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Sons of the Desert #4
Beloved Sheikh
THE SEDUCTIVE SULTAN
Sheikh Rafi could have a harem of women... but he wanted bewitching Zara Blake. And just as the prince was about to steal that first, sizzling kiss from Zara, SHE was stolen from him -- abducted by his archenemy!
HIS CAPTIVE QUEEN-TO-BE
Zara's head was spinning -- she'd been kidnapped! And her captor was a dead ringer for the prince. Then Rafi appeared with a rescue plan and a promise to make her his queen. Was this a trap... or the only way back into the arms of her beloved sheikh?
Powerful sheikhs born to rule and destined to find love as eternal as the sands…SONS OF THE DESERT.
Sheikh Rafi could have a harem of women... but he wanted bewitching Zara Blake. And just as the prince was about to steal that first, sizzling kiss from Zara, SHE was stolen from him -- abducted by his archenemy!
HIS CAPTIVE QUEEN-TO-BE
Zara's head was spinning -- she'd been kidnapped! And her captor was a dead ringer for the prince. Then Rafi appeared with a rescue plan and a promise to make her his queen. Was this a trap... or the only way back into the arms of her beloved sheikh?
Powerful sheikhs born to rule and destined to find love as eternal as the sands…SONS OF THE DESERT.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published May 1, 1999
3 people are currently reading
69 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 5, 2011
This is a tough one.
I read this book YEARS ago, before my reading obsession was even a glimpse in the future and up until this week it was always what I compared other Sheikh books to.....But re-reading it I have come to realise it wasn't as good as I thought it was.
Don't get me wrong, it was still a good book but there was some WTF moments, a fair bit of cringing at cheesy lines and I wasn't a real fan of how it was written.
Favourite quote:
To see a woman in the desert is not entirely unexpected, of course. To see a half-naked, perfectly formed beauty of delicate stature standing under the waterfall of their favourite resting place, her curling black hair streaming down around her shoulders and back as she raised her face and arms to the cool torrent, was like something out of the ancient tales.
Not so favourite quote - this happened after the heroine had been held prisoner for 3 days - no shower, no water for bathing etc etc.
Prince Rafi inhaled, his eyes closing, and murmured in her ear, "The perfume of your hair would drive a man mad. I have dreamed of you, waking and sleeping."
Now if she'd been clean and not conscious of her body odor I would have loved that line....but when she's all crusty?? Not so much.
I read this book YEARS ago, before my reading obsession was even a glimpse in the future and up until this week it was always what I compared other Sheikh books to.....But re-reading it I have come to realise it wasn't as good as I thought it was.
Don't get me wrong, it was still a good book but there was some WTF moments, a fair bit of cringing at cheesy lines and I wasn't a real fan of how it was written.
Favourite quote:
To see a woman in the desert is not entirely unexpected, of course. To see a half-naked, perfectly formed beauty of delicate stature standing under the waterfall of their favourite resting place, her curling black hair streaming down around her shoulders and back as she raised her face and arms to the cool torrent, was like something out of the ancient tales.
Not so favourite quote - this happened after the heroine had been held prisoner for 3 days - no shower, no water for bathing etc etc.
Prince Rafi inhaled, his eyes closing, and murmured in her ear, "The perfume of your hair would drive a man mad. I have dreamed of you, waking and sleeping."
Now if she'd been clean and not conscious of her body odor I would have loved that line....but when she's all crusty?? Not so much.
October 12, 2011
This book was kind of dumb and ridiculous.
November 4, 2018
A disclaimer first. This book was first published in the 1990s. While the story is good, the editing in the ebook is atrocious. The types of errors -- letters missing, incorrect letters, missing punctuation -- leads me to believe that the problem occured in converting the printed book to ebook, which was published in 2011. Because of that, this will be one of the rare times when my rating does not take into account the editing.
I was in a sheikh romance mood and found reviews that said Beloved Sheikh was an uncommon book for the genre because of the H. They were right, and I loved it. The H, a ruling prince, fell hard on his first glimpse of the h. From that moment he put all of his considerable resources into winning her. He planned a lavish dinner celebration for her archaelogical team, showered her with gifts and undivided attention. After she is kidnapped by a bandit, he sneaks into her prison cell and cares for her until he and his brothers can safely plan her rescue. He was tender, solicitous, compassionate, and passionate. It was refreshing to read a sheik romance in which the H isn't the kidnapper, or the resistant arranged groom, or defiant that he must marry an "equal" but wants the h as a mistress.
The reader does need to suspend disbelief a bit. Either that, or believe the old woman who brought the water and food during the h's confinement qualifies as legally blind. The prince sneaks various items into the h's cell and the old woman never notices. She doesn't even remark on the h suddenly being much cleaner and wearing different clothes. It defies logic, but the H is so adorable, I could forgive that part.
The last chapter, when The Deed is finally done between the H and h, does take a nosedive into mindnumbing purple prose. That part was beyond ridiculously written, but thankfully only occurs the one time. I have not read any of this author's other works so I have no idea if that sort of writing was typical for her 20 years ago. Beloved Sheikh is the third in the trilogy of these brother princes, but stands alone just fine.
I was in a sheikh romance mood and found reviews that said Beloved Sheikh was an uncommon book for the genre because of the H. They were right, and I loved it. The H, a ruling prince, fell hard on his first glimpse of the h. From that moment he put all of his considerable resources into winning her. He planned a lavish dinner celebration for her archaelogical team, showered her with gifts and undivided attention. After she is kidnapped by a bandit, he sneaks into her prison cell and cares for her until he and his brothers can safely plan her rescue. He was tender, solicitous, compassionate, and passionate. It was refreshing to read a sheik romance in which the H isn't the kidnapper, or the resistant arranged groom, or defiant that he must marry an "equal" but wants the h as a mistress.
The reader does need to suspend disbelief a bit. Either that, or believe the old woman who brought the water and food during the h's confinement qualifies as legally blind. The prince sneaks various items into the h's cell and the old woman never notices. She doesn't even remark on the h suddenly being much cleaner and wearing different clothes. It defies logic, but the H is so adorable, I could forgive that part.
The last chapter, when The Deed is finally done between the H and h, does take a nosedive into mindnumbing purple prose. That part was beyond ridiculously written, but thankfully only occurs the one time. I have not read any of this author's other works so I have no idea if that sort of writing was typical for her 20 years ago. Beloved Sheikh is the third in the trilogy of these brother princes, but stands alone just fine.
November 4, 2021
Non ho parole per commentare questa lettura, solo parolacce. Da qui si evince che mi sono trovata davanti una serie di situazioni più o meno raccapriccianti perché oltre la mia sopportazione.
A partire dall'instalove dopo neanche due pagine (che già mi è difficile digerire dopo un capitolo, figuriamoci!), passando per la protagonista che ha la volontà di una patata, che non sa quello che vuole e si comporta da stupida in situazioni pericolose, per finire con il protagonista, figaccione sì, ma sull'imbecille andante.
La serie era iniziata così bene... mi chiedo se sia la stessa autrice ad aver scritto questo volume. Ho dei seri dubbi. Non mi capacito.
(Ringrazio la mia amica Sara per la citazione riguardante la patata :D)
A partire dall'instalove dopo neanche due pagine (che già mi è difficile digerire dopo un capitolo, figuriamoci!), passando per la protagonista che ha la volontà di una patata, che non sa quello che vuole e si comporta da stupida in situazioni pericolose, per finire con il protagonista, figaccione sì, ma sull'imbecille andante.
La serie era iniziata così bene... mi chiedo se sia la stessa autrice ad aver scritto questo volume. Ho dei seri dubbi. Non mi capacito.
(Ringrazio la mia amica Sara per la citazione riguardante la patata :D)
February 7, 2023
Interesante no esperaba el desarrollo así de la historia, me ha sorprendido gratamente, sobre todo el final
June 24, 2015
Zara is an archaeologist, working in the ruins of an ancient city in the Barakat Emirates. On seeing her bathing in a waterfall in the desert near the work site, Prince Rafi falls in love with the bewitching Canadian. But before they can get to know each other properly, Zara is kidnapped by a bandit with a claim to the throne, and Rafi must find his way to her and rescue her, so that he may take her as his bride.
I'm kind of torn on how to rate this book. I think that my rating would depend greatly on whether I was in a mood for fantasy or not. Buying into this takes great suspension of disbelief. I rolled my eyes at the entire plot of Rafi finding his way to Zara's place of captivity and staying with her at night and bringing water and fresh clothes and a toothbrush and comb without any of this getting noticed by her captors. It was sweet, but just not practical. I mean, what if Jalal had come to interrogate her and sat on the foam padding that wasn't supposed to be there? What if the old woman brought a lantern that lit the place better and saw that her hair was neatly combed? What if someone had smelled toothpaste on her breath or wondered why her clothing was miraculously cleaner? Okay, so it supposedly resembled her original dress, but still. They could have jeopardised the entire mission just for a bit of comfort.
Two things bring the rating on this up for me. First, Alexandra Sellers shows a real mastery of descriptive language when it comes to things like clothing, art, jewellery, etc. Middle Eastern palaces - and the people in them - have a beauty and opulence that few western people can understand until they see for themselves, and even fewer can describe well, but Ms Sellers manages to bring her settings to life beautifully.
Second, I am hugely appreciative (like, really HUGELY) that Rafi was a gentleman. I've read quite a lot of romance novels featuring sheikhs and sultans (I currently have 16 on my sheikhs-sultans-and-princes-oh-my list) and almost without exception, the heroes are aloof and arrogant at best, or misogynistic and cruel at worst. If novels can be believed, Middle Eastern men - particularly the noble ones - are all moody and mean and kind of snobby, at least until they make exceptions for the women they fall for. Some sheikh stories are better than others, of course, and some of the men manage to walk that line between forgivably arrogant and outright asshole, but even the good ones tend to rub me the wrong way at the beginning. Rafi was a drink of cool water in the desert. Not once did he say anything sexist, demeaning, shaming or snobbish. He never got angry at Zara for her past relationships, or tried to take her forcefully, the way the worst heroes often do. He never even suggested that she stick to "women's work", the way even the better heroes tend to. He was unfailingly respectful, kind, honest, open, good at listening, willing to consider other points of view...he was awesome.
Those two things are why I've rated this 4 stars. The plot was more like a 2-3 star, but sometimes the characters make all the difference.
I'm kind of torn on how to rate this book. I think that my rating would depend greatly on whether I was in a mood for fantasy or not. Buying into this takes great suspension of disbelief. I rolled my eyes at the entire plot of Rafi finding his way to Zara's place of captivity and staying with her at night and bringing water and fresh clothes and a toothbrush and comb without any of this getting noticed by her captors. It was sweet, but just not practical. I mean, what if Jalal had come to interrogate her and sat on the foam padding that wasn't supposed to be there? What if the old woman brought a lantern that lit the place better and saw that her hair was neatly combed? What if someone had smelled toothpaste on her breath or wondered why her clothing was miraculously cleaner? Okay, so it supposedly resembled her original dress, but still. They could have jeopardised the entire mission just for a bit of comfort.
Two things bring the rating on this up for me. First, Alexandra Sellers shows a real mastery of descriptive language when it comes to things like clothing, art, jewellery, etc. Middle Eastern palaces - and the people in them - have a beauty and opulence that few western people can understand until they see for themselves, and even fewer can describe well, but Ms Sellers manages to bring her settings to life beautifully.
Second, I am hugely appreciative (like, really HUGELY) that Rafi was a gentleman. I've read quite a lot of romance novels featuring sheikhs and sultans (I currently have 16 on my sheikhs-sultans-and-princes-oh-my list) and almost without exception, the heroes are aloof and arrogant at best, or misogynistic and cruel at worst. If novels can be believed, Middle Eastern men - particularly the noble ones - are all moody and mean and kind of snobby, at least until they make exceptions for the women they fall for. Some sheikh stories are better than others, of course, and some of the men manage to walk that line between forgivably arrogant and outright asshole, but even the good ones tend to rub me the wrong way at the beginning. Rafi was a drink of cool water in the desert. Not once did he say anything sexist, demeaning, shaming or snobbish. He never got angry at Zara for her past relationships, or tried to take her forcefully, the way the worst heroes often do. He never even suggested that she stick to "women's work", the way even the better heroes tend to. He was unfailingly respectful, kind, honest, open, good at listening, willing to consider other points of view...he was awesome.
Those two things are why I've rated this 4 stars. The plot was more like a 2-3 star, but sometimes the characters make all the difference.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews