365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #122

Heart of the Desert - Carol Marinelli
Mills and Boon Modern
Harlequin UK, 2011
ISBN: 9780263886726


My rating





From the back cover:

"Surrender to the Sheikh
Sheikh Prince Ibrahim refuses to bow to the duty that has destroyed his family by locking away his emotions and shunning his royal responsibility... Until the desert calls...
One searing kiss is all it takes for Georgie to know Ibrahim is trouble... And she’s had more than enough of that to last her a lifetime! But, trapped in the swirling sands, Georgie finally surrenders to the brooding rebel Prince – yet the law of his land decrees that she can never really be his..."


I found this one in the library, I have read quite a few of Carol Marinelli's books in the past and always enjoyed them. This one, however, I'm not too keen on.

The heroine Georgie is about to go and visit her sister in the desert palace she now lives in, where she is married to a Sheikh Prince. When she gets there she discovers that the hero Ibrahim, the brother of her sister's husband, is also visiting. Georgie and Ibrahim met a year ago at her sisters wedding, where they almost became lovers until Georgie stopped things causing Ibrahim to be very cruel to her. Georgie has had a lot of troubles throughout her life, to cope with abuse from her father she repeatedly ran away from home, suffered from a serious eating disorder for many years and rushed into a disastrous marriage. She knows that she has to stay away from Ibrahim but she can't help but desire him. Ibrahim has returned to his desert home with trepidation, he hates what he feels is the oppressive society and the expectations on him. He desires Georgie so much and when they are stranded in the desert together there's nothing they can do but give in to the passion between them, but they can never have anything more.

At times this is a very sad story to read, and very emotional. However, I also found it very difficult to read, there was so much anger and mistreatment directed at the female character that just went, in my opinion, too far. The hero said some terrible things to her and her sister also treated her poorly and the heroine just felt guilty all the time, she was far too weak for my liking and the other stuff I couldn't stomach. This book is also quite slow moving and I found myself bored on occasions.

Parts of this book are really interesting and had potential to make this a very explosive read, but it just didn't live up to expectation. Disappointing.

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