When a Book Speaks to You by Alice Anderson
I’ve read many books over the years that I really enjoyed. Ones that I recommended to friends and placed on my keeper shelf. Usually the enjoyment factor comes down to one thing: the characters.
I recently picked up Susan Mallery’s latest Special Edition (Silhouette Books) called The Sheik and the Bought Bride. Sadly, I hear it’s the last in the series. I’m going to try really hard not to cry about that…
No matter what you think of the title or the way romance novels romanticize sheiks, this was a great book. (Yes, FTC, I paid for my very own copy!)
What was so great? I knew you were going to ask.
The characters.
First you have a brooding prince from the desert, and you automatically assume that he’ll be hard and edgy. That he’ll act a certain way, and treat the heroine a certain way.
But there’s more to him than that. He’s also known hardship in his life. And he has the scars to prove it. He’s known loss like most of us pray we’ll never know. And yes, he’s a harder man because of it. But he’s also better because of those trials.
Then there’s the ultra spunky heroine. Mallery calls her “a hoot.” I totally agree. Victoria has also known pain, suffering, and poverty in her life. And the man she should have been able to trust with her life is the very one who offers her up as a prize in a card Game…to a desert prince.
But she’s loyal and she keeps her promises. She meets adversity head on, with a laugh or two. I really wish I had a friend just like this heroine. Someone who says what she thinks, tells it like it is, isn’t afraid to cry or step in when there’s an injustice. She fights for what she thinks is right and she will sacrifice her very life for the man she loves.
Ladies and gentlemen, that is a heroine.
These are two people who are so perfectly matched that they will resonate with me (and you) long after the book is closed.
Characters like Kateb and Victoria are what makes a book great. And ultimately, it’s characters like these that will make a book “speak” to you.
What books speak to you? Leave a comment below and you’ll be entered to win a copy of Mallery’s The Sheik and the Bought Bride.
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