Reviewed by Kimberley
TITLE: The Secret of the Sheikh’s Betrothed
SERIES: Dreamspun Desires # 46
AUTHOR: Felicitas Ivey
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 212 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 15 , 2017
BLURB:
A billionaire and a Bedouin girl—each with a shocking secret.
Billionaire Fathi al-Murzim is a workaholic businessman, too busy running the family’s companies to even think about marriage. Too bad he never told his grandfather he’s gay, because Grandfather just announced a childhood betrothal—to a Bedouin girl Fathi never heard about before.
Ikraam din Abdel was raised as a woman by his avaricious and abusive older sister, who didn’t want him to be their father’s heir. He’d never thought to be married either, and is surprised when his sister informs him of his betrothal.
When Fathi and Ikraam meet, they are drawn to each other in a manner neither of them expected. As the plans for their wedding progress, they both realize they need to tell the other the truth. But can they, with both cultural taboos and family pressures to deal with?
REVIEW:
This is the book # 46 in the Dreamspun Desires franchise. I didn’t know which way to go with this book. I’ll be honest: when I first read the blurb I wasn’t sold on it. But I decided to give it a chance anyway. My interest was piqued when I saw the cover. Let’s start there. The cover, or rather, the cover model is absolutely beautiful. His eyes are mesmerizing. So I would definitely love to give kudos to the cover artist.
I will admit that the books start it off at tad bit slow but I decided to stick with it and it began to grow on me slowly but surely. I will admit I felt some type of way about one of the emcees am being forced into impersonating a woman. That aspect of the story made me feel some type of way. I can’t quite put into words why but I’ll try. I understand that culturally it was impossible for him to be open about his sexuality so that cultural reference I totally understood. I guess I just I was a bit vexed that you had this man who had to pretend to be a woman and the relationship was built on that instead of the attraction of those two men being openly presented. I’m sure that probably doesn’t make sense but I can’t find the words to adequately explain myself at the moment.
But despite that the story turned out quite well actually. It was well written; the dialogue was really well done. The storyline was not what I was expecting but all in all it turned out rather nicely.
What I really appreciate about this franchise is that the editing; cover art… everything appears to be professionally done. That makes all the difference to me as a reader. Once I got into it properly I realize how well the story flows.
This storyline is a bit different but in the end it worked. The author did a lovely job.
RATING: 
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