Ain't Myth-Behaving

Author: Katie MacAlister
Published: September 2007 (Pocket Books)
Category: Paranormal Romance
Rating: 7/10

Ain't Myth-Behaving is composed of two novellas: Stag Party and Norse Truly.

In Stag Party, Dane Kearne, the current Irish fertility God called Cernunnos, is about to have his yearly wedding to his goddess. However, she's run off with Dionysus, who's gone off the drink and become a salsa dancer. If he doesn't get married to a new goddess (becoming his goddess, and therefore immortal, is a perk of marrying Cernunnos, Dane will return to his mortal state, and being over 1000 years old, he'd crumble into dust. As he has about a week to find a candidate, he chooses the one available woman who doesn't annoy him: a travel writer named Megan St. Clair, who's visiting his castle to cover the Beltane ceremonies.

This really wasn't MacAlister's best, and I'm not entirely sure if being a full-length novel would've saved it either. I felt like it was all about the conflict as I didn't get much of a feel for Megan as a heroine. There was no real purpose. Sure, Dane had to marry Megan, but there was some background enemy plotting against him, and his ex-wife, pregnant with another god's baby is back and wants to get rid of the American interloper. At times, the story feels kind of aimless and my favorite part came at the end when Taranis' fury wife took care of all the problems because she wanted to have some barbecued chicken.

Norse Truly was better than Stag Party as it handled the limitations of a novella better. Brynna Lund, an American visiting her Swedish relatives, drives off a cliff and is rescued by a crew of cursed vikings, led by Alrik Sigurdsson. As Brynna has Valkyrie blood, she could bring them to Valhalla, but not until their curse is lifted by Brynna's ancestor. They embark on a quest that involves calling up Alrik's mother's ghost, Brynna marrying Alrik and therefore becoming a mom of sorts to his crew, and meeting a henpecked dragon who wants Alrik to put him out of his misery.

This second half of Ain't Myth-Behaving was really cute and a nice change from the English settings I tend to prefer in my romances. However, that does not mean that I'm going to start amassing viking romances. Are there even any viking romances? I figure Scottish romances are more popular, and I tend to avoid those too.