Its been months since the World Cup and Norway’s football playing Vikiing Erling Haaland captured our attention. Missing those Viking loving moments? We’re here for you.
Did you know that Vikings were only around from 793 CE to 1066 CE? That’s only 273 years, yet they continue to be influential.
Fun fact: Bluetooth technology is named for King Harald Blåtland from the 10th century. He united Scandinavia through his communication skills. Blåtland translates to Bluetooth, and the logo is a rune mark (Viking’s written language).
More fun facts: though documented as being exceptionally brutal, as a society their women had rights. And there are many first hand accounts complaining about how the Danes lured English women away with their hygiene practices of combing their hair, bathing regularly, and wearing clean clothes.
It’s a perfect set up for a romantic hero: strong and fierce, yet looks and smells good, with good communication skills. Maybe that’s why they have captured the imagination of romance authors.
These romance authors had certainly added some imaginative twists to their Viking romance stories:
Vikings with an alien mail order bride twist.
Njal used to have a pretty good life: raiding, feasting, and doing whatever he wanted as captain of his Vikingr crew. Then his planet was destroyed, and “whatever he wanted” became “find a mate and save the species.” Turns out women from a backwater planet called Earth are compatible. So Njal does what any self-respecting alien Viking would do: he abducts one.
Steff is not thrilled about being kidnapped by a giant blue alien with zero concept of personal space or table manners. He’s loud and overwhelming, yet there’s something almost vulnerable underneath it all. Enough that she starts wondering if she can actually help him, just not by becoming anyone’s mate.
Her plan: sign his crew up with her dating agency and find them proper matches. Land Njal a bride, maybe he lets her go home. Simple enough. Except the more time she spends with him, the less sure she is that’s what she wants.
Vikings with a shifter, poly, breeder twist
First they took her captive. Then they made her theirs.
The first night, they took her apart completely, working her body until she could barely think straight. She told herself it was because she had no choice.
Tonight is different. Tonight, there’s no taking turns. They come for her together, rough and certain, like something they’ve already decided is theirs.
Because it turns out these aren’t just Vikings who happened to take a captive.
They’re wolf shifters. And they’ve found their mate.
Vikings with a time travel twist
One minute, Professor Meredith Foster is alone in her living room. The next, there’s a Viking standing in it — leather tunic, wide gold belt, callused hands, and an entire rabbit roasting in her fireplace.
Meredith is a medieval historian, so she knows exactly how this should go: it’s a prank, or a costume, or a very elaborate misunderstanding. But the more time she spends with Geirolf Ericsson, the harder that theory is to hold onto. He doesn’t just look the part. He knows things about the tenth century no actor would bother learning, and he’s utterly baffled by spaghetti, computers, and basically everything else about the twenty-first.
As Meredith tries to teach him how to live in her world, he ends up teaching her something too, helping her chase a dream she’d almost given up on: rebuilding her grandfather’s Viking ship. Somewhere in between, she starts wondering if fate actually knows what it’s doing.
Vikings with a gaming, co-play, magic portal twist
When magic portals start pulling creatures out of video game realms and into the real world, three modern-day gamer Vikings find out their favorite berserker avatars are a lot more real than they thought. Vik, Wolf, and Scottie can suddenly shape-shift, and cosplay stops being make-believe.
In Bear, Vik shows Aaliyah what his Viking marks actually mean, and ends up putting her in the middle of real danger, and real desire.
In Wolf, Yeardley’s coding skills get tested in an entirely different kind of battle, one that sparks something between her and Wolf she didn’t see coming.
In Boar, an orc drags Maisie into the game world itself, and Scottie goes after her. Now they’re both stuck there, fighting to survive and to stay together, as the line between game and reality disappears completely.
Three stories, one trilogy: turns out you don’t choose the berserker life. It chooses you.