The Aristocrat and Desert Prince

by Ai Hasukawa, Haruhi Tono (Artist)

When Takeyuki caught sight of the man's eyes, he gasped. He was being sucked in—into blue eyes that seemed scooped from the Mediterranean itself. With such willful and vibrant eyes fixed on him, Takeyuki didn't know what to say. All he could do was stare back, unable to wrest his gaze away from the man.

In his young life, Takeyuki has never really known hardship. The youngest son of a wealthy family, he has never had any difficulty getting anything he desired. Now, though, Takeyuki is enjoying his last month of freedom before he begins working at his father’s import company in Tokyo, and he has decided to spend that time with his brother and his sister-in-law in Cassina, a small country in the Middle East.

Little does Takeyuki know that his prideful manner will soon land him in hot water! In Cassina, some dangers are very real and some people are not who they seem. For example, who exactly is the charming, majestic man who won’t stop staring at Takeyuki during their flight to Cassina, and why do his blue eyes make Takeyuki feel like his chest will burst?

The Aristocrat and the Desert Prince explores one boy's journey of self-discovery in the deserts of the Middle East, following him as he discovers his sensual side and finds true love while escaping his humdrum destiny.

Genres: Yaoi, M M Romance, Romance, Manga, Ebooks, Gay, Fiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published August 19, 2009

About the author

Associated names : HAZUKAWA Ai

Name (in native language) : 蓮川愛

Zodiac : Virgo

Reviews

[Rachel Aranda · Rating 4 out of 5]

4-4.25 stars

This was one of those books I chose at random from the library as I wanted something fun and different from the books I’ve read so far this year. Originally, I was going to take my time reading this book. What ended up happening was that I devoured it practically in one day. It was exactly the palette cleanser I needed and definitely a fun time. I really enjoy forced proximity romances. This also had hate-to-love, rich snobby boys, captor and “prisoner,” experienced and inexperienced lover, and dom and sub themes in it. All these themes lead for an interesting story but it wasn’t a perfect book for me. The connections between certain characters seemed lacking slightly. I wish we had a deeper dive into Atsushi and Takeyuki’s relationship as it seemed complex yet loving. It made their reunion important but not as impactful as it could have been truthfully. We definitely could always use more build up and pinning between Takeyuki and Zayid. Like come on!! No scene where Zayid takes a bath at the Oasis with stolen glances from Takeyuki?! Missed opportunity!! This story was really good but definitely could have been better.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an okay read. Although well written, it felt almost distanced or dispassionate to me. There was no connection with the characters, and even the characters' feelings for each other feel superficial. Takeyuki's personality was a little annoying at times-Zayid said it best, 'impetuous airhead'. As the youngest son he was spoiled by all of his family, so his attitude is sort of understandable-he made me want to smack him upside the head every now and then though.

Zayid is definitely an intriguing character, but I didn't get to know him well since the story is in Takeyuki's POV. In his interactions with Takeyuki though I got the sense that Zayid would be a nice influence on him. He was firm and didn't tolerate Takeyuki's bratty tantrums; he didn't accede to Takeyuki's every whim and so it gave me the feeling he could grow into a mature and unselfish man with Zayid. The illustrations are gorgeous and beautifully done, adding that little oomph that I felt the story lacked.

I'm a huge fan of Sheikhs and romance in the desert so that made it worth the read for me.

[Myka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had a lot of hope for this book. It had all the right ingredients for a good BL romance but it felt more like a plane trying to take off and never managed to do it.

I think the title in itself is an issue since it spoils the 'secret' in the story. There were so many chances to develop the romance too, but it just never felt believable to me.

The illustrations are gorgeous. A shame there's only a handful of them.

Would only recommend to fans of the Sheikh genre or BL novel fans.

[Benji · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was really bad lol. An annoying little rich kid gets abducted while on a trip to the Middle East and saved by a rugged hero type. Takeyuki is a naïve idiot without redeeming qualities. The two MCs spent the whole time bickering and complaining about each other, only to flip on a dime and profess to having deep love for each other at the end. What in the 5 day instalove is this??? I feel like this took place in some alternate reality where nothing makes sense.

CWs: armed robbery, kidnapping, passive aggressive sort of racism (“skin the color of mud” type stuff)

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was actually pretty well written for a yaoi light novel. The story was also interesting and engaging. My main issue was that there was little to no chemistry between the romantic leads. The romance honestly kind of felt like stokholm syndrome.

[Bouvardia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical yaoi novel plot but still rather cute.

(Slight Spoilers Below)
My only complaints are that for nearly half of the book there is no romance development after the plane ride in the beginning. It goes on and on for pages about Takeyukis ride in the truck as he is going to the bandits leader as a gift which I thought was quite unnecessary and could have been summed up in one or two paragraphs. Even before that when it was talking about Takeyuki going site seeing - was all that really a must? Cutting those parts would have surely left more room for further emotional development between Takeyuki and Zayid.

Then when they do finally get together it's a tug back and forth between 'I hate him' and 'I love him' with absolutely nothing to show except for a cute scene or two. Frankly I was a bit bored with Takeyukis whining like a child (lol I sound like Zayid) and it taking one hundred and forty two pages for the pair to actually kiss on the lips.

All in all I felt the beginning took way to long and left the ending to be rushed and cut short character development. Still it was rather cute and worth the read for any yaoi fan. It certainly left a smile on my face when I finished it

: )

[Neyjour · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was really disappointed with this one, and felt absolutely no connection between the main characters. For 95% of the story they were either too passive with each other, or too prickly and argumentative. Zayid constantly treated Takeyuki like an annoying child (and rightly so - he was a bit of a whiny idiot), and then suddenly at the end...BAM! They're declaring their love for each other and jumping into bed. And that sex scene was just awful. The descriptions were silly and just so...unsexy. Every time Takeyuki's ass-cheeks were described as "folds" I literally cringed.

The only good thing I can say about this was that the descriptions of the country/landscape and their journey through the desert were very well done, and the artwork was beautiful. That's the only reason I gave this a 2-star rating rather than a 1-star.

Number of illustrations: 8
Artwork quality: excellent

[Jeanne 'Divinae' · Rating 4 out of 5]

Takeyuki decides to go on vacation and visit his brother and sister-in-law in Cassina. He is from a wealthy family and hasn't had many hardships. He meets a sexy man on his plane ride over to Cassina. This mysterious sexy man seems to be cocky. He sees him one more time at the airport in Cassina. He is unaware of the dangers lurking in Cassina. He decides that he can take care of himself and ditch his 'bodyguard' at the local market. He ends up being kidnapped.

As his kidnappers are taking him across the desert to be given as a 'present' to a local desert tribe chief, a man on a horse who has very familar eyes comes and saves Takeyuki. As they are traveling together back across the desert, they begin to grow a relationship of some sort. Who exactly his this mysterious man? Can takeyuki really trust him?

[Nero Seal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t say anything particular about this book. The characters were too schematic and too typical to yaoi genre, and one of them were acting totally childish. That didn’t add to the book at all, but well, it is yaoi, what did I expected? The plot was sweet and simple, the pace gentle and there wasn’t too much of sex. The attraction between those two wasn’t very smooth and I personally couldn’t feel it too much.
I’d say too typical.
3 stars.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took my time with this one because I just didn't want it to finish. I really enjoyed it even if at times I wanted to reach in the pages and choke one of the main characters. Very well written and worth reading.

[Misaki]

it is really good to read

[Extinction (Quasar) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was my very first BL novel and I think it was a good place to start. Was entertaining from start to finish despite its obvious cliches. The setting won me over.

[Eos · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short novel was silly, lighthearted fluff and I loved it.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow, how to review this? The viewpoint character is a vapid moron, whose obliviousness to his own feelings is so extreme as to be unbelievable. But the real star of the book is the writing. The writing is so bad I couldn't stop laughing. Sometimes with translated works it can be difficult to criticize the writing as it's hard to tell whether it's the original author or the translator who's responsible for certain choices. In this case there's more than enough evidence to bury them both. Bizarre little continuity issues and the situations and characters can't really be laid at the translators feet. Within sentences it's hard to know if the translator's choices have made things worse or better. Here for your amusement are some choice lines:

Glaring was all Takeyuki could do now. But no matter how viciously he glowered, the man’s face remained blank, showing no sign of irritation. It was almost unbearable.

Takeyuki didn’t know when Zayid had come up with the idea, but the foresight and determination necessary to prepare smuggled wine with sedatives in it for just such an occasion was simply shocking.

Takeyuki pressed his lips together tightly to show his revulsion.

Takeyuki could not speak the words that rose in his throat; he felt like he would cry from his frustration. Ashif had arranged all of this, but Takeyuki couldn’t even say the simple words “take me.” It was because Ashif’s feelings were so obscure.

Takeyuki was inexperienced in such things and he panted desperately, wriggling his hips lewdly and writhing on the sheets.

It's hard to pick just a few, there are so many. Obviously that last one is from the one sex scene at the end.

So for story, characterization, setting, prose: 0 stars.
For making me laugh myself silly for a few hours: 3 stars.