The Sheikh's Prize

A Bride for a Billionaire #2

by Lynne Graham

The flaw in his jewel

When Sheikh Zahir Ra'if Quarishi took a Western woman as his wife, it caused outrage among his people. And marrying Sapphire Marshall turned out to be the biggest mistake of Zahir's life.

As cold and untouchable as her jeweled namesake, Sapphire fled the kingdom before sharing the marriage bed, leaving Zahir to face the shame alone�and his bank account five million dollars lighter.

Now his ex-wife has been spotted in his desert and before she can run again, Zahir plans to banish her from his mind once and for all, beginning with reclaiming his wedding night!

Genres: Harlequin, Romance, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Second Chance, Contemporary

191 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 21, 2013

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.


Lynne Graham was born on July 30, 1956 of Irish-Scottish parentage. She has livedin Northern Ireland all her life. She grew up in a seaside village with herbrother. She learnt to read at the age of 3, and haven't stopped since then.

Lynne first met her husband when she was 14. At 15, she wrote her firstbook, but it was rejected everywhere. Lynne married after she completed adegree at Edinburgh University. She started writing again when she was athome with her first child. It took several attempts before she sold herfirst book in 1987 and the delight of seeing that first book for sale in thelocal newsagents has never been forgotten. Now, there are over 10 million ofher books in print worldwide.

Lynne always wanted a large family and has five children. Her eldest and heronly natural child is 19 and currently at university. Her other fourchildren, who are every bit as dear to her heart, are adopted. She has two9-year-olds adopted from Sri Lanka and a 5- and a 3-year-old adopted fromGuatemala. In Lynne's home, there is a rich and diverse cultural mix, whichadds a whole extra dimension of interest and discovery to family life. Thefamily lives in a country house surrounded by a woodland garden, which iswonderfully private. The family has two pets. Thomas, a very large andaffectionate black cat, bosses the dog and hunts rabbits. The dog is Daisy,an adorable but not very bright white West Highland terrier, who loves beingchased by the cat. At night, dog and cat sleep together in front of thekitchen stove. Lynne loves gardening, cooking, collects everything from oldtoys to rock specimens and is crazy about every aspect of Christmas.

Reviews

[StMargarets · Rating 2 out of 5]

The H/h married when they were still teenagers. Besides the cultural differences, they were both virgins and the heroine never felt comfortable with sex. The hero was gone a lot and the heroine was kept a virtual prisoner in the palace because the hero's father disapproved of her.

The story opens five years later. The heroine is a top model and the hero has taken over the kingdom after his father's death. The hero "kidnaps" the still - virgin heroine and they finally have sex. (Heroine has had extensive therapy and can now enjoy sex.)They go their separate ways until the heroine turns up pregnant and the hero insists on re-marrying.

Both the H/h had horrible backstories and the reasons for their break up were understandable. Why only two stars? The backstories were a little too tragic and seemed to overshadow the romance - plus this was the middle book in a series and the heroine was still on the outs with her sister at the end. The tone was so sad/grim most of the story.

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 2nd book in Lynne Graham’s A Bride for a Billionaire Series is about how 4 sisters find their HEA.

A story of first love, second chances and reunited lovers, who have experienced so much pain and darkness and who both have a journey to make before finding each other again.

Zahir, against his family wishes, fell in love and married 18 year old Sapphire. He takes her to his home, where she’s kept hidden away from his family and subjects. Both virgins, they are unable to consummate their marriage - she has intimacy problems and he feels insecure and doesn’t know how to deal with her.
Zahir divorces her – Sapphire leaves him to start a career as a model believing that he had never loved her….but the reality is that he loves her too much to see her hurt, so he sacrifices himself for her.
Five years later and kismet reunites them again in his homeland.
I adored Zahir from the very beginning.

His horrifying childhood and the monstrosities inflicted to him by his monster of a father were so painful to read about. His undying love for Sapphire. How much he cared.

I wasn’t crazy about Sapphire in the beginning.
Not that Sapphire doesn’t come with damaged baggage. She’s guild-ridden by something that happened to her twin when they were children and her childhood has been just as cruel and abusive as his. I could feel her pain and angst but I could not understand how she could be so cruel and harsh to Zahir.

But as their dark secrets start unraveling, I felt such empathy for them that soon all I wanted as for both of them to be together and find happiness in their lives. They were so vulnerable and their bond was intense and the deep love they felt for each other, radiated with light.

The backdrop settings in the desert were absolutely STUNNING!!!!

These two were meant to find each other again and I was over the moon that they found their HEA.

Loved, loved the epilogue………..Amazing to see Sapphire happy and how she's dealing with her new role as Zahir's country's First Lady and I loved the bit we saw of their son Karim

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had no idea this book was about Kat's sister from "A Rich Man's Whim." I was glad to see Kat make an appearance here since she is one of the heroines I adored. This book is about her sister Sapphire.

Zahir and Sapphire got married when Sapphire was only 18 years old. Their marriage was never consummated since the heroine had problems with intimacy and the hero was also a virgin and insecure so he wasn't quite sure how to approach his young bride. When Zahir divorces her the heroine flees the kingdom and starts a new life as a model. She is convinced Zahir never cared for her but she has no idea that in reality his love was so unconditional he sacrificed himself for her.

I adored both characters. Both had dark secrets, both were vulnerable and they loved each other deeply and forever. The hero is a tortured one. His childhood was horrible, and his father was a real monster. Sapphire was truly damaged, almost completely beyond repair. She undergoes a huge emotional journey throughout the book and Zahir has a journey of his own to make. They suffered so much abuse both physically and emotionally, I was so happy these two got their happiness and HEA which they both deserved so much!

This is a wonderful, touching story with mesmerizing emotion and intense passion. This book made me cry and laugh! Definitely a favorite, and one I’ll be rereading!

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was good. I am sad that this lovely couple were separated prematurely, because they truly loved each other. There were many forces working against them. The good news is that five years later, they were both more emotionally healthy and had gotten some of their intrinsic issues fixed. They both have some serious dysfunction in their families and people tend to take that into every relationshp they have, regardless of who much they love their partners or spouses.

I really felt so jealous for Sapphire, quite frankly. It's not her fault or Zahir, but I hated that she had to face evidence of the fact that he had given something of himself to another person(s) that she couldn't receive from him because of what was going on when they were first married. I loved the ending of this book, but that was a regret I did have about this story. Zahir was an absolute peach. I loved him. He is a man of incredible honor and composure and he carries himself like a king in every way. He's a very sexy man, and the five years really honed into a mature man who could be the husband that Sapphire wanted and needed.

I get kind of irritated at lovers reunited books for a lot of reasons, but I loved this book despite the factors that usually turn me off that sort of read. I think that this book is evidence that Lynne Graham still has it as a writer and she will always be one of my favorites from the Harlequin Presents line.

[Kace | The Booknerd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite probably, the most angsty book in the series. So angsty and so heart-wrenching reading about what they both went through, especially Zahir. Their love leaped off the pages, and this book has a very different feel to the other books, maybe because it was a second chance or the fact that I know deep down that they are still deeply in love with each other, and all they need is to re-connect, to heal, to come together, and to be whole again. And when that happened, I was genuinely happy for both of them and glad they got their much-deserved happy-go-after.

Overall, The Sheikh's Prize was such a great read and a heartfelt story about second chance at love

[KC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Saffy and Zahir didn't communicate while married which led to an unhappy marriage and their subsequent divorce. Complicating matters were their interfering relatives who tried to keep the two apart. So it's a bittersweet reunion as we discover that Zahir and Saffy never stopped loving each other. Supporting this fact was how insanely jealous they were of the other's respective boyfriends and girlfriends.

Saffy wouldn't let Zahir consummate their marriage because of childhood sex abuse (not rape) which she later underwent therapy for, and Zahir had been secretly tortured by his abusive father who wanted to "persuade" him to divorce Saffy. Zahir capitulated rather than risk Saffy's life because his father had murdered his older brother and threatened to do the same to Saffy as well.

After his father died Zahir reached out to Saffy a year or two after their divorce, but her older sister Kat persuaded him to leave her alone, arguing that Saffy was moving on. (I wasn't too happy with that revelation and neither was Saffy). Saffy admitted she would have come back if she'd known of his approach and interest in a reunion.

Saffy remained a virgin until they reunited, while Zahir lost his after their divorce. (His lack of celibacy seemed realistic to me because of how bitter he felt. Plus, they were divorced and had never been lovers too so that helped to minimize my distaste at Zahir having other lovers.)

I could really feel the love Zahir and Saffy had for each other despite their denials. The passion and angst levels added additional depth to the story. Zahir's sacrificial reason for giving up Saffy was very romantic, although martyr-like it emphasized how much Zahir loved Saffy. (A trait most Lynne Graham heroes share, which makes them pretty terrific.) Saffy puzzled me initially because her reactions to Zahir were over the top and hostile. However, as more of her psyche was revealed I began to sympathize with her.

[JennyG · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read it and it was OK. The hero was very nice and decent while the heroine was quite juvenile in her reactions which annoyed me. She kept snapping at him almost every time she opened her mouth.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hated this book. Just hated it.

[Kiki · Rating 2 out of 5]

I understand the angst and passion and everything! But she's still a virgin and he's not, kills it for me.
Even though there was a reason for her remaining a virgin, sorry, nope.

[Mizuki · Rating 3 out of 5]

(1) Trust me, no one in the book no one addressed the male lead as 'sheikh' at all, he was always just 'king' or 'prince'. LOL

(2) Okay the male lead is surprisingly agreeable in the latter part. LoL


(3) And I am actually buying the process of the main couple overcoming their issues...

(4) I am not a fan of sheikh romance novels but this one is quite good!

Rating: 3.5 stars, an agreeable escapism entertainment.

[Saly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 3.5 stars
This was a bit different for a HP. Hero was 25 and a virgin when he married the heroine, she was 18. Their marriage was a disaster because of the heroine's hang up with sex and the hero's tyrant of a father. The hero kept secrets for her own good and she young and immature acted badly. A year later they divorced and now it's been five years, the hero is experienced and bitter about the heroine because she has become a super model and from all accounts enjoys men, so when she is in his kingdom he kidnaps her.

I liked the heroine, she was spunky but she could be cruel with her verbal jabs. It took her therapy and time to get over her hang-ups and she had no compunctions using him for sex. She didn't want to remain a virgin and she hadn't found the right man yet. She gets pregnant and they get married. I liked how the hero was more open to a second chance and willing to talk while she was still hung up on teenage hurts. Overall enjoyable if not the LG I loved.

[Ning · Rating 4 out of 5]

เหมือนไม่ได้อ่านลินน์
แปลกแหวกแนวลินน์มาก.
หมดยุคท้องแล้วหนีอีกต่อไป

นางเอกมีปม พระเอกก็มีปม โอ่ ลินน์เปลี่ยนไป

แต่สนุกดีค่ะ

[Aou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5 stars

[Fanniny Moreno Zavaleta · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't get past the third chapter. Tried to pick it up later but I just didn't care about it.


“Few men forget their first love and you’re the one who got away...”

I needed an explanation of Saffy's behavior during her marriage from the beginning. At first she only pointed some of the mistakes Zahir made that drove her to divorce him and recognized she was at fault too but she didn't mention why she was doing what she was doing.
I do like a certain type of childish heroines, I mean naïve girls who've grown up in over protected worlds so they are immature, not girls who've been through hard stuff and still throw tantrums. When she was mad at Zahir for not telling her he was the one driving the pick up, what did she expect? She was trying to escape! Obviously he wasn't going to applaud her. I kept reading and skipping big chunks because I wanted to know Saffy's big dark secret (which I suppose had something to do with abuse). But I was just beyond caring.

It's a shame because I liked Zahir, I could understand his animosity towards Saffy. It hurt knowing he had been a virgin when he married Saffy but she made him a bitter man and he just went and had sex with other women.

[Aisha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this book very much. In "A rich man's whim", Sapphire was described as this supermodel who didn't care enough her sisters... or that's my impression(I read the spanish version). In this one(I read it in it's original version), it's fully demonstrated that she is more than a pretty face and body. She is strong, still virgin because some issues in her past and now that she had therapy, she didn't thinks twice when she uses Zahir to lose her virginity.

Sapphy and Zahir had a story, they were married 5 years ago, and then were reunited because Zahir thinks her heart was a made of cash(very predictable in LG's books as the arrogant, possesive alpha male that Zahir is) and thinks she owed him the wedding night they didn't have. He also has is past issues because of his death father(he was soooo mean!). What I don't like much was the word he uses to describe his feelings about the divorce in the last chapter. Too much information!!

In conclusion, a story that works so well thanks to the combinations of this two characters and their chemistry.

[Jacqueline J · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a decent effort by my favorite HP author, Lynne Graham. The second in a series about 4 sisters. I'm not totally fond of sheikh books but this one wasn't too hard to swallow. I did feel that it was maybe a bit too short. There was a lot of the story that was just sort of skimmed over. I'm not real fond of flashbacks but maybe a few would have been okay here to flesh out the story a bit more. There wasn't a whole lot of real conflict and the end was a bit too fast and abrupt.

[April Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

The heroine was a screeching harpy. Conversation with her was impossible because she’d just yell at the hero, including this wonderfully scripted line: “you’re not the boss of me!!”

Why does Lynne Graham set out to make her heroines sound so childish sometimes? Is it to make the hero seem even more masculine by comparison? For me, all it does is make me want to hit the heroine in the head with a frying pan.

[Floqueta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Only a little comment on Sapphire's traumas and happy solution experienced by h. If such things are not possible in real life, I would like they were. Who has read the book will know what I mean

[Mtve41 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nah. The h is a model and that kind just can’t redeem itself for me. Esp when you’re comfortable enough being on bill boards and such around the world. Sorry. Also deathly monologue. Nope.

[Trudy Miner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sheikh Zahir and Sapphire were married briefly five years ago but the marriage went badly and they divorced after one year. Now Saffy is a high-powered model and has returned to Maraban for a shoot. How could she! Zahir, now ruler of Maraban, intends to find out. Forcing Saffy to spend time with him in the desert, more than one problem is created. Is it possible for them to put the past behind them and find love again?

The plot of the story at first seemed tired but then was really was not as the truth of the matter came out. Both Saffy and Zahir came from tortured, literally, backgrounds and their first marriage had no chance of succeeding. Now, true love reigns!

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Sheikh’s Prize is book 2 in the A Bride for a Billionaire series. I read book 3 first and the continuity between the two stories is pretty off. In book 3, we’re told that Emmie, the heroine of that book, always felt like she was in her twin sister, Saffy, the heroine of this book’s shadow because Saffy was beautiful and outgoing and loved by all, while Emmie was disabled from a car crash and self-conscious. But here in Book 2, we’re told that Saffy had been carrying two major emotional wounds herself all though their childhood and it made her feel self-conscious and unworthy. So it seems like she wouldn’t have been the out-going social butterfly Emmie made her out to be.

And I have to say, when Saffy’s issues are revealed, it just makes me dislike Emmie all the more for her self-inflicted martyrdom because Saffy’s baggage is way worse than Emmie’s. It made me wish that Saffy’s truths had come out during Emmie’s book so Emmie could see how self-involved and self-pitying she had been her whole life, totally convinced that she alone had gotten such a raw deal while everyone else led a charmed life. But I won't go down that road again, I ranted about it enough in my review of Emmie's book. Suffice it to say that I came out of that book with the impression that the estrangement between Emmie and Saffy was 100% Emmie's fault and that Saffy was a great, understanding person, which is why I decided to read her book, despite giving Emmie's book 1 star.

Unfortunately, the good impression I had of Saffy coming out of book 3 was completely wrecked by her behavior in book 2. Even though her baggage is legit, she still spends the whole book acting like an irrational self-involved harpy. The most egregious example of which comes at the end when the hero confesses the Big Dark Secret and all she can think about is herself. The only thing that made this book marginally better than Emmie's was that I liked the hero a little better



Okay so this whole book is a pretty ridiculous study in contradictions and repetitive language. As I noted in book 3, Lynne Graham has a very unhealthy obsession with eye porn and nipples. In this book she also adds in highly repeated references to “even white teeth” and some hair porn as well. All of which takes up an inordinate amount of page time that could have been better spent developing a meaningful relationship between our hero and heroine.

And the contradictions were pretty egregious. In the beginning, we meet the hero, Zahir, who is the king of a made up nation called Maraban. His brother runs in to exclaim over the fact that Zahir's shameless, heartless, slutty ex-wife, Sapphire, who is a world-famous supermodel, had the nerve to come to Maraban for a photo shoot. Zahir thinks some very scathing things about how awful Saffy is. How she's nothing more than an unrepentant gold-digger with a "cash register for a heart" (he uses that exact phrase twice). The reason he thinks this is because Saffy took the 5 million pounds of alimony he's been sending her for the last 5 years since their marriage broke up. He admits that this amount of money is mere pocket change to him, but he still thinks she's a gold-digger for taking it.....and then at the end when they've made up and it turns out Saffy never knew about the alimony and instead her lawyer had been stealing it, Zahir gets upset because he'd "wanted her to have the money so she'd be taken care of." So...why was he so scathing toward her in the beginning about the money if he'd wanted her to have it in the first place?? It doesn't make sense, other than as the author trying to artificially bump up the agnst level in the beginning but find a reason to make it all okay for the HEA at the end.

We move on to Sapphire's perspective and she's uncomfortable being in Maraban but didn't have a choice because of a last-minute change to their shooting location. She thinks about Zahir and how much she hates him, even as she uses her memories of his body to achieve the "sultry" look the photographer wants to capture. Then she gets in a limo and is kidnapped and brought to Zahir at an isolated compound in the middle of the desert. Here Saffy throws tantrums and shrieks and calls Zahir every name in the book, it was all very tedious. Particularly because Saffy's inner monologue explains that during their year-long marriage she'd constantly thrown the possibility of divorce in Zahir's face whenever they fought, which was all the time, but that she'd never expected him to take her up on that. And that he'd cut her to the core by finally divorcing her, like it was all his fault. So she's got not qualms about admitting that she's one of those women who a) says things she doesn't mean and yet expects the man to read her mind about it, and b) refuses to take ownership for her part in the relationship.

And then at the end, we find out that Zahir loved Saffy more than life itself and only divorced her to protect her from his tyrannical father, who was threatening to have her murdered. And Saffy goes on and on about how much she was still in love with Zahir when their marriage ended too and how she would have done anything to stay with him....so why do they hate each other so much at the beginning of the book? Zahir even reveals that, once he'd led the revolution to depose his father, he'd gone in search of Saffy, desperate to have back the love of his life, but that Saffy's sister, Kat, had turned him away, saying that Saffy had only just gotten over him and was better off. So yeah, I'm not seeing anything in all of this that suggests that these two should hate each other at the start of the book.

Getting back to the story, Zahir comes straight out and tells Saffy that he kidnapped her for sex. Apparently throughout their entire year-long marriage, they never once had sex. Saffy freaked out whenever Zahir touched her. They were both virgins and Zahir has always assumed that it was his lack of skills that made Saffy turn away from him. Especially because he's followed her love life in the tabloids and "knows" that she'll hook up with any guy who catches her fancy. Now that he's taken a few laps around the lady buffet and knows what he's doing in the bedroom, he wants a second chance to have the one that got away. Naturally the truth is that the tabloids are all just sensationalizing things and Saffy is still a virgin, a fact that she finds shameful.

What follows is a very tedious no-no-no-yes from Saffy. She goes on and on and ON about how she refuses to sleep with Zahir. That he's the last man on earth she'd choose to be with and yada yada yada....then abruptly does a complete 180 and tells him to hurry up and get on the bed. She seriously said "never in a million years" and "let's do this" within 2 minutes of each other. It was very jarring to read and not adequately justified in the narrative. We keep getting hints that Saffy had some big issue that required 5 years of therapy to overcome and how she feels she needs to rid herself of her virginity in order to be normal and have a normal relationship with a man. And without warning she just decides that Zahir may as well be the one to relieve her of that pesky hymen since he's the only man she's ever felt even remotely attracted to....but she still hates him! She assures herself that SHE'S using HIM. That even though he kidnapped her for sex, by her being the one to say "ok let's have sex" she's turning the tables on him in an important way.

Zahir, for his part, was pretty tedious throughout this whole section too. It was pretty irritating the way he talked down to Saffy for being pissed off that she'd been kidnapped. I mean, dude, come on. And he continued to think the worst of her all throughout the time they were together. Saying that every word out of her mouth was clearly a lie, even though when we read the ending we see he had no reason whatsoever to think that she was ever anything but honest with him. He's a little caught off guard when Saffy suddenly agrees to sex but that's what he's there for so he doesn't really question it.

The sex scene itself was pretty squicky. We're in Saffy's head for most of it and she spends the whole time thinking "I hope I don't freak out. Oh God, am I about to freak out? Oh please don't let me freak out. I have to get through this so I can be normal. Oh crap, I'm not doing it right, I'd better try to show some enthusiasm or he'll know I'm freaking out..." And so on. For the time we're in Zahir's perspective, he makes reference to the fact that Saffy is laying there, stiff and "like a human sacrifice" and questions whether that's how she really feels about sleeping with him. He offers to stop at that point, which was good, but when she opts to solider on, he doesn't have any trouble rising to the occasion. So all of this made for a really unromantic setup, which made it super hard to believe that Saffy actually achieved orgasm, and that Zahir found the experience to be "incredible." So incredible, in fact, that he's completely hooked on her after that.

They haven't even caught their breath afterward when Saffy asks if she's "earned" her trip to the airport yet. Then she gets up and goes into the bathroom. Zahir then notices that a) there's blood on the sheets and b) that the condom they used broke. He, believing she sleeps around (an idea Saffy has deliberately fostered), doesn't even consider the possibility that she might have been a virgin and instead assumes he'd hurt her. She stonewalls and says that it's just "been a long time" for her. He asks if she's on birth control and she lies and says that she is.

10 days later, Saffy's back home and showing signs of pregnancy. Zahir shows up and tries to bully her into becoming his mistress. He's already purchased a luxury apartment in London and gotten her a car. He'll visit her whenever he can but she's forbidden to sleep with other men because he doesn't share. He's already got movers poised to pack up her things and move her out of the house of her current "lover." Saffy tells him to get lost but all he has to do is trace a hand down her bare skin and she melts into a puddle and they end up having sex up against the wall. Zahir thinks this settles the matter but Saffy tells him no again then passes out. When she comes-to, she blurts out that she thinks she's pregnant. Then the roommate comes home and he's the classic gay best friend. He and Saffy use each other as beards. Him so he won't have to come out to his elderly grandparents, and her to keep men with gropey hands at bay. Saffy informs Zahir that he's been her only lover and he immediately believes her and insists they get married. Saffy dithers for a little while then finally agrees, but only to legitimize the baby. She says they'll get a divorce after a year or so, then paradoxically insists they have a big, flashy wedding, unlike the sterile and cold courthouse affair they had the first time.

The wedding plans happen entirely off page and it's just suddenly the big day. Saffy is unhappy because she keeps thinking about all the other women Zahir must have slept with since their divorce. Then one of her supermodel frenemies happily informs Saffy that she slept with Zahir at some art festival a few years back. This puts Saffy in a nasty mood for the flight back to Maraban. Then Zahir springs it on her that he's bought the company who owns her modeling contract because he "doesn't want anyone putting pressure on her" to stay thin or travel a lot or do anything that'll affect her pregnancy. He also says that for security reasons, she won't be able to go to certain parts of the world because they'd be too difficult to provide protection for her. Saffy blows up that he's trying to control her life and insists that her career is very important to her and she's worked hard to build it these last five years so she doesn't want it to change. (A statement she completely contradicts at the end when she swears blind that she never really cared about her career and would have given it up in a heartbeat to have stayed with Zahir during their first marriage) Zahir calls her childish for not recognizing that her life has to change now that she's a queen. Saffy stomps her foot and wails that she doesn't want to be a queen. That it had never occurred to her that by marrying a king she would therefore necessarily become a queen and all the responsibility that would entail. Then she scathingly thanks him for making this wedding night just as awful as their last one and then stomps off to the bedroom on the plane....and then gets mad that Zahir doesn't follow her for sex. Yeah. This was one of those times when she's said one thing but expects him to psychically know that she meant the opposite. And how ridiculous is it for the two of them to have never discussed all of this queen-protection business before they got married?? I blame both of them for that.

They touch down in the country and Saffy starts being nice again, not throwing a tantrum when Zahir is immediately taken away for running-the-country business. Then Zahir's brother from the beginning of the book yells at Saffy and calls her names for "abandoning Zahir just when he needed her most" and reveals that their father had been torturing Zahir all throughout their marriage. That when he was gone for weeks at a time, allegedly on "military maneuvers" Zahir was actually being beaten, starved and tortured to try to force him to divorce Saffy. He endured it all and didn't say anything because he didn't want her to know that she was the source of so much pain. And also, allegedly, because he was embarrassed that he'd been so naive about his father's true nature and that he was powerless to protect himself or her. Then he'd come home and Saffy would pick fights with him because she was lonely and bored and forced to live in total isolation because his father wouldn't acknowledge the marriage.

After all this is revealed to Saffy, she runs away from Zahir, insisting that she needs to be alone to process the news. And as we, the reader, follow along in her inner monologue, do you know what she thinks? She says "how could he do this to her?" Seriously. She's upset that Zahir has now trumped her in the "I've got something to be pissed off about" competition that was their marriage. She actually yells at him for "making" her look like the most awful, self-absorbed, heartless b*tch by letting her go on and on with her whining complaints while he was being literally tortured. Wow Saffy. It really is just all about you, isn't it? And how is it possible that she had no clue how badly Zahir was being injured during these sessions? We're told all about the horrific scars he has on his back that must have necessarily been caused by very deep cuts, so how could he be that badly hurt and yet Saffy totally unaware? I don't buy it.

Saffy ultimately reveals her big dark secret as well, which is that she was molested by one of her mother's boyfriends and that's why she freaked out about sex. She'd repressed the memories and required hypno-therapy in order to remember, then had to have intensive treatments to get over the knee-jerk freak-out reaction she had to sex. Oh and she holds herself responsible for the car accident that temporarily crippled Emmie, even though it makes no sense for her to have thought that. She wasn't driving and hadn't coerced Emmie into going with them so...But she also believes she made her and Emmie's father cut off all contact because he used Emmie's accident as an excuse to leave. Possibly something you could see a 16 year old girl thinking, but by the time the book starts, you'd have thought Saffy would have realized that made no sense. Especially with all the therapy she's allegedly undergone.



And that kind of sums up the whole thing. When you get to the end, none of the facts actually support the way Saffy and Zahir were acting at the start. And given the facts, I don't understand why they didn't just sit down and have a chat with each other when they were finally brought back together. A simple "let's clear the air" session at the start would have solved virtually all their problems.

[TashNz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sheikh’s Prize by Lynne Graham is a powerfully passionate second chance story of Sapphire Marshall and her ex husband Zahir Ra’if Quarishi, the hereditary king of the gluf state of Maraban. Book Two of the four books about the Marshall Sisters .

Zahir’s had it bought to his attention his ex wife has dared to step foot back in Maraban, without permission for filming and definitely without his personal permission. He cant believe she would even dare to come anywhere near him. Their unconsummated marriage was a dismal failure and she’d fled back to London when he finally agreed to grant her a divorce. Since then she’s become a famous model and he’s become the King of Maraban. Zahir’s makes a split second decision and intercepts Sapphy on her trip to the airport, demanding she spend the weekend with him, one last chance to get her out of his system.

Sapphy is big and brave on the outside and lost on the inside and Zahir is just pure delicious granite all over. The two clash with a big bang, it’s fantastic. They still love each other, it’s so fabulously obvious. There’s plenty of firey scenes if you enjoy intense stories. I liked the characters very much and the original reasons why their marriage collapsed. I really liked how Zahir was the first one to honestly declare his feelings. I love how he was willing to open up and put everything on the table, reluctantly at first but as the story raced along he opened up more. Sapphy’s past was original (to me) and that made for a very interesting take on things.

Most of the book took place in the beautiful Maraban, there was lots of beautifully descriptive moments, from Sapphy technically getting kidnapped, to when ran away from Zahir, it was like I was in the ute bumping around in the back with her. There’s plenty of mentions of Kat and Emmie, Sapphy’s sisters and I will definitely be reading their stories, A Rich Man’s Whim and The Billionaire’s Trophy. I was also delighted to discover Sapphy's estranged twin sister has her story too.

This book covers my two fave genre’s, second chances and gorgeous Sheikh’s. It was a fast paced scorcher to read with plenty of fire-y interactions which is what I love. Loved it!

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Passion.....secrets.....

Two young lovers eyes meet across a department store floor and fall in love.....so happy and in love they marry. Only to find that happiness doesn't last if you keep secrets.

Meeting after 5 years apart Saffy and Zahir are both shocked to discover that the feelings have not died. Zahir will do anything to reclaim Saffy...and their love.

So much passion and tension that the secrets don't matter at first. And what shocking secrets they are.....my heart just about broke for their pain.

I loved how tough they both were and how they soon realized they care about each other.....and hurting each other hurts them too. They are both understanding and learn not to be afraid to show their emotions....and he even cries (now that is a real man!)

A very passionate emotional read. Just wonderful!

[Tanya Mayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes love is better the second time around. The first time Zahir and Sapphire was married it was a bad situation all the way around. Zahir married her against his father's wishes and they both paid the price. Eventually they divorced. Now five years later she's back in his country he finds out and kidnapped her brought her to his tent in the desert, seduced her. That's how it starts and they realize in the end that they still are very much in love. Good read!!!

[lily · Rating 5 out of 5]

touching story with hot sheikh and adorable heroine.

[Mish · Rating 4 out of 5]

On

[Sania · Rating 3 out of 5]

Standalone/Cliffhanger: Standalone
Ages of H and h: Saffy is 24 and Zahir is 31
Was There Descriptive Sex: Yes
Descriptive Sex &/Or Drama Between H/h With OW/OM: One of Zahir’s ex lovers announces herself to Saffy at their wedding. He’s had a few lovers and one again Saffy has not. Bleugh.
>>If So, Before or After H/h Hookup: N/A
Contains Cheating: No
Amount of Sex In The Book: A decent amount.
HEA/HFN/etc Ending: HEA
Will This Meet My 'Safety Gang' Buddies' Approval: Yes
Any Triggers/Warnings: Yes
>>Detail: Saffy was sexually abused in her childhood
Do You Recommend This Book: Yes.
Will You Re-read This Book: No
Would You Read More Books By This Author: Yes

My Thoughts
Very angsty. Our couple married and divorced after a year and both went through their own separate trials and tribulations. One of the frustrating things I found was that Zahir claimed Saffy was the love of his life and was forced to divorce her yet, was content to live his own separate life during their separation. In fact, when they meet again, he tells Saffy it’s because he wanted to see her one more time before her married. Ugh.

[Roub · Rating 4 out of 5]

this one was actually a very good one n different from the usual harlequins. zahir was actually a virgin when he married sapphire n she, traumatised n ill, cud not have sex wid him. being a virgin, ofc he thought it was his fault n he had scared or harmed her in some way. but after the divorce n she becoming a famous model, he grew bitter. sapphire living wid a man n 5 million pounds disappearing in her name only fueled his anger n his plans of having her lol;p what it actually hid, was dat zahir was actually besotted n only meant 2 have her in any way. n at last he has her virginity !but does not realise she's a virgin even though she bled !! lol he was clearly not much experienced but experienced enough now ! the book was a formidable read n different one at dat. it came close 2 a 5 star 4 me but where this was very good n i liked it very much, miss lynne had done even more awesomeness than this one like the contaxis baby ->my all time favourite by her. neway hats off 2u miss graham ! u did it again ! my fav author. her books r always a 4 or 5 star. u rock !! ;)

[amanda s. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure about this book.

Zahir is very annoying to be honest. Because he's a demanding and arrogant prick, even though he had his reasons, I still don't like him. The storyline's a bit shady because Lynne Graham's style of writing is a bit confusing.

Saffy's the kind of heroine that didn't try to fight for her life no matter how hurt her feeling is. She just sit there and wait for Zahir's mercy. In some moments, I liked this kind of heroine, thanks to my masochist strike, but this time, not really. Could be so much better.

Thank you for the loan, Gemma!

[Cady Lorenzana · Rating 5 out of 5]

‘You have no idea how much I loved you, what strength it took to give you up, knowing, having to accept that it was the only thing I could do...’ - Zahir.

WOW. WOW. WOW. This book is superb! So far, my favorite in the Marshall's sisters... Do Topsy have a story?