I've read a couple of Sandra Hill books in the past, and they're usually silly, fun, ridiculous, and oftentimes laugh out loud funny. This book was absolutely none of those things.
Every year I read a trashy romance novel for Christmas, because it's Christmas, so why not? This is the first year I had to force myself to read the book the whole way through.
The Reluctant Viking was boring and really, really long. Nothing happened for the first half of the novel, and the protagonists were all equally irritating and/or forgettable.
I'm also usually ok with suspending my feminist sensibilities for an escapist bodice-ripper, but this one just went way too far. Asshole Viking I get, but he's meant to be the same person as the protagonist's modern-day husband. How many violent outbursts, public shamings, and inappropriate/unwanted sexual advances is this woman willing to endure before she sees him for the giant read flag he is?
Ultimately, the moral of the story appears to be that women should just stay in their lanes. Don't even think about running successful businesses, daring to cut your hair, or earning more money than your husbands, ladies. It's important that they don't feel emasculated by our success, because if they are, they'll just leave us and it'll apparently be our own faults. Heaven forbid the husband should be forced to examine any of his poor behaviours, am I right, ladies?
Sandra Hill is worth a punt for the romance genre, but this is not the one to start with. It's an old book, so I'm willing to forgive a lot of the parts that didn't sit well with me, as I know her characterisations have changed a lot. This was first written in 1994, and boy does it show.