Helpful Score: 1
The first few chapters was an enjoyable swashbuckling adventure. But the story wasn't nearly as entertaining when I came to what I call the "harem" section. It dragged and I became bored with Clarinda and Ash's inner musings and emotional tug and pull. I was much more intrigued by the possibilities of a secondary romance between Poppy and Farouk, which wasn't nearly as satisfying as I had hoped. Finally, the story wraps up in the "back to England" section and explains the situation surrounding the star-crossed lovers. For me it was a meandering sort of romance with too few good parts to balance out the otherwise lackluster tale. 3.2 stars.
Helpful Score: 1
This is a wonderful adventure tale for women - the heroine is kidnapped by pirates, bought by a sultan, rescued by her first love who was sent to save her by her fiance, who, by the way is her first love's brother! Daring escapes, sexy harem scenes, the revelation of secrets, and strong secondary characters made this a great read. Not to fear, the character you feel sorry for gets his own book next.
Ashton Burke is hired by his brother to bring home his fiancee who was kidnapped by pirates and is now living in a sultan's harem. Ashton is reluctant to agree until he finds out that his brother's fiancee is Clarinda Carew, the woman Ashton left behind 10 years ago. Clarinda pretends to be in love with the Sultan to buy time to come up with an escape plan. She is shocked when Ash shows up at the palace in order to rescue her.
This book started out interesting, but lost some steam when we got to the Sultan's palace. I think 100 pages of inner musings could have been easily edited out of the book. Clarinda and Ash were okay characters, but I was more interested in Farouk's relationship with Clarinda's friend, Poppy. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
This book started out interesting, but lost some steam when we got to the Sultan's palace. I think 100 pages of inner musings could have been easily edited out of the book. Clarinda and Ash were okay characters, but I was more interested in Farouk's relationship with Clarinda's friend, Poppy. My rating: 3.5 Stars.
Some of this author's newer novels have been misses with me. Including this one. I liked the different setting (Morocco), but was pretty much it. I didn't particular care about Clarinda or Ash. I also didn't like the harem plot-line. I kept thinking I would get more into it, but instead thought, "is this over yet?" Too long, could have been condensed.
