Hi, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Garth
Pettersen and his new book, “The Cold Hearth”! For other stops on his Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the end
of this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Garth
and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you lots of luck in this fabulous
giveaway!
The Cold Hearth
by Garth Pettersen
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GENRE: Historical Fiction, Vikings
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BLURB:
"The
sons of Cnute are dead men." The dying words of his brother's assailant
travel across the North Sea to the English Midlands.
Harald,
the king's second son, receives the warning while rebuilding a hall where he
hopes to farm and lead a peaceful life with Selia, his Frisian wife. But as the
hall nears completion, they learn the family who lived there before them all
perished in a single night of bloodshed. Could the grounds be cursed?
Now
the threat of unknown enemies casts a long shadow. Should they distrust the
brooding Saxon neighbor or the two weapon-bearers they hired for protection?
Should they suspect either of the two women they have taken on with the other
hirelings? Only their Jewish warrior friend, Ravya ben Naaman, seems above
suspicion.
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EXCERPT TWO:
The
twin doors of the gateway sagged open, and we rode through, our horses’ hooves
trampling the flourishing greenery. We halted before the hall and gave the
horses a loose rein. They both lowered their heads to nibble the grass. Selia
and I sat for a moment, gazing at the abandoned holding.
“Well?”
I asked.
My wyf answered without turning, as if
bewyched or overwhelmed. “I like… the trees.”
She
and I shared the jest with laughter. Selia’s eyes danced with mischief, and she
gave me the smile I so loved. I dismounted and then assisted my Selia down. We
strolled hand in hand through weeds flourishing with the springtime sun and
worked our way toward the hall.
“I
am glad we waited for the spring to come,” she said. “It would have looked even
more forlorn in the winter.”
“It
is rather sad, though well-placed, and the land is workable.” I clasped the
ring handle on one of the two stout doors that fronted the hall and looked up,
studying the craftsmanship. “This is good. See these curved timbers that rise
from the corner edges?”
Selia
ran her hand up one of the crucks I referred to.
“They
help support the roof and allow for lower side walls. Saves on materials.”
“So
now you’re Harald the builder, are you?” she jibed.
“I
prefer it to ‘Harefoot’ don’t I—as friend Gwyn would say.”
The
doors proved stubborn. Selia loaned me her strength, and together we pulled
them open. From inside, a small cloud of dust descended, and we both coughed
and fanned our hands, laughing between hacks. An odor of staleness wafted from
the dark, cavernous interior.
“Stay
out here if you like,” I told Selia. “I’ll nose about inside.”
Selia
put her hand on my arm. "I told you, Harald— where you go, I go."
“Even
into musty old halls?”
Selia leaned forward and kissed my dusty lips.
“Even into musty old halls. Come on.”
She
took my hand and pulled me behind her as she entered. I quickly came up beside
her, thinking of snarling brock badgers, but the house interior was still and
uninhabited. We stood silently until our eyes adjusted to the dim light at the end
of the hall.
Selia
sneezed.
“May the old gods and the new keep you safe.”
“Thank
you. It is good, though.”
“What
is?” I could see her well enough in the light of the open door.
“Sneezing.
The hall is dusty and dry. The roof is good.”
“You’re right. For a hall that’s not known a
cooking fire for a number of winters, she’s a tribute to her builder. Let’s
look over the outhouses.”
The
outside air welcomed us, and we strolled around the holding. Mending and
rebuilding I had expected it to need, but burrowing, pecking, or foraging
animals had done the damage— no breakage had the heartlessness of marauders as
its cause.
Selia
and I returned to the horses and looked across the fields that called for a
plowing.
“Well, my dēorling,” I said. “Can you fantasy
this into a home for us?”
Selia
smiled and came close to me, lifting her face to mine. “Neither of us are
strangers to work, and there is no shortage of good English men and women
willing to accept the king’s silver. So yes, we can make this a home, my
Harald.” And she kissed me once again. “How do you like this place?”
“The
fact that the doors are intact shows the hall has not been dishonored. By
Danish law, the doors are all important. One can be fined for removing even a
splinter from the doorframe. And the door rings are circular, reflecting
obeisance to the gods from all who pass the threshold. This house was built
with reverence and adherence to law. I am pleased.
“I
wish it were closer to Fiergen and our friends, but it is far enough from
Wintanceaster that we need not be at the beck of the court. And it is close to
others Godwin and the queen would have us watch.”
“There’s
that,” she replied. “I’m glad we are of one mind about this place.”
“You
know what this holding needs?” I gazed at her, expecting understanding.
“I
know that look,” she said, dropping her chin but continuing to hold my gaze.
“You
think it needs loving. But the house is too dirty, and the ground outside is
too damp.”
“You
said you liked the trees, and I have no fear we would bend one over if we
leaned upon it.”
“Then,
I think we have solved more than one problem this day. Lead on, my
throne-worthy husband.”
And
I did.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MY BOOK REVIEW:
This book transported me on an exciting Viking adventure!!
This book is filled with mystery, suspense, intrigue, and is
enriched with interesting historical content!!
One
of the best features of this book is the significant amount of accurate,
intriguing Viking era time-period detail that the author weaved into this
book. It is clear the author is
well-versed in the culture, customs, and traditions that he was able to provide
such cohesive knowledge and references in his writing.
I
really liked that the author used real-life characters and events in the book
to help set the tone and create an even stronger and more realistic
ambience. He did admit that as this book
is fiction, there are some changes such as the ages of the characters and some
creative writing that helped strengthen the story line. Regardless, this book is a true essence of a
Viking story!
I enjoyed the way
the author provided both entertaining and educational material into the story
line. This truly helped enhance and
bring the story to life!
Plus,
I actually learned quite a bit while reading this book. One thing that I found interesting was about
the term “wegeld.” It is defined as the price that a killer pays the
victim’s family in order to prevent a blood feud. And this was even an actual law on the books
with the price being determined by rank!
This made me think of life insurance appraisers, like when a plane
crashes and the airline must pay out a certain amount of money to the victims
depending on an algorithm that determines a person’s remaining life value. It seems some laws from back then or some
form of them are still employed even today!
It’s amazing how certain words, sayings, and even laws from the
eleventh century have still continued on, been interrupted and re-constructed,
and have inspired further development.
There
are many characters (and with complicated names) thrown at you at the beginning
of the book and it’s somewhat difficult to determine who to pay attention to
and remember all their details. However,
it isn’t long before the book mellows out enough that you’re able to catch up
and realize what you need to know.
This
book had many, dark, violent, fighting, action scenes that tended to be more on
the graphic side. Although, that was mostly
due to the Viking time-period era and their way of life. I honestly did tend to glance over a few of
these scenes due to the roughness. However,
I enjoyed the suspense waiting to see what was going to happen next and trying
to find out who wanted to hurt Harald.
I
enjoyed the mystery, suspense aspect of the story line as I was anxious to know
who betrayed Harald and who was still loyal to him. It is fascinating how power, titles, and
money played such a large part in their society and is still something ever so
present today – even after so many years – people are still fighting over power,
titles, and money. Is anything truly ever
learned from history if we keep repeating the same mistakes?
I really liked all the additions to the book besides the
story. This book included an introduction
from the author that explained the historical composition, how he developed the
story, and some of his research methods and findings.
Furthermore,
at the beginning of this book is a list of characters names, their title, and a
brief description. This is truly
essential and a huge benefit for readers who easily forget things (like me
lol!!!) or get overwhelmed with books that are character heavy. Being able to quickly turn back to reference
the characters or find out their relation to the story or their relation to other
characters, etc. was a huge relief to be able to quickly find these answers and
not feel so lost or confused and then be able to instantly go back to where you
left off and continue reading.
I absolutely loved and truly appreciated the glossary section at
the beginning of this book! As someone
not as familiar with the Viking era this section truly came in handy and was vitally
used.
This
book also included a map showcasing the eleventh century Anglo-Saxon land. There
are many places visited in this book and it was nice seeing some of them displayed
on the map as I am not very familiar with the area, so it helped seeing the
real distance between locations, etc.
There
are many, many words and character names that seemed strange and/or hard to pronounce. One letter that was often used was “Æ” which
was not something I was very familiar with.
Again, I appreciate the authenticity of this book, but as someone who
isn’t very familiar with old English names and terms, they all seemed to blur
together a bit. I ended up making my own
nicknames for the characters to help stay in the story.
There are some predictable scenes. However, there are still a few very
unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!
This
book is Book Three of The Atheling Book Series.
This book can absolutely be read as a standalone. However, it seems there are many character
and story line overlaps. As you can see,
this is the only book I’ve read in this series and I didn’t get confused or
lost. However, I personally would think
it would make more sense and have a stronger impact on the understanding of
this book series, if you started with book one first.
Also, please note there are some very detailed, graphic, violent
scenes and adult rated language that may not be appropriate for all readers.
All in all, there were just a few hang-ups for me, but overall,
I still enjoyed reading this book and would still recommend it! I think all historical fiction, Vikings fans
will like this book too! So, add it to
your TBR List and get to reading – you won’t be disappointed!
**Disclaimer: I received a
complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an honest, and
unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**
Did you find this review helpful?
If so, please, please, please mark it as
helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R10GJ2BB8MMBCM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Garth Pettersen is a
Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC. When he's not
writing, he is riding horses or working with young disabled riders. Garth's
short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies and in journals such as
Blank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary 'Zine.
His story River's Rising was awarded an Honourable Mention for the Short Story
America 2017 Prize, and his fantasy novella River Born, was one of two
runners-up for the Windsor Editions (UK) Short Fiction Prize. Garth Pettersen's
historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles is published by Tirgearr
Publishing and are available at most online outlets.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK BUY LINKS:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Garth will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to
a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
