Contemporary Romance Review: Woman in a Sheikh’s World by Sarah Morgan

With a client list hotter than the Zubran desert, wedding planner Avery Scott shouldn’t be surprised that her latest client is Crown Prince Malik of Zubran—the man who once lit her body on fire…before steamrollering over her heart.Determined to ignore Malik’s lethal charm, Avery makes a very personal not-to-do list:

1. Not being Malik’s intended, our relationship must remain 100 percent professional.

2. His arranged bride might have run away, but I mustn’t distract him—for the kings of Zubran, duty always comes first.

3. However luxurious the Bedouin tent—and smoldering the tension—pride dictates the touch I crave stays strictly forbidden.

 

 

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I stumbled upon Sarah Morgan’s first book of the series, A Night Of No Return, and it showed a little sneak peek of what was going to come in this book. I was so intrigued that I immediately bought Woman In A Sheikh’s World.

We start out with Avery waking up in her office from a nightmare. She is clearly affected by her break up with Malik, but is very determined not to let it show. She constantly denies that she was ever in love with Malik, and she puts on a mask with everyone to show that she is fine when it is obvious she is not.

Malik, the sexy sheikh, was the dumpee of the relationship. Unfortunately for Avery, Malik gets engaged to Kalila — a virgin bride — almost immediately after Malik and Avery break up. Malik and Kalila do not have a close relationship; in fact, she runs off. That is the very reason that these two meet again. Malik goes to Avery for help in finding his “virgin bride,” (as Avery calls her) and Avery, to save face, agrees. They go on the journey to find Kalila, and in the process connect once again.

Avery is increasingly stubborn to the point of self-destruction, which is quite annoying to read. She is constantly antagonizing Malik, even when he tries to be polite. Though I understand that it was her defense mechanism to protect her heart, it got to the point that every time she would say something incredibly mean and haughty to Malik, I would want to slap her upside the head.

Malik, on the other hand, never stopped trying to keep the peace and understand why Avery was antagonizing him, which was so sweet of him. I tended to side with Malik most of the time, even when Avery’s motives for dumping Malik were revealed. As Avery’s will starts to crumble, they find Kalila and an interesting twist appears. This twist throws Avery and Malik back together, and Malik is given another chance to wear Avery’s iron-clad will down.

There wasn’t much sex in this book, and that was good for this story-line. Avery had many problems to get through to be able to have a good, solid relationship, and sex really would have confused things a whole lot more — and it did.

Many of the secondary characters in this book were only talked about, not shown, since the book was mostly Avery and Malik traveling across the desert alone. However, I came to hate Avery’s mother because she caused Avery to have so many commitment issues and anti-dependency issues that prevented Avery and Malik from getting together the first time. Though many times I was annoyed with Avery for struggling against their relationship, I understood her reasons for doing so.

Malik was the best part of this book, in my opinion, and I kept rooting for him the whole time. This book had me laughing, ripping my hair out in frustration, and aww-ing several times.

I recommend this book for people who like a short story about a strong sheikh who will tear down the walls around the heroine’s heart and teach her how to love.