Dragonslayer's Valkyrie: The Legend of Sigurd and Brynhildr by Jennifer Ivy Walker

Dragonslayer's Valkyrie: The Legend of Sigurd and Brynhildr

 by Jennifer Ivy Walker

Publication Date: June 21st, 2026

Publisher: Green Mermaid Publications

Pages: 388

Genre: Viking Historical Romance

Last of the Völsung line of kings descended from Odin, Sigurd is one of the elite Sjórúlfar—the fearsome Sea Wolves of southern Norway. Endowed with the divine blood of the wolf, he seeks glory at the Sólhjarta Summer Solstice Tournament to avenge his father’s death.

Brynhildr, daughter of the Raven King, is the Sun Falcon shieldmaiden and gifted seeress who has glimpsed her fate as a Valkyrie in a seiðr vision. When her father decrees she must wed the tournament’s champion, she summons Freyja for guidance—only to learn her future is bound to Sigurd.

As the Norns tighten the intricate threads of fate, Brynhildr must guide Sigurd toward his destiny as a dragonslayer—by defying the web of wyrd and incurring the wrath of Odin.

Book Trailer:

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link

This title is available to read on #KindleUnlimited.

Jennifer Ivy Walker

Jennifer Ivy Walker has an MA in French literature and is a former high school teacher and professor of French at a state college in Florida.  Her novels encompass a love for French language, literature, history, and culture, incorporating her lifelong study, summers abroad, and many trips to France.

Social Media Links:

Website • X • Facebook • Instagram • LinkedIn • Bluesky • Pinterest • YouTube • BookBub • TikTok • Amazon Author Page • Goodreads 

Renaissance Rivals by Karen Essex

Publication Date: July 18th, 2026
Publisher: Kleopatra Books
Pages: 311
Genre: Historical Fiction

Renaissance Rivals, the long-awaited sequel to the global bestseller Leonardo’s Swans, brings to life the brutal rivalry between two of history’s most fascinating women: Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, celebrated in her own lifetime as “The First Lady of the World,” and Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara, daughter of the infamous Pope Alexander VI and one of the most maligned women in history.

Before the doomed duchess of Maggie O'Farrel's The Marriage Portrait, there were women who built the courts, forged the alliances, and turned power into art. Renaissance Rivals invites readers to step back one generation into the glittering, dangerous world that shaped the Italy of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Niccolò Machiavelli.

Pitted against each other by the ruthless political landscape and by the men they loved, Isabella and Lucrezia must learn how to survive in a world where women are treated as prizes, pawns, and weapons. Their battle is intimate, brilliant, and borders on the fatal, a war fought with jewels, letters, seduction, betrayal, and the strategic intelligence of women who refuse to disappear.

Buy Links:

Universal Buy Link

Paperback Buy Link

Karen Essex

Karen Essex is the national and international bestselling author of Run, Darling, Kleopatra, Pharaoh, Leonardo's Swans, Stealing Athena, Dracula in Love, and Bettie Page: Life of a PinUp Legend.

All feature iconic women—powerful women that seduced the world and ruled it. Essex is also an active screenwriter and speaker, and an award-winning journalist.

She divides her time between Los Angeles, New Orleans, and Europe. Her novels are published in twenty-nine languages.

Leonardo’s Swans, the prequel to Renaissance Rivals, was a runaway bestseller in Italy and won the prestigious Premio Roma for Foreign Fiction.

Connect with Karen:
LinkTree • Website • Twitter / X • Facebook • Instagram
Pinterest • BookBub • TikTok
Amazon Author Page • Substack • Goodreads