"superb romantic fantasy"

Though at the top of her game as a famous in demand actress, Madalyn Mae Simon decides she no longer needs to take the shallow smiles from so-called friends and terrible movies. She needs to escape far away from the phoniness of Hollywood, but wants to stay in the United States so she leaves Southern California for Alaska, but she does not even stay in Anchorage. Instead she moves to a village in the artic where she hopes to regain her mental health.

Her harmony is disrupted when her sister Drake persuades Madalyn that camera in hand, they should explore the wildlife of the tundra. However, they run into Otar and three of his Viking compatriots who abduct the siblings for fear they will reveal to the outside world that beneath the frozen tundra is their home New Sweden; besides they need breeders for the colony. Otar recognizes Madalyn as the actress he secretly has loved for years from the audience and plans to make her his wife; if she refuses she takes her chance on the marriage mart auction. Madalyn begins to fall in love with her new husband, but assumes he loves the screen version and not the flesh and blood real person.

Fans will initially be skeptical of the setting, classifying it with Santa's North Pole, but rather quickly through the characters and the deep social relationships readers will believe that New Sweden exists underground within the Arctic Circle. This conversion occurs because the strong cast especially the lead couple makes the background feel plausible. The exhilarating story line that never slows down once Otar realizes Madalyn (and Drake) has seen them, which leads the audience seeking the previous romantic fantasy set in New Sweden, the novella Hunter's Right, part of TIE ME UP, TIE ME DOWN.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 12, 2006

Warlords of the Underground

Thousands of years ago, by edict of the gods, several Viking clans fled to the harsh, wintry Arctic and built a civilization deep below it in the earth's belly. The prophets warned them to keep to themselves, to stay below the ground, for one day the perverse Outsiders - those who dwell above the ground - would taint the laws of the gods and destroy themselves in the process. And then, once again, the Vikings would rule the entire world.

The modern Alaskan tundra is a rugged, largely unexplored terrain. The three kingdoms of the Underground, New Sweden, New Daneland and New Norway, continue to thrive, their ways and cultures untainted by time. The Vikings never go above the ground, with one great exception. They venture into the world of the Outsiders to hunt...

Women.

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A-list actress Madalyn Simon is done with Hollywood. Tired of being surrounded by superficial smiles and ulterior motives, she decides to forgo the glamorous life in lieu of a modest, meaningful one. Not the type to do anything half- baked, Madalyn buys land in a remote Alaskan village and assumes the role of Average Jane. All might have gone well had she not accidentally photographed a mysterious man while taking snapshots of the local wildlife. Kidnapped and under the grim male's firm control, Madalyn is forced into his world, an underground, medieval civilization nobody knew existed...

Summary

A star in a world of wealth and privilege....

Fed up with Hollywood backstabbing, famous movie actress Madalyn Simon decided to escape the spotlight. Her new back- to-basics existence in an Alaskan cabin did take getting used to, but at least she was in control of her own destiny -- or so she thought. While snowmobiling on the frigid coast with her sister, the pair is taken hostage by a band of rough men who want them -- for reasons beyond imagining.

A captive in a world of inescapable seductions....

They are neo-Vikings from a hidden underworld, in search of women Outsiders to breed for the New Sweden clan. Their sexy leader, Otar, wants only one woman: Madalyn. Overpowered by his masculine strength and unmasked desire, Madalyn must become Otar's wife or face the marriage auction block. Now, in a world beyond dreams and as real as the hot flesh of her enticing warrior-husband, Madalyn discovers the power of an all-consuming passion -- as the fires of revolution threaten all she has come to love....