365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #229

Captive but Forbidden - Lynn Raye Harris
Mills & Boon Modern
Harlequin UK, 2011
ISBN: 9780263887075





My rating





From the back cover:

"Public Duty
The news that wild socialite Veronica St. Germaine has cleaned up her act and stepped into her father's shoes as ruler of a Mediterranean principality creates a tabloid frenzy! But it's not just the paparazzi that are out for blood...
Private Scandal
Duty demands that bodyguard Rajesh Vala must protect Veronica - whatever the cost... But Veronica has always rebelled against commands, and she isn't making Raj's job easy!
He calls it 'safeguarding'. She calls it being held captive at his beach house. Both realise that the attraction between them is inconvenient... Veronica is nothing if not forbidden!"

I have been looking forward to reading this for a while, I am a big fan of Lynn Raye Harris's books so, naturally, I was expecting good things!

The heroine Veronica is the recently elected President of her small Mediterranean country, and a former infamous party girl. Many people do not agree with her presidency and Veronica has received a few threats from unknown sources. The hero Rajesh is hired to help keep Veronica safe, but she is less than happy about it as she hates feeling trapped after a childhood spent with her overprotective father. Veronica and Raj are instantly attracted to one another, and the more time they have to spend alone the harder it becomes to ignore the desire between them, so it is not long before they give in to the it. Being together, while very pleasurable, also reminds them of their individual pain and loss they have experienced in their lives. This combined with the threat against Veronica only results in pulling them further apart, when they want to be together.

This is a really intense and exciting book, not to mention very original. I was intrigued by the concept of the heroine being President of her country. Usually in romance novels the hero is the one with the more important/powerful career, but you can't get more important than President, so this is different and a little risky. But excellently done! Lynn Raye Harris did a great job, she managed to flip romance novel conventions on their heads yet still keep all the traditional elements you would want. There is no denying her hero is every bit the Alpha-male, and not at all inferior in the face of the heroine and her career. The story itself is interesting and well developed, I would have liked to have read a little more about the heroine's journey in becoming president - why/how/etc - but the story does not lack depth at all.
The passion between the hero and heroine is, as expected, scorching, and the interaction between them is also full of constant sexual tension. You could cut this tension with the proverbial knife, it's that good! The intrigue element of the story really adds to the intensity of this book, and I loved it.

A gripping, passionate, and emotional book. Plus it's genre busting, which can only be a good thing.

Xx