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Sons of the Desert #1
Bride of the Sheikh
Kidnapped by her husband!
THE ABDUCTION
One moment Alinor Brooke was walking down the aisle, the next she was being swept into the arms of a handsome sheikh. As Crown Prince Kavian Durran carried her off to his native land, Alinor knew she was powerless against her former husband's will. But was it fear that made her heart poundor longing?
THE SEDUCTION
Kavian was immune to the pleas of the soft, vulnerable woman he carried across the desert. He knew only that no other man would have what was rightfully his. For no law could take away the passion they had once shared in the marriage bed. And no man could every love her as he once had .
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published February 1, 1997
8 people are currently reading
126 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Sellers
167 books58 followersA writer and editor for the past 30 years, Alexandra Sellers has written over two million words for print, both fiction and non-fiction, including articles, reviews, training material, brochures, websites, mini-series ‘bibles’, blurbs, obituaries, short stories, and 40 books. Her novels have been translated into more than 15 languages.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 13, 2022
More horror story than romance.
Not your typical Sheikh kidnaps his lover story as the characters and events are more fleshed out than usual and there is much less panting between the sheets. But never fear, the failure to communicate is huge and the H and h are kind of stupid. Never underestimate the ability for major characters to succumb to the power of a passive-aggressive evil doer.
The writing is pretty good here, but the alternating flashbacks was a little irritating.
Pravana’s excellent 1 star review lured me in as the story sounded very poignant and sad. (Proof to authors everywhere that a 1 star review is not such a bad thing.)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The book was sad. H and h fall in love, and the cultural differences kick in which I found believable, but it’s an insidious external force that drives them apart. What happens to the heroine is especially harrowing in terms of childbirth, and it’s nit so easy on the Sheikh. The author includes a war that very realistically decimates the kingdom so Sellers wasn’t playing around.
Not a happy fun read, but fairly compelling.
Not your typical Sheikh kidnaps his lover story as the characters and events are more fleshed out than usual and there is much less panting between the sheets. But never fear, the failure to communicate is huge and the H and h are kind of stupid. Never underestimate the ability for major characters to succumb to the power of a passive-aggressive evil doer.
The writing is pretty good here, but the alternating flashbacks was a little irritating.
Pravana’s excellent 1 star review lured me in as the story sounded very poignant and sad. (Proof to authors everywhere that a 1 star review is not such a bad thing.)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The book was sad. H and h fall in love, and the cultural differences kick in which I found believable, but it’s an insidious external force that drives them apart. What happens to the heroine is especially harrowing in terms of childbirth, and it’s nit so easy on the Sheikh. The author includes a war that very realistically decimates the kingdom so Sellers wasn’t playing around.
Not a happy fun read, but fairly compelling.
February 11, 2021
Read this years ago and was reminded of this book when someone asked for books with the secret baby trope but kept secret from the heroine instead of the hero. This is one of the books which came to mind.
Heroine is Alinor Brooks.
Hero is Kavian Mobad Dafauddin Durran, Hajji, Shahzade-ye Parvān, the Crown Prince of Parvān. Both their ages are not clearly mentioned.
The beginning was very promising. The Heroine bride-to-be is kidnapped from the church on her own wedding day to prospective OM Gabriel Horne by her ex-husband who declares that they are still married. I had such high hopes for this book. *sigh*
But after that promising beginning, it very a sad and depressing story to read.
The story veered back and forth between the present day and the flashback so many times that I was hard pressed to understand at times whether it was the present day or the past.
The girl from the free west captivated by a prince from a fictitious kingdom / province / country somewhere in the Middle East. (This trope has been used so often that it’s tiresome).
Leaving behind all that is familiar and dear to start her life in a new country with stars in her eyes. (But she’s soon facing the harsh reality that is her life now - a radically different culture having customs, belief systems, traditions and way of life that is vastly different from her own).
The vulnerability and naïveté of the Heroine as she becomes a victim to the insidious machinations of the evil relative who plots and plans to separate the young couple. (That is so so so painful to read)
The backdrop of the war, the trail of devastation that it leaves and the ravaged country (This is also very depressing to read).
The only bit of humour in the book is the Heroine’s opinion on flying.
It was a long, tedious journey. Alinor hated flying. They never let you alone. There was always something to engage your attention, as if you were a three-year-old, incapable of entertaining yourself or enjoying your own thoughts for five minutes together. The constant supply of mints, drinks, appetizers, food, snacks, movies, music, captain's announcements and the aerial map with the white line marking their trip slowly drove her crazy. The most pithy one liner I’ve ever heard about flying!!
Note to self - There’s also reference made to Anahita - the Goddess of water a few times in a good way.
To summarise this book in two dialogues-
A quote by the Heroine herself, “What a stupid, bloody, hopeless, useless mess we made of life and love and marriage and hope and parenting and everything.”
And this dialogue that is etched permanently in my mind,
“Oh, Kavi, what a journey that was..."
She choked and started to cry again.
"Before I was halfway down the hill I was hoping you'd come after me, but it was too late then ... I'm sure I left three trails of liquid all the way, blood and milk and tears."
"Blood?"
"You don't think I'd recovered enough to travel, do you? I was haemorrhaging, and bleeding from the tearing, too. I'd had no stitching. You should have heard the doctor at home cursing out Middle Eastern medicine when he saw the state I was in."
Overall a very very painful, disturbing and angsty read.
The evil relative doesn’t even get her comeuppance.
Heroine is Alinor Brooks.
Hero is Kavian Mobad Dafauddin Durran, Hajji, Shahzade-ye Parvān, the Crown Prince of Parvān. Both their ages are not clearly mentioned.
The beginning was very promising. The Heroine bride-to-be is kidnapped from the church on her own wedding day to prospective OM Gabriel Horne by her ex-husband who declares that they are still married. I had such high hopes for this book. *sigh*
But after that promising beginning, it very a sad and depressing story to read.
The story veered back and forth between the present day and the flashback so many times that I was hard pressed to understand at times whether it was the present day or the past.
The girl from the free west captivated by a prince from a fictitious kingdom / province / country somewhere in the Middle East. (This trope has been used so often that it’s tiresome).
Leaving behind all that is familiar and dear to start her life in a new country with stars in her eyes. (But she’s soon facing the harsh reality that is her life now - a radically different culture having customs, belief systems, traditions and way of life that is vastly different from her own).
The vulnerability and naïveté of the Heroine as she becomes a victim to the insidious machinations of the evil relative who plots and plans to separate the young couple. (That is so so so painful to read)
The backdrop of the war, the trail of devastation that it leaves and the ravaged country (This is also very depressing to read).
The only bit of humour in the book is the Heroine’s opinion on flying.
It was a long, tedious journey. Alinor hated flying. They never let you alone. There was always something to engage your attention, as if you were a three-year-old, incapable of entertaining yourself or enjoying your own thoughts for five minutes together. The constant supply of mints, drinks, appetizers, food, snacks, movies, music, captain's announcements and the aerial map with the white line marking their trip slowly drove her crazy. The most pithy one liner I’ve ever heard about flying!!
Note to self - There’s also reference made to Anahita - the Goddess of water a few times in a good way.
To summarise this book in two dialogues-
A quote by the Heroine herself, “What a stupid, bloody, hopeless, useless mess we made of life and love and marriage and hope and parenting and everything.”
And this dialogue that is etched permanently in my mind,
“Oh, Kavi, what a journey that was..."
She choked and started to cry again.
"Before I was halfway down the hill I was hoping you'd come after me, but it was too late then ... I'm sure I left three trails of liquid all the way, blood and milk and tears."
"Blood?"
"You don't think I'd recovered enough to travel, do you? I was haemorrhaging, and bleeding from the tearing, too. I'd had no stitching. You should have heard the doctor at home cursing out Middle Eastern medicine when he saw the state I was in."
Overall a very very painful, disturbing and angsty read.
The evil relative doesn’t even get her comeuppance.
July 12, 2008
My friends here are probably freaked out by the number of romance novels that are showing up. Sorry, guys! Some more variety should be appearing shortly.
I cannot believe I actually read this book. I wouldn't have, if I wasn't participating in a trashy novel swap on Ravelry. Because you know what? The romances I usually read aren't trashy. No, really. They aren't. This one, though, appeared to have trashy written all over it.
Generally, the only thing more ridiculous than the title in a Silhouette Intimate Moments book is the plot. The plot is usually given away in the title anyway. See books like "The Greek Tycoon's Secret Baby" or "The Billionaire Boss's Secret Bride". You know precisely what these books are going to be about, because it says it right on the cover.
This book really surprised me. It had its silliness: The hero dropped out of a tree two or three times near the heroine; he appears to be fond of dramatic entrances, as he also bursts into a church when she's about to married to another guy, accompanied by his private bodyguards, who are armed with semi-automatic weapons.
But this book was so much more than "blonde British girl is kidnapped by swarthy Middle Eastern prince and has his baby". It's set in a place I didn't expect (post-Soviet occupation Middle East, even if it is a made-up country), and goes into some of the impact that the Soviet occupation had on countries in that area, from land and butterfly mines to young women forced into prostitution to survive. I was not expecting that from a Silhouette novel. Intensely sympathetic portrayal of a postwar country, in an area of the world where cultural, religious, and socio-political differences are rampant, and where peace is still a distant dream. Definitely not your usual sultan's harem situation.
There is, however, no way I would recommend this book to someone who doesn't already read romance novels. You do have to be a little tolerant of the genre, and that takes a few novels to build up.
I cannot believe I actually read this book. I wouldn't have, if I wasn't participating in a trashy novel swap on Ravelry. Because you know what? The romances I usually read aren't trashy. No, really. They aren't. This one, though, appeared to have trashy written all over it.
Generally, the only thing more ridiculous than the title in a Silhouette Intimate Moments book is the plot. The plot is usually given away in the title anyway. See books like "The Greek Tycoon's Secret Baby" or "The Billionaire Boss's Secret Bride". You know precisely what these books are going to be about, because it says it right on the cover.
This book really surprised me. It had its silliness: The hero dropped out of a tree two or three times near the heroine; he appears to be fond of dramatic entrances, as he also bursts into a church when she's about to married to another guy, accompanied by his private bodyguards, who are armed with semi-automatic weapons.
But this book was so much more than "blonde British girl is kidnapped by swarthy Middle Eastern prince and has his baby". It's set in a place I didn't expect (post-Soviet occupation Middle East, even if it is a made-up country), and goes into some of the impact that the Soviet occupation had on countries in that area, from land and butterfly mines to young women forced into prostitution to survive. I was not expecting that from a Silhouette novel. Intensely sympathetic portrayal of a postwar country, in an area of the world where cultural, religious, and socio-political differences are rampant, and where peace is still a distant dream. Definitely not your usual sultan's harem situation.
There is, however, no way I would recommend this book to someone who doesn't already read romance novels. You do have to be a little tolerant of the genre, and that takes a few novels to build up.
March 27, 2018
Bride of the Sheikh
This was about two people who were married. But others lies to them and she parted thinking that her son had died. But with a second chance to get their marriage back on track. But with those who tore them apart are still around. Will they succeed a second time?
This was about two people who were married. But others lies to them and she parted thinking that her son had died. But with a second chance to get their marriage back on track. But with those who tore them apart are still around. Will they succeed a second time?
November 17, 2012
J'ai beaucoup aimé ce livre !!
November 30, 2022
I don't think I've ever had tears when reading a Harlequin novel. This one nearly shredded me. So much pain in this one. I've always hated the miscommunication trope but here it was done so well and in such a believable way because I could see how they both made the choices they did with the information they had. Alexandra Sellers really outdid herself with this book. She put so much work into it that I nearly forgot this was a Harlequin novel. I started this book hoping for a quick light read and came out of it with the most beautiful love story. It's truly one of the best books I've read this year.
June 11, 2019
Un poco melogramatico y exagerado pero! Aún asi fue agradable de leer.
September 10, 2014
its very good... but the ending could've been enough :)
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews