Review: Until Forever – Johanna Lindsey

Rating 4 Stars

What’s the story about?
From the shadows of the past.

Prim and beautiful professor Roseleen White clutches her new prized possession – a thousand-year-old Scandinavian sword. And suddenly, a dream stands before her: a magnificent Viking warrior sworn to satisfy Roseleen’s every desire.

Until forever.

Accursed for untold centuries, mighty Thorn is now enslaved to a woman. Yet it is Roseleen who is the true prisoner, held willing captive by a handsome barbarian who sweeps her back to the ancient past on a journey of sensual discovery. But only by banishing him from her life forever can Roseleen free Thorn from immortality’s chains – forcing her to make a devastating choice that will either imperil their future or preserve a love more powerful than time.

My Review
I’ve been wanting to read another old school historical romance for a while and have been wanting to pick up a Johanna Lindsey novel after hearing of her passing last year and seeing several of her books for sale in a used book sale. (Side note: I ended up buying 20 of her books at said sale!) Picking up Until Forever satisfied both of these wants and boy, was this a great introduction to Johanna Lindsey!

This story had everything you could expect from a great historical (with a dash of paranormal) romance story. It had a hot viking hero, mythology, a cursed sword, “modern” (for the time it was written: 1995) heroine that worked hard for her career and independence, and some time travel just to tie it all together.

There’s really not a whole lot more I can say about this story that hasn’t already been said countless times across the many rave reviews online but overall, I just loved it. There were many scenes and moments of dialogue between the hero and heroine that had me laughing out loud. It was so great seeing Thorn discover new innovations of the present time and watch as he relaxes into himself during their trips into the past.

When it came to the time travel, I loved how Rose had to explain to him the idea of the butterfly effect (although I don’t remember if she actually used that terminology to him). For those unfamiliar to the butterfly effect, the main point to take away from it is that all actions have consequences. In Rose and Thorn’s circumstance, by going back into the past and altering it even slightly, the consequences will ripple throughout history and change what they’ve come to know in their present time. This happens multiple times throughout the book until they can work out what changes will bring them back into the correct present time.

My only issue with this story (and it’s not even really an issue but just a personal preference) is that I felt the ending was open to interpretation. I’m one of those people who likes to know exactly how a book ends without any further wondering but Until Forever had me thinking “so did this happen? Or was it that?” Again though, this “issue” was really just a personal preference and certainly didn’t stop me from loving this book or wanting to read more of her stories.