Of Flaw and Scorn

Title: Of Flaw and Scorn

Author: Vera Bell

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Publisher: Timebound Publishing LLC

Series: Gracefire #1

Release Date: April 28, 2026

Genre: Historical Inspirational Romance/Christian Fiction

Tagline

• She is his fatal flaw. He is her great scorn. But God's ways are not our ways
• A Viking raider. A Christian captive. A love that should not exist

Irish coast, 795 A.D. Caught between two clashing worlds, a Christian slave and a Viking raider must crush their forbidden love before it imperils her faith and destroys his claim to the jarl’s seat—but God’s plan is greater than either can imagine.

While gathering wild strawberries near her fishing village, thirteen-year-old Brigit stumbles into the path of a young Viking warrior, Reidar. A night terror come alive, the heathen boy is part of a Norse horde descended on Ireland beneath the cover of night. Eager for conquest and glory on his first raid, Reidar takes Brigit captive. But when her terror stirs an overwhelming compassion, he defies his father and saves her from his own people as they raze her village. This unexpected act of mercy sears Brigit’s memory into his soul and becomes his Great Flaw.

Seven years later, the Vikings storm the Irish keep where Brigit is trapped in a loveless marriage. Amid the raid, their young warlord sets his sights on Brigit. Her faith, once her anchor, has withered under years of loss and hardship, and her Great Scorn
 for Norsemen and all who wronged her has become her only armor. Yet her defenses crumble as she wrestles with a dangerous attraction to her enemy. Bound to her captor’s will and surrounded by savagery, Brigit fights to preserve her dignity and fading faith as she clings to the memory of the boy who once spared her. But the man Reidar has become a hardened warrior, sworn to vengeance and shackled by blood feud.

Both are doomed to ruin unless they open their hearts to the one power greater than the Flaw and Scorn that bind them.

MY THOUGHTS: 

This is the second viking book I've read this year (and possibly second of all time), and I liked this one too.  I may have stumbled on a new sub-genre to follow.  This book took an interesting approach with the title relating to the main characters. She is his great flaw, and he is her great scorn. (and I actually love this). 

 Brigit had a hard life, losing her parents in a Viking Raid when she was young, being used and forced into an unloving marraige, then almost dying multiple times.  Through it all, she never lost her faith, and by holding onto her faith she was able to share the Lord with her captor and (her great Scorn).  Reidar never forgot Brigit from his first official raid, and he never stopped looking. When he found her again, some of his clan feared she was a witch who would ruin Reidar, and he did change because of her.  

Suspenseful and romantic, I read this one quickly.  I had a little trouble with the deep feelings that Brigit felt for Reidar through the years, him being her enemy and captor, but overall I enjoyed the journey.  There is a strong message of faith, with Brigit struggling to hold on to beliefs from childhood, and Reidar coming to belief seeing all the evidence of God in Brigit's life and actions. 

Thank you to Vera Bell and Just Read Book tours for providing me with a free copy of this book.  All Thoughts shared above are my honest opinion.