tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post8042016521534064162..comments2024-03-27T12:54:20.598-07:00Comments on The Misadventures Of Super Librarian: Arabian NightsWendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12485867264936716806noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-26853009450475936972011-06-23T17:26:01.229-07:002011-06-23T17:26:01.229-07:00Great review, Wendy!! Really makes me want to read...Great review, Wendy!! Really makes me want to read it now!! :) Maybe it'll pull me off from my reading slump?nathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02626894830238717124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-66374815644532004082011-06-23T11:53:23.372-07:002011-06-23T11:53:23.372-07:00I've been lurking, I admit it.
It's funn...I've been lurking, I admit it. <br /><br />It's funny, but I didn't really know anything about the whole romancing the desert trope at all until I wrote this book - I certainly didn't think about sheikh's as Alpha assholes with too much attitude and I'm glad I didn't because it would have frozen my keyboard. I just set out to write the kind of sheikh book I'd like to read in the kind of desert that I fell in love with after reading about Lady Hester Stanhope. I guess the hot sands made my writing a bit hotter than I'd realised too. Now I wish I hadn't given my mum a copy! <br /><br />I'm biting my nails wondering what readers will make of the next one now (The Governess and the Sheikh), what with the hammam baths scene and all! <br /><br />margueriteMarguerite Kayehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06886711566567879237noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-1764802286885074082011-06-23T09:52:02.072-07:002011-06-23T09:52:02.072-07:00Wendy, oh I know what you mean - I suspect that yo...Wendy, oh I know what you mean - I suspect that your reading experience might have been a little more seamless, but most of the serious thought didn't happen till after I'd finished it. Mostly, while reading, I was subliminally going, <i>oh god, she's not going to go there?</i> and then <i>hey, she sorta pulled that off</i>. I suspect my expressions might have been entertaining. ;) Most importantly, I didn't stop reading.FDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01485030894416936129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-38422130080270851322011-06-23T07:57:21.633-07:002011-06-23T07:57:21.633-07:00I have this one on the TBR, but may have to bump i...I have this one on the TBR, but may have to bump it up the pile. It sounds good!<br /><br />I agree with you on HH books being pretty PG/PG-13 for the most part. However, they do have some hotter ones mixed in there. I remember stumbling across a few way back in the backlist when I was in high school.Lynn Spencerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10579942084034105870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-72666550755285705032011-06-22T16:53:10.899-07:002011-06-22T16:53:10.899-07:00Alys: I thought the book had a very "swept aw...Alys: I thought the book had a very "swept away" feel to it. I happily took the trip :)<br /><br />Library Girl: My tolerance is low, but I like those sorts of heroes every now and then to flip my "guilty pleasure" switch. Also, I LOVE a good grovel scene.<br /><br />Hannah: I've read the Undone story, and I liked it. I find that Kaye works well within that VERY short format.<br /><br />FD: I've read other reviews with thoughts similar to yours, and I can definitely see those points clearly....uh, after the fact. At the time of my initial reading, I really got sucked in. I suspect because the setting was so well done - and also because the protags clicked so well for me. Not sure why this is? Probably Kaye's "style" clicking for me? A mystery to ponder for later :)<br /><br />Jill: I really liked it! Kaye does such a nice job with her settings.Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12485867264936716806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-78214756125927705312011-06-22T08:28:43.115-07:002011-06-22T08:28:43.115-07:00Great review! I love the cover, too. A sheikh who ...Great review! I love the cover, too. A sheikh who is actually dark. Sign me UP.Jill Sorensonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13780655429244358019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-34484191626934267352011-06-22T08:05:12.499-07:002011-06-22T08:05:12.499-07:00Having been horribly, horribly burned by E. M. Hul...Having been horribly, horribly burned by E. M. Hull's <i>The Sheik</i> as an 11 year old, (yes WTF my junior school (ages 7-11) library was doing with a copy I will never know) I mostly avoid sheik stories like the plague. Even at that age the ethnocentrism and the misogyny were repellent. <br /><br />Having tried a few Harlequin sheik stories over the years, I've found them to generally follow in the same tradition - sheik as code for asinine male lead and whitewashed to boot. However, a friend told me the author mentioned Hester Stanhope in the foreword, and added that she'd quite enjoyed it so I took a chance on it. <br /><br />I thought it was a little shallow, and the secondary characters were tiresomely cliche, and the sequel bait sister made me wince. However, it incorporated a genuine sympathy for the leads with their different societal viewpoints and some very nice prose and well woven history / faction tidbits. Overall I approved. (My reaction might be coloured by awareness of some of the real life romances though.)<br />I can't say I thought the love scenes were explicitly sexual, so much as sensual, and that they deliberately reflected the process of exploration of both of the leads' wishes / desires that occurred throughout the book. I did feel a little uncomfortable with that, being aware of the tendency in the genre towards appropriation of 'the other' to stand in for exotic/sensual, the almost fetishisation thing. However, as they were both exploring, it squeaked by for me, although other people might well be more sensitive to it than I was.<br /><br />I'd compare it to Catherine Asaro's <i>The Veiled Web</i> in terms of sympathy for the protags and senstitive treatment of inter-religious romance, while being aware that(as befitted the pagecount I suspect) it takes some dicey subjects and dances rather lightly, but respectfully, over them.<br />I look forward to more from the author.FDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01485030894416936129noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-25297237345847703742011-06-22T07:06:52.860-07:002011-06-22T07:06:52.860-07:00I'm really looking forward to reading this! I ...I'm really looking forward to reading this! I also have the novella The Sheikh's Impetuous Love-Slave which I think is in the same series. I have read several romances featuring sheikhs though all were contemporaries. My favorites were Susan Mallery's books for Special Edition especially The Sheikh's Christmas Bride.Hannahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16414384560097630774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-45479558569775071202011-06-22T05:12:34.874-07:002011-06-22T05:12:34.874-07:00@Wendy - Ah yes, "raging Alpha asshole" ...@Wendy - Ah yes, "raging Alpha asshole" is the phrase I was looking for. If I had discovered sheikh books when I was a teen, I probably would have devoured them, but I can't take those types of heroes anymore.A Library Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06144279685884011943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-78136195438537799062011-06-21T13:54:08.100-07:002011-06-21T13:54:08.100-07:00I'm sold. Will get and read soon. :D
P.S. My ...I'm sold. Will get and read soon. :D<br /><br />P.S. My word verification was spingod. ahahahah.little alyshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06526474330761827118noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-48223697744593634412011-06-21T13:10:48.347-07:002011-06-21T13:10:48.347-07:00Victoria: If there is such a thing as an erotic ro...Victoria: If there is such a thing as an erotic romance HH - this might be it. But honestly what stuck out for me the most was the setting. I really thought the author did a lovely job with the details.<br /><br />Library Girl: I think the stigma is that sheikh is shorthand for "raging Alpha asshole." Which is why the trope was never one that totally flipped my switch. But here I think the author hits a nice balance. I genuinely liked both of these characters.Wendyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12485867264936716806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-74062160450413325682011-06-21T09:28:49.749-07:002011-06-21T09:28:49.749-07:00I usually avoid books with "sheikh" in t...I usually avoid books with "sheikh" in the title - I don't think I've ever actually read any, so it's more out of preconceived notions and prejudices than because I've been burned by such books in the past. This sounds pretty good, though, so if I see it next time I go shopping I think I'll get it and have it be my very first "sheikh" book.A Library Girlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06144279685884011943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350052669699480502.post-19286035112780241462011-06-21T07:17:05.478-07:002011-06-21T07:17:05.478-07:00This sounds like an interesting take on the trope....This sounds like an interesting take on the trope.Victoria Janssenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12259793807283856761noreply@blogger.com