Summer Romance Novel Book Club: Hearts Aflame

I feel like I should start this review with a disclaimer - this was the first "classic" romance novel I ever read. I found it at a used book sale on campus and was immediately enraptured by the cover. It's really a classic - Fabio holding tight to a woman whose hair is flowing and whose dress is falling down. It was a fairly typical plot - highborn lady finds herself the captive of a highborn lord and this sparks a passionate romance marked by power struggles, misunderstandings and some hot lovin'. 

Hearts Aflame is the story of Kristen Haardrad, the only daughter of Viking chieftain Garrick Haardrad (remember him? The rapist?) and Royce of Windhurst. The story starts with the attempted rape of Kristen by one of the other Vikings. Pretty sure the purpose of this part is to illustrate how mind-blowingly desirable our heroine is. Anyway, she doesn't want to wait for her father to find her a husband, so she decides to stow away on her brother's merchant ship, planning to find her own husband at some trading port. Little does she know that her brother is actually on his way to go raiding and pillaging his way across England! When they arrive in England, the Vikings are ambushed by an English force and Kristen's brother is killed, causing the Norse beauty (disguised as a man, of course) to attempt to avenge his death. She almost succeeds, but instead is captured, along with the entire crew of the ship. Some Vikings they are. The Vikings are unlucky enough to be captives of a man (Royce) who holds a grudge against Vikings for killing his fiancee, so he treats them quite meanly, going so far as to have Kristen (still dressed as a man) flogged. Her gender is discovered and she is put to work in the castle, kept shackled and bound. The fierce beauty resents this, and does her best to convince her captor to release her, but it is to no avail, at least until Royce realizes that she is nobility and thus acknowledges his desire for the Viking princess and seduces her in his room. Kristen is a willing victim of his passion because she believes that his realization will cause him to unshackle her. NOT SO. He keeps her tied up, and they keep having angry sex until the end of the book where Kristen's father comes to England to kill Royce, and they duel, but don't kill each other, and then Kristen and Royce live happily ever after. Oh yeah, and Kristen's brother isn't actually dead.

As I said before, this was my first real historical romance novel, my first Johanna Lindsey novel, and my introduction to the genre. I have a fond space for it in my heart. But on top of that bias, it is one of my favorites for a couple of reasons, delineated below:
1. No rape. There is attempted rape and allusion to rape (both painting rape as a bad, horrible thing) but all sex between Royce and Kristen is consensual. There is angry sex, but both partners want it, so it's okay.
2. No pregnancies. Although Kristen and Royce are doing it fairly frequently, he doesn't put a bun in her oven. No pesky maternal or paternal responsibilities to mar this romance, no siree! 
3. Very little deception and misunderstanding. No tears of confusion, no anger because of supposed extra lovers, no hidden pregnancies, just lots of angry sex. Consensual, angry sex. Perfect.

Stay tuned for the next installment, Tender is the Storm - a Western!