Into the North

My worst thing in romance is when MC 1 says "You must hate me," [for an assorted multitude of heinous crimes committed across a majority of the time they've known each other], and MC 2 goes, "I don't hate you."

Like.....why not?! Why the fuck don't you hate him?

My rhoughts on this book in the order I had them....

1. Sigh. This guy is going to be whipped for trying to help his tribesmate and all you have to say is...

“But I have seen the strength of spirit inside you on the battlefield. You will get through it.”

I know this early in the book Agnar has no loyalties to Marcus but I'd rather you shut up than say this.

HOW DO WORDS OF AFFIRMATION HELP BEFORE A WHIPPING?!

Like OMG you shouldn't have🥰🥰🥰. Really. You shouldn't have. JFC.

'Only then, when he had no more strength left for them to take, did he hear Agnar take the whip from Slagfid.'

As a Bitter Reader™, it's going to take a LOT for me to forgive this.

2. Tying someone on a tree and gagging them because they walked away from you in an argument. Sigh. Slave/master dynamics are so hard to swallow because one person literally doesn't get to say no.

3. And what makes it worse is that Agnar really doesn't see an issue. All he thinks is how he's been so tolerant. Chaining him up by the leg. Forbidding him to move beyond the house, or the boundaries of the village. He's genuinely baffled why a former Roman soldier won't just obey 💀. The little Roman keeps forgetting his place.

'Forget his place? How could he possibly forget?'

RIGHT?! He's literally chained to 'his place'.

4. And it doesn't end there lol. This MF has the AUDACITY to ask...

“Tell me, Marcus, are you not happy in my home?”

Hmmm. Let's brainstorm. Forced into slavery. Tied up. Relegated to women's work when he's allowed out of the house. Looked down on by everyone he meets. His owner's bestie tries to kill him every chance he gets and his owner repeatedly won't believe him about it.

Yes. It's baffling why Marcus wouldn't be happy. He has so much!

5. “Whip me if you wish. Sell me. I no longer care.”

Fucking finally! I almost cheered when Marcus snapped because there's no way he stayed down bad this long.

6. Does it make it better or worse that Agnar really is generally a man who says wild things and assumes they're okay?

“Rest now, warrior. When we meet next, we will be brothers once again.” after killing your bestie is crazy💀💀💀💀

This man really is a joker. But at least he's got jokes for everyone, not just Marcus.

7. "Will you still love me when you can no longer order me silent or keep me trapped inside the village?”

Is this not a heartbreaking thing to have the man you claim to love ask you? Is it not a terrible indictment of your behavior?

Because literally every time Agnar hasn't got his way with Marcus, there's been hell to pay. And it's somehow worse that he's not even a stereotypical villain. He's generally a Nice Guy™ so no wonder that Marcus keeps hope alive.

8. I will say though, that through all this, the ONLY reason I didn't DNF this is because it was easy to see why Agnar acted the way he did. Did I like it for Marcus? Absolutely the fuck not. But looking at it from Agnar's POV, his hesitance to trust made sense. Especially because his bestie who had always had his best interests at heart was constantly in his ear about it.

Realistically speaking, Marcus was very SUS. And the circumstances of their meeting didn't help. Neither did the fact that there were never any witnesses to Slagfid's attacks, nor any verifiable bruises.

So I will give grace for that. And also, this further reinforces my belief that dual POV absolutely kicks it out of the park if one of the MC's is going to be on demon time. For this specific book, without that aspect, I'd have found Agnar too unforgiveable to redeem.

9. I like that Marcus TRIED to make him work for it. I wish we'd seen a lot more of him doing the apology tour but oh well. It is what it is.

"But if you need a reminder of how far an Auione will go for the one he loves, you need only insult Marcus again.”

Fiiiiiine. Maybe he's doing a little better.

I'd have rated this 5 stars if we'd got more on the grovel and changed behavior. I'd have liked to see Agnar treating Marcus like an equal, and Marcus making him sweat a little.

But it's really great work for a debut novel.