favorite era - they're great fun to write!

I'm very excited about my new project - the last of The Kingdom of the East Angles series - The Deepening Night.

The Kingdom of the East Angles is a series of historical romance novels set in Anglo-Saxon East Anglia. These are stand-alone novels set around the lives of actual East Anglian Kings: Raedwald, Sigeberht and Annan, and spanning eight years, from 624-631 A.D - at a time when the East Anglian kingdom's power was beginning to wane under the threat of Mercia.

Dark Under the Cover of Night, the first story in the series, begins in 624 A.D. The novel takes place at the end of King Raedwald reign (the king thought to be buried in the Sutton Hoo longship), and is the story of Raedwyn and Caelin: lovers who are kept apart by feuding fathers. The second novel in this series 

Nightfall till Daybreak, takes place five years after the first story. This novel is centered around King Raedwald's stepson, Sigeberht, who returns to Britannia from exile in Gaul to take back the East Anglia throne for the Wuffinga family. This is the tale of Freya and Aidan, a slave and a warrior, and of the king who rules their fates. 

The Deepening Night is the third, and final, story in this series. This tale begins in the spring of 630 A.D., and is the story of Annan - the proud East Anglian king who must 'bend the knee' to Mercia - and Saewara, the sister of Annan's enemy. 

Here's a sneak peak at the cover art for the novel. Click on the image to find out more about Annan and Saewara's story.

Right - back to writing!