Diamond Dee Loves to Read

I won a copy of this book in an author-sponsored giveaway. This review has not be altered in any way and is my honest opinion.

I didn't really know what to expect with this book. From the beginning I was really interested in the friendship of Erica and Finn. Erica is an orphan in her village. She has bright red hair (color of witches hair) so that puts her in the way of much gossip. She does have a best friend in Finn, though; ever since they were little. They are a 2-man "wolf pack" (significance and some irony come with that title later in the book). Erica's tomboy ways make her and Finn rough house together, fight and run as fast as they can in the woods surrounding the village. Trouble is, Erica is an orphan (still marriage-less at 17!) and Finn is the son of the king. Erica finds herself fantasizing about Finn as being more than friends...but does he feel the same way? He never shows her he does.

Things take a drastic turn when Finn's brother, Paul, proposes to Erica proclaiming his love for her. How can she say no? She's an orphan who cant wait much longer and certainly wont get a better offer...*sigh* Things take a supernatural twist when the newly dead start rising and Erica has to burn the undead queen/ save the town. Ok, I won't give away anything else. Suffice it to say, witches and magic really start flooding in and we get swept away in another world. Erica is a really strong female character. I love her strength. I was pretty disenchanted with Finn-- ok, I hated his guts at one point and he never really completely redeemed himself (lets just say it had to do with making Erica jealous ). I felt for his brothers, though. Paul especially. It was a little rushed to turn him into a bad guy, I thought. Kind of sloppily done. He was this good guy then all of a sudden straight up evil? *shrugs* I didn't fully buy it. I like the whole secret world though, and the secret Finn has learned about himself too.

If you like fantasy books with a bit of romance and magic, you'll like Dagger Heart. The time period is really unique as there aren't many stories faking place in the villages of the North/Viking ish territory (?) Erica is a great character, she seems frail yet incredibly strong and resourceful. Although I didn't love Finn at times, he does prove his love in the end. I will be reading the next in the series.