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Hasina: My Great Escape
An urban interracial romance
Hasina Suri Fayed, a true beauty and an heiress, was never going to conform to any kind of authority that dictated and suppressed her will to live her life her way. Her marriage to Ashraf, a powerful, wealthy, and handsome young man had been planned by her parents at the expense of her freedom. The only way out for her was to plot the great escape. Hasina pretended to be in consent with the marriage to fool her parents into allowing her to travel abroad to shop for her wedding. At the JFK airport, she abandoned her mother and ran into freedom, or so she thought.
She soon realized that fate had a very different plan for her life. Robert Philip Parkman, the man that was to become the centre of her universe, locked gazes with her. Just a touch, and sparks flew. Both their hearts were smitten. Robert had never loved anyone until he met her--the troubled looking lady that stole his heart at the JFK. Before introductions were made, Hasina disappeared into obscurity, but memories of her consumed him until fate brought them back together. Soon Robert found out who Hasina truly was but that wasn't going to stop him from asking her to marry him. However, before he could propose to her, she was suddenly kidnapped. Without any info on her, he later learns she's back with her betrothed. Will Robert fight for Hasina's freedom, or would he just give up and let things be as they naturally should?
Hasina Suri Fayed, a true beauty and an heiress, was never going to conform to any kind of authority that dictated and suppressed her will to live her life her way. Her marriage to Ashraf, a powerful, wealthy, and handsome young man had been planned by her parents at the expense of her freedom. The only way out for her was to plot the great escape. Hasina pretended to be in consent with the marriage to fool her parents into allowing her to travel abroad to shop for her wedding. At the JFK airport, she abandoned her mother and ran into freedom, or so she thought.
She soon realized that fate had a very different plan for her life. Robert Philip Parkman, the man that was to become the centre of her universe, locked gazes with her. Just a touch, and sparks flew. Both their hearts were smitten. Robert had never loved anyone until he met her--the troubled looking lady that stole his heart at the JFK. Before introductions were made, Hasina disappeared into obscurity, but memories of her consumed him until fate brought them back together. Soon Robert found out who Hasina truly was but that wasn't going to stop him from asking her to marry him. However, before he could propose to her, she was suddenly kidnapped. Without any info on her, he later learns she's back with her betrothed. Will Robert fight for Hasina's freedom, or would he just give up and let things be as they naturally should?
420 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 1, 2018
3 people are currently reading
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 19, 2019
Hasina: My Great Escape by Elizabeth Johnson have several reviews posted that tell you the story. I'll just say that this book is a joy to read, and I highly recommend it. I'll be reading more from this author.
November 1, 2019
You might wonder which part of this story is the ‘Great Escape’
Hasina escapes the expectations of her family to marry a Muslim man of their choosing and runs away to London. There she meets the man of her dreams, Robert, who is caring, understanding and nearly as wealthy as her father. Before he can propose, she is kidnapped and held prisoner at the English estate of her betrothed.
The premise of this book is exciting. Hasina is portrayed as a strong woman who wishes to make her own choices in life, whatever they may be. The description of her initial escape is nerve-wracking, will her mother catch her or will the authorities stop a Muslim woman who looks like she is running for her life? As Hasina struggles to find her footing in a new country with little money, we discover her fortitude and determination. She even starts practicing a dance routine for an audition. Robert’s character is also well depicted with struggles of his own, and he shows patience with Hasina who, for obvious reasons, cannot be entirely honest with him.
The writing is fair, given that I don’t believe English is the author’s first language but could be tightened to clear up mistakes like stretching her ‘hem string’ and ‘I will be out of your ears’. I would also prefer much more ‘showing’ me what is going on rather than the narrator of the story telling me what happened.
SPOILER ALERT
Despite the supposed Happy Ever After, I feel that Hasina did exactly what she wanted to avoid in the beginning, giving up her freedom, and I can’t be happy about it.
Hasina escapes the expectations of her family to marry a Muslim man of their choosing and runs away to London. There she meets the man of her dreams, Robert, who is caring, understanding and nearly as wealthy as her father. Before he can propose, she is kidnapped and held prisoner at the English estate of her betrothed.
The premise of this book is exciting. Hasina is portrayed as a strong woman who wishes to make her own choices in life, whatever they may be. The description of her initial escape is nerve-wracking, will her mother catch her or will the authorities stop a Muslim woman who looks like she is running for her life? As Hasina struggles to find her footing in a new country with little money, we discover her fortitude and determination. She even starts practicing a dance routine for an audition. Robert’s character is also well depicted with struggles of his own, and he shows patience with Hasina who, for obvious reasons, cannot be entirely honest with him.
The writing is fair, given that I don’t believe English is the author’s first language but could be tightened to clear up mistakes like stretching her ‘hem string’ and ‘I will be out of your ears’. I would also prefer much more ‘showing’ me what is going on rather than the narrator of the story telling me what happened.
SPOILER ALERT
Despite the supposed Happy Ever After, I feel that Hasina did exactly what she wanted to avoid in the beginning, giving up her freedom, and I can’t be happy about it.
November 9, 2018
Although the tale is catalysed by Hasina attempting to escape what is essentially a forced marriage, it quickly evolves into an exploration of the role of fate and free will in our lives. Is a chance meeting really a chance meeting or is it destiny? Fate does seem to intertwine Hasina and Robert, for after their encounter at the airport their destinies are linked. Indeed, in Robert’s case, a compulsion drives him ever onwards, he simply has no choice but to find Hasina.
Elizabeth Johnson, as I know from her excellent Sebastian series (which I recommend reading), has a real talent for setting up and playing out believable, intricate and dramatic interpersonal dynamics between her main characters.
Overall, this is a well plotted, engaging story with characters we care about and can empathise with. It might sound like a cliché but it really is a page turner.
Elizabeth Johnson, as I know from her excellent Sebastian series (which I recommend reading), has a real talent for setting up and playing out believable, intricate and dramatic interpersonal dynamics between her main characters.
Overall, this is a well plotted, engaging story with characters we care about and can empathise with. It might sound like a cliché but it really is a page turner.
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December 24, 2019
Hasina gives up everything!
Hasina gives up her dreams of dancing and the man she loves to conform to her family and their cultures antiquated views of a woman's place and value in society!
Hasina gives up her dreams of dancing and the man she loves to conform to her family and their cultures antiquated views of a woman's place and value in society!
November 4, 2019
This is one of my favorite reads. I couldn’t drop the book for anything because I had to know what happened to Hassina at the end of the story. I felt like I was a character in the book with the intensity at which all the major characters loved themselves and fought for their love despite all odds. I can’t wait to read the sequel. Elizabeth Johnson brought the characters to live so much so that they felt like real people to me. At a point in my reading journey, I pinched myself just to be sure that the story and the characters were just characters in a story. I hope Hassina goes back to Robert in the sequel “fingers crossed” even after I now feel a soft spot for Ashraf. I am torn between these characters. I can’t even make a choice. Lol. The author is very talented and she is one to watch.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 26, 2018
Hasina: My Great Escape will be the fourth book I have reviewed by the imaginative author, Elizabeth Johnson. I had previously read the three books in the Sebastian series, Sebastian: The Life of Sebastian and Hanna Greene, Dark Times Arising, and Sebastian 3: Conquest of Power. Needless to say, Hasina: My Great Escape had every bit as much a colorful, imaginative story, vivid characters, intensity, mystery, power, and intrigue as the earlier three works, but in such a different direction!
It begins with a woman named Hasina Suri Fayed, furiously trying to escape her possessive mother at JFK airport because what she is really escaping is an arranged marriage with a Muslim man named Ashraf whom she has never met. She is in the process of acting out a plan hatched by her and a co-conspirator friend Louise to flee to London. However, just before she boards the plane, she runs into an intoxicating gentleman and fellow passenger who views her panic and offers assistance. A connection is instantaneous and sets the real story in motion.
I do not want to reveal further plot details but I want to ask the reader if they are someone who believes in love at first sight? If not love then, at least an immediate, deep, intuitive, magical, incomprehensible connection? If so, you will like this book. Have you ever been caught in a clash of cultures or been caught in a severe conflict with your parents (I am in this camp)? If so, you will identify with this book. Have you ever been confronted with an agonizing decision in which the factors lined up with either choice are so nearly equal that it drives you crazy? If so, this book is for you.
Actually, you don’t have to be in any of these subgroups to appreciate this book. You just have to be someone who loves a really tremendous story and vivid defined characters you can fully appreciate. This book has that and more. It contains build-up, intrigue, huge energy, empathy, and shows the critical importance of love, family, and friends. And another plus for me—it did not turn out like I thought it would. Plus there is an ending that is so very unique, one I have never seen before.
I strongly recommend you read this wonderful, heartfelt novel!
It begins with a woman named Hasina Suri Fayed, furiously trying to escape her possessive mother at JFK airport because what she is really escaping is an arranged marriage with a Muslim man named Ashraf whom she has never met. She is in the process of acting out a plan hatched by her and a co-conspirator friend Louise to flee to London. However, just before she boards the plane, she runs into an intoxicating gentleman and fellow passenger who views her panic and offers assistance. A connection is instantaneous and sets the real story in motion.
I do not want to reveal further plot details but I want to ask the reader if they are someone who believes in love at first sight? If not love then, at least an immediate, deep, intuitive, magical, incomprehensible connection? If so, you will like this book. Have you ever been caught in a clash of cultures or been caught in a severe conflict with your parents (I am in this camp)? If so, you will identify with this book. Have you ever been confronted with an agonizing decision in which the factors lined up with either choice are so nearly equal that it drives you crazy? If so, this book is for you.
Actually, you don’t have to be in any of these subgroups to appreciate this book. You just have to be someone who loves a really tremendous story and vivid defined characters you can fully appreciate. This book has that and more. It contains build-up, intrigue, huge energy, empathy, and shows the critical importance of love, family, and friends. And another plus for me—it did not turn out like I thought it would. Plus there is an ending that is so very unique, one I have never seen before.
I strongly recommend you read this wonderful, heartfelt novel!
November 13, 2019
This unaffected romance tells the story of Hasina, who flees her wealthy family in the Middle East to escape an arranged marriage, only to find herself having to question her decision.
The first third of the book presents various slices of Hasina's new life in London, where she has to flesh-out her new identity and find a flat, friends and paying work. Eventually she meets the man of her dreams, but a cruel event separates them. Hasina is forced to confront her decision to run-away, and the irony of the ending is that her physical escape was easier than escaping her destiny.
The story is written from two first person perspectives, one being that of Hasina and the other that of the man she falls in love with after escaping to London. The English is straightforward and colloquial, complete with malapropisms, which if you're in a favourable mood you can view as unpretentious, natural, unassuming and so on. There are a few typos here and there, but not too many to be intrusive.
Much of the story is presented as sections of pure dialogue or through the expositional memories of the two narrators, which I found very distinctive. The characters are idealised- rich, beautiful, etc, but it's a romance, after all. There's no explicit violent or sexual content.
I think you'll enjoy this book if romance is your thing and you value an enthusiastically and energetically written story over literary style.
The first third of the book presents various slices of Hasina's new life in London, where she has to flesh-out her new identity and find a flat, friends and paying work. Eventually she meets the man of her dreams, but a cruel event separates them. Hasina is forced to confront her decision to run-away, and the irony of the ending is that her physical escape was easier than escaping her destiny.
The story is written from two first person perspectives, one being that of Hasina and the other that of the man she falls in love with after escaping to London. The English is straightforward and colloquial, complete with malapropisms, which if you're in a favourable mood you can view as unpretentious, natural, unassuming and so on. There are a few typos here and there, but not too many to be intrusive.
Much of the story is presented as sections of pure dialogue or through the expositional memories of the two narrators, which I found very distinctive. The characters are idealised- rich, beautiful, etc, but it's a romance, after all. There's no explicit violent or sexual content.
I think you'll enjoy this book if romance is your thing and you value an enthusiastically and energetically written story over literary style.
November 27, 2019
This was the first book I ever wrote, took many years to complete. It’s a tale of multicultural love, family pressures, friendships, fate and the strong need to follow ones heart. Whatever your opinion of the characters and their journeys to find happiness, it is my hope, that you be open minded as you delve into the world of the characters. And whatever you make of the ending, I do hope that all in all, you find the book utterly engrossing. Enjoy!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews