Aside from the book's obvious homage to Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities" (I have no idea if the story is similar -- I have read neither), I just think it's hysterical what passes for a Viking on a romance novel cover these days. Granted, an actual, realistic Viking is probably not what women want to see when they're thinking about a nice, candlelight dinner, but if that's the case, why write about Vikings in the first place? The fact that they gave him black, pleated pants and a gold arm bracelet and called it a day is kind of insulting to Vikings. The best part about this book may be the fact that the two vikings in question are actually identical Viking twins, which is why THE EXACT SAME NON-VIKING DUDE APPEARS ON THE BACK COVER!
The summary on the back tries to draw comparisons between Vikings and today's men by saying that even Vikings won't pull over their longship and ask for directions. (I guess it's common knowledge that Vikings were always getting lost, which explains how they found America.) I will admit to not pulling over to ask directions, but unlike Toste and Vagn Ivarsson, I didn't "ride my first horse at the age of seven, and my first maid during my thirteenth summer." As the tagline on the front cover -- and the Saga of Eric the Red, if I'm not mistaken -- says, "Double the sizzle, twice the fun!"
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