Mini Book Review: To Touch a Sheikh by Olivia Gates

Title: To Touch a Sheikh
Author: Olivia Gates
Series: Book #3 in the The Pride of Zohayd series
Release Date: 2 August 2011
Number of pages: 192 pages
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: review copy provided by publisher through NetGalley
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Author's Website, Amazon, Kindle store, Book Depository

Grade: 2 stars

Novellus malus!

Goodreads appetizer: The Sheikh's Surrender

No one gets past Prince Amjad Aal Shalaan's defenses. No one. But when Princess Maram shows up at Amjad's gala in her father's place, destroying Amjad's plans to reclaim what was stolen from his family, Amjad sees red... and uses a freak sandstorm to make her his prisoner of passion.

Swept to safety by the man she's always loved from afar, Maram knows she has one chance to make Amjad see her as a woman. His woman. But when the impossible prince and the unstoppable princess take shelter from the storm, neither is prepared for the aftermath of their desire...

My Thoughts: I love exotic royal romances, I guess they remind me of the 1001 Nights Tales I loved as a child. The premise of this one sounded like it would be a hot and fun story, but To Touch a Sheikh bored me pretty soon. I found the initial sparring match between the hero and heroine boring and redundant. They kept calling each other names in Arabic which the author then translated and repeated in their dialogue (like "prince hateful", "princess all talk", etc.) and it went on and on.

The other thing that stuck out to me was that despite being rival royal families, and the hero considering the heroine's family the "enemy" and despicable thieves he banters with the heroine as one would with their childhood bff, he is too genial and teasing.

Verdict: Not only the characters and writing didn't grab my attention at the beginning but the stuffy repetitive dialogue turned me off of To Touch a Sheikh. Sadly this wasn't for me, so I left it off at 10%.

Plot: 6/10
Characters: 2/10
Writing: 4/10
Cover: 7/10

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