5 Star Book Review | Perfekt Order by S.T. Bende

All's fair when you're in love with War.

For seventeen-year-old Mia Ahlström, a world ruled by order is the only world she allows. A lifetime of chore charts, to-do lists and study schedules have helped earn her a spot in Redwood State University’s engineering program. And while her five-year plan includes finding her very own happily-evah-aftah, years at an all girls’ boarding school left her woefully unprepared for keg parties and co-ed extracurricular activities.

So nothing surprises her more than catching the eye of Tyr Fredriksen at her first college party. The imposing Swede is arrogantly charming, stubbornly overprotective, and runs hot-and-cold in ways that defy reason . . . until Mia learns that she’s fallen for the Norse God of War; an immortal battle deity hiding on Midgard (Earth) to protect a valuable Asgardian treasure from a feral enemy. With a price on his head, Tyr brings more than a little excitement to Mia’s rigidly controlled life. Choosing Tyr may be the biggest distraction—or the greatest adventure—she’s ever had.

Perfekt Order brings us the story of seventeen year old Mia Ahlström as she moves to Arcata, California to attend Redwood State University. During a run her first day, Mia is attacked by a large wolf-like monster and is saved by Tyr Fredriksen. From that moment, Mia's life is forever changed. Turns out that Tyr is the Norse God of War and dark forces are out to bring him down and they have no problem using Mia to achieve their goal. Mia's life of perfekt order is about to be shaken to its core. When you're in love with the God of War, order is the last thing you need to worry about.

I've been a fan of this world since reading the Elsker Saga and I really enjoyed this new adventure with a new Norse Crew in the Ære Saga. I'm pretty sure that Perfekt Order takes place slightly before the events in the Elsker Saga - I'm still a bit confused on the timeline - and it's a lot more battle-heavy than the previous series, which only makes sense since our main male character is the Norse God of War. Basically, in Perfekt Order, Mia finds herself in the middle of a war between the Ære Crew and Fenrir, who is working with someone determined to bring down the God of War. So there's this constant battle-readiness throughout the story and they are always on alert for the next attack. But even with all this action, S.T. Bende was able to seamlessly weave a beautiful romance between Mia and Tyr and some pretty great humor into the story. Each element is perfektly balanced and I didn't feel like one element overpowered the others. This story just drew me in. I'm so invested in this story and the characters in it, that I'm going nuts without the next book. Especially after the sneak peek of the second book at that end of the book. February seems so far away!

I was in love with Ære Crew from the very beginning. Mia is a very strong character and extremely stubborn. She is a very organized and analytical person. Anything illogical doesn't belong in her world. But then Tyr enters her life and her perfektly ordered life becomes chaotic. Mia and Tyr are very much alike, and being the God of War has made him extremely protective of those he loves, especially since he's lost a lot of this loved ones to his enemies. Mia's stubbornness and Tyr's protectiveness clash a lot in this book. These were the times when Mia kind of annoyed me. Any other time I loved Mia so much, but it seemed that whenever Tyr tried to protect her from Fenrir, she wanted to put herself right out there in danger. A human cannot win in a battle with the monsters of Asgard's underworlds. But aside from the arguments they had about her safety, Mia and Tyr compliment each other perfektly. I'm looking forward to seeing glimpses of them in the next books and seeing how they progress in their relationship with all the chaos happening around them.

Not only does Perfekt Order have great main characters, but the rest of Ære Crew and Mia's roommates are equally awesome. This book just has such an amazing cast of characters. I absolutely loved Brynn and Henrik, who are Tyr's friends and bodyguards. Brynn ends up being one of Mia's roommates and Henrik also happens to be Gunnar's older brother. If you've read the Elsker Saga, Gunnar is Ull's best friend. Brynn's energy is through the roof and her obvious feelings for Henrik make her a target for quite a bit of teasing between her roommates. Henrik is an engineering genius, which gains him a lot of respect from Mia. And there are just so many other great characters, such as Freya, Forse, Elsa, and Mia's roommates Heather and Charlotte. The characters in this book are so uniquely themselves and I just couldn't help loving them all.

Finally, this book is so beautifully written. I loved how descriptive S.T. Bende was with the scenery, the characters, and basically everything in the world of this book. The suspense has a really great build-up each time a battle happens and that first scene when Mia was attacked had me on the edge of my seat. There's also some really great humor in this book, which I think was really needed with how serious the story could become at times. I loved how the title, and even just the word perfekt, was used throughout the story. Like I mentioned before, every element in this book is really well balanced and I really liked that there wasn't too much of one thing. I think I can sum up what I thought and felt for this book in one word: PERFEKTION!

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Before finding domestic bliss in suburbia, S.T. Bende lived in Manhattan Beach (became overly fond of Peet’s Coffee) and Europe… where she became overly fond of McVities cookies. Her love of Scandinavian culture and a very patient Norwegian teacher inspired the books of The Elsker Saga and The Ære Saga. She hopes her characters make you smile, and she dreams of skiing on Jotunheim and Hoth.

Find S.T. on Twitter @stbende, her website (www.stbende.com), or send her an e-mail. While you're at it, introduce yourself to @UllMyhr and @TyrFredriksen—when they’re not saving the cosmos from dark elves, they love meeting new friends . . . especially the human kind.

Want to connect with fellow Norse god fans? S.T.'s readers have created a Facebook group! Head over to the RagnaRockstars page to chat with other readers, talk with S.T., and get access to exclusive content . . . including Ull POVs and sneak peeks at upcoming Ære Saga books!

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Skål, y’all!