Perfekt Balance (The Ære Saga: Book 3)

S.T. Bende

Apr 2016 · The Ære Saga Book 3 · S.T. Bende

About this ebook

"Like a summer superhero movie, this YA fantasy features dazzling adventure and a truly epic romance." -iBooks Official Review, The Ære Saga: Book 1

Become what you believe. 

Elsa Fredriksen knows there’s a thin line between love and fear. As High Healer, she rights the wrongs committed by those who choose the darkness. But even Asgard’s secret weapon can’t undo every injury—especially when her fate is completely entwined with the god she’s trying to save.

 

Elsa’s in love with the Norse God of Justice. But Forse’s heart is ruled by fear—fear that the past will repeat itself; fear that opening his heart will compromise his ability to do his job; fear that he’ll hurt the one girl he desperately wants to protect. Again.

 

When Elsa faces off against the very monster she once swore to protect, her survival depends on a power she isn’t sure she can control. And when Forse’s worst nightmare unfolds in front of him, Elsa has to decide whether it’s more important to hold the realms in perfekt balance . . . or hold onto the guy she can’t imagine existing without.

Ratings and reviews

I have decided that S.T. stands for Super Talented and that the author is secretly the scribe for Norse goddess of love Freya, because she makes me fall in love with her strong and quirky characters, her visualization of various realms, her can't-put-the-book-down action, and her precise-and-eloquently-composed writing style. Most of all I love how she depicts love! In this book, I mean this in the sense that the romance between god of Justice, Forse, and High Healer, Elsa, is too cute. The dance between hesitation and moments of intense interest made me want to lock them both in a tower til they just accepted their Happily Ever After already! Because boy do they deserve it after the physical and mental turmoil they go through in the fast-paced adventure in this book with dark realms, poison, kidnapping, fighting, and facing those who'd betrayed them. I also mean love in the sense that the characters themselves have so much love and compassion for others, I am both humbled and inspired. Reading through Elsa's eyes gives an in depth view into how the use of energy and spirits to heal, support, and empower her friends and family. She even sees the good in her enemies. It is clear ST Bende did a lot of research to accurately depict Elsa's holistic and spiritual world, because I learned a lot and felt like I grew as a person; I highlighted several quotes as reminders and motivators to be a more positive, peaceful, content, and generous person. Forse is also a force to be reckoned with when he's protecting those he loves, but his is through action and swoon-worthy heroic defense that Perfektly Balances with Elsa. And let me just say that if that optimism, triumph and romance doesn't get you smiling like a goober, the quirk and humor of various characters in this Norse crew will. Another outstanding YA adventure through Norse mythology in the Aere saga. I cannot wait to see if the next one can trump this one

This is such a fun series, full of Norse mythology, friendship, adventure, danger, and sweet romance. 'Perfekt Balance' is the third book in the Aere Saga, finally featuring Tyr's sister, Elsa, and the hot god of Justice, Forse. It was so great to finally dive into their story. Elsa is such a sweetie, you can't help but love her. Her heart is so good, there's a reason she's a high healer. In fact, she's so great that I was quite frustrated with Forse for being so blind and stubborn by friend-zoning her. It was about time we got to the bottom of whatever was going on inside him so he could get his head out of whatever crevice it was hiding in. Though honestly, I wanted Elsa to give him more of a push. Her patience was never-ending. I guess Forse needed it. But I wanted her to goddess up and give him a bit of a kick in the right direction. Thankfully, her patience paid off. Forse is the god of Justice for a reason. He's a genuinely good guy, plus he's super hot, and treats Elsa with the utmost care. Once he gets past his issues, he's a force to be reckoned with. But Forse was such a great guy, so I fully understand why Elsa was in love with him forever. Though, on a side note, during the storyline we meet one of Forse's exes. Honestly, I never really got why Forse and Rena were together. I was a bit confused because the match didn't make sense, but this line of thinking seemed to be glossed over as just Forse being a nice guy. It felt like Forse and Elsa should have always been the perfekt match. One great thing about this story was watching Elsa come into so much more of her powers. She was already well accomplished in healing, but there was so much more she needed to tap into. She really had to figure out who she was practically on her own, and that was refreshing to see how strong her character was. She went against the violent grain and was able to use her strengths in a peaceful yet forceful fashion. I really liked that about her. The action of the story was certainly intense. Honestly, it was nearly non-stop. There was hardly time to catch my breath. While there always seem to be forces of evil fighting against our heroes, this storyline had a bit of a twist on the usual good/bad power struggle. I thought this was a nice change, especially taking Elsa's character into account. Plus, there were a few really great twists in there, amping up my curiosity for future books. I loved seeing the other characters we've gotten to know and love. I did, however, want more of everyone else. We spend a lot of time with Elsa, and I found myself missing evryone else when the gaps got too long. But it was definitely great seeing Tyr and Elsa's relationship, their insights into each other, and the great bond they shared. There were some really funny scenes between Tyr, Forse, and Elsa. I would catch myself grinning like a fool. The ending was super, duper sweet. But I wanted more in the end betweeen Forse and Elsa. More time, that is. More pages and chapters of just them happy together. Don't get me wrong. What did happen between them was perfekt. I just wanted some more time with them before it ended. So much other friend-zoning and action happened during the story that I wanted the sweetness in the end to last a bit longer. This is a fantastic series. I can't wait for the next story. I have my heart set on what I want to happen. Let's see if I'm right, or if I'm even in the ballpark...

Holy ko, this was so much fun! While the action wasn't as all encompassing this time, it was by no means missing. Many of the scenes that were most intense were inside Elsa's mind, or Tyr's, and of course there were many instances where I couldn't guess what Runa would do next but I wasn't even sure I wanted to find out, so horrid was her disturbed soul. Or so I thought... I would have loved to spend more time getting to know Elsa and Forse before this book, but what we do know we learn naturally, it isn't forced upon us in a contrived way, but rather brought about through memories and conversations they share. I really appreciated S.t. Bende's way of allowing us to find out more about the overall Aere story while still engaging us with each couple as we go along. It's got to be completely confusing to keep such a huge story arc straight while also writing individual journeys. I'm convinced Bende's some sort of word ninja, secretly putting together her books while no one is the wiser to her shenanigans. They're so emotionally satisfying, even when I'm left wishing I had more to read, I never regret the time already spent doing so. I'm absolutely ecstatic there will be two more to go, I could spend all year with this crew!