Lorelei Michaels had it all it seemed to the world. She is the sexy lead vocalist of the all female rock band, "The Sirens". The focus of the band was songs of myths and legends. Lorelei was had achieved success, recognition, and money. She had youth, beauty and health. Lorelei loved sharing her gift of song with her millions of fans, but she is not happy. She finds herself growing edgy and restless. Deep down, Lorelei knows it is because she is looking for a man that probably does not exist. The need for passion and love seems to be lost to her. The music world and her friends would be shocked to find out the temptress was indeed a virgin, who feared the curse of being frigid was to be her destiny. When Lorelei's best friend Dane borrows her a Viking Armband with an interesting tale of it's own, she is intrigued. Just before her band is to play, Lorelei places the Viking Band on her arm, suddenly she finds herself sucked into a time warp of some kind. Lorelei awakens to find herself on a slave block with a very handsome Viking warrior named Erik, buying her for less then a quarter! Erik informs her that she is to be his love slave and she has no rights. This is just the beginning of a rocky but powerful love affair.
Erik learns to love for the first time with a frustrating, madwoman named Lorelei who thinks she is from the future and dares to defy him at every turn. In return Lorelei who has always been fiercely independent, finds herself fighting not to be submissive to a very dominant man. Deep inside, she finds that being a submissive to him is rather exciting and fulfills something that was missing in her. Can they survive a relationship together without killing each other? Will Erik ever believe Lorelei's tales of being from the future? Most importantly, will the tale of the armband come true? Are Lorelei and Erik destined to be together or will time separate them forever, again? Lorelei is terrified to find out, but she knows that Erik's world will kill her literally in the end.

The Gripping Beast is one of the best time travel romances I have ever read. I was tempted to put it in the category Erotica, because the lovemaking is very frequent and hot enough to melt metal. I decided that romance was indeed the main theme, and it will make most romance readers sigh with pleasure and contentment. This is a book with lots of substance and excitement. The characters come alive to the reader with flaws and strengths. I enjoyed Lorelei and Erik together. They are a perfect match, and show the personality traits of the people of their own time. I felt a little sorry for Erik because he fell in love with a woman that his world never knew before. Lorelei is feisty, intelligent and very passionate. I was not quite sure how the ending would occur. I was pleasantly surprised and felt very satisfied at the conclusion. No loose ends, and was well worth the time I spent reading it. Samhain Publishing shows great potential with books like this one. Keep an eye on this author and publisher.


Reviewed by: Anita