The Love Slave [Mass Market Paperback]

Bertrice Small (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 1997

It is no act of love that Regan experiences the night she takes her sister's place in the marriage bed, a counterfeit bride to sate the lust of her twin's new husband. Come morning, her sister, carrying another man's child, resumes her place and Regan is spirited away to a nunnery.
But a more exotic fate awaits the fiery Celtic beauty: Regan is sold to a slave trader. It will be her destiny to come under the tutelage of Karim al Malina, master of the erotic arts, who will mold Regan -- now renamed Zaynab, the beautiful one -- into a Love Slave fit for a Moorish king, though the pair break the first rule of teacher and pupil . . . they fall in love.
But Zaynab is not Karim's to keep. She is given to the Caliph of Cordoba, who vows to love her . . . and pleasure her as no younger man can. Yet Regan still longs for her one true love, Karim al Malina, and vows that, somehow, their fates must be reunited . . . .


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

It is no act of love that Regan experiences the night she takes her sister's place in the marriage bed, a counterfeit bride to sate the lust of her twin's new husband. Come morning, her sister, carrying another man's child, resumes her place and Regan is spirited away to a nunnery.
But a more exotic fate awaits the fiery Celtic beauty: Regan is sold to a slave trader. It will be her destiny to come under the tutelage of Karim al Malina, master of the erotic arts, who will mold Regan -- now renamed Zaynab, the beautiful one -- into a Love Slave fit for a Moorish king, though the pair break the first rule of teacher and pupil . . . they fall in love.
But Zaynab is not Karim's to keep. She is given to the Caliph of Cordoba, who vows to love her . . . and pleasure her as no younger man can. Yet Regan still longs for her one true love, Karim al Malina, and vows that, somehow, their fates must be reunited . . . .

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Ivy Books (August 30, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449002136
• ISBN-13: 978-0449002131
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #368,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Bertrice Small is a New York Times bestselling author with more than 34 novels in print. She lives in the oldest English-speaking town in New York state. Her website is bertricesmall.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun story, heavy on the adult scenes, May 19, 2001

By 

mirope "mirope" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Love Slave (Mass Market Paperback)

A warning to those who have not read Bertrice Small before: the love scenes are very explicit, and there are lots of them. If this offends you at all, you probably shouldn't read this book. If you like a LOT of spice in your romance, you will enjoy this tale of a young Irish girl who is sold into slavery after an unhappy and brutal childhood. She is trained to be a "Love Slave" for a powerful Moorish caliph. She and her "Passion Master" spend an intense year studing the sensual arts and fall in love. Nevertheless, the master delivers her to the caliph and they both go on to lead adventurous lives, yearning to find a way to be together again. As always, Small's historical research is good and she skillfully weaves it into the story.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Sex, sex... where is the Romance?, December 29, 2000

By 

Abbys (Moreno Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Love Slave (Mass Market Paperback)

Regan: Born the second of the twins was a disappointment to her mother, who wanted a son. She wasn't favored nor love but neither treated badly by her mother. Just ignored. When her twin sister, Grouch, marries the laird's son to form a unity & peace to the clan's enemy, she was to be sent in the convent forever. Her mother & twin sister had a plan of revenge which requires Regan to sacrifice her virginity to Grouch husband. Grouch was carrying another's mans child already. When she arrived in the convent, however, she was abducted, shipped to the other side of the world, sold & trained to be a love slave for a king....

The first part of the book was very intriguing. The conflict between the clans, the planned revenge & Regan's destiny was something u want to read more on... I find the first part of the book exciting. Until...Regan begun her love slave training. The book then simply concentrated on the arts of sex, which was somehow interesting - different, I may add! ... but the initial story line was forgotten. What happend to Grouch? Was her planned revenge successful? I was hoping to see Regan return to her homeland even for just a visit. Regan,who became Zaynab, supposedly also enjoys being a love slave cuz she was pampered compared to living in her homeland where she was ignored. Wouldn't it be nice to read about her homecoming when she was finally free? Wouldn't it be nice to know if her sacrifice was a fruitful act? I think this book is just incomplete. Beatrice Small simply didn't have to mentioned all that revenge plot to begin with if she didn't have the plan to end it. But then I wouldn't be intrigue to read on now, would I ?

Aside from the steamy sex, there is absolutely no romance between Zaynab & Karim. I thought their sex was just the same as Zaynab's other partners so what makes them both special to one another? Ok, they always thought about each other. They haven't forgotten each other and supposedly they are both so much in love with each other. But how did this happend? She was Karim's student, He was Zaynab's sex teacher... Aside from that, there was no situations or occurances that you could see nor feel their love for one another. Totally unconvincing to me. The Caliph feelings for Zaynab was more detailed. He might be old for her but you can see how much he loves her. Not only did he pampered her with gifts, he was unselfish, sensitive & considerate.

I would have given this book a 1 star rating if not for the well researched and well used informations of the arts of sex. The title suit its content... Beatrice Small made this book very different from my usual historical romance books by Julie Garwood, Jude Deveraux, Jill Barnett & Judith McNaught. This book was interesting yet I prefer the historical ROMANCE stories...with lots of courtship and old fashion love making :-) This is my first book of Beatrice Small, I might even pick up some more of her books in the future to give it another try, as this one wasn't that bad. But I think I would barrow her books in the library first. And if I like the book, I'll buy it to add in my collection.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lusty love story!, January 19, 2000

By 

Alyssa - See all my reviews

This review is from: Love Slave (Paperback)

Regan is a fascinating heroine. She is treated abominably by her mother and her sister,yet she triumphs in the end to become a strong and successful woman. Karim al Malina is one of Ms. Small's best heroes yet. He is strong,full of honour and totally in love with Regan, whom he renames Zaynab. I enjoyed the Moorish history in this book and found that the characters were all very interesting. I would love for Ms. Small to write a sequel so that we could find out about Regans sister, Gruoch. A word of warning, this book fairly sizzles in some parts and could be quite shocking to some. And overall excellent story!