Viking Warrior Rebel

Frustratingly clueless Astrid is an immortal valkyrie sent to modern-day eastern Washington State to thwart Loki’s plots against humankind. Fresh from a mission she fumbled, she decides that the only way to regain the respect of her fellow warriors is to singlehandedly retrieve her queen’s brother from the outskirts of Denver and bring him home. Fortunately, bland Luke, an undercover FBI agent pretending to be a corrupt club owner, is there to rescue her when she proves herself too inept to survive. Astrid and Luke fail to communicate, have chemistry, or make readers care about either of them as they move from boring sex scenes to a disappointingly straightforward battle with the human-wolverine hybrids bred as part of Loki’s plot. The thin plot gets plastered over with absurd and vexingly unengaging scenes of pseudo-romantic jealousy and an awkward sexual assault. The second half of the book improves, only to resolve everything through the power of shallow male possessiveness. Agent: Sarah Younger, Nancy Yost Literary Agency. (Oct.)