A Fate Inked In Blood

A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle L. Jensen is a 2024 GoodReads Choice Award Nominee for the Romantacy category. To say I was excited to read this is an understatement. I was so stoked for this 15-hour/419-page novel is a Norse-inspired fantasy saga.

In this universe, some mortals possess a drop of gods’ blood which imbues them with powers related to that god’s power. Our main character, Freya, is suffering in a marriage to a man she doesn’t love and hiding the fact that she possesses a drop of the goddess Hlin - a lesser goddess of protection and wisdom - which allows her to repel attacks.

She’s bartered and married off to another man she doesn’t love who just so happens to be the father of the man she lusts after. This sounds like a great adventure, right?

For me, it just kind of fizzled around the 78% mark. My favorite side character is killed off to teach Freya a lesson about concentrating, and then I didn’t care about the characters and wanted all of them to get killed off and denied Valhalla.

For me this slow-burn spice fest is three stars. It’s not bad, but it’s not good either.