The Sheik Retold by Victoria Vane and E.M. Hull
Blurb:
Pride and passion vie for supremacy in this steamy retelling of E.M. Hull's romance classic.
A haughty young heiress for whom the world is a playground…
A savage son of the Sahara who knows no law but his own…
When pride and passion vie for supremacy...
Blistering desert days are nothing compared to sizzling Sahara nights…
"There will be inquiries." I choked out. "I am not such a nonentity that nothing will be done when I am missed. You will pay for what you have done."
"There will be inquiries." I choked out. "I am not such a nonentity that nothing will be done when I am missed. You will pay for what you have done."
"Pay?" His amused look sent a cold feeling of dread through me. "I have already paid… in gold that matches your hair, my gazelle. Besides," he continued, "the French Government has no jurisdiction over me. There is no authority here above my own."
My trepidation was growing every passing minute. "Why have you done this? Why have you brought me here?"
"Why?" He repeated with a slow and heated appraisal that made me acutely, almost painfully, conscious of my sex. "Bon Dieu! Are you not woman enough to know?"
Review:
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
What is it about books with captivity
that brings out so much passion? This desert
Sheik is just too smoldering to pass up—kidnapping and all!
I haven’t read the original
novel, The Sheik, written by E. M. Hull in 1919. I’d love to sit down with both and compare
because I can’t fathom the version I just devoured being read by my
great-grandmother almost a century ago.
What I can say without comparing the two is that I truly ravished
Victoria Vane’s version! I think I need
a fan – it was just entirely too sexy for words. It was also beautifully written with a voice
that was intelligent and reminiscent of that era.
Diana has been raised by her
brother – privileged and spoiled but with the same upbringing and expectations
as if she had been born a man instead of a woman. When she is finally of age she is eager to
pave her own way and quickly departs on a journey through the desert, against
her brother’s recommendation. Planning
to meet her brother after a month, she ignores the threats of dangerous revolts
and hires a guide to take her on her desert tour. It isn’t long before she discovers her own
brother has paid for her death and another man has paid even more for her life. Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan rules his people with
an iron fist and and commands respect.
He can tame the wildest of horses and knows how to keep his wild men in
line. He meets his match in Diana, a
stubborn and tenacious woman who has never bowed to anyone. She quickly learns what she must do to meet
the Sheik’s terms without submitting.
I loved everything about
this story: the characters (from Diana
and Ahmed to the minor characters like Gaston, the Sheik’s servant), the really
well-described settings that I was
not at all familiar with but could imagine with perfect clarity, and the fast-paced and riveting storyline. I seem to have a sick fascination with
captivity stories, but as opposed to some I have read, I never found myself
glaring at the heroine for her stupidity.
I understood why Diana felt she couldn’t stay even as she found herself
falling for the very man who held her captive.
I wanted the Sheik to love her in the way he promised he never could and
was willing for her to risk it all to push him until he caved. Whether Diana was trying to escape or running
back, I always believed it and ALWAYS agreed with it. I loved the amazing sex scenes and the
beautiful and passionate words spoken between Diana and Ahmed. Most of all I loved that Ahmed was so true to
his character – he was truly a leader that people would lay down their lives
for and a lover that a woman would give herself over for, he was everything and
oh so sexy.
Besides, you speak as if you plan to return to them. Do you still not understand I shall never let you go?
“By Allah, you will never belong to another man. I would kill you first.”
It had to be now, before I lost the desire…before I lost myself completely. I was already slipping away after allowing him to take possession of me in tiny increments. If I did not leave soon, he would own me in truth—body and soul.
The irony of the role reversal—that my former abductor had become my savior—brought a quivering smile to my lips. The same man I had loathed for his brutal abduction now represented safety and salvation, and I prayed for his advent with the desperation of despair. I knew he would come for me—maybe not out of love, but most certainly out of pride. He was enormously jealous of his possessions. […] No, he might discard me at his own pleasure, but no one would ever take me from him with impunity—especially his dire enemy.
I have to say, I was sad to
see the cover of the book change. The
original cover Ms. Vane had chosen was so intriguing to me (and part of what first
had me picking up the book) while the new cover seems more Harlequin romance
novel—which THE SHEIK RETOLD is anything but.
However, no matter what the cover, the story inside is truly riveting
and addicting. I am grateful to Ms. Vane
for contemporizing such a captivating story!
**Reviewed by preppea on I ♥ Bookie Nookie Reviews.
Enter to Win!
Author Bio:
Victoria Vane is an award-winning romance novelist, cowboy addict and history junkie whose collective works of fiction range from wildly comedic romps to emotionally compelling erotic romance. Victoria also writes historical fiction as Emery Lee and is the founder of Goodreads Romantic Historical Fiction Lovers and the Romantic Historical Lovers book review blog.
Look for Victoria's Contemporary Cowboy Series coming summer 2014 from Sourcebooks
Website ● Blog ● Twitter ● Facebook ● Goodreads
On Sale for $0.99 until 10/14/13
No comments:
Post a Comment