Review: The Harlot and the Sheikh by Marguerite Kaye

First a disclaimer of sorts: I've been having some trouble reading romance novels lately. Once, they were my perfect escape, but now, what used to work so well does not. I'm finding it more difficult to disconnect from the real world and slip into these fantasy worlds. But I'm trying.

I selected this book because I wanted something indulgent. Something completely unrelated to anything in my real world. I needed a dirty, sexy fairy tale. The title made this sound like what I needed. I was thinking escape to Arabian Nights or something like that.

I found the beginning of the book to be slow. (But see my disclaimer at the beginning, this could be a me problem and not necessarily a book problem.) The book wasn't grabbing my interest. Too much about the horses, not enough about the characters or any sort of development in their relationship. I was beginning to think the book was entirely too tame for what I was wanting.

But then, somewhere around the 40 to 50 % mark, the book became exactly what I needed.

This is the story of a strong, intelligent heroine trying to move beyond her past mistakes, and a sexy prince, looking to redeem his family name and bring honor back to his kingdom.

After a mysterious illness strikes his prized horses, Prince Rafiq sends for an English veterinarian. Stephanie Darvil arrives in her father's place. She views this as a fresh start, and a way to spare her family disgrace. She foolishly fell in love and allowed herself to be seduced by a man who used her, thus earning her the reputation of a harlot. The prince isn't quite sure what to make of her at first, having not expected a woman to appear to tend to his horses, but her skill quickly wins him over. Rafiq though is having trouble seeing her as only his horses' veterinarian, and the attraction is mutual as Stephanie realizes that there are advantages and an element of liberation to her ruined reputation.

What really won me over with these characters was Rafiq's reflections on how women are treated by society. He's furious when he finds out about what happened to Stephanie, certain there must be a way to punish the man who lied to her to get her into his bed. Also, he becomes aware of how she's treated in her profession, and how she has to work harder than a man to earn any sort of respect. At the same time, he's guilt-ridden about his deceased wife, who married him as part of an arrangement and had to give up so much of what she loved to satisfy a deal made by her father. Suffice it to say, Rafiq is understanding and respectful, reflective and willing to change, as well as being an attentive and skilled lover. This, along with being a prince, makes him just about perfect. Strong women and men who love and
appreciate strong women are essential for me to like a romance novel, and this book does well in that area.

While the book may have started out slow for me, in the end, I really liked it. Great, strong, intelligent characters; angsty backgrounds the characters need to overcome, and some very steamy sex scenes.

I received a copy of this via NetGalley.

Review: Bound to the Warrior King by Maisey Yates

I wanted to read this book because I'm a big fan of Maisey Yates' Presents books and I thought the cover was gorgeous. In this case, completely safe to judge the book by its cover as the story was equally gorgeous - hmm, can you call a story gorgeous?

On a different day, in a different mood, I might have been rolling my eyes at parts of this modern day, grown-up version of Beauty and the Beast with a bit of Lion King. (I'm not going to explain it, but it will make sense if you read the book). However, today, as I spent my third consecutive day sick in bed, realizing that if I succumb to this fever, it will be at least nine days before anyone even thinks to look for my body, this story of two people who felt completely alone in the world finding each other and falling in love through a somewhat arranged marriage was a really beautiful story.  If I wasn't so dehydrated, I probably would have cried through parts of it.

There were a few parts of the story that I didn't like all that much. Parts in which the characters behavior didn't seem to fit with their previous behavior.  A few too many times they went from so wrapped up in each other to a strange, nope, don't want you. It was as if the conflict was obligatory and not natural to the story. I won't go into detail because I don't want to spoil the story, and it's probably not something that would bother other people that much. But anyway. All that being said, I still really liked this book. The great parts of this book totally make up for any parts I didn't like.

Two years after Olivia's husband - a king of a Scandinavian country - dies, she agrees to meet with Tarek. the new leader of an oil rich Middle Eastern country, in hopes of procuring a marriage. Her husband's brother is now king and he thinks it would be a good way to strengthen ties between the two nations, and Olivia no longer feels at home at the palace she once shared with her husband, so she's completely willing to go.

At first there seemed to be something a little pathetic about Olivia, seeking out a marriage to "find her place" as if a woman can't do that without a husband. But seeing her move beyond that kind of thinking added to my interest in this story. Olivia felt neglected as a child, and her marriage had been happy, but after her husband's death, she found herself alone again, an outsider in the palace she'd once called home. Tarek also has some issues. He's spent the last fifteen years living in the desert, acting as a warrior for his brother and their country. He knew nothing of palace life or running a country when he suddenly found himself in that position following his brother's death. He's very focused on his new job and views marriage as nothing more than a way to produce an heir. He's not very impressed with Olivia at their first meeting, but she convinces him that he needs her to help figure out all the details of running a country and living in a palace - something she knows a bit about.

I very much enjoyed reading about how these two fell for each other. As I said in the beginning, it's quite reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast (one of my favorite movies). And it's very, very romantic. I don't just mean the sex is good - it is, of course - but it's so much more than that. It's the thoughts running through their heads as they discover each other and in turn, themselves and become aware of these feelings they didn't even think were possible. This is two people who weren't at all sure about each other who gradually reach a point in which they can't bear to be away from each other. Two people who had nothing and no one who find everything in each other. I know that's what all romances are to some extent, but this is so good. Yates does a great job of showing just how alone these two people were before meeting each other.  You aren't just told they were alone, you can feel their emptiness as well as feel them finally moving away from that. As I warned in the beginning, I'm running a fever and I'm taking all kinds of cold medicine, so maybe I'm feeling a little extra sappy today, but some of these scenes rank among the best I've ever read with regard to pure, indulgent romance.  Swoon-worthy. The scene out in the desert when Tarek takes Olivia to show her the place he lived for the fifteen years he was away. Wow.

It's a quick read, perfect for a brief escape from reality. Highly recommend this book if sexy, romantic modern day fairy tales are your thing.

I received a review copy via NetGalley.
  

Review: To Defy a Sheikh by Maisey Yates

Maisey Yates' Harlequin Presents novels are some of my favorite romance novels.  Lots of romance and angst in extreme settings.

To Defy a Sheikh started a bit slow, but even so, for much of the book, I was thinking Ferran was one of my favorite heroes.  But that didn't last.

Things got a little too complicated toward the end.  He was switching emotions every five seconds, he wanted her to be happy, but he didn't want to her to want him, he wanted to be married, but he couldn't love her.  For me, it didn't make sense and didn't fit in with the character that we'd been reading about for the first 60-70% of the book.  Also, it was all so quick.  We had all this build up and development of their relationship and then it all fell apart.  I remember my kindle saying I only had ten minutes left in the book and thought, how in the world are they going to resolve all of this so quickly?

They did, but not in a way I found satisfying.  If anything, in the end, I didn't feel like their love was geniune at all.  For her it was simply the result of him being the first guy she'd ever been with and for him, it was more out of obligation than anything else.

I still enjoyed the book, but not quite as much as I usually enjoy these books.  Still provides all the necessary ingredients for a fun, quick, escape: a palace setting, tragic history, passionate characters.

If you're a fan of Yates' Sheikh books, then you'll probably enjoy this.  If you haven't read any of them yet, and want to try some, I'd suggest Heir to a Desert Legacy or Forged in the Desert Heat, those are some of my favorites.

I received a review copy via NetGalley.

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

Everyone I know has read Kite Runner. It's an incidental thing, not a case of everyone saying "you must read this book" but rather, a more casual, "hey I just read this book the other day, have you heard of it?"

If you liked Kite Runner, I suspect you will like this book as well, the second book from the same author. I found that I liked and disliked in this book the same elements that I liked and disliked in Kite Runner.

I find the history included in the story to be compelling. The author has a way of educating his readers about a part of the world to which we are largely ignorant, and he does so while telling an engrossing story. Accidental education, you think you're just enjoying a story when in fact you're learning something.

The characters led such brutal and harsh lives. This, I know, is unfortunately a reflection of the reality of what women have endured in Afghanistan. That might be what makes the story so hard to digest, the awareness that this is happening in the world. This was not a third world country, this was a prosperous nation, and it all fell apart, and remains in pieces.

The novel spans several generations of women, and many phases of Afghanistan's history -- the Soviet occupation, the warlords, the Taliban, the U.S. bombing, and finally, the current time period, which unfortunately may be a return of the Taliban. By reading this book we understand how the people were affected and in this case the women in particular.

There were times when I didn't feel as if the female characters rang true. These were clearly female character created by a man. I was unnerved by the nine year old thinking she was in love. That was too young for a child to have feelings like that. She was describing the sort of feelings that usually don't happen until later teens. I had to go back and read the part because I was so startled when I saw the line that "she was almost ten years old." I never felt especially close to the characters. Their situations took on a soap opera like element with so many extreme situations, the deaths, the pregnancies, the betrayals, so many characters that were pure evil versus characters that were pure good. While I found the situation and the portrayals of war in the city to be devastating, I felt numb to individual characters.

The coincidences bothered me. They didn't seem as absurd in this book as they were in the other, but nonetheless they were there. When I mentioned this a friend pointed out "that's what happens in fiction." Maybe, in some fiction, not the type I usually read. If this didn't bother you in Kite Runner, it won't bother you in this book.

Despite my criticisms, I'm glad I read it because I am interested in the history of the Middle East. I believe that a lot of people will enjoy it, in the same way that they've enjoyed Kite Runner.


finished reading: August 13, 2007

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

This book works on two levels. One being that it tells a story of Afghanistan, what the country was like before war and the effects the different wars have had on the people of that country. The second purpose it serves is that of being a story of two young boys and their fathers, a story that is something of a tale of lies and guilt and betrayal and redemption.

Over the past few years I’ve tried to read all I can about stories of the Middle East. I’m a news junkie and the tidbits they feed us on the news makes me crave more. I want to know as much as possible about this part of the world, this section of the world so mired in turmoil, that has such a strong effect on our country. That being said, I really enjoyed the element of the book that described Afghanistan. You learn about the country through the eyes of the people who live there. The book provides a much more personal understanding than can be provided on CNN. What I always appreciate most when reading stories about other countries is the knowledge that ultimately we all want the same things. As different as we may seem, we are very similar. We still take care of our families, we play games, and we have big parties. Another lesson to be learned from the stories of Afghanistan are the dangers that can happen when you allow a country to be ruled by religion. Religion should be a personal and private thing, not something dictated by government.

The storyline involving Amir and Hassan and their fathers, Baba and Ali is also very interesting. This is a well-written book, very much a page-turner. There are scenes in this book that could be very horrible and gruesome, but I felt the author handled them in a way that maintained the necessary horror without making the reading unbearable.

I very strongly disliked the character of Amir, who is the narrator of the story. He’s so weak and selfish and jealous. He does some terrible things, allows terrible things to happen as a result of his inaction. I found myself becoming so angered by him because he has so many chances to correct the things he’s done wrong, before they get worse. Instead he makes things worse and he stands by like a coward. He claims he knows what he did wrong, but still he’s claiming he did it for his father’s love. When in fact, he never seems to grasp how deeply his actions hurt his father – his father, who gave up so much for him. Even in the end when his actions should seem obvious, he’s hesitant and cowardly. “But I have a wife and career in America” – he’s whining in the end, and you just want someone to say to him, “But you ruined so many other lives.”

Near the end of the book though, when Amir returns to Afghanistan and confronts the Taliban, some of the coincidences began to get a little absurd. This I found somewhat bothersome. I thought the story felt very real up to that point. Then I just sort of though, “yeah, right that would happen…”

This is a very, very sad story. Unlike other sad stories that I’ve complained about though, I do think there is much to be gained from reading this.

Finished reading Aug. 22, 2005