Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #119176 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-01
• Released on: 2006-05-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

About the Author

Customer Reviews

A well-written erotic Viking / Time Travel romance
Lorelei Michaels is the lead-singer and song-writer of the all-female band The Sirens. But despite her success and the love of her music, she is unhappy and unfulfilled because she still hasn't found that special someone. So when a friend lends her a Viking armband named The Gripping Beast after the animals depicted on it and tells her a beautiful story about true love connected to the band and one of his Viking ancestors, she wishes she could find that kind of love and passion, too. The next moment, she finds herself on a slace auction block in the Viking town of Hedeby! Lucky for her, Erik Thorolfsson sees her and charges to the rescue when a slave trader would rape her to make more money from the sale. While Erik sees Lorelei as his slave, i. e. his property to do with as he pleases, she finds it hard to accept the reality of the world she stumbled into. He wants her and in order to keep her safe in a world where a slave has no rights whatsoever, he feels he must teach her her new place. But although Lorelei feels attracted to him and definitely enjoys his love-making, she doesn't want to submit and obey, especially since she can't see a future between herself and Erik as long as she isn't an equal he can respect. Both will have to adapt and learn to accept the other if they want to make their love last...
This is the first book I've read by Charlene Teglia, but it will definitely not be the last. Not only is it very erotic, but the characters and the world are well-developed, the conflict believable, the humour great and very entertaining, but the seriousness of the situation is not underrated. It reminded me of Sandra Hill's early Viking-Time Travels since there is a great sense of humour as well as some of the problems that would logically arise if a modern woman were confronted with the Viking-age. So this book is entertaining and erotic as well as intelligent. The sex scenes are quite explicit, so if you're into more subdued eroticism this would not be the book for you. Otherwise, I can definitely recommend it!

I would read this again and again and again!
Lorelei is the lead singer of an all-girl rock band. She is talented, tough, and in control. Lorelei can handle anything coming her way, except maybe being thrown back in time. Her good friend, and fellow musician, Dane, tells her the story of a Viking and his love who vanished after he gave her his bracelet and they drank from the same cup on their wedding day. Dane gives Lorelei that bracelet. Lorelei puts it on and promptly vanishes before her show. She is transported to the time of the Vikings.

Erik is trading in the village with his younger brother when he sets his eyes on a beautiful, enslaved woman. Instantly enraged, he and his men fight the merchant and take the woman to his ship. Lorelei is baffled by what is happening to her. She doesn't know where she is, or how she got there. Erik doesn't know what to make of his captive, so he assumes she is a madwoman.

Their attraction is undeniable though as Erik and Lorelei begin to slowly accept each other. But Lorelei worries because her feelings for Erik are growing. She doesn't know when, or if, she will be transported back to her own time. Realizing that she has been searching for the love of a man like Erik her whole life, Lorelei doesn't want to lose him now that she finally found him. If she can convince him to believe her, Lorelei and Erik may be able to stay together forever.

I very much enjoyed The Gripping Beast! It's a well-written romantic tale that captivated me from the beginning. Erik and Lorelei are strong characters who fit well together. Lorelei is beautiful, talented, and brave. Erik is handsome, domineering, and incredibly sexy. I would happily be Erik's slave anywhere! Their passion, while being intense, is both carnal and sensual. I laughed, then I sighed and had tears in my eyes at the end. The Gripping Beast is a book I intend to read again and again!


Nannette
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Pleasantly surprised
This book wasn't what I expected. If I take it in the sum of its parts, it shouldn't be a very good book. Brief, sketchy, with an ending that left me feeling cheated - but it was a good book. I really, really enjoyed it. Well, with the exception of the ending. But it's a fairy tale. And to take it any other way seemed to me to rob it of what magic it does have.

Lorelei is the talented and driven star of a rock band who discovers at the peak of her fame, her private life is suffering. She can't meet that special someone and is afraid she's so repressed that she never will. One of the men she should want, but doesn't, shows her a family artifact he has, knowing that Viking antiquity and mythology pleases her. This artifact is an armband inscribed with a creature known as a 'gripping beast', and is accompanied by a legend of a magical bride who marries a Viking and at the moment they marry, they both disappear, leaving the one armband behind.

Since it is a fairy tale, she doesn't go insane, she instantly melts into the arms of the ruthless and intimidating Viking (who you just know is a big ol' cuddly teddy bear behind closed doors), discovers that rather than being a liberated woman she enjoyes being submissive - sexually, at least - to this big hulking man, and that she'd rather subject him to her future than stay in his past. For his part, the fearsome 'Black Erik' is just a bid ol' cuddly teddy bear, with the exception of one or two situations, and since he's so captivated by her beauty and spirit, he gives up his life to be with her.

I read it in two hours, I couldn't put it down. Even though you know how it's going to turn out, you still want to go there with the characters. They have wonderful chemistry. I enjoyed their banter. I enjoyed Lorelei trying to understand the situation, and Erik trying to understand her modern language. They are that engaging, especially for fairly two-dimensional characters. The fact that the ending was so short, and seemed so rushed may contribute to that. For whatever the reason, it seems that the author was either past deadline or just got tired of it, because this wonderful story screeches to a halt with a very unsatisfying happily-ever-after ending. I did like the sly wink about Harold. I don't know that many people would make a connection. That was very clever.

On the nitpicky side, because that's me, don't the smaller publishing firms still use human editors and proofreaders? I'm sadly getting used to improper punctuation and small word mixups, but halfway through this book, one whole paragraph is in a completely different typeface - a completely different size and font. How did that get published and distributed without someone noticing? This author deserves better than that.