Possessed by the Sheikh

By: Penny Jordan

Narrated by: Juani Tantillo

Held captive in the desert!

Stranded in the sands, Katrina is rescued by the Sheikh and taken back to his lavish desert camp. But in order to protect her, he will have to wed her. Then he discovers that she is untouched, a virgin. He is a desert sheikh who lives by a strict code of honor: Katrina must become his wife! Her time will be spent at the Sheikh's pleasure...

©2005 Penny Jordan (P)2005 Audible, Inc.

Oh-my-giddy-aunt-BORING!

The main characters hated one another so much and for so long that the eventual "happily ever after" was unbelievable and forced. I'm all for a little sexual tension before the actual sweaty-between-the-sheets-(or should I say scarves)-action, but this was a little much. From hatred to true love in 60 seconds doesn't even inch close to reality for me. This author needs to understand that even in a work of fiction, there has to be some authenticity. Additionally, the narrator only made a crappy book worse. Nothing good to say about this one. Next time I'll just subscribe directly to Narcoleptics Anonymous and get it over with quickly.

Stockholm Syndrome, sex, and too-stupid-to-live

A woman on the streets of an Arabian market is accosted and abducted by a man running away from police. While being held against her will, her first thoughts aren't self-presevation, but rather that her abductor "possessed a dangerous facination that was seducing her". Keep in mind, this is about 5 minutes into our story -- too soon for a romantic relationship. Heck, too soon for Stockholm Syndrome. Apparently she unable to decide if her body is trembling in fear, or rather because "she was sharply aware of the male hardness of his muscular thigh". She seems to be finding this abduction a real turn-on. Creepy. Then, he kisses her into silence so her little scared sounds aren't heard by the police, and she is overcome by an "surge of primative female reaction". This disgusts her, but she decides all the same to get her tongue involved. Virginal hussy.

This pretty much sums up the first 12 minutes of the story. Our heroine seems to be on sexual-repression overdrive, whose actions in real life would have got her raped or killed, but luckly this is Harlequin fiction, so it leads to a passive-agressive romance, true love and sexual gratification. If you like subservient female posturing with male controller then this could be your cup of tea. If you accept that our heroine must be proof of Creationism, as there is no way she could have made it to twenty if Natural Selection were at play, then this story gets better about 2.5 hours in -- well, at least the sex gets better.

This book was unintentionally funny at times, and sensual at both expected and truely bizarre points. The narrator was fine most of the time, but terrible when trying to speak with an accent (apparently that was a British accent our heroine has -- I am letting you know now, as it comes across as Kiwi-meets-drunk Southern Belle). This gets two stars for being something to listen to while I did my taxes. (For the record, the taxes were about as enjoyable)

Dreadful!

This is a truly stupid book. The male abuses the female and wins her love. Gag me!

Penny Jordan always a winner

Where does Possessed by the Sheikh rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Excellent story and well read. My first from Audio and very well worth it.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The hero and heroine were very appealing

Have you listened to any of Juani Tantillo’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

This is my first audibook of this type. As an Australian listening to a book by an English author I found the American accent strange at first but she did very well with the arabian feel of the language.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was very enjoyable. Good humour in places and moving as well.

Any additional comments?

My first time listening to romantic scenes and found some words a little jarring but only because I wasn't expecting them.

Harlequin! Just What I Needed! Really Hit the Spot…

Ok all you millennials…. This is probably not your cup of tea…. Because you will have to leave your feminism at the door and deal something all older Harlequin Romance Books had in common and that was the men were all arrogant misogynistic a holes, the women are normally all sweet virginal innocents the sex scenes are few light and tasteful … the stories are full of angst but always have a HEA…
I personally use to read Harlequin back in the day long ago and I appreciate the “darker romances” from back then!