This is a very nice effort by a debut HP author. It felt fresh and new. The sheikh actually acted as if he were a person from another culture in that he denied the heroine the right to a further education and etc. He wasn't really an ass though and he fell for her pretty rapidly. Also she wasn't a virgin and her circumstances were realistic. How many young women have been used and lied to just to get them in bed? The plot was pretty tight and the focus of the story was fairly firmly on the couple. There were one or two quibbles but they may not have bothered other people. How did the sheikh know immediately who she was when he saw her at the wedding? Why would the future ruler of a country know that in this village there was an orphaned half American girl who was an outcast? It didn't seem realistic. On the whole though very well done and I'm looking forward to reading more by this new HP author. ( )

The story was slightly disconnected. ( )

The story was slightly disconnected. ( )

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Review:

This was my first Susanna Carr book and I can honestly say that I enjoyed it. I have a bit of a soft spot for sheik stories anyway. They seem to always have the coolest things and everything at their disposal. Makes them very hard to resist and when waging a battle of love and war, how can they not come out the victor? So obviously this is a story involving a sheik, but it has a little more to it than that.

Nadir needs a wife, fast. He was married once before, but rejected his “wife” before the ceremony festivities ended. His youth and anger caused him to handle the situation in a bad way, saddling him with the nickname The Beast. But time has passed and he still needs to marry. Negotiations are bad with this tribe so he agrees to marry a woman of their choosing in the hopes of strengthening ties. But the tribe has another plan and sends him a bride that is less than suitable … especially for a sheik.

Zoe is an outcast. Raised by her parents in Texas, one American, the other from Jazaar, she is returned to the tribe following their deaths with nowhere else to go. Her American ways are unacceptable and she is constantly abused, humiliated, and punished in an effort to purge the American out of her. Years of broken promises and beatings have caused her to mistrust men. Her only chance of escape back to the states is to marry a man and sneak away from him as fast as she can, so she agrees to the marriage with Nadir. But she has another secret to hold on to – at least until there is no chance Nadir can throw her back to the wolves.

Short of explaining the whole book, I had better stop there. I enjoyed that these two were kind of outcasts in their own way. Zoe being raised American with independent tendencies and ideals. Nadir with his Westernized ways of thinking and plans to bring Jazaar into the new world. Although the two think they couldn’t be more ill-suited for one another, they end up complimenting each other in many ways and soon love blossoms. But the two still have a long way to go. Zoe, with her mistrust of men, struggles to let go of her plans to escape to America and constantly second guesses Nadir’s intentions. And Nadir is not perfect either. He believes himself to be modernized in his way of thinking, but really is stuck in the ways of his ancestors with a lot of issues still. And he thinks he knows exactly whom Zoe is running away too as well. Both have several misconceptions about the other and only blatant honesty will allow their love a chance.

I enjoyed my time spent with these characters because they each had a lot of growing to do. Nadir, with his ideal of self, has to come to grips that he is not quite as modernized as he had thought and it takes Zoe for him to realize it. And Zoe who believes that her chance at what her life should have been was ripped away with her parents’ death. She has to find a way to open up to Nadir to see that her dreams can still come true and Texas doesn’t necessarily have to be a part of the equation for that to happen. The key to the character growth was that even though they both made a lot of changes, they both remained true to self, who they were, and what they stood for. That is a huge deal for me when reading. I have read some pretty hard core sex scenes lately, so this one to me was tame, but still descriptive enough to be sexy and tasteful. For those of you who enjoy romance with a bit of spice and characters who realize that happiness isn’t always found where you thought it would be, you are sure to enjoy this read. At less than 200 pages you will fly through it and enjoy the time you spent reading it. I can honestly say that I will be reading Susanna Carr again.

(print copy provided by author in exchange for an honest review.) ( )