Saturday, April 10, 2010

WEDLOCKED: BANISHED SHEIKH, UNTOUCHED QUEEN - Carol Marinelli (Dark Hearted Desert Men)



Author: Carol Marinelli
Line: Harlequin Presents / Mills and Boon Modern
Release month: North America: April 2010 /UK:
The S-Factor: Sensual and Sizzling

Back Blurb:

About to lose his kingdom, Xavian is marrying for power—his wedding night will be purely for duty. As he unveils his new queen, nervous and naked, bathed in fragrant oils, he's stunned that she's as beautiful as the desert stars….

This queen deserves a royal bedding worthy of the Arabian Nights…and in her arms Xavian discovers that, though he may not have a kingdom, he has the strength and power of a thousand kings.

But this untouched queen could be his undoing….

Review: ♥♥♥♥♥

Author Carol Marinelli has again charmed me as well as answering my wish for this particular story to be written with Wedlocked: Banished Sheikh, Untouched Queen. It’s an absolutely magnificent love story and the first book in the Dark Hearted Desert Men series.

If you read The Royal House of Karedes in the very last book there was a stranger at the Queen of Aristo’s wedding who noticed a man with eyes so like her new husbands that she was shaken. For she new that her husband and brothers as children had been kidnapped and that the youngest Al’Farisi brother, Zakari was swept out to sea and never found. The brothers never got over their loss nor did the country of Calista.

This incredible story is about that lost brother, now known as Xavian, the ruler of Qusay, the sheikh playboy who has been promised to Layla, the Queen of Haydar. A very strong Queen, a beautiful woman who rules alone and is a virgin. A woman not to be kept waiting, a proud woman who gives as good as she gets and who almost faints at her wedding because her future husband is so handsome and powerfully built, who oozes sensuality and takes her breath away.

Throughout reading this story one is made aware that Xavian takes his duties seriously and puts his country first. However, he is trouble by the scars on his wrists, he has bad dreams at night, and since the wedding of the Queen of Aristo, he’s troubled because they keep contacting him all of a sudden and it makes him unsettled. Now he is about to marry a woman who is queen of another country and he’s expected to produce an heir and possibly assist her in ruling her country, uniting both lands.

Queen Layla was nervous, it was her wedding day to a man she had been betrothed to since childhood. A man with a reputation of a playboy, a man who would take her on their wedding night. This sheikh, her future husband kept her waiting and she was furious. She just wants the honeymoon over and wants to get back to what makes her comfortable, ruling her country. Let’s just say, you won’t want to miss their time in the desert because it’s just as hot as the desert sun, it’s a complex, beautiful and extremely passionate love story with lots of conflict.

However, it’s a rollercoaster love story because one just knows that it’s going to explode in both of their faces when the King of Qusay finds out he’s been living a lie and the wrong life! When the truth is revealed, it’s devastating for this couple, not just for Xavian but for Layla because she loves her husband and she’s torn on what to do because she also loves her country. You’re happy for him because he’s found his lost family but you also cry for him because he now must step down from being the ruler of his beloved country. He feels cheated for what his so called parents did to him and the son who died, the son and heir to the Qusay throne.

Wedlocked: Banished Sheikh, Untouched Queen was as I’ve said a stunning love story and how author Carol Marinelli tied The Royal House of Karedes and this new series together was incredible. A personal thanks to the author as I can’t wait to read the rest of the series!

Hero Hotness Factor♥♥♥♥♥
Heroine Lovability Factor♥♥♥♥♥
Awww Factor♥♥♥♥♥
Stickability Factor ♥♥♥♥
Weepy Factor♥♥♥
Reviewed by: Marilyn

Carol Marinelli's website:

Carol talks about her first sheikh and the last book in the Royal House of Karedes which let to this sheikh's story.

Carol's Dear Reader

For a chance to win the book

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