The Road to Ragnarök series by Rochelle Wilcox is on sale for 99 cents! #99cents #romanticfantasy
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  • N. N. Light
    • Jun 13, 2023
    • 13 min read

The Road to Ragnarök series by Rochelle Wilcox is on sale for 99 cents! #99cents #romanticfantasy



The Journey Begins Here…


Freyr, the Norse God of Love, doesn’t want to drag Lia into the strange world of gods and giants hidden in humanity’s midst. But after Lia witnesses the impossible in the sky above her on a dark Los Angeles morning, he has no choice. Hoping to save her from members of his family determined to end her life, Freyr, his sister Freyja, and her husband Will take Lia to the other side of the earth, into the realm of dragons and monsters far below, and finally to the mythical land of Asgard to bargain for her safety. Along the way, as Freyr discovers a love he couldn’t have anticipated and didn’t want, he must decide how far he will go to protect Lia from the fight that his brothers started and he must end.


With the help of the editing services of N. N. Light’s Book Heaven, Lost Long has been revised since its 2022 release. It’s a better book now, and a great start to The Road to Ragnarök!


Title: Lost Long, Book I of The Road to Ragnarök

Author: Rochelle L. Wilcox

Genre: Romantic Fantasy


Book Blurb:


Some Norse gods will do anything to stop humans from knowing that gods still exist.

They'll kill anyone who discovers their secret.

But the god of love Freyr won't let them have Lia.

She doesn't want to go with him.

He doesn't want to take her.

And he definitely doesn't want to fall in love with her.


Fate has other plans.


When Lia witnesses the impossible in the sky above her on a dark Los Angeles morning, Loki and Thor condemn her to death. To save her life, Freyr, his sister Freyja, and her husband Will must take Lia to the other side of the world, into the realm of giants and dragons far below, and finally to the mythical land of Asgard. Along the way, as Freyr discovers a love he never expected, he's forced to decide how far he will go to protect Lia from the fight his brothers started, and he will end.


If you love a slow burn romance — with no spice until the very end of the series and a couple of cliff hangers along the way — this "enemies-to-lovers," "chosen one" adventure is for you.


Excerpt:


She finally spoke, her voice firm and strong despite her apparent danger. “My guess is you’re not going to kill me.”


“True,” he responded in an abrupt tone. “If I wanted you dead, I’d have left you for Luke.”


“Where are you taking me?” she demanded.


“Someplace safe, I hope, to fix Luke’s stupid mistake.”


“A private place so you can take care of me? What are you planning to do?” No tremor or hesitation betrayed whatever emotion lay behind her question.


“I’m going to clean your memories, so you won’t remember anything about this morning.”


“Right,” she declared scornfully. “You expect me to believe you’re going to erase my memories? How do you plan to do that?” Her hands grasped each other tightly in her lap, as though she needed to prevent them from striking out at him or reaching for the nearby door handle.


“It’s too complicated to explain. You wouldn’t understand.” Franco spoke in a firm voice, hoping to put an end to her questions.


She refused to be deterred. “So you plan to drag me with you somewhere? And you think I’ll just go along with you?”


“You have no choice. You’ll cooperate if you want to save both our lives.” His tone brooked no disagreement and typically silenced even the most stubborn human.


She responded with a determined glare and he wondered what she hid behind her dark eyes. After a moment, her features settled into a calm, calculating look.


“Look,” she began, “what’s your name?”


Franco captured the groan that fought to escape, struggling to maintain his cold facade. He glanced at her, holding back a smile he didn’t want to reveal. She should have been terrified or distraught. But he saw no fear in her steady gaze.


“I’m Franco,” he told her.


“Franco, I’m Ailia, Lia.”


He nodded his head once in acknowledgment, not trusting himself to speak. His willpower wavered just a bit as her brilliant eyes rested on his face, scrutinizing him, searching for some weakness.


The woman, Lia, watched him for a few seconds before continuing in a persuasive tone. “You don’t need to do this. I have no idea what I saw this morning.” She held his eyes, her words measured. “I won’t tell anyone. Nobody would believe me anyway,” she said with a snort and a wave of her arm. “You should just take me back to where you found me and let me go.”


“You will go with me,” he told her in a voice of steel. “I have no choice. You’ve seen things you shouldn’t have. I must fix that.”


“Fix that by cleaning my memories?” Her expression grew wary, cautious. “You need to tell me what’s going on, why it matters what I saw.”


Franco watched her for a second as her eyes sparkled with renewed courage, marveling again at her beauty. It had been far too long since he’d enjoyed the company of a woman like her. He didn’t remember the last time he’d met someone quite so striking. He was glad he didn’t have to kill her. But he also didn’t want to talk anymore.


“Why doesn’t matter,” he said in a cold voice. “You have no choice; I will do what I must, regardless of what you want. It will be easier on both of us if you just go along with it.”


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Author Biography:


Rochelle Wilcox was born and raised in Las Vegas, where she learned at an early age the value of fantasy and escape. Raised by a single mom — one of the first women trained to deal poker in the early 70's — Rochelle spent more time in casinos than most adults. She and her husband decided to leave the desert behind and raise their sons in Northern California, where they spend as much time on the water as they can.


Despite her lifelong passion for story-telling, Rochelle's path took her to law school and then to a practice focused on media law and appeals. But her love of writing wasn't sated with briefs bound by legal principles and a fealty to facts. And so she set to paper the story that had been playing in her mind for years, based on the Norse mythology she loved as a child and built around her favorite character — the Norse god of love, Freyr.


Her debut series, The Road to Ragnarök, was released in 2022. She’s working on her next series, Tales of the Vanir. It will pick up where The Road to Ragnarök leaves off, as new enemies arise in the years after Ragnarök. It'll be another enemies-to-lovers, forbidden love, forced proximity series, with lovers driven by destiny and the secrets they both are desperate to hide.


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Title: Enemies Eternal, Book II of The Road to Ragnarök

Author: Rochelle L. Wilcox

Genre: Romantic Fantasy


Book Blurb:


Awaking alone in a strange hotel room, her memories of the last six weeks only vague images of places and people she has never seen and does not know, Lia longs for her old life. But that life is gone. As she learns who to fear and who to trust, Lia is forced to again flee Los Angeles and seek refuge with Freyr, Freyja and Will on the other side of the earth. There, the gods who have drawn Lia into the world of myth fight the undead and even part the sea in their resolve to protect Lia from family members who choose violence to keep the secret of their family’s existence. As Freyr and Freyja begin to see signs that Ragnarök approaches, Lia learns that she may be the key to the gods’ success — or failure — in that final battle, even as she struggles with the knowledge that Freyr’s love for her, like her life, can be only a moment in time for a man who has lived since time began.


Excerpt:


They all turned, almost in unison, to look out at the lake. The sun hung in the sky directly overhead, throwing a harsh light on the waves that pounded the shore. Wind whipped Lia’s hair, lifting it up and slapping it into her face.


“Do we have time?” Freyr asked Freyja after pausing for a moment to check around them.


“He’s still a couple of miles away,” she told him with a nod.


“Then we go below.” Freyr’s voice had lost any hint of uncertainty.


Freyr and Freyja clasped hands and faced the lake. Chanting in an ancient language that sounded vaguely Scandinavian, they began to utter phrases and sentences in unison. They started with their free hands hanging loosely by their sides but after a few seconds their hands rose above them in a pose that long has signified both power and surrender.


They stood in power.


Even the Earth — ever her own mistress, slave to no one — bowed to them today. Under the onslaught of their will, she shuddered and gave way. The wind slowed and seemed to flow around the group instead of through them. And then gradually, reluctantly it seemed, the lake changed as they held their hands in the air and chanted their solemn command.


A tube began to form in front of them, small where the water met the land but growing wider as it burrowed into the lake. Almost as if a clear plastic pipe had been shoved deep into its heart, the shimmering blue water of the lake simply moved aside, succumbing to the pathway that Freyr and Freyja created. After a few minutes, a road led into the heart of the lake.


Lia’s heart pounded in her chest. She looked at her companions in awe, watching a miracle unfold before her. She thought of Moses, of God’s rescue of his People by parting the Red Sea, and wondered if they felt then as she did now. Except that Freyr and Freyja weren’t gods. She didn’t know what they were, but she knew that much.


And although Lia had just witnessed the impossible, she wasn’t surprised by what she had seen. The glimmers of memory that had escaped the hidden recesses of her mind told her that Freyr and Freyja could do this and much more. Lia’s heart beat even harder. She had just witnessed undeniable confirmation of the incredible powers of the strange group who had declared her to be one of them.


“Lia, are you okay with this?” Freyja turned around to yell the words over the roar of the water they were holding at bay. “I promise we won’t let you get hurt.”


“I know Freyja,” Lia said with a soft smile. “I remember enough to know that you will do anything to keep me safe. I’m ready.”


Freyja looked at Will. “Freyr is going to lead you in and hold up the passage in front. I’ll hold it up here until we’re safely inside. Stay close to him. If something goes wrong he can keep you in a bubble.”


“Will you be okay? Should I stay with you?” Will’s voice sounded worried for the first time today.


“No, silly man,” Freyja answered with a wink. “I can handle this.”


“Let’s go, now,” Freyr said in an insistent tone. “He’s too close to debate this.” He turned to Freyja. “Now?”


“Now,” she said.


Freyja let go of Freyr’s hand and raised both hands high into the air, chanting with more fervor than before. He started walking into the lake bed, mud wrapping around his feet like a wet towel. Lia followed, Will close behind her. Looking back at Freyja once, Lia wondered if Will had good reason to worry about leaving Freyja behind.


“Be careful, Freyja,” Lia said quietly, almost hoping that she wouldn’t hear her.


“I always am, Lia,” Freyja responded between the words of her ancient song.


Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):


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Title: Alive Again, Book III of The Road to Ragnarök

Author: Rochelle L. Wilcox

Genre: Romantic Fantasy


Book Blurb:


As he threatened to do, Loki drags Lia to Helheim, hiding her with his daughter Hel — he thinks out of Freyr’s reach. But Loki doesn’t know that Lia carries the key to her escape. She’s befriended by Baldr and Nanna, gods trapped in Helheim since the worlds were young, who join her in finding a way out for all of them. As they search for Freyr, Freyja and Will, traveling through worlds long believed to be figments of imagination, Lia finds a connection to the dragons, dwarfs and elves who make those worlds their home. She finally begins to see her place in the pantheon of the Norse gods. And she starts to believe that if they can find Freyr — and survive Ragnarök — she will be worthy of her place in his world and by his side.


Excerpt:


“How can you be here?” Lia asked, reaching up to touch his face. “You saved me, again.”


“I would move Asgard and Midgard — all of the nine worlds — to save you, Ailia,” he said as he pulled her into his arms. They stood there, barely breathing, just holding each other. “We should not stay here,” he said after a few moments. “Other witches wander these grounds. Another may attack us.” He pulled back and took Lia’s hand to draw her away from Hekla.


“Wait!” she said, holding onto his hand but not yet moving. “I don’t understand how you could have gotten here at the very moment that I needed you the most.”


“Let’s find someplace safe, Lia,” he said in a voice growing more urgent. “We have much to talk about,” he added, looking up at Baldr, Nanna and Sifa, “including why all of you are in Midgard together.” Turning again to Lia, he gave her a quick kiss, the most delicious touch she’d ever experienced. “First we must leave this place.”


“But, is Skíðblaðnir here?” Lia asked, still holding her ground. “We search for it.”


“She is not here,” Freyr told them, looking up at the others and then back at Lia. “I moved her many months ago, to a different place in this land. We will go there. Skíðblaðnir will take us to Freyja and Will, who search another part of Midgard for you, and then to Asgard.”


Lia gave in to his tug, which had become more insistent, and let herself be drawn toward the others. Freyr hugged each of them quickly before turning toward the road and leading them away from the volcano. He set a brisk pace but held Lia’s hand the entire time, prompting her to nearly run to keep up with him. They reached a nearby hill in less than an hour and found a place to set up camp for the night.


Finally, nearly two hours after Freyr stopped Lia’s fall into Helheim — and too many weeks since Loki had stolen her away from him — Lia sat down next to Freyr and felt his arm wrap around her. The others stayed away while they stared into the fire, savoring the moment.


“I can’t believe you’re here,” he whispered into her ear. “We have searched every part of this world twice. We believed you gone forever. Yet, here you are.”


“It feels surreal to finally be in your arms,” Lia told him. “Every night since Loki took me from you, I’ve dreamt of this. I thought I’d never feel this way again.” She pulled away so she could look into his eyes, finally accepting the reality that he’d found her and they were together. Reaching out to touch his chest, Lia let the comfort of feeling Freyr’s beating heart wash over her. “I don’t ever want to be away from you again,” she said. “Whatever life I have to live in this world, I want to share it with you.”


“And I with you, my love,” he told her, pulling her back into his embrace and kissing the top of her head. “I cannot suffer what I have these past weeks without you, fear for your life as I have. You are part of me, forever. I will do all in my power to keep you safe.” He paused for a moment to hold her in silence. “We must start with my family,” he said at last. “They will accept you. Freyja will help us convince them.”


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Title: Heavy Heart, Book IV of The Road to Ragnarök

Author: Rochelle L. Wilcox

Genre: Romantic Fantasy


Book Blurb:


Freyr and Freyja believe the time finally has come to return to Asgard with Lia and Will by their sides, offer Yggdrasill’s fruit to Lia, and welcome her to their family. But Lia’s tasks aren’t complete. If the Norse gods are to have any hope of prevailing in Ragnarök — if Freyr is to have any chance of escaping the Norns’ prophecy and sharing a life with Lia in the days after — Lia must wait. Even the dragons who have vowed to join the gods in that final battle won’t be enough to save all of their lives. As Will’s unusual intuition evolves into the ability to see distant people and places, he realizes what they must do and where they must go before they face Ragnarök. The group takes one last journey through the worlds below in a dangerous and daring attempt to destroy Freyr’s greatest enemy before this most evil of the giants can join his brethren in the war they soon will wage against the gods on Earth’s surface. If Freyr and Lia can prevail in the tasks they must face, they may pave the way for the life they both want but have never let themselves believe might be possible.


Excerpt:


“It is not yet your time, Ailia Leng,” they said in voices full of regret, their eyes focused on Lia. “If you partake of that fruit now, all will be lost.”


Lia spun to look at Freyr, tears forming in her eyes. The weight of the world again had been laid at her feet. She turned back to the Norns. “No,” she said, pleading with them. “I’ve done all that you asked of me. What more must I do before I can truly be with Freyr?”


“It is your love we come to protect,” they said as they shifted to look at Freyr before gazing again at Lia. “You have done all that you can to protect your world. The weaves have shifted and your people may yet survive in the battle that will rage in the days ahead. But they have not yet shifted enough to save the man you love.”


“What do you mean?” Lia demanded, holding Freyr’s hand and drawing him toward her, as if by instinct. “Is Freyr still destined to die in Ragnarök?”


“The weave that will bring his death still dominates above all others,” the woman in blue told her, sadness in her deep voice, as if even the waves of the sea grieved for Freyr’s destiny.


“But I can save him if I don’t eat the apple? That must be why you’re here. You only come when you can make a difference, and it matters.”


The women spoke as one again. “We know not if you will save him,” they told her. “The weaves that lead to the death of the god of love are strong and today, as you come to sup of this fruit, they grow stronger still. And because of you, those weaves now reveal a new threat, greater than any we ever have seen in any of the nine worlds.”


They paused, perhaps reading the weaves in their minds’ eye. “The weaves ebb and flow as do the seas, shifting with your choices,” they said at last. “You must eat the apple. This being already possesses unrivaled power and you alone may be capable of defeating it. But first you must save your beloved. If a time after Ragnarök will be, your choice now will determine whether Freyr shares those days with you.”


“Dangerous days lie ahead of us,” Freyr declared, angry at the weaves and their messengers. “She must eat the apple, to protect her as we enter this battle.”


“And lose you?” Lia demanded, turning to him with eyes spitting fire. “Do you believe I want to be part of this family—to live forever—if I can’t share it with you? Would you make that choice?” Her voice had softened with the last question, asking him to see and agree with what she already had decided to do.


“I would not,” Freyr told her, his sadness permeating every word. “I would sacrifice my life for the chance to save yours.”


“As I will for you.” She turned to the Norns, her gaze defiant and determined. “Is there a weave in which we both survive?”


“The path is narrow and it will be hard to find,” they told her. “You will need skill and luck to walk it. Yet do we see a path in which you both survive Ragnarök.”


“Then that is the path we will take,” Lia said, her voice certain. She turned again to Freyr. “We’re in this together, for life. We’ve come this far, done so much … survived so much. We can do this too. It’s the only way.” She wanted Freyr to join her in this decision, even if he wanted nothing more right now than for her to eat the apple and finally gain the protection it would bring.


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Grab your copy on sale for 99 cents!




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