365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #110

Strangers in the Desert - Lynn Raye Harris
Mills and Boon Modern
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2011
ISBN: 9780263886533





My rating





From the back cover:

"The Desert King’s Lost Wife...
Isabella, the wife Sheikh Adan thought was dead, has just walked back into his life – on the eve of his wedding to another woman... Now Adan is to be crowned King, Isabella must be his Queen – sharing his desert throne and the royal bed...
But gone is the dutiful, pure girl he once knew – in her place is a defiant, sultry woman who makes Adan’s blood run hot… A woman who has no memory of being his wife..."


You should all know by now how much of a fan-girl I am for Lynn Raye Harris's books! So naturally I was really excited to read this one, and it was only 99p in the Kindle store!

The hero Adan is about to be crowned king, and also about to get married. However when one of his aides informs him that his first wife, whom is presumed dead after she walked into the desert and never found, has been spotted in Hawaii. Adan doesn't believe it but travels to Hawaii to check it out for himself. As it turns out his wife Isabella, the heroine, is alive but does not recognise Adan or have any memory of ever being married. Her father took her to live with her mother after an 'accident' that she has no memory of. Adan is not sure if he believes her, but plans to find out the truth and get a divorce so he can go ahead with his upcoming marriage and coronation. He takes Isabella back to his country in order to do this, but once there he gets to know the real Isabella and old passions return. But he still doesn't know the truth about what happened to Isabella and neither does she.

Once again Lynn Raye Harris has written an intense and compelling romance that draws you in from the very first page and keeps you guessing until the very last. The plot is rather unusual, but really well executed, I really love the fact that this is different than expected. In my opinion Lynn has a real talent for thinking up original and interesting storylines. There are many parts of this book where the author could so easily have drifted into cliché-land but wisely stayed away, hooray!(eg. the 'other-woman' fiancée could have been the bitchy-woman-scorned type, or Isabella's father could have been the devious-schemer type).
As for the reason why Isabella disappeared, it certainly keeps you guessing. Some of my many theories include; Isabella is lying and did fake her own death / she was kidnapped and brain-washed / her father cooked it up to get some sort of upper hand / Isabella is a twin and didn't actually marry Adan...! The actual reason is much less dramatic but very heartbreaking and beautifully written.

This book has two very well crafted characters and and original and exciting plot. In short, this is fantastic book.

Recommended

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