4ish stars, I'm struggling with this one a bit.

This title started strong and ended strong for me, but lost me a little in the middle.

"A Fate Inked In Blood" started strong, and I really felt drawn to Freya right from the start, as well as Bjorn. The quick worldbuilding and fast pace at the beginning, as well as starting to learn Freya's personality, and her fate, made for quick reading.

Trying to avoid spoilers: as the story progressed, I did find it a tad frustrating, as it felt the same thing happened numerous times with slight differences and the same outcome. I'm sure it was used to build intrigue and tension, but it mostly left me feeling ready to move forward and instead feeling stuck. I also lost some of my interest in Freya, as I feel that the character growth that had been well written in the first 150-200 pages just came to stand still, and I had been enjoying it to that point.

The romance aspect also started strong for me, and then lost me in the middle, and then got me again, in the same vein as the plot. While the romance was good, it did feel very quick.

When the last 50-75 pages came around, I did once again feel the draw to the story that I felt as the offset, and so I do feel this story finished strong, though I wasn't too surprised by the ending.

Overall, I will pick up a physical copy of this for my shelves when it comes out, and will most likely pick up the sequel when it's published. Thanks for the e-arc

I'm.a bit torn on this. First, the bad: I felt the pacing was a bit uneven and the twists were predictable (which isn't a bad thing necessarily, but the protagonist was so oblivious to what was going on sometimes it made me want to scream). The good: this is a steamy romantasy with a Nordic setting and all the familiar Norse gods and goddesses. Freya is a fishwife turned shield maiden who has hidden her gods-blessed magic powers for her whole life. I was glad to see a protagonist for once who isn't a teenager with no life experience. The cover is absolutely stunning, I hope to see more artwork like this on book covers.