This book was archived before I could download it, but now I could read it because of the Brazilian edition (by Galuba Editorial!), really enjoyed!

The definition of balancing between adventurous and steamy!

Claimed by Gods is the first novel in Their Dark Valkyrie reverse harem series by Eva Chase, featuring our favorite gods inspired by the Nordic mythology!

Bree has earned a PhD in chemistry and is a full time chemist in a company. But, when one of her coworkers dies unexpectedly and all the clues seem to incriminate her, what is she going to do? She sure isn't willing to leave everything to luck or to the hot detective that is suspecting her, thus soon launching her own undercover investigation.

I love cozy mysteries, because they contain the element of mystery, but also humor and steaminess are unmistakably present.

This novel was such an accurate example of a cozy mystery, and I loved it for that!
It was fast paced, kept you guessing and being all starry-eyed along with the heroine.

To top it all of? Bree was so clever and such an accomplished professional, making you love her all that much more.
I prefer a clever, capable heroine over a damsel in distress, any day and in any gender!

This novel was such a spectacular journey.

This book started off great and I was really looking forward to delving deep into it. I loved the cover and the premise. It was my first reverse harem book so I won’t lie... I was a bit nervous, but found that it went at a pretty good pace. I wish more of the chapters had been spent towards finding Odin and the mystery behind the elves versus the training segments, but I’m sure that’ll come later.

The story is okay but the story doesn’t have the depth am looking for in a story. The story barely kept my attention focused. There are moments I don’t want to finish it, but then again, as always, I feel guilty because I might like it at the end if just tried my best to finish and give it a try until the very end. But after the last chapter, am still very disappointed that the author failed to mesmerize me. Anyway. If you love story about Gods, you could definitely give this a try.

I love Norse Mythology, so I had to read this one. Not only that, but this is also a RH (Reverse Harem) series, so more romance!

I thought the premise sounded good, and I live Viking mythology, but this book just didn't do it for me. Ari annoyed me for the first half of the book and the four Viking Gods didn't feel very developed to me and I didn't find them that interesting.

It wasn't a bad book, just not the book for me.

I thought I'd survived everything life could throw at me. All I wanted was to keep my distance from the criminals I work for and get my little brother out of the hell that is our mother's house. Then I died and woke up to four stunningly hot gods telling me I'm now a valkyrie. Sly, sharp Loki. Jovial but ferocious Thor. Dreamily compassionate Baldur. Grim and secretive Hod. They all have something to teach me. And around them, my walls start to crack. But the gods didn't summon me just for kicks. Their king is missing, and they need me to find him. The first three valkyries they sent on the job never made it back. More power is awakening in me than I could ever have imagined—and the gods' enemies are more devious than even they knew. It's going to take every trick in the book for me to save myself, my brother, and these divine men who're getting under my skin in the most alluring way. I'm Aria Watson, and Valhalla ain't seen nothing yet.
This book has the underlying plot of a reverse harem, a genre that seems to be popping up more and more, but the premise caught my attention so I thought I’d give it a try. I Unlike Roman and Greek mythology, I’m not too familiar with Norse mythology, with the exception of what I’ve seen in Marvel movies, so when the descriptions of Thor and Loki occur, I couldn’t help compare them to the actors that play those characters in the movies (as well as hear their voices throughout the book). There were a few small things that annoyed me in the story, but overall I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to read the other two parts. After reading another book by this author, I think I may have found a new favorite author!
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Okay, so I love mythology. I love it, even more, when authors incorporate mythology into modern day – it makes world building really interesting.

This was a pretty quick read, mostly because the storyline was interesting that pace of it was generally pretty forward. I really enjoyed the alternating chapter points-of-views as well, because most mythological-centred books avoid characterising gods and goddesses as much.

Ari was a fun character to read about too - she was down to earth and the writing stuck to her character, which I really enjoyed (nothing annoys me more than when a character does a complete one-eighty in reaction to something) and Loki was my fave. So was Hod. And Baldur. And Thor. Freya was okay, I don't think we saw as much of her compared to the others (it would have been interesting to see a chapter in her point of view I think)

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and the plot twists and intricate character development has intrigued me enough that I am excited to get my hands on book two!

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4/5

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This was an ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I have been very into reverse harem fiction lately and while this is not the best of what I have read recently in that genre it is still quite enjoyable and a fun escape. I really like the characters and I feel like they are fairly well fleshed out and the story holds my interest. I like that Eva Chase takes the time to write a complete story and it is not just intimate scene after intimate scene. I am reviewing this book based on an ARC received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you to NetGalley, and to Ink Spark Press for the advanced read of Claimed by Gods Their Dark Valkyrie, by Eva Chase.

I love super heroes, and their super powers. And who doesn’t love Thor and Loki? Wrap them up in a good Norse tale, and hello, fantastic.

Aria is a formidable heroine. All the characters are developed well. The story is entertaining. The world building and writing are excellent. The romance is slow to heat up, but it is not what this book is about. It is about action and super powers and Valkyries!

I really liked the book and highly recommend it.

4/5 fallo

I wish I could give Claimed by Gods by Eva Chase a higher rating than this. It's a reverse harem story (something much needed in book publishing period) featuring Norse gods Thor, Loki, Baldur, and Hod and a once-human girl, Aria Watson, who is resurrected to be the gods' valkyrie, charged with the task of finding the Allfather, Odin. While I didn't hate it, I didn't particularly like it much either.

The book has its good qualities. I liked that Ari wasn't a squeaky-clean heroine and wasn't painfully edgy to read, either. All her POV chapters had a good cadence to them, and I liked her outlook on things; she behaved and reacted to her situations believably.

However, her motive for doing literally everything so she could protect her younger brother, Petey, felt extremely old hat, and well, boring as far as character motivations are concerned. It didn't help either that Petey as a character wasn't fleshed out and was just the sickeningly sweet, doe-eyed innocent little brother trope; a motive was literally all he was, and I'm getting tired of sibling narratives being like this.

I'm tired of female characters especially giving all of themselves just to save a sibling, having no other goals or prospects for their future. Even Ari's treasured switchblade is a memento from her dead older brother, one she won't part with (understandable), even refusing to use other weapons because it "wouldn't feel right" (ridiculous, and honestly, stupid).

I'm also very tired of the urban fantasy trope of the heroine coming from a physically abusive home, but I'm even MORE tired of the trope to tack on an extra layer of sexual assault/rape to deepen her past or whatever the point of that is. Not that these terrible things don't happen to women--they obviously do--but the amount of times it's been used to prop up a female character's foundations is something I want less of unless it's actually, seriously addressed. There's got to be more creative ways to create an engaging female heroine than this, and I wish Chase had taken the time to think on it a little more.

I did enjoy the tidbits of Norse mythology that are in the book, but some inter-relationship drama between the gods and their histories are lost between the lines, with Chase leaning heavily on the reader's assumed Norse mythology knowledge. As someone who learned almost exclusively about Greek/Roman mythology in school, I could've used a little more information, especially concerning Baldur and Hod who I know very little about.

The gods themselves were mostly in-character and diverse given what I do know, especially Loki and Thor. (It was really funny to picture them as their original, red-headed selves versus their more recent Marvel counterparts--and okay, yes, I did say screw it and pictured Loki as black-haired Tom Hiddleston, I couldn't help it.)

But I feel like I only really got significant page time out of Loki and Hod. Maybe that's because of the four gods, Loki and Hod progressed the furthest relationship-wise with Ari, but Loki's was the only one that felt natural and true to character. (And if I'm being totally straight with you, the three-star rating is almost solely for the Loki sex scene alone, which, while not perfect, was something I didn't know I desperately needed.)

The plot of the novel itself was just okay. A lot more of it could've been fleshed out along with the characters and their romantic/sexual intentions and relationships with Ari. Too much felt rushed or coming from out of left field just to move or force things along.

I wish more had been done with the dark elves, too, as villains instead of the vicious, mindless horde they were. None of them were named or had much of a presence, and talk about a missed opportunity. We could've had a dark elf villain love interest in a harem story, is all I'm saying. Why are dark elves so tragically underused and underrepresented?

Anyway, I'm glad I had the opportunity to try out this novel. It wasn't downright terrible by any means, but I expected more out of it--and wanted it once I'd got going and saw these characters and what could've been, only for it to fall short. Given how rushed the relationships were and that I've already received the one I really wanted in this book (Loki), I doubt I'll pursue the sequel.

If you are I to Norse mythology and like adventure stories, then this book will not disappoint you. Ari makes a great character, and guess who is she fighting against? My favorite Norse bad guy : Loki.

The excerpt is better than the actual story, the start is not too exciting nor there is any sense of mystery. A little boring in fact. Hopefully, Eva Chase will have better stories in the future.

LOVE this take on Norse mythology!

I love the interaction between the characters and how the point of view changing from chapter to chapter helps develop them as characters as well as their relationships with one another. The writing in this book is very descriptive & visual - you can almost see the story coming off the pages. I can't wait to read more in this series!

My reading time has become seriously limited by work, the commute to work, and life in general, but every time I picked this up I knew exactly where I was and didn't have to back-track to get interested again. I will say I need to brush up on my Norse mythology as I tended to focus more on Greek/Roman mythology when I studied myths. This was definitely a mature audience/adult book - not young adult.

I voluntarily offered to review this book with no obligations and my opinions are honest
The characters + storytelling were very captivating
Ari is not having a good day.
Upon her death, she was chosen to be a valkyrie.
It is only because the gods need Ari to find Odin, the alfather.
She will show them.
Is this a curse or a blessing ?
Ari is still undecided.
The storytelling + the character's build were awesome!
It has all the ingredients that you need for a great book!
I can't wait for the next book in the series!

A badass heroine who doesn't balk at her newfound powers, isn't emotionally stunted and manages to hold her own against Norse gods. So much yes.

Aria is a tough cookie who is picked by Loki for that very quality - she's a survivor and just the kind of person they need to help them from Odin who disappeared years ago and is now suspected missing. Each of the gods Loki, Thor, Baldur and his twin Hod contribute their powers to turn her into a valkyrie.

The romance side of this book is a slow burn, this book is more about the action and world building. All of the characters are complex and well developed, each with distinct personalities and relationships - a lot of which is based on Norse mythology which is one of my all time favourite genres.

She's not your typical heroine in that she's not reluctant to pick up her new powers and start kicking ass - she's adaptable and hard headed, not meek or submissive in any way which makes her interactions with ancient gods all the more fun to read about.

The writing style is well paced and totally compelling, I read this in one setting and immediately downloaded the next book in the series just so I could keep following these characters.

All in all the story was entertaining. The characters are fun and the story is interesting. Having said that, it feels incredibly rushed. The story and characters could have been explored a lot more. The main character spends mere minutes “training” with each god and then she’s thrown into her challenges. There were so many opportunities to fill out the story. It just fell flat for me.

I'm a sucker for Norse mythology and Valkyries so knowing the heroine was a Valkyrie called to me. And throw in a reverse harem story and I'm all in.

Exasperation. That is what comes to mind when I think about this ARC. I was so on board to read this book and literally starting reading it the moment that it downloaded. I was engaged and excited about the concept/feel of the opening chapters. However, this excitement soon became eye rolls and verbal abuse towards the words I was reading. My poor Kindle.
HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU NEED TO GOD RUFIE A PERSON TO MAKE THEM COOPERATE? I swear every five minutes the heroine was knocked out by the gods and woke up with symptoms of being drugged. Why? Because she did not agree with what they had to say. Worse than that, the constant POV changes were, as I said, exasperating! Totally unnecessary and quite tedious. After the 100th POV change that was a result of yet another GOD RUFIE, I decided to DNF this book. I would not recommend it and do not understand the reasoning of the storyline.
Sorry, this book was not for me. The cover is the best part of the book, do not change it.

While I can see how this text might appeal to some, I personally did not find it altogether fascinating, This might be a personal issue, but I struggled to find myself engaged by the text and also found the introductory characters difficult to connect to. I also thought that perhaps there seemed to be a sense of 'monotone' about, by which I mean most characters spoke and acted in the same way, and were difficult to differentiate between. I still think you should give it a go, but these were aspects I found hard to overcome!