Customer Reviews

The Sheik and the Virgin Secretary (Desert Rogues, No. 10 / Silhouette Special Edition, No. 1723)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Kiley has called off her dream wedding to a snake, Eric the womanizer. She wants revenge so knowing she'll run into Eric at functions through work she has the perfect plan, she wants to be her boss' mistress-Prince Rafiq of Lucia-Serrat. She been working for him for over 2 years now so she knows all about the mistresses - she sends parting gifts, a letter and none last longer than 3 months. The Prince agrees to Kiley's plan and he proceeds to seduce her. He gives her many gifts but the most wonderful one is Fariha, the 10 week old Maltese puppy in Arabic her name means joyful or happy and is she. Kiley falls in love but so does Rafiq with each other and Fariha. He proposes but he can't say those 3 little words to Kiley and she won't accept without them. Kiley finds herself pregnant, Rafiq knows this too, but she still won't accept. What a great love story Rafiq and Kiley have and Ms Mallery has given us another of the "alpha" sheiks. This is #10 of the Desert Rogue series.

Can you imagine two days before your wedding walking in and finding your future husband with another woman? Would you want revenge? Heck yes and then some! Kiley Hendrick is stronger than she believes and approaches her handsome boss, Prince Radiq of Lucia Serratt to assist her by becoming his mistress. Little does Kiley realize that Radiq will not only steal her heart but will teach her the art of making love.

Prince Radiq, strong, sexy, successful and handsome has had many women in his life. He is honest with them from the very beginning and walks away from relationships without a backwards glance. He has a strong sense of responsibility to his country but not to his family as his mother relinquished her rights to him at birth and his father was too young to accept the responsibility of a son. Radiq was raised by mammies and tutors and didn't know the meaning of family until he accepts Kiley's proposal to become his mistress. Radiq adores Kiley but keeps his heart closed.

The Sheik and The Virgin Secretary is a wonderful addition to Susan Mallery's Desert Rogue series and ties in all Royal families at the end, those from Ed Bahar, Bahania and The City of Thieves. I'm hopeful Susan will continue her series with Radiq's brothers and sisters as her stories are so entertaining.

Book Summary from Back Cover:

The wedding of my dreams was only days away...until I discovered my fianc' had a nasty habit of unfaithfulness. So to mend my wounded pride, I turned to the most eligible man I knew: my boss, Prince Rafiq of Lucia-Serrat! Although the dashingly handsome prince had enticed dozens of women, I had just one thing in my mind when I proposed becoming Rafiq's mistress: revenge on the man who'd humiliated me before.
It was easier than I'd expected to go from Rafiq's chaste secretary to his lustful lover. What I didn't expect was to fall head over heels for a man who could give me anything I wanted, except his heart....

You didn't feel the chemistry between Kiley and Rafiq...the words were almost clinical just like the first few pages, they didn't grab my emotions. The characters felt detached from each other, almost as if the writing was mechanical and the characters just couldn't connect. I didn't end up finishing the book because I just wasn't interested in the end and had to force myself to read past the first 20 pages.

The storyline is interesting but it lacked depth to deliver it to the reader...some parts were humourous but it didn't make you cry, gasp or get upset. I'm an avid Harlequin Presents reader and this book definitely wasn't one of the better (or even the okay) ones.

I bought this book on the strength of the reviews here. However, it was soo boring I forgot about it as soon as I was finished skimming...I mean reading it. The two leads had almost no chemistry. It just seemed like the author needed an excise to write a book so she made some characters up and put them together. The premise seemed promising but the plot was weak and went nowhere. It's my first and last time reading this author.

Forthright & level-headed secretary of Middle Eastern prince proposes to be his no-strings-attached mistress for 3 months as revenge against her cheating ex-fiance. He accepts but took it slow when he realized she was still a virgin. He showers her with presents but she tries to reject them & reminds him that she doesn't want anything else from him but sex. Hero soon invites her to live their remaining time with him as he finds himself wanting to spend more time with her. He proposed marriage when he realized that she may be possibly pregnant. How will heroine respond to having a marriage with one-sided love?

I've only read a handful of Mallery's books & this is by far her best. This book has sizzle & character depth. It was also written with emotional alacrity that made the reading pace speedy & kept my interest throughout. I really liked heroine's simplicity & honesty. She knew what she was getting into with a 3-month sexual affair with Hero & she didn't do resort to manipulations or dramatics when she found herself falling in love with him while he was denying love. She was steadfast in her love & even his denials didn't drive her away. Hero was prideful & feared getting rejected by love again but he displayed love for heroine through his actions. An HEA(happily ever after) is very possible with these 2.

Recommended.

This was a really great love story. I think it's one of Susan Mallery's best. There was a lot of chemistry between Rafiq and Kiley. I couldn't put this books down. You should def read this book.

Generally I love this miniseries. This book was different in that the Prince was more western than the others. Still, I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the references to Bahania and El Bahar. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series and to see what happens with the rest of the Royal Family of Lucia Serrat