I liked this book but it needed a lot more conflict to score more stars. There was not a lot of melodrama here. He was kind of grumpy and had PTSD and she was the poor little rich girl always trying to get Daddy to love her. But she was spunky and brought the sheikh out of his trauma. There didn't seem to be any people in the palace at all, to the point that you wondered who cooked and dusted and did the laundry. The name of the European country was pretty lame. And you never had the slightest idea where it was. I spent 3 minutes on an internet fantasy name generator site and came up with dozens of better, more believable country names. Hmmm. ( )

DNF -- skimmed to the end to see what happens. I liked the premise and the plot, and yet I grew very bored with it.

If you read it I hope you'll enjoy it more then I did. ( )

Why did I read this book?
I'm participating in 'RT Booklovers Convention Challenge' and Maisey Yates is attending 2013 RT Booklovers Convention is taking place in Kansas City. Also - her surname ends in Y - that is handy for 'A-Z Author Challenge'. (Yes I am challenge addict I know...)
I picked this book by Maisey Yates because it had beauty-and-the-beast theme. Since I am fan of retellings, I was excited to see how this one will turn out to be.

My thoughts:
Sheikh Zahir barely survived the attack that killed the rest of his family. He has scars that mar half of his face and body. But even worse, he has scars on his psyche - fear of another attack - so he is hiding in his palace and avoiding crowds.
Beautiful and perfect princess Katharine is Zahir's brother's fiance. She is determined to fulfill the marriage contact between their countries.
The idea was good, but book it was boring and too similar to usual Harlequin category romance cliche. The writing was repetitive and it did not help that some facts were mentioned multiple times.
I wanted to like Zahir and Katherine, but sadly I did not associate or feel anything toward them. But they had some tough competition, since Beast & Belle are my favorite Disney characters. :)

My rating: 2.5 stars

Will I be reading something else written by Maisey Yates? Probably not.

I recommend this book to fans of: category romances with sheikhs, scarred heroes, Grace Kelly type of princesses. ( )

Sex: A+

Story: A

Writing Style: B+

Overall: A

If there’s one thing Maisey Yates and I have in common, it’s love of a good hero… And ellipses

But really, this story

It made my heart race and my breathing go shallow.. I felt like I was in the bedroom… I have never been as turned on by words as I was when I read this book. Whew– Until today these were just about the only thoughts I could get down on paper. This one had me speechless because I enjoyed it so much. I will definitely be downloading literally everything Maisey Yates has ever written.

I kind of loved that Maisey made up her own countries, rather than developing a setting in a modern one. It made this work feel even more mysterious and whimsical.

Princess Katherine… I loved everything about her. Clearly a Kate Middleton figure, maybe even one step better. She was fashionable yet tasteful. Sexy, yet modest. The way she dealt with her father’s opinion of her was inspirational, as was her devotion to making something out of her life. It made me want to go out and prove that I could do anything I wanted to.

Zahir…. holy sexy beast. And I mean beast in a sexual and manly way, not in a your face was ravaged by the attack on your family way. His strength and determination were a sight to behold. I don’t know how I would deal with the death of my family, and be expected to rule the country

Honestly, this story was so full of emotion, determination, spirit, and the capability for love, that it touched my heart. ( )