Master of the Desert (Harlequin Presents) [Mass Market Paperback]

There is nothing about this book that is even remotely believable. I kept turning the pages and muttering, oh please.

Once again, I was taken for a ride by a Susan Stephens book. As usual, the first few chapters are gripping/compelling but then the ridiculousness and the tedium sets in.

Antonia's boat is attacked by pirates, she escapes and tries to steal food from another boat, that of Sheikh Ra'id, he catches her in the act and holds her captive until the get to shore. The book centers around the fact that Antonia is to inherit land thru her dead mother, and Ra'id intends to either prevent it or make it as hard as possible so that she won't stay as he thinks she's a spoilt bitch and doesn't deserve any of his land. When she comes back to collect, he realizes that she's pregnant and it changes everything.

The first quarter of this book was semi-decent but I really had to drag myself through the rest of it, just to say yes, I read the book.

Ridiculous plot and rather ludicrous characters, but one star for erotic sex scenes, though it did make me wonder how a virgin was able to do some of those positions with no discomfort whatsoever. I guess that's why they call it fiction.

In Ruling Sheikh, Unruly Mistress one was introduced to Razi al Maktabi and now you're going to meet his half brother Ra'id al Maktabi in Master of the Desert by the extremely talented Susan Stephens who pens the most delightful sheikh romance which took me on such a sensual fantasy and journey, one I'll long remember

Ra'id is described as "darker than night and twice as dangerous, who sits on the Sapphire throne of Sinnebar. Scarred inside and out, Ra'id is a powerhouse of strength and command. He rules his heart like his country....with an iron will. Now one woman is about to come between him and his throne."

One is immediately made aware of Ra'id's strength and power and how much he loves his country. In the most bizarre way, he meets the lovely Italian beauty Antonia Ruggiero when she sneaks onboard his yacht and takes not only his food but also his knife. She sought passage on a vessel which was boarded by pirates and narrowly escaped harm by swimming for her life, seeking refuge on Ra'id's yacht and seeking his assistance in getting to Sinnebar. Antonia is adored by her rich brother who has seen to her every need and she wants to prove herself to him by promoting his charity. However, what neither Ra'id nor Antonia count on is the chemistry between them. Like the hot desert sun they combust and share passion on a beautiful deserted island, never revealing their true identities. Their affair is brief and ends once they dock in Sinnebar, or so they both believed. However, fate has other ideas for this pair.

Antonia Ruggiero may be young and spoiled but she has the heart of a lioness. She's determined to make a difference in the world and to take the opportunity to find out about her deceased mother who once spent some time on Sinnebar before marrying her father. In order to set up her brother's charity she needs to meet influential people. When she finds out those people will be attending, a party along with Sinnebar's ruler, she decides to crash it. Only it backfires when guards arrest her, she's deported and sent back to Italy. What Antonia doesn't count on months later is the news that she's pregnant with a man she spent time with on a deserted island; the very same man she only knew as "Sarif".

In Susan Stephens first book one learned about the strong bond between these two sheikh rulers and that they shared the same father. However, their father had a mistress who was Razi's mother, Helena. Their father did not allow his mistress access to her son. Instead, he banished her to a citadel where she was miserable. Helena eventually escaped and returned back to Italy with Antonio Ruggiero, leaving everything behind. Helena married, having two children Rigo and Antonia and then died.

Sheikh Ra'id is determined never to let a woman get in the way of his country nor make bad decisions for his people like his father once did with his mistress. And then, a locked door in the palace is revealed to be the place where his father's mistress once lived and a document which leaves a parcel of land to her daughter, the daughter Ra'id knew by the fictitious name of "Tuesday", the very woman he shared passion with on an island.

Upon returning home to Rome, Antonia was determined to prove to her brother she was worth something and she worked very hard setting up his charities all over Europe. And now she was fueled with more determination because she wanted to set up the charity in Sinnebar, and find information about her mother. However, there was unfinished business there as well, the man she only knew as Sarif, the man who was the future father of her unborn child. But Ra'id has other ideas because like her mother, Antonia was a "threat to his people's happiness, with those documents granting her land in Sinnebar" and Antonia was his father's mistress daughter.

She's shocked when she attends the meeting with Sinnebar's dignitaries, when she meets the ruling sheikh and finds out he's the very same man who stole her heart. It all heats up and becomes very complicated, very emotional and such a journey for this pair of fated lovers. To think her mother was Ra'id's father's mistress, to find out she had a brother, to see her mother's possessions in the palace and the desert fortress, to feel her mother's pain, to long for Ra'id, to love him, to know his passion again only to feel rejected.

As only Susan Stephens can pen, Master of the Desert was a magnificent and sensual journey with strong and interesting characters. As sheikh Ra'id said to his bride, "if you look with your heart, you will find as I did, the most important things in life, aren't land or possessions, they're invisible." Don't miss the al Maktabi Brother's series, they're both such strong, romantic and passionate sheikhs!